Monday, October 29, 2007

The Lone Violinist in Calendar 2008

So, one of my photos is finally published on the Schlumberger's official Calendar 2008, for the month of August to be exact. Of course I was surprised and excited, as this is the first time that my photo is being publicly recognized and published.

The photo itself was taken at the Place des Vosges, Paris, in the sunny afternoon of summer 2006. It is not uncommon to find street musicians in this lively square every weekend. Then again, I was there in the right place and at the right time. The violinist had just begun his 'gig' with his first tune when I was walking past him. Luckily, there were not many people yet around him, so I could take a shot of him with the columns without any other people behind. Seconds after, people started gathering around him. Had I been a few seconds late, this photo wouldn't have been here. Talking about photography of the right moments again....

Nadia and Her First Halloween Party

Click here for the photos.

A bit earlier than the tradition, but still everyone had a great time last Friday at the Halloween's Sweets Hunting. Strolling the streets of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, kids were wearing different themes of customs. Mostly students of St Mary Mount school, where Lana (first daughter of Ronny and Hana Hendrawan) is enrolled.

Nadia and Naia (Lana's sister) were also enrolled, not to the school itself, but to the Halloween party. Along with the other kids and the parents, we all knocked on the doors of the 13 participating houses for a 'trick or treat' in a cool fall evening.

Nadia as a little orange pumpkin, Naia as a little red devil, Cici Lana as a little princess... they were all so cute in the customs. And of course, the parents participated too. Mama Dita as a 'spider' sorcerer, Mommy Hana as a Zorro Woman ("Rozzo"... called Lana) and Papa Novel as an old witch, equiped with long grey hair and a broom. Papi Ronny came late from Rotterdam. Tante Dewi, as one of the host, joined us for a dinner after with illuminating skulls on her head.

Everyone had a really good time!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The Strike... Second Day of Catastrophe

The strike really stroke me this morning. 2h15 to get to the office compared to the usual 30 mins! What a record!

Today, they prolonged the strike. Not quite as pervasive as yesterday, but since people were anticipating that things were to get back to normal, everyone went out in the morning rush hours. The result was a catastroph. I had never seen so many cars in the street in front of our place before. People went to different directions, left, right, straight.... Chaos. Some were anxiously waiting for the bus who never arrived because of the jam. I could see the tense on everyone's face.

Me, I was determined to go to the office by Velib' this morning. No bikes left at the station near my place. I ran to the next station nearby. Nothing. The third one, zero! No, not really zero. There were 3 or 5 bikes in each of those stations, but they were all out of services. Flat tyre, broken chains, etc. Hhmmm... even Velib' employees were at the strike too.

So, I kept on heading east hoping to get a bike in the next station. No result. Went down to metro. 8-minute waiting time. Then the next one would be in 31 minutes! Needless to say, the platform was packed, packed, packed! I decided to get out and wait for a bus. Ten minutes passed. I could see my bus in the distance, without any sign of moving closer. The traffic was really bad. So, I kept on walking until the next bus stop (still hoping for a bike). Finally, I got on the bus until I realized it was a bad idea, as the bus was moving too slowly. There was no way I would reach the office in time for my 10 o'clock meeting. I got off at the next stop and took another bus to the different direction, which is my home direction! "Yes, I am coming back. This is not worth all the effort. Better work from home again."

Reached home. Drank a glass a water. Dita mentioned tram might lightly interrupted. Well, that was the only transport means I had not tried. Walked 10 minutes to the tram station down south. Look what I saw on the way... rows of bikes at the Velib' station near the tram station! Anyway, I was too late for a bike now. Besides, my tram was approaching. I was relieved! Finally... I reached the office after 2h15!

Whilst walking from the tram station to my office, I saw someone put chain lock around a Velib' bike, so nobody but him would be able to use it! Nasty....

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Nadia et Le Bebe Nageur

It has been a few weeks since Nadia restarted her swimming class. Restarted... because she had taken baby swimming lessons in Oz before when she was still 6-month-old.

Now, we have a new routine every Sunday morning. We intentionally chose Sunday class, so we can go to the pool together. Also, Dita and I can take turn swimming with Nadia. The pool is in Porte d'Orleans area, not very far from my office. It is a small pool, special for baby swimming classes and not open for public. There are about 10 toddlers in our class. Mostly French.

Taking Nadia for a swim is always a fun experience. She is always excited and not afraid of waters. She was so used to waters back when we were still in Oz. Then there was a period when we hardly took her to the swimming pool because of the move, etc. Before we began with this Sunday swimming class, we had taken her again to a public pool once in a while. It took her a little while before she got familiar again with the waters and the old Aussie techniques.

I am personally a little disappointed with this Sunday class. Perhaps I put my expectation a little too high. Dita and I had set our standards based on our experience in Oz. Over there, swimming lessons for babies were so much fun and well structured. Babies and parents (mostly mommies) were encouraged and praised a lot. Swimming always come along with popular kid tunes, like Humpty Dumpty, which Dita is still using it with Nadia until today. She is still using the techniques she learned from Oz.

After 4 classes, I have not yet seen any progress on the way the instructor teaches the class. All she and her assistant have done is just let the parents do whatever they want with their toddlers. The only good thing is that they provide some toys and floaters (at least they are quite well equipped). And I had asked the instructor in the beginning of her teaching plans. She said for the first few weeks she would let the kids get accustomed to the waters, before starting to teach them some techniques. Some of them kids are a little younger than Nadia and never took a lesson before. Makes sense.

But for how long? I don't have the answer yet. But last week, my doubt about their teaching ability was growing even more, after seeing her assistant teach the parents how to hold the toddlers in the waters. The technique was okay. It is just the method. This shy assistant was trying to lead the class, whilst the old teacher was trying to encourage people to sing a French song whilst swinging our babies gently! Yet, she could not pick a single song or perhaps she did not know much of the French kid songs. Until... suddenly Dita started with Fais Do-do.... and the other parents (and they are French!) follow!

Another funnny thing. Two weeks ago, the teacher asked the parents to encourage their toddlers to jump to the waters from a slider. She gathered everyone around and explained the tricks. Of course, she would start with an example. She picked a boy called Matthieu, about the same age as Nadia, who always comes only with his daddy. The teacher said, "Let's start with Matthieu. He will show you how to do it. If he can do it, there is no reason why your toddlers cannot do it." The teacher seemed to know Matthieu and his daddy pretty well. I was thinking,"Perhaps he has taken the lessons for a while." Voila, everyone was eagerly watching Matthieu in action. One second, two seconds, five seconds... he did not move from the slider despite of her daddy's encouraging words. Instead, he reached out to him, did not dare to jump off. It wasn't a proud moment for the teacher, let alone the daddy. Poor Matthieu. The role model failed. Then came Nadia. She crawled up the slider and... wooossshh!!! She jumped to the waters in no time! Everyone clapped. Ever since, the teacher has picked Nadia to lead the way and Dita and I are being the proud parents. Ahahaha....

Nadia and Potty Training

It's about time for a potty training. Dita had uncontinuously tried it on Nadia several time before, without any satisfying results. This time, she is more determined than ever to give Nadia a toilet training.

The result of the first day today was pretty good. Dita uses a very encouraging method by giving one sticker to Nadia for every successful pee or poop. Today's result: 3 stickers! Two for pees and one for kaka (poop). What an achievement to start with! More importantly, we feel Nadia is big enough to digest the process and to say it when she feels like doing it, of course, before it really comes out.

The only disappointment of the day was when she was peeing on the couch. Ahh! We think she was just being lazy to move, whilst her favorite Les Petits Einsteins was on the tv. Never mind. Slowly but sure, we are getting there! Bravo, ma petite! Bravo, ma femme!

La Greve, Rugby et Les Separations

La greve aujourd'hui. Une grande greve. Le plus grande depuis que je suis arrive a Paris.

It's a strike day today all across France for all types of public transportations, which include trains, metro, bus and tram. Not totally paralyzed, as those companies, under the French law, are still obliged to deliver minimum services to public during the strikes. The reality was the guaranteed services were way too minimum for people to do their normal business, i.e. below 20% of the regular service, which means people would have to wait more than half an hour for your transports. Yet, some transportation means, like tram, were completely dead! Bus services were not at all guaranteed (and I did not see a single bus crossing our street today).

This is the largest strike since I arrived in Paris. There had been some small strikes here and there with no significant impact on most people. But this time, I myself got affected too. Although I could have opted to use Velib' (bike) as an alternative solution to go to work, I decided to work from home, instead (fortunately I did not schedule any meeting today). Better stay away from the troubles. Lucky enough, I read from the news that the number of Velib users doubled to 27,000 this morning, which could mean tough competitions to get one bike, unless you started your day really early. My biggest worry was that unable to get a bike on the way home. That would have been a disastrous long journey home. This afternoon, I saw quite a long queue on the Velib' station near where I live.

The worst is yet to come. It seems the Labour Union may prolong the strikes until tomorrow. We'll see....

What triggered the strike? The new French government under Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced the plan to change the retirement plans for a special regime (group) of public services employees who work in areas that are considered dangerous, e.g. train or bus drivers, gas or electricity workers. Under the current plan, that group of employees are eligible to opt for retirement as early as the age of 5o. Now, Mr. Sarkozy would like to erase this privilege for the sake of egalite for everyone, which means they would not have any choice but to retire at 65, like everyone else in France. In addition, they will change the way they calculate the pension plan for those people.

In 1995, the Prime Minister back then, Alan Juppe, touched the same issue which resulted in a huge strike and demonstations on the street. People managed to make him step down. Will it be the same this time? I personnally doubt it for several reasons (I am not trying to be political here). Firstly, Sarkozy has a good reason by arguing that he was eligibly elected to lead this country for a change that was eagerly wished for by his voters, which means most people had approved this plan during his presidential campaign. Secondly, according to the survey, 65% of the French say that the strike this time was not well justified, which means that privileged group of employees receive less supports from their fellow countrymen than they did 12 years back.

Enough for the strike. Back to rugby. Tomorrow, France will play Argentine again to aim for the 3rd place. Last week, the England made Les Bleus look like a team of kindergarden kids (perhaps it's too much of an exaggeration). A huge disappointment, to be exact. They did not play as well as they had when they beat All Blacks. Far below par! Anyway, England also had to thank the incredible Wilkinson for the win.

Back to Sarkozy. While he was faced with a big strike today, the rumor of his separation from his wife, Cecilia, had been the headlines of the week. Historically, they had been separated before for a little while. The media speculates this time may be the end of it. It started with the facts that Cecilia has disappeared from all official protocols for the last few weeks. Anyway, who cares? I put it here because I noticed an interesting phenomena. Madame Segolene Royal (the female president candidate from the Socialist Party) also parted her way from her husband, not long after her loss to Sarkozy. What the hell is wrong with those politicians? If they cannot even keep their families together, how could they boast about family values at their campaigns? Better yet, why should they even be allowed to lead a country?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Les Bleus... Incroyables!

If there is a saying "Nothing is Impossible", last Saturday Les Bleus proved it right. Alright, I underestimated them, so did everyone else. The previous seven consecutive defeats from All Blacks did not seem to bother them. Trailing 3-13 in the first half only stimulated their fighting back spirit. I have to admit it was the best rugby match I have ever seen so far... And the best game ever played by Les Bleus. They were discipline. Their defense was like a wall which made All Blacks frustrated. Their sudden attack strategy proved to be extremely effective this time. In addition, the player selections in the first and second half were brilliant, thanks to their coach. 20-18. Chapeau pour Les Bleus!

Next... England in the semifinal. England also made a miracle last week after beating Australia who was another big favorite, 12-10, without any try. Jonny Wilkinson, once again, was the hero of the match. Now, both underdogs were on the cloud nine. England, as the defending champion, will not give it up so easily. France, on the other hands, has learnt their lesson from the beginning of this world cup. Besides, they will take advantage playing in their own home.

Regardless, I think we will witness another world-class game again tonight. Allez, Les Bleus!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Rugby WC 2007: Did Les Bleus Blow It?

The Rugby World Cup 2007 is half way through, but it seems that everyone has already agreed that All Blacks (the nickname of the New Zealand team) is the strongest contender to lift the trophy from the defending champion, England. No doubt, they are now rank #1 in the world. From the four group matches completed in the last three weeks, All Blacks has demonstrated their true class. They prove to be too solid for the other four teams in the group, technically and physically. Their intimidating Haka proves to be effectively too 'frightening' this time.

What about Les Bleus (The French team)? As a host, I have to say the French did not do a good job. Why on earth did they arrange France vs Argentina as the opening match? Didn't they learn that Argentina is one rank above France? Didn't they study the statistics from their previous six matches whereas Argentina won five of them? Or perhaps they were so blindly over confident that their team could overcome the Tango at home.

As everyone has already known, the result was a disaster. The nervous France was humiliated in front of their own public and President! 17-12 for the Puma Argentina! So disastrous that now France has no option but playing NZ in the QF next week.

I say the French blew their best opportunity to advance to the final. It is still not understood why the two best teams in their group would have to meet in the opening match? Learning from FIFA World Cup, usually the two strongest teams in each group face each other in the very last qualification match, hoping to be a decisive one, in order to determine who will finish as the topper of the group. If the French organizers did it just to serve a good level of match in front of the French public and Nicolas Sharkozy, they could have chosen Ireland whose ranking is notably below France. And Les Bleus would have had a better chance of saving their face! Besides, Les Bleus would have had several easier matches in store to play around with their team formation and strategy, cast away their nervious start, before eventually playing their best game against the Argentine. Chances are they might not have been humiliated and they would have topped their group... and they would not have had to play NZ that early.

Anyway, it is now too late for Les Bleus. They will now just need to weather the storm and expect for the worst, because on their last two friendly matches in Paris and Marseille this year, All Blacks mercilessly did not give any chance to Les Bleus. Not to mention, next week they will play in Cardiff (Wales), whilst Argentina will play their QF match in St Denis, Paris. So much for the screw-ups! Say goodbye to their dream best scenario. Bon courage, Les Petits!