Our area, not showing the apartment coz it's not tidied up

Jodie waves from our petite apartment. Our house only has 2 windows. The rest belong to other people.

This is our street. Circled red is our building's front door. At the end where the trees are is a small park with the Metro Station.

Jo standing at the door prepping to go out.

This station is called 'Commerce', it is a 1 min run from our door.

Train platform, sometimes got urine smell, coz this station got no toilet.

Flowers are blooming.

Jo went shopping for cheap groceries at Monoprix and is now back at her doorstep. Its already 8pm and still so bright!

Landlords are Serrano and Dargnat.

Our surname is on the call button. So cool, 1 syllable only. The rest got the usual angmoh ones.

+65 9762 0429

Tasked Abby (our admin in Singapore) to send out emails informing clients and friends that the number will be cancelled soon. I have had that number for nearly 10 years, so doing it felt like doing a final ‘Good Bye’ to everybody I knew in Singapore… it’s funny how losing mobile number can make me feel poignant…

But anyways, just got confirmed that I’ll be back in late May for about 2-3 weeks for work. So Jo and I’ll probably be able to see some of you guys!!

Hobbit Dinner

Today, as with all the previous times, I was paralyzed in bed with time-of-the-month-cramps. By 9 in the evening, with no instant noodles and the cook still writhing in pain, we decided there had to be a way to feed ourselves. So, rather than to give in to circumstances and run to Macs, we decided that I would holler whatever instructions I could manage and Kar Wai would make his first attempt at a hobbit dinner.

I must say, I am very proud of my man :-)

Jo

1. straining the fried potatoes

2. voila! fried spring chicken with fried potatoes with fried mushrooms. so healthy.

Got the apartment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We signed the contract! Will be staying the apartment that we are in now. Our landlord has been really good to us, no need for a bank guarantee of 1 year’s rent in our account. Apparently that is the norm for most folks coz French law makes it very hard for landlords to evict wayward tenants if they don’t want to pay up rent. So somebody came up with a 1 year bank guarantee thing…

Anyways, it’s about 30m2, so small and cozy it is. If you are not too sure, it’s about the space of our old living room OR Jo mom’s living room space in Chin Swee OR Wesley Methodist music room OR about 3 Honda Civics. We are going to get internet access connected to the house soon, so no more running to Montparnasse to get emails. Woohoo! We also can change bed mattress and microwave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As in the words of our visa specialist lady, our place at Rue du Commerce is like a little village. There are lots of typical Parisian shops like the bakery, butcher, cheese shop, vegetable sellers, wine shops, clothing lines, shoe shop and supermarket all at the same place. We feel kinda like hobbits, small space but otherwise extremely jolly and well fed.

Jo & Wes from the Shire

House Hunting. Final Chapter (Hopefully)

We are staying in Paris after all!! Our visa specialist lady freaked out after she called us and found out that we wanted to move to the suburbs. Apparently the set of work permit papers have be re-submitted the prefecture of the suburbs instead of Paris. Her words were ‘In fact you have no time!’. So we are likely to stay in the current apartment, we did see an apartment in Montparnasse but they wanted a year’s rent in the bank account (apparently standard for foreigners) to show that we had enough money to pay for rent. So no go for that one. We are extremely likely to stay in the current one for the next 6 months, going to see if can get papers from landlord to be signed for house.

What a roller coaster ride.

Wes

How to make a cupcake.

And now for something off topic...

Step 1: Pour a tiny bit of Herta Vanille Cake Mix into a cup

Step 2: Put in the microwave for 3 minutes

Step 3: Voila! Take out of microwave



Step 4: Put spoon in and eat.

Funny thing is that the yummy crust is in the centre of the cake!

Wes

Still looking for house

KW and I are thinking of moving to the suburbs. Ok, before you guys go “woah! That’s where the rioting is! What are you thinking?!”, we’ve checked it out with folks who do live in the suburbs. The rioting is from the north and interestingly enough, in central paris. So areas like the south, west and east of paris is safe. And that’s where we are looking.

Yeah, sure we will lose a lot of buzz, spend a little more on transport, have fewer facilities and shopping areas near our house. But hey, we get an extra room and a proper kitchen. And we get to sleep on a real bed rather than a sofabed – all for the same price or less!

So yup, we are gonna check it out these couple of days. Call some folks in the suburbs to see if we can view some houses. From what we hear, it sounds like living in AMK or Joo Chiat versus living in Tanglin or Orchard – which works for us. I really don’t know how it’s gonna work out. We will probably know when we get to see the first few houses. If we don’t have a good feel about the suburbs, we’ll probably stay put where we are.

Jo

Week Deux

Today we visited the 3rd house. I thought it was nice, big courtyard, large windows. It’s still a studio but I guess I could live with it. After we left the apartment, Kar Wai was shocked I even considered the place. So I guess it’s more house hunting ahead.

It’s been raining lots here so the streets have been very wet. But the sun comes out once in a while so that is nice. Once the weather improves, we plan to start shooting the music video to Paul’s music. As for the state of our spoken French, we’re trying to train ourselves not to look at the cashier displays at supermarket check-outs but to listen to the amount the cashiers are asking for. It’s tough, but I think we are starting to get the hang of it.

Tonight, while channel surfing, we came across a Hong Kong movie with Anita Yuen and Leslie Cheung in it – UN-DUBBED! So we stopped everything we were doing and sat down to enjoy, finally, a non-french movie. Then it was back to Space Cowboys, in French, of course. But it was a treat, nonetheless.

Jo

House Hunting

We’ve been to view 2 houses so far. One is near Alesia, south of Central Paris. When we got there, honestly, the house is nice, new and it’s got a big kitchen which is a major plus point for me. Downside is that the living room is tiny and the area is super quiet, not the peaceful kind of quiet, but the nothing-is-happening kind of quiet. I can live with it but it’s a no-no for Kar Wai.

Then the next day, we saw one at Dupleix, in the 15th arr. This one has got a more even division of space for each room and a lively area outside. For Kar Wai, it’s something he can live with. Sigh, but not for me. It’s the kind of house that is put together for whoever wants to stay - no love - just couple of pieces of furniture and appliances thrown together and viola. Take it or you can leave it for the next desperate tenant. It’s just a no-no for me.

So we are back to square one. Made a couple of calls, houses rented out already, etc. But we will continue trying. Worse case, we will continue staying in the 30 square metre studio that we are staying at (the landlord we have now is just great and easy-going). But that would mean we gotta leave 16 DHL boxes of our stuff in Singapore coz this house is just too small to take anything else! Now, that would be an interesting turn of events indeed….

Jo

PS: Spring is here! today is 21degrees, hot sia - kw

Week 1

We have been here for almost a week. Spring is coming and the days are brightening up. We had great sunshine and birds chirping outside our window when we woke up this morning…something we got everyday in Singapore but never really appreciated until we came here.

It seems easier to settle down this time round. Maybe it’s because we are back at the same apartment so familiarity is on our side. We have started house hunting, hoping to find a 2 piece (1 bedroom and 1 living room) apartment in the 14th or 15th. First house viewing scheduled this Sat at 11:15am. Wish us luck!

Our appointment with the Prefecture is on the 10th of April. So we gotta find a house by then and show proof of rental contract. We will also be meeting someone next week to talk about a shoot to get things rolling. So things are looking up (Janis, we can see the light already!!!! Haha)

As for the protest, we’ve only seen a trainload of students shouting from across the platform in the metro so far. Feels more like a NUS rag-and-flag ra-ra type of protest more than anything else. Of course we haven’t been on site to where they are gathering to protest so we probably haven’t seen the true extent of things. But most people here don’t seem too bothered and the students look like they are having fun more than anything else…so life goes on. Not to worry, Paris is not under siege like how the news puts it.

Other than that, we are doing well. Eating lots and sleeping lots as usual after a mad 3 months back home in Singapore.

Jo

Flying MAS at 920pm

Hey guys,

We will be hitting the airport at 7plus with Jo's family. This will be our last post in Singapore for a long while at least. Donno when we will post again as the apartment we took doesn't have net access, it's the same one in the Sep/Oct/Nov stay. Take care all those in Singapore. The riots in Paris are ok, don't affect us. Thanks for writing Tow Yong and Lennard.

Might be back in late May for a shoot, till then see how. :-)

Update!:

We're at KLIA now. They gots Internet WIFI! W00T! We updates blog! So hip!

Anyways, this trip quite funny. I don't feel anything, not excited nor anxious. Just zero. Interesting, when the plane took off from Changi just now, only thing I did was imagining what people were going to do tomorrow; Dan's going to school, Kat going to work, my mom waking up and making breakfast... like we're leaving our lives behind and starting a new one. Always dreamt about this when we were young but never thinking that it was going to happen...

ok got to go, boarding time now.

Wes

Leaving Singapore: Part II

Hey guys,

Just came back from French Embassy, we got the Singapore permit to get the work permit in Paris! Confusing huh? And btw, we are leaving 19 March! Guy at the embassy said that if we don't leave in March to apply for the work permit in Paris, the application will become void and we will have to re-apply (5 month process). Likely we will have to pack up about 90%, go over there in March and come back for about 2weeks to a month in June-ish to get remaining 10% to bring over to Paris.

Wes

Leaving Singapore

Hey all,

We might be leaving Singapore somewhere in May or June 2006!! Long story, something to do with our work permit visa thing with the French Embassy. So we waits. Just an FYI. :-)

Wes

There and back again.

On the way to the airport we started seeing snow falling, jo got her wish and just before we left. anyhow, plane got delayed 2 hours due to heavy snowfall and we got back to singapore at 1pm plus.

On hindsight, it has been an interesting trip, we met advertising, fine art, photo school, photo exhibition people, and on the very last night before we left, we met a journalist and had a great time talking shop. In short we met people from almost the entire spectrum of photography, so it has been an interesting time.

This has been the longest we have been out of the country, next year will be longer i think, we will leave likely around feb2006. So here we will end the blog for the time being... till we are in paris again. :-)

wes

Listen to your heart

In the last few weeks that we have been here, I have noticed that people here embrace a different belief from what we have back home.

I mean, Paris is like Singapore in that we are both small cities filled with people rushing about work and home, buying groceries after work or hanging out at bars and coffee places with friends during weekends. And everyone seems so busy, so much so that with the exception of tourists, every other person has the same spaced out look in the metro/mrt.

But 2 weeks after we arrived, I saw a girl crying in the metro. And she wasn't crying and wiping her tears away like she had a bad day at work. She was crying with her eye make-up running, her face was wet with her tears like she just broke up with the man she was to marry or was told she has 2 days left to live kind of heartbreaking crying.

And no one stared at her. They glance but they don't seem to think it abnormal.

I would have thought that that was because people around did not want to further embarrass her, like how we would turn and pretend the girl did not exist, had this incident been on the mrt in Singapore. But interestingly enough, 2 days later, I saw another girl, crying... no, sobbing her heart out with a friend on the street.

And a week later, another one crying as she walked into the train. And another 2 weeks later, another running across the platform, greeting her friend in sobs and tears.

I think in this part of town, being in emotional need is accepted as a real and necessary part of life. The downs of life are also the highlights. The low points in life are also that which we want to savor. This is all part of life.

For me, at least, this is an eye-opener. I must confess that I am terrible with handling emotions. I don't remember the last time I cried in public. I must have been like 8?

But here, people listen to their hearts. And they let it come out. In the metro. On the street. Or wherever and whenever their hearts need to speak.

Jo

Winter is come

hey hey

it is getting really cold here. after last night's little walk, i have to wear my big winter coat. we have a little meteo card that measures the temperature and most of the time it reads about 4 to 8 degrees or so in the daytime. this morning it got no reading. ha!

have been reading Lord of the Rings trilogy book, solid writing, very nice, almost old english like. been on battlefield2 for last week for my alone-time, have met up some potential contacts, got turned down by some but there are some openings, will followup in Feb when we are back. jo says that this trip has defined my photography path, so if God closes a door and opens a window, i will go see how this works out.

went to a pc-shop area in montgallet near the bastille, and it is awesome, it is seriously happening, it's like sim lim square... except that the shops are spread out over a large area over a few roads and 99% of them are run by chinese folks! cool or what. and guess what, some of the stuff is cheaper than in singapore.

best
wes

Start of Week 8 and back to our regular programming

Hello all,

Kat left last night on Air France and is safely back home in Singapore. Was in Terminal 2 of the airport and it looks great. Better than the olde T1 that MAS or Thai use. Anyways, we found out that Air France only allows a STRICT 20 kg limit on check in luggage, anything more than that and they whack a surcharge. ;-p

The riots seemed to have quieted down lots due to the curfew and there are lots and lots of police guys and gals in central Paris looking really really serious. But things are ok!! Just gettting colder and colder. Winds are chilly and we need to wear more stuff.

Best
Wes

The Riots

The TV has been reporting lots about the riots. Where we live and do stuff is safe. Central Paris is not affected. Seems to be happening in the Paris suburbs and around the country. Due to our limited french and lack of internet connection, we are not too sure about where it's happening except that it's not in central.

Wes

sisters in arms

sisters caught pigging on instant choc cake

kat rolleth her eyes

darth kat and little her red stick

Sister in law arrivez!!

Kat is here! Updated us about stuff at home (nothing much it seems, except the dengue) and generally more happy-busy, we have stopped counting the days. She brought some stuff we needed including great CD from the TBM, a non-flat pillow, my 13-year-old Lord of the Rings trilogy book that I haven't finished, Photoshop CD (that’s why we couldn’t post photos).

She gets up really early (body still on s'pore time) and gets us up and running by 9am. She and Jo bought a battery powered hair cutter thing and Jo tried her barber skills on me last night. I thought worse case I'll just end up with 6mm crew cut, so what can I lose? I'm really really happy, turns out that my head looks great after the cut. Of course it doesn't look as good done by our stylist in s'pore but it's 80% close.

Went out for ice-cream and macaroons at Laduree at Champs Elysées 2 days ago, had rose ice-cream that tasted like bandung (!!) And had the best pistachio macaroons in the world.

Went to Hotel Invalides yesterday, got loads and loads of different types of canons. Got some pix for Dan Koh and Wahj, olde french mortars! They look really cool, close enough to the ones on Last of the Mohicans if I'm not wrong. Btw, this is the place where Napoleon is buried, but we didn't see the tomb coz got to pay for tix.

Btw, about the riots near Paris, they're on the outskirts of Paris in the suburbs, so we're ok. Thanks for calling and sms-ing.