Do-It-Yourself

Posted by Analyse at 9:22 PM

Tuesday, June 28, 2005












After a week-long stay, my in-laws left Dijon leaving our enclave as good as brand-new!

My mom was surprised to learn that house reparations and renovations or even house constructions here are being done by the proprietors and their family and/or friends, unlike in the Philippines where even small reparations are being subcontracted. I'd say that they are artists at heart, DIY enthusiasts, handymen / women, manual labourers with plenty of ideas and imaginations...they really take pride on their oeuvres (works/achievements)! It's not surprising that when you visit a friend's house, the house visit would include explanations on how they did such and such and on what nouveautés they ventured their creative minds into.

Frenchguy's favourite hideaway these past days/months is our little garden. Good thing we're not at all hacienderos, otherwise, he will probably spend all his afternoons outside the house. In giving way to my caprice, frenchguy agreed to buy a house within the city centre, compromising his desired tranquillity in the outskirts of Dijon. In consequence, he wanted to hide himself from the noise of the city and the scrutinising regards of our neighbours by transforming our garden in a little forest hehe.











Big shops like Leroy Merlin, Bricorama or Jardiland (for gardening) facilitates a lot on these menial tasks. A lot of do-it-yourself stuffs could be bought and even neophytes like me could venture into something constructive. Here's my little garden proving how greenthumb i am. ;)

Code of Ethics

Posted by Analyse at 4:21 PM

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Working with people of different nationalities is fun and enriching because you learn another culture and opens your eyes to another mode of life. There's more to that tho, it could be raging too...

I have this Asian colleague whom I trained in the Philippines last year for a certain chemical process, a new process which we started in that particular production site. She was fun and probably technically capable (it wasn't flagrant for me!) so I gave her all the do's and dont's so she could troubleshoot if ever a problem arises. At first, it was normal that she didn't have any input whenever we did brainstorming, she was new compared to our years of struggle to validate this process and have the final product accepted by our market.

After a few months, a problem arised and engineering intervention was called to the rescue. She was equally sent there so she could familiarize herself with the ins and outs, and of course to help. Would you believe that in the middle of all the problems and several production days lost, she would have the guts to ask me at 4pm at what time would we be able to go home and which restaurant would we venture our hungry stomach into, and which bar would I prefer to drink my favorite long island ice tea? Ang sarap tirisin! While I was receiving all the pressures from the big bosses, she was dreaming of sipping her cocktail in a cozy bar??

Another intervention, this time, we assumed that she's fully trained to be able to play with the process. Anyways, that was the objective of her being there, to be able to respond to technical needs asap and not 'france' going to 'asia' each time. We let her do the move with our emails (action plans) as back-up, at that time, I declined the assignment as I was already pregnant.

Today, I received an email from her, sending to everybody two documents which I originally written, and on which she modified 3 lines, 3 lines which came from us (I don't even have a thank you email from her!), and now, she listed her name as the writer, erasing my name, not even adding it to the list of verifiers. Is that considered plagiarism? Or just a simple non-respect of other people's work?

Next week, she will be here (ano, titirisin ko na ba?). I will train her (na naman!?!?!?) to the same process which I've been optimizing since months now. I couldn't travel and have this process set-up in Asia in the coming months so she will do the job. I will revise the document and hopefully, after my maternity leave, I still have my name on this document...respeto lang po!

Anniversary Treat

Posted by Analyse at 6:48 PM

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

One thing that clicks between us, that keeps us together after all this years is that we really enjoy each others company. No dull moments, ika nga. Aside from serious stuffs to kulitans, we also love doing outdoor activities together.

For our anniversary activity last weekend, we decided to give way to each others caprice.

After cancelling his yearly week-long kayak with his friends just to accompany me on my lantang gulay period of pregnancy, he's been targetting to do a weekend descente in a river nearby, always keeping a close watch on the water level on the web. So Sunday morning, with the kayak and picnic gears, off we went to Morvan (le Chalaux). As usual, the river was crowded with kayakers, canoe-kayakers, rafters and hydrospeeders so I was assured with his security. He won't be alone navigating. A born worrier, if only kayak is not his first love, I would say NON to this dangerous sport, but he always tells me that le Chalaux is for beginners and retirees hehe (humbly enough, the 2005 Canoë-Kayak European championship will be held there, check here). Now I'm wondering in which classification he belongs??

My role in all these? The official driver and official photographer - dropping him off to the starting point, bringing the car to the arrival point, escalading the pathways up to the fall/passage (oppps, on-leave muna while preggy) and gearing myself for the best shot of my life (?).

Ok ok, I'm not at all a good photographer, proof is...
It's either I got him on the picture...
without his kayak... (see, it's floating!)
or the whole scenario...but no objective at all..
or him...but unrecognizable...
or this, on the passage for kindergartens as he considers it!

The only time I had him 'live' was here.

After the kayak session, we devoured our 'energy-filled' lunch in preparation for our second activity, my choice: hiking!

I'm not a high-endurance hiker, my backpack shouldn't exceed 10 kg in case of itinerary hike, elevation gain shouldn't exceed 1000m, and distance should be limited to less than 20km. That's my best record so far. More than that, I'll surely be dead.

This weekend, we did a 12km hike. Not bad for a 4-month Buntis. We started with a yellow trail (easy level) and ended the hike with a red and white trail (difficult level).

Occasion for us to be closer to nature and closer to each other...


shhh, je t'aime...

Inlaws at Dijon

Mes beaux-parents (my parents-inlaw) will be in Dijon tomorrow and that's for a week. Whoa! They'll be here to help frenchguy fix some house errands (painting, varnishing, repares), yep, they don't pay here, they do it themselves. Expect cleaner house, better garden and palatable dishes prepared by maman! I call it parent slavery!

3 years and counting...

Posted by Analyse at 4:23 PM

Friday, June 10, 2005

Parang ang bilis naman yatang lumipas ng panahon..while feeling ko highschool pa rin ako when I chat with my highschool friends, my white hairs cannot deny the fact na, yep, indeed, ang bilis ngang lumipas ng panahon..

3 years na since I signed the PACS with frenchguy, yep, it's official, we're legal partners! 12th of June, Independence Day sa Pinas nun, but for me, it marks another milestone in my life. Of course maraming nagtatanong kung bakit di na lang kami nagpakasal? Oo nga naman, bonne question! E kasi naman po, dami kayang papeles that I have to provide from the Philippines, wala akong time, and besides, it's not your business anymore di ba, so leave me with my decision alone hehe.

Since anniversary daw namin this weekend, at sa panahong ganito masarap balikan ang nakaraan, eto na ang aking top favorites sa aking memory disk..

Year-end 1999, First contact: Set-up ng buong department namin. 4 pa lang kaming pinoy employees nun. Sa lahat ng nakatrabaho kong Pranses, sya lang ang di formally inintroduce sa kin, don't know why, probably because we didn't work together directly. Anyways, he introduced himself directly to me minsang nagkabanggaan kami sa stairs, and called me Monalisa from then on. But not because of my mysterious smile..but of my rare smile..

First date???: He was constantly inviting us out (me and my colleagues) every weekend he spent in the Philippines. And me, doing the same route (Manila - Laguna and vice-versa) on a Sunday was the last thing I would certainly do. I said yes to his invitation once, obvious kasi na nagtatampo na sya, but as usual, I never showed up hehe. Bastos ba? Then came my french counterpart, panahon na kasi para i-train ako. There, he hit the joker! Come weekend and I finally went out with them, user kasi ako, I wanted to extract more technical informations from my counterpart. Ayun, I discovered that he was a funny guy, that I wouldn't mind going out for another gimik...

Job assignments: Do I have to explain why he monopolized all Philippine projects at that time? ... Well, after he kidnapped the charming Chemist, he was never again seen in that Phil production site. Wanted!

What's with french kiss?: Wala lang, curious lang, sawa na kasi ako sa pinoy imitations e nyehaha..and it was before he left Pinas for his last project..when he came back to his native land, it was funny to know that he was projecting a future na with me, now, what's with pinoy kiss?

Filipino hospitality at its best: He came back to Phils after months of LDR and went direcho to our Manila appartment but nobody was home (my sis are still at school and I was caught in the congested roads of Manila), he thought, 'Everybody's really excited to see me.' After minutes of waiting outside, he decided to play basketball with the street tambays hehe. That's my guy! Mapasensya!


A funny night de fiançialles (engagement): After an exhausting travel from work, I finally met frenchguy somewhere in Greenbelt. He was on vacation at that time, but since I cannot get some vacation, we contented ourselves with night and weekend gimiks. It was in a cozy restaurant in Makati, exactly the same restaurant which ex and I frequented. I thought, what the fuss, past is past, right. And so we went, and then frenchguy was directing me in ex and I's favorite table, oh wow, was I hallucinating, did I actually see ex ressurecting in frenchguy's body?? Oppps. Ok, let me proceed with the engagement process. Conversation was of course concentrated on ex hehe. Then came the menu list. When I've finally taken my order, I was surprised by a nicely wrapped little box on my plate which I didn't notice when we arrived. I started to explain to frenchguy that some restaurants have this culture of making their lady client extra special by offering her roses or chocolates especially on special occasions like Valentine's Day etc. But since it wasn't Valentine's Day at that time, I told him that there must be some festivities in Thailand on that day (we were in a Thai restaurant). Frenchguy was attentively looking at me, patiently listening to all my explainations, probably thinking, 'Ang kulit naman nitong batang to. Kelan ba to titigil sa kadadaldal?' I opened the 'gift' with no finesse nor romanticism...oh wow, I was teary eyed, it was the engagement ring! CUT! Censored na kasi...

He should have told me the objective of the dinner beforehand...I could have tamed myself...but until now, that night remains special for us..even if it turned out to be more comedy than romantic..

1st Vacation destination: Dos Palmas, Puerto Princesa. A month later, Abu Sayyaf took the American hostage from the same room where we stayed...imagine if we pushed our vacation a month later...

Age gap: You wouldn't believe this, from being colleagues to barkada to bf-gf, napag-usapan na yata namin lahat except one - AGE! 10 years po ang gap namin. I thought he was younger, he thought I was older, bait nya no. Sabi naman nya, it was the responsibility I was handling in the company before, yung 23 yo kasi sa kanila, baby pa hehehe.

Accelerated 7 day visit: Ok, time for me to meet the parents, see Dijon, interview with the university for my postgrad studies, interview with the company where I did my OJT, see the snow and finally visit Paris. All that in 7 days at freezing point!

Almost 6 years na rin pala kaming nagkukulitan, and yet, we still enjoy each others company. And when we look back, natatawa na lang kami sa pinagdaanan namin. Thinking kung gaano sya kapursigido, naiisip ko, siguro nga tama ang nanay ko, na maganda daw ako hehe (just wondering kung bakit sya laging nasa church??? malamang nagsosorry sya kay Lord hehe).

We just took another BIG step in our life together, last May 29 was my first Mother's Day. Di pa sya lumalabas pero feel ko ng maging nanay hehe. I had my duyan as a gift, saka na lang daw yung coconut trees, the sea and the tropical weather...

Contente Maman

Posted by Analyse at 6:17 PM

Friday, June 03, 2005

Nothing is constant, everything changes. When I was younger, like every little girl, I also dreamed of big expensive weddings. I dreamed of having a big house. I dreamed of hitting big in the corporate world. I dreamed of the perfect guy who could give me perfect beautiful children. I never ceased dreaming though, I still dream, but from ambitious dreams, I now content myself with accessible realistic dreams. Anyway, nothing is perfect.

I hear typical questions like 'would you like a boy or a girl?' 'single or twins?', and that's almost everyday. If I were still in my dreamy world, I would certainly answer, 'a girl, a beautiful one, twin if possible, she has to have the same eyes as his dad, the same silhouette as his mom, same nose as his grandpère, patient and practical as his lola, intelligent as his dad, analytic as his mom, music inclined but sportive at the same time...and the list will surely be long!But my answer to this question is simple, as long as he/she is healthy and normal, I'll be more than happy and satisfied.

The wait is finally over, we received the result of my blood test yesterday and everything was normal. It was to detect the risk of chromosome abnormalities such as Down's syndrome etc. I guess it's just normal for us to be worried, everybody wants to have a normal child, right?

In fact, the consequence of this test is somewhat mind-disturbing. Frenchguy tried to open the topic once but I guess I wasn't ready for that yet. There are some topics where I'm more of an 'I'll cross the bridge when I get there' attitude. What if there are some abnormalities? Will you keep it or abort it? Keep it would mean lifetime sacrifice for you and lifetime suffering for your child, amidst the joy and everything a newborn baby entails. Abort it would mean saying NO to a lifetime responsibility which could provoke morality issues (if you're religious), and probably, regrets? I don't know.

We're just glad that we don't have to open up this topic and engage into a tough decision. Our baby is normal and it's all that counts.

Contente Maman