colours of summer

The sun does indeed play a vital role on your moral and your mood in general. People are more cheerful, carefree and they smile a whole lot more. You see burst of colours everywhere you go. The streets are lined up with flowers and plants of different varieties, the countryside sways to life with the season's crops.. summer fruits choke the stalls in abundance, with signs gaily announcing berries, prunus and melons of every kind which will instantaneously rouse your taste bud. It's best to buy fruits that are 'in-season' as they are more ripe and full-flavoured than 'out-of-season' fruits (the same goes with vegetables). Our favourite buys are cantaloupes, cherries, strawberries and nectarines. Fruits here can be expensive especially so if they're produced in France but with all those delectable, luscious fruits beckoning you, it's hard to resist... miiiiiaam!

let the ball roll!

Now, I'm not a soccer fan.. but I can watch the occasional 'interesting' match like those of the World Cup caliber and more so if it's the final match. So last night was the first time I saw a live match since the World Cup kicked off. It was a match between France/Spain and France won 3-1.. it was exhilarating to see the two teams played even if I just saw the last 20 minutes or so of the match.. at least I caught the 2 winning goals from the French team. Soon after the match ended, honking from cars tooted the streets every now and then for a good 30 minutes, to glorify the French win. It was a pity to see Spain booted from the tournament though.. I like the Spanish team.. mainly because of Raul.. oh nevermind... (mais tu es toujours le meilleur, mon chéri :)

So les bleus=the blue (that's how the French team is affectionately referred to by their loyal, high-spirited fans) will be up against Brazil in the next match.. now that, would be interesting to watch. The French team has been dubbed as l'équipe de vieux (literally, the team of old man) due to the fact that most of the players are well into retirement age, in soccer term. But just like the wines here, they get better with age.. or don't they? Well we'll just have to wait and see if these 'wines' will be good enough till the end to be put up on a pedestal or to be spit out like a bad aftertaste. I'd like to watch France play England.. so to echo the millions supporter of the old team, "aaallez.. les bleus!"

[NB: The 3 French scorers. Photo courtesy of AFP]

le week-end

Weekend equals to grocery shopping, a quick run to the video club for the weekly dose of a good dvd.. and a quick trip downtown. That's pretty much our routine come weekend.

This time though, we didn't go to the video
club.. instead, we rented our movie through the cable. It's one of the services offered by this cable operator. It was the third time we saw a dvd through the cable network. Movies are priced at 3€ for recent ones and 2€ for the latter. All you have to do is select the movie you wanna watch, key in your password and your movie is ready for viewing.. you have a time frame of 4 hours before your movie is disconnected. There're hundreds of movies available to suit your fancy but it lacks good recent movies and that's the bad point. The good point though is that it's really convenient and we don't have to run along to the video store hence saving time and petrol.

It's usually very crowded when you shop on Saturday. As stores are closed on Sundays, you can expect to see most of the city's population crowding hypermarkets and the shopping belt. We mainly do our grocery shopping in Géant=giant (hey whaddya know, we have Giant here too!).. and they have recently installed automated checkout counters which let shoppers scan their own items and pay with either cards or cash. There are four such counters being monitored by an employee. At the moment, these counters are reserved for customers carrying 10 items or less. It's especially convenient for those who want to avoid waiting in lines. We had a go at it and it was fun to play cashier and it was a breeze too. You just had to follow the instructions on the monitor and you're out of there in no time.

Now we have the cupboard and the fridge loaded with goods to last us for the week.. donc, à la semaine prochaine...

summer : été

So it's the beginning of summer.. hot weather abound.. time to bring out the barbecue pit, prep up the garden, slap on dollops of suntan lotion and head to the beach or the camping site... and that, is the typical agenda for most French come summertime. We see very little sun most part of the year so people tend to embrace the sunshine and bask in the sun as much as possible to enjoy the warmth and get that coveted tan.

It's the season with the longest and warmest days in the year.. we have approximately 16 hours of daylight right now. It was strange for me in the beginning to have my dinner when it's still bright and sunny outside. This is the only period in the year when we stack up the fridge with sorbets and ice cubes and lots of bottled water.

The start of summer also marks the celebration of the annual music festival in France. La Fête de la Musique is into its 25th year and everywhere throughout the country, thousands of musicians are gearing up to perform free concerts all night long. Under the French law, this is the one night in the year where there is no sound restriction at nighttime.

Summer kicks off on a festive note.. and we can expect to see more performers and buskers in street corners, bars, clubs, parks.. who will keep us entertain throughout the season.

almost citizen

Finally, my long-term visa or rather carte de résident (resident card) has been finalized and it's sitting snugly in my wallet. We don't have to deal with the paperwork at the préfecture for another 10 years. Until now, I had to renew my visa each year and after 2 years living on French soil, I'm granted a 10-year renewable visa which is perfectly fine with me.. I don't intend to take up French citizenship as that would mean giving up my Singapore passport. It's not necessary anyway since being married to a French entitles me to the social advantages of the French system (rebate on doctor's visits, medical treatments, allowances for kids, etc.) and having the carte de résident means I can be hired and have the same rights just like the normal French if one day I decide to look for a job here.

The physical aspect of the card though is nothing to be lauded.. it's almost the size of a passport, hence not small-wallet friendly. The French has yet to reduce the size of their IDs and the likes, to credit card size.. but apparently there has been talks to change all that, so all the best...

a day in dijon

We went to my in-laws' last weekend since my hubby had his Friday off and we made a stop in Dijon on the way there. Our last visits to Dijon were mainly spent shopping in Ikea so last Friday we did more exploring of the city... walked the streets of Dijon, window-shopped, shopped.. and shopped encore..

Dijon is notably bigger than Auxerre, so both of us were rejuvenated to be in the midst of a city buzzing with life and activities. I realized how much I missed people-watching while we were lunching in a resto-brasserie.

(some) Dijon trivia:
The city is the capital of the Burgundy region and is reputed for its mustard, blackcurrant and pain d'épices (ginger bread). The town centre is one of the best-preserved in France: 60% of the buildings are over 200 years old. The city was the birthplace of Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower).

The international flower show (called Florissimo) is held in Dijon every 3 years.. so we should really check it out the next time around.

To sum it up, we had a great weekend.. the weather was perfect, we had fun and we contributed to the economy of Dijon.

to dearest Abah...

This space is dedicated to my dear Abah who's celebrating his special day today.

Thank you for the things you've done to make my world a better place

and my life a happy one.

I'll always be grateful for your thoughtfulness, your generosity,

the way you make room in your life for others.

Happy birthday, Abah!

We wish you good health and happiness and thank you for being a great dad.

quel temps de merde...

And so we're having another long weekend here.. it's the fourth public holiday since April. I have the impression that my hubby's on intermittent short vacation these past months what with his day offs and the public holidays... and what do we do during these free days?.. nothing much I'm afraid.. besides a shopping trip downtown, we're pretty much home bound. The weather has been on the grey side a lot lately and with the temperature hovering below 15°C, you don't really feel like having a stroll outside. The cold seems to stretch longer this spring.. but apparently, they've announced good weather for the coming weeks, so we're looking forward to that.

Besides that, the flu bug is making its rounds.. poor hubby is having it and I've been freshly infected.. just hope the bug won't stay long.