On the previous post, I mentioned my first experience riding a bike (Velib') in Paris. This week, I managed to go to or from the office on a bike. Successfully!
The first attempt took me 25 minutes with 5 minutes struggle on a climbing road. Puuiihh!!! Hard work! As you can imagine, as soon as I got off the bike, I felt like flying. My legs felt stiff and I was sweating like hell! That first experience was sufficient for not repeat the same mistake. Teh second time I took another way, a much flatter terrain. It saved me 5 minutes altogether.
Coming back from the office is much faster due to the descending road. 20 minutes. Yet, there is always a problem of finding an empty slot at the Velib' station near my place. On my first try, it took me 25 minutes to eventually find one, which is located 10 minutes walk from my place. On the same day, I realize it was partly due to some technical issues in some of the Velib' terminals, including the ones closest to my place. Hence, people could not rent out the bikes from there. On the second attempt, it was not too bad though. I only had to wait for 10 minutes before the next person took out a bike from the station which left out one empty slot for me.
Velib' is a new system in Paris. The similar one has successfully been implemented in Lyon. So, there are always things to learn from the Lyonnaise, particularly managing the circulation of the bikes, so people would not find it daunting when it comes to finding empty slots for returning their bikes.
Over this weekend I noticed a lot of people were using Velib' service. I guess the program is getting popular amongst the Parisiens. For me, it's like a dream comes true. Yes, it's true. I used to dream of riding a bike or strolling on a roller blade to go to or from my office! Now I have the opportunity to do it, although I have to be extra prudent with the traffic. The good thing is polution is not such a bad thing in Paris compared to, say, Jakarta. I love it when I can smell a fresh Parisien air in the morning and watch the Parisiens starting or finishing their days from my bike. I like it when the air smells coffee or croissants from the cafes or boulangeries along the streets. So typical Francaise. Someday, I will miss all these, for sure!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Julien Doré et Moi... Lolita
Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Mr. Julien Dore, the genius winner of Nouvelle Star 2007 a.k.a French Idol!
From his first appearance at the top 15, he has become my favorite, not only my favorite French idol, but one of my favorite musicians. That night, he did a magic and brilliant work with his original rendition of Like a Virgin. What do you think? Have you ever heard or seen anyone like that before? His voice has a wide range, from a low bass note to a high tenor, more importantly he has a good control of his voice. Always pitch! His musicality is just great. He has demonstrated that his genre is also broad, from pop, jazz standard to rock, the one which I think he enjoys most. He did it all with a style. His own style!
His stage performance is unique and brilliant. His body language is incredibly hilarious. He moves like a rubber ball. His originality is the reason why people like him.
Just recently, he released his first single, Moi... Lolita. A remake (I have never heard the original version myself) which is critically acclaimed. A lot of French people put their two thumbs up for his brilliant work. He sang this song twice during the competition and people loved it.
His rival on the final of Nouvelle Star is another good singer, Tigan. He represents the black community in France. To me, there is still a lof of things he needs to learn before he can become a professional singer. I often heard him open a song off key. His stage performance is, in my opinion, monotonous. So is his genre. The one he did best is the slow R&B. Out of his performances, I liked it most when he did a brilliant unplugged rendition of Billy Jean from Michael Jackson.
Yet, on the overall musicality, Julien is better than Tigan! Now, I am looking forward to Julien's first album and, of course, seeing him live in a concert. Go Julien!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Playing with Fishy
For the second time around, my photo was selected as one of the three winners of the week at the Schlumberger's weekly photo competition, called Around The World of Schlumberger, having defeated 83 other submitted photos. Excited? Definitely! I have not submitted my photos for months. Been busy lately. Also, our Sony DSC-T1 compact camera was recently broken, dead, kaput... without any reason. All of a sudden, we could not switch it on. Fixing it in Paris was not an option. It would be bloody expensive, perhaps not less expensive than buying a new one. Besides, it is already 3.5-yo. Time to buy a new one. We decided to go for a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ2. Another compact camera. I still can't afford buying a big semi-pro camera, because simply I can't imagine myself traveling with a stroller carrying my huge camera, bulky lenses and sometimes handycam too. Too much hassle. I have given up that dream for a while. In the meantime, we are pretty happy with our new one. It is a good compromise. 10x optical zoom with a wide angle. More features and formats. 6 MB resolution. Shaking stabilizer. I think if you have a small kid like us, this one is good enough.
The good thing about having a compact camera is that it's C-O-M-P-A-C-T! I mean it! With it, you can always carry it around in your pocket and take shots of some moments which may only last for a second! Taking photos of a kid is like trying to catch a fly. You have to be faster than them, because they move so quickly. If you are not quick enough, there goes the important moment. Don't ever dream of expecting them to strike and hold a pose for a few seconds, like a model. It will never happen!
This photo in particular was taken during our recent holiday in Novus Villa Bali. With the help of the morning lights, I took this moment which surprisingly gave me a great light effect from the left hand side. The two frangipanis look glowing. The pond with a school of fish seems clear. Nadia was on the focus trying to reach the fishy.
To be frank, in the beginning I hesitated to submit this photo if only Dita had never encouraged me to. She saw it differently. According to her, the glowing lights look as if the photo was taken in a studio or something. She simply loves it. Then I thought I had nothing to lose anyway. The next thing was to find a title. Not just a title. I have always wanted the titles of my articles or my photos to be able to speak for the contents.
This photo has taught me a different dimension about the world of photography. I simply learn that a good photo can also be produced with a small compact camera. After all, I am not an expert in photography. I know very little about the techniques. Yet, I always love it when I produce a good photo for my eyes. Yes, for my novice eyes. It gives me a different level of satisfaction, even if it is only for my own collections.
For now, allow me to just enjoy my new compact camera and try to optimize its features in order to produce another good photo for the next competition.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Back to Paris... Back to Independence Day
We're back to Paris, after a great 2.5-week vacation in Bali, Jakarta and Bandung. Dita, Nadia and I sure had an incredible time reuniting with lovely families and dear friends (begajuls, edoeners, etc). As usual, it always seemed short, during which we had to juggle our time meeting people and sorting things out. You can see some of the photos here.
This is to update you all that we safely arrived in Paris on Wed, Aug 15, morning and were welcome by a gloomy and rainy summer weather (Summer this year has not been good at all). Nadia behaved really well throughout this long flight. She slept, woke up for the meals and slept again. Played a bit during the transit in Hong Kong. Upon arrival, she did not seem to suffer from a terrible jetlag. Her routine returned immediately. Meanwhile, Dita and I had to recover from it only after a couple of days.
The day we arrived in Paris, it was a public holiday, so we had a full day to cool of at home. Paris was so quite (well, at least in our non-touristic quartier). It was not a surprise for us. It has been a tradition that August is a vacation month for most of Parisiens (maybe Europeans too). Most shops are closed. Streets are quite. Buses, metros and church are empty. It feels good and weird at the same time. The next day I went to the office. It was also quite. The hustle & bustle of Paris are replaced by a ghost city. Yet, I love it! Less hassle. Less traffic (but of course, tourist attractions are always full, particularly this time of the year).
Having been surrounded by many people during her holidays, now Nadia found herself playing alone or with her Papa and Mama. Although she immediately felt home in her own place with her own toys, bed, etc, she seemed lost in the beginning as if asking where everybody has gone. The good thing is she did not lose her cheerful attitude. She is still as happy and smily as she always is.
In the morning of Aug 17, we celebrated the Independence Day at the Indonesian Ambassador's
residence. Funny, it had been 16 years since I stood there in such a protocol and sang Indonesia Raya, our nation's anthem! It felt weird though, particularly, knowing that you do this in someone else's country. There were perhaps 200-300 people most of whom I had never seen before. Undoubtedly, almost everyone's goal that day was to taste Indonesian food too! What else do you think they came for, apart from singing Indonesia Raya? Ahahaha.... The food was incredible. Although, it was only two days ago that we returned from Indonesia wherein we spent time by eating, eating and eating, still the food they served tasted so good. Gado-gado, asinan, rendang, sate, lontong, es campur, etc. Yummy! We also made a new acquaintance with a young couple, Richard, whose father is from Madagascar, Anggi and their one-year-old daughter. By the way, I forgot to mention that I wore my batik for the first time in Paris! Some of the them would even think that I worked in the Embassy! Maybe I looked like a 'pejabat'. Ahahaha....
Paris has recently introduced their bicycle program, called Velib. It is such a great idea to promote bicycles amongst its residents and more importantly it was launched a month ago just when I thought I would buy a bike for myself. Now I do not have to worry about buying one or finding a space to store it. I tried it for the first time a few days ago to go the the tram station from my place. Pretty cool. Now I use it (or I will use it more) for short distance trips, e.g. going to the gym, shops, etc. Perhaps, I will try later to bike all the way to my office. Not such a bad idea, as it may only take 30-45 mins. Dita may be using it soon to go to Nadia's daycare, yet she
still doesn't dare trying it. It is so understandable knowing that Paris is not Amsterdam. There are only a few special bike lanes on the streets, i.e. cyclists will have to share with the other road users. Hence, being super extra careful is highly recommended for the cyclists. Maybe, they will prepare special lanes in all streets in the long run.
Lastly, I would like to share the good news which I received upon my return to the office. One of my photos (on the left) I submitted to the Schlumberger's weekly photo competition this year has been selected as one of the finalists for the company's official calendar 2008. I named it "A Lone Violinist". A rare moment of a street musician standing amongst the old columns and behind the afternoon shadow at Place des Vosges, Paris. I am very excited! I don't know with how many other photos I have to compete. Bonne chance pour moi!
This is to update you all that we safely arrived in Paris on Wed, Aug 15, morning and were welcome by a gloomy and rainy summer weather (Summer this year has not been good at all). Nadia behaved really well throughout this long flight. She slept, woke up for the meals and slept again. Played a bit during the transit in Hong Kong. Upon arrival, she did not seem to suffer from a terrible jetlag. Her routine returned immediately. Meanwhile, Dita and I had to recover from it only after a couple of days.
The day we arrived in Paris, it was a public holiday, so we had a full day to cool of at home. Paris was so quite (well, at least in our non-touristic quartier). It was not a surprise for us. It has been a tradition that August is a vacation month for most of Parisiens (maybe Europeans too). Most shops are closed. Streets are quite. Buses, metros and church are empty. It feels good and weird at the same time. The next day I went to the office. It was also quite. The hustle & bustle of Paris are replaced by a ghost city. Yet, I love it! Less hassle. Less traffic (but of course, tourist attractions are always full, particularly this time of the year).Having been surrounded by many people during her holidays, now Nadia found herself playing alone or with her Papa and Mama. Although she immediately felt home in her own place with her own toys, bed, etc, she seemed lost in the beginning as if asking where everybody has gone. The good thing is she did not lose her cheerful attitude. She is still as happy and smily as she always is.
In the morning of Aug 17, we celebrated the Independence Day at the Indonesian Ambassador's
residence. Funny, it had been 16 years since I stood there in such a protocol and sang Indonesia Raya, our nation's anthem! It felt weird though, particularly, knowing that you do this in someone else's country. There were perhaps 200-300 people most of whom I had never seen before. Undoubtedly, almost everyone's goal that day was to taste Indonesian food too! What else do you think they came for, apart from singing Indonesia Raya? Ahahaha.... The food was incredible. Although, it was only two days ago that we returned from Indonesia wherein we spent time by eating, eating and eating, still the food they served tasted so good. Gado-gado, asinan, rendang, sate, lontong, es campur, etc. Yummy! We also made a new acquaintance with a young couple, Richard, whose father is from Madagascar, Anggi and their one-year-old daughter. By the way, I forgot to mention that I wore my batik for the first time in Paris! Some of the them would even think that I worked in the Embassy! Maybe I looked like a 'pejabat'. Ahahaha....Paris has recently introduced their bicycle program, called Velib. It is such a great idea to promote bicycles amongst its residents and more importantly it was launched a month ago just when I thought I would buy a bike for myself. Now I do not have to worry about buying one or finding a space to store it. I tried it for the first time a few days ago to go the the tram station from my place. Pretty cool. Now I use it (or I will use it more) for short distance trips, e.g. going to the gym, shops, etc. Perhaps, I will try later to bike all the way to my office. Not such a bad idea, as it may only take 30-45 mins. Dita may be using it soon to go to Nadia's daycare, yet she
still doesn't dare trying it. It is so understandable knowing that Paris is not Amsterdam. There are only a few special bike lanes on the streets, i.e. cyclists will have to share with the other road users. Hence, being super extra careful is highly recommended for the cyclists. Maybe, they will prepare special lanes in all streets in the long run.Lastly, I would like to share the good news which I received upon my return to the office. One of my photos (on the left) I submitted to the Schlumberger's weekly photo competition this year has been selected as one of the finalists for the company's official calendar 2008. I named it "A Lone Violinist". A rare moment of a street musician standing amongst the old columns and behind the afternoon shadow at Place des Vosges, Paris. I am very excited! I don't know with how many other photos I have to compete. Bonne chance pour moi!
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