Wanted: Yaya

Reality is slowly getting into the picture. The question is, who would take care of the baby?

If only I was in the Philippines, for sure, di pa ko kinakasal, me yaya applicants na kagad ako, not even knowing if I’m baog or what!

Much as we want to be cool, this problem has been haunting us since we learned about the good news. It’s a known problem here in France, if you want your child to be enrolled in one of the nurseries here, better register now. I mean now, not 3 months before the D Day!

There are actually different options that we could take, it’s for us to measure the applicability of each solution to our current situation. Talking about anticipation!

Les Crèches (The Nurseries) – public or private, it could be a good solution for us. The fee though is exorbitantly high, and immediate registration is a must. They could normally take infants from 2.5 months to 3 years old, just in time when I finally restart my so-called active life.

Les Crèches Familiales ou Crèches à Domicile (In-House Nurseries) – it could be an ideal solution, considering our bébé will grow in a more agreeable environment. In fact, we will have to bring our child in the nanny’s place where she guards plusieurs children. The schedule could be more flexible too.

Les Assistantes Maternelles Agréées (Professional Nannies) – the same regime as that of in-house nurseries in terms of condition and flexibility but they are not under the community administration.

Nounou (Nanny) – another ideal solution but costs a lot higher. It’s like a personal yaya who would stay in our place while we’re out. She’ll do little house works too! Ideal if the couple have tight schedules. An advantage is that, our baby will grow in the same environment – in our own house. No early wake ups to go to the nursery. The problem is, will we entrust our very own abode to somebody else?

Jeune Fille Au Pair (Au Pair)– the best solution (well, for us). A young student who would want to learn another culture and language and willing to take care of babies and do a little household chores at the same time. The host couple will pay for her French lessons, food and lodging and some weekly allowance. The advantage: higher flexibility as she will stay in our house.

We have been contemplating for quite a while on which solution we should take, and Au Pair is gaining more votes. We only have 2 problems actually, 2 BIG PROBLEMS!

- None of his family resides near our place.
- Both of us could be in another part of the planet in one point or another because of our work.

I could of course slow down, but little voyages in Paris for a short meeting have been part of my routine already. Frenchguy, my workaholic counterpart does a lot more than me, responsibility oblige. Honestly, waking up early morning everyday to prepare your baby, bringing him to the nanny without forgetting to refill his milk, diapers etc etc, going out of work early to fetch him and other bladiblahblahs is not life. I guess we could do better.

But another problem resurfaced. I’ve heard that issuance of au pair visas has been stopped by the Philippine Government, and honestly I have second thoughts on taking European or American/Canadian au pairs. Don’t they love partying? I want somebody I know or my family knows, somebody I could trust. It will be an exchange program anyway, so both of us will gain from the experience.

Just wondering how other working moms cope up? YELP!!!

Life's Update

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Somebody pushes me to eat more, drink more, sleep more and work less. In the afternoon, after work, instead of lurking on the net, I stay bedridden in front of the TV with my eyes closed. I have sudden urges to eat citrus fruits with salt (frenchguy finds it weird), my taste buds are not functioning anymore. I have acne all over! I feel tired! Somebody is trying to invade me!

The Culprit: A 2.5 cm budding creature, diagnosed to be 8.5 weeks old, with a heart pumping at 171 bps and surprisingly capable to bring so much happiness to anyone hearing his existence.

Color Coding

A friend of mine just had her former ex-pinay-now-Amgirl mother-in-law here in France and this morning, she was so eager to finally tell me her inis and relief that her mother-in-law finally left. She was so fed up as her mother-in-law went overboard by being so mayabang, and most especially, as she was told to be tsimay look-alike for having that baluga color.

After doing everything to be as hospitable as possible, that was what she gained. Honestly, when she told me about her adventure with her mother-in-law, I just couldn't help myself from laughing. I was just knocked by the idea that after long years of being in America, this poor mother-in-law still have the same standard of color / social discrimination - branding morenas as lower class citizens and fair-skinned as socialites. Oh well!

Here in Europe, we could trace back this kind of social classification in the Medieval Ages where tanned population were mostly the farmers while the noble families stay as pale white as they could. They even apply talc powders all over their body to get even whiter.

Now, the trend has completely inversed. If you've got a tanned skin, that would mean that you could pay yourself a vacation. If you've got a perfectly uniform tan all over your body, that would mean that you could even pay yourself a vacation in one of the European Nude Beaches. Sosyal ka day! And finally, if you've got a tanned skin all year round, that would mean that you've got a lot of bucks to pay yourself an artificial tan (tanning cream, tanning bed, sun lamps). O di ba.

In my present entourage, everybody envies my natural tan. Hehe, i don't have to pay expensive vacations to have that.

Well, is stereotyping normal? Ewan. The last time I was in Pinas, I was really nognog as I just came back from a long vacation, and most of my colleagues had the same remark: Ay, nakakaitim pala sa France. Buti na lang, I'm not really affected with such remark, proof, I never used whitening creams.

There's one remark which affected me though: Ano ba yan, hanggang ngayon, di ka pa rin tumataba. Well, it's past tense now, no more vitamins, appetizers, food supplements, etc. I just learned to love and accept who I am, and who wouldn't, lahat sila dito, inggit sa kin. I could eat anything I want without worrying about my weight :).

Leave my job alone..

The world had changed and so is the old continent – Europe. From Europe de 15, it counts 25 members at present, with Turkey readying itself to be welcomed by the group. Its status though, presents like a floating big question mark which creates indifference vis-à-vis the European populace.

After Spain has voted Yes to European Constitution, France will be next in line by the end of May. But just before affronting this incomprehensible constitution, another issue has been dominating the headlines and of course, the pause-café conversations this past weeks – the Bolkestein Directive. It translates to service liberalisation inside the EU. The essence of it, if I were to dissect my entourage’s different views, is to create a job/manpower market inter-Europe to compete with the rest of the world and eventually prevent today’s rampant delocalisation, well, to at least keep the jobs inside Europe.

Is this really the best solution?

Ok, let me give you an economic perspective from a non-economist :) - MOI! Those were the days when the manufacturers dictate or impose the best product to their customers. Now, the golden rule is ‘the customer is always right’. Million bucks are allocated every year to understand what the client wants (thus the conception of a new product or new functionality to an existing product), to incite the customers to consume the said product (marketing) and finally, to make the product accessible to its target market (distribution). With the stiff and growing global competition, the client is confronted with different choices or solutions to only one demand, it’s for him to pick the best product which best responds to his need, budget and taste. Now as a customer, aren’t we satisfied to buy a 50€ DVD labelled Made in Asia rather than exactly the same product which is Made in France but costs thrice the price? Come on, be honest.

Now, what would this French DVD manufacturer do if he sees his sales trend go down? How would he keep his products on display inside the supermarkets and specialty stores? Either he sets higher quality and lower manufacturing cost targets to the detriment of his employees’ work conditions or opt for the radical solution – delocalisation.

Let’s do a recap, you were happy as a consumer right? What would you feel as an employee? Yeah, this is a sad fact of globalization. The world has changed, now, we have to cope up with it.

So what does this situation show? Well, it’s a concrete example of jobs flying to Asia. Now, could you blame these Euros if they want to keep the few remaining jobs inside their territory for themselves?

In fact, the directive proposes that every European citizen could freely work anywhere in Europe but would carry its country’s regime. This would mean a French employee could work in Poland and would have the same benefits and social charges as in France, and vice versa. I have heard different views on this topic which sounds more of a yelling insecurity to me, an uncertainty to what future awaits for them.

Well, all the people around me would surely vote NON on this directive. Personally, the way I see things now and if only I could cast my vote, I’ll surely vote NON.

Headache at Work

Since our target this year is for our new products to reach our market at the soonest time possible, the higher management decided to lighten up the work load of our R&D colleagues so they could focus more on R, as in Research. The D, the Development will be slowly but surely be transferred to Engineering. Well, this is a good point as we could see probable future problems and could immediately create an action plan. But the negative point is that, this is another work load for us, and since we, the Engineering Dept are not the supposed-to-be drivers of such project, we don’t have the final word and the communication path is all the more complicated now.

I’m conducting a feasibility plan in our pilot plant (reminds me of my college days) since two weeks now and this afternoon, I finally cracked up! How could a simple feasibility plan be as complicated for them? Well, sure we have loads of product tests but I did an impeccable planning so my operators won’t be lost, as they say here, it’s nickel chrome – but they were lost nevertheless. Well, now, don’t accuse me of language barrier, I speak French as I speak Zambal, no boasting!

The problem is, they don’t talk about organisational problems between them so I have to settle each problem one by one. And then, at the end of the chain, problems still persist! Hay naku, another problem is that, everybody thinks that they’re doing the right thing. And if you try to correct them, it’s as if you’re putting their competence in question, hello? Mga highblood tong mga taong to. Pano ko kaya sila dedeskartehan na di sila maooffend? Tapos feeling pa nila, me kinakampihan ako. Hay naku, ang hirap talagang ihandle minsan ng mga oldies (their age bracket ranges from 45 to retirable age). Hope tomorrow, they will do it the right way.

The Mess!

I arrived at home last Tuesday with all the drawers opened, all our clothes on the floor, all the papers messed up in all the corners of the house and our window and terrace door forced-opened. They took my laptop, our numeric camera, my jewelleries, and some dollars. They also broke my printer. The policemen didn't find any trace of fingerprints or whatever.

Now, the question is, do they really have to put all those mess up? My, they don't have to dig around the house to take what they have taken! Now, I have job till this weekend to put back our house in order! Grrr!

*These little bastards took my dollars but had the kindness to leave me my Pesoses and Bahts.

Tax Me Not!

Every French household has surely got that inevitable black plastic envelope in their mailbox early this week, which, if you don’t pay much attention, could easily be mistaken as publicités (advertising magazines). I automatically junked it in the yellow bin last year thinking it was one of those weekly dose of publicité again - inspite of the big ‘Pas de Pub, SVP’ on our mailbox. Thanks goodness we could declare it by internet. This piece of technology really does wonders.

Since it will be my first ever tax declaration, I guess it’s just normal to know where my hard-earned money goes. And so I learned:

1. To reduce the public deficit - this year's deficit is estimated at ~15%. One budget allocation which most nationalistic Frenchies could rant about is the budget for EU aide. Let's take a classic example: agriculture. A farmer from East Europe got a financial aid from EU and bought a top-of-the-class tractor, saw his productivity growing, and sold potatoes in France. Logically, a french buyer will purchase the less expensive potato (from East Europe) rather than the quality-guaranteed French potatoes. Buy French! - ah, if you've got a tight budget, what would you do?

2. To support the growth and employment - Well, this is a good objective. I just hope they could stop those companies from packing their baggages and install somewhere else.

3. To act for social justice - Among others, the government promises to improve the buying power of the French population. They already started by lowering the prices of basic commodities...hmm, this is kinda delicate and should be balanced. It shouldn't push the industries to produce outside to be able to sell at lower prices in France.

4. To ensure the financing of different priorities - On top of the list is RESEARCH. Two thumbs up! This step would ensure long-term solution, profit-generating activity, work for the population, and competitiveness vis-à-vis the international community. Isn't that great?

So where in the world do they get their budget to finance all these?

In fact, the biggest source of government income is the mighty VAT which represents ~42% of the total income. And why not, they tax 19.6% at a normal rate - the fifth highest in Europe - and 5.5% at a reduced rate.

Here’s Europe’s VAT ranking:

1. Sweden, Hungary and Denmark at 25%
2. Poland and Finland at 22%
3. Ireland and Belgium at 21%
4. Slovenia, Italy and Austria at 20%
5. France at 19.6%

And who would resist, everything is impeccable and inviting to encourage higher consumption, thus bloating the VAT fund. Tourism alone gets a good share of tax collection! I haven’t even talked about cigarettes…

The second biggest source is – hold your breath – tax on revenue (18%)! Surprised? Nope, not really. Now, take a plunge on these numbers and feel the weight of each percentage.

less than 4,334€ = 0%

4,335€ - 8,524€ = 6.83%

8,525€ - 15,004€ = 19.14%

15,005€ - 24,294€ = 28.26%

24,295€ - 39,529€ = 37.38%

39,530€ - 48,747€ = 42.62%

more than 48 747€ = 48.09%

No effect? Then try this: tax calculator

Now, here’s the lighter side, you get 20€ incentive if you declare it by internet, and what more is that, you get a longer deadline. I guess younger generations will opt for this solution, but not the older ones. They would rather do it the traditional way rather than ‘publish’ their bank account numbers on the net (even if the site promises security!)

Nouveauté? Audiovisual Tax will be equally declared on this formulaire. Yes, they pay to have a glimpse of what is happening in France and around the world. But hey, I’m wondering how much percentage of the population really pays this tax. Hehe, there’s no way out now, you French magouilleurs!

Another nouveauté? The fiscal rights for those who are bonded by PACS (or legal partners) are now aligned as to married couples (before, we had to wait 3 long years before we could have a common tax declaration (we are on our 2nd year)– that is to prevent fake marriages). Yehey! That would mean one year tax savings!

Most of the French population will surely disagree with me, but in all honesty, I'm generally satisfied with what the government does with my money. I'm worry-free! I don't have to worry if I get sick, if I get laid off, if I give birth, if I retire, not even for my future children's education and health. Pourvu que ça dure! (Let's hope it lasts!). These frenchies just don't realize the luck that they have. As Maxime Le Forestier wanted to convey in one of his songs:

Est-ce que les gens naissent égaux en droits

A l'endroit où ils naissent

Que les gens naissent pareils ou pas

On choisit pas ses parents, on choisit pas sa famille

On choisit pas non plus les trottoirs de Manille

De Paris ou d'Alger pour apprendre à marcher

Etre né quelque part Etre né quelque part

Pour celui qui est né, c'est toujours un hasard

Translation:
Are people born with equal rights
where they are born?
Are they born similar or not?

We don't choose our parents or our family.
We don't choose either the pavements of Manila,
Paris or Algeria to learn how to walk.
To be born somewhere. To be born somewhere.
For those who are born, it is always a fate/chance.

Hotel Scams

If you think your safe in a 5-star hotel in Makati, then think twice. An email has been sent to me by a friend, who, herself, was also a victim of this scam in one of our so-called first class hotels in Makati. Read this:

Subject: Shangri-La Hotel Incident: please read

My daughter and I departed from San Francisco Intl. Airport on January 14. 2005 and arrived in Manila at 5:15 am, Sunday Jan. 16. 2005. Prior arrangements were made for us to be picked up from the airport by Shangri-La Hotel Makati. Upon arrival, we were met by an unmarked Shangri-La car.

We checked in at 5:50 am. We were assigned Room 2704. Our luggages (4 Pcs) were brought to our room a few minutes later. Since this was a Sunday, we had the day to just rest and visit with some friends. We ordered room service (light breakfast) and got dressed. We left the hotel to attend Sunday Mass at 9:30 am and returned to our hotel room at 4 pm. We were then picked up by relatives from the hotel for dinner at 6:30 pm. We were back at the hotel room at around 9:45 pm.

As soon as we retired to bed, the nightmare began. At approximately 10 pm the telephone rang, in the dark, I crawled to answer the phone and on the other line the operator asked me if I knew a certain Abdul something and that there were 7 men wanting to go up to our room. I told her in an emphatic way that I did not want anyone coming up and that I did not know anyone by that name and that I was not expecting anyone that evening. She then told me to call the head of Security (a woman named Lourdes) from my cell phone while she waited on the other line. As soon as I connected to this Lourdes, she said she was a hotel employee connected with the Abu Sayaf and that all of the employees were in this together and it will not do me any good if I attempted to call for help! That they do this to a lot of hotel guests and that they take care of the Makati police, politicians, etc. At this time, fear had set in. She knew my name, and said that we should have been kidnapped earlier but if I just followed everything she ordered me to do, we would not be harmed. At this point, the main thing that occurred in my mind was the recent warnings to travellers especially American citizens to be aware of our surroundings for fear that we may be kidnapped for ransom. She also told me that our room was being monitored by housekeeping and security. There were instances wherein I raised my voice, and she was quick in warning me to calm down or I would get hurt! She also told me that if we attempted to leave the room, they would spray our room. I was basically trapped with this woman using my own cell phone. I was worried for our lives! She asked me how much cash and jewelry we had. She ordered me to go out of the hotel and catch a taxi not from the front of the hotel but to walk out to the street and catch a cab. There was a cab waiting in the corner, we got in, was ordered to go to a 7-11 store, have the cab wait, purchase several thousand pesos of Globe and Smart phone cards. She had me read each and every number and pin number over the phone. We rode the cab again, this time, she ordered us to withdraw some more cash from a 24-hour CitiBank ATM machine. Since I did not remember my pin number, my daughter used her card. We rode the cab again and was ordered to let the driver drive to another city (did not realize how seedy the area was until we got there) to F.B. Harrison, and go to another mini store and order the taxi to leave. A woman by the name of Lisa will pick up the money and phone cards. Upon reaching the mini store, my daughter heard the driver say, do you want me to stay for your security? Taking a chance, I shushed the driver to be quiet. I signalled for him to wait.

We then entered the store, and I asked this Lourdes, where this Lisa is. She then asked me why I told the taxi driver to wait. She obviously knew I had asked the driver to wait because she told me that was their driver! So we went out and told him to leave. While waiting for this Lisa, Lourdes ordered me again to purchase more phone cards, did the same routine of reading off all the numbers and pin numbers. After this process, she ordered us to step out of the store, turn left in a dark alley, and walk until we see this woman Lisa. We were walking but decided to stop because it was getting darker. I demanded where this woman was, so this Lourdes in a sarcastic voice, told me how do you expect to see her if you stopped walking? (They were obviously watching us). Before we handed over the cash, she instructed us to go back to the hotel and wait for her call. Then she ordered me to hand over my ‘Philippine’ cell phone to this woman.

We hailed another cab and returned to the hotel. As we were packing since we wanted to leave the hotel immediately, the phone rang again, and this time she told us the cash was not enough and handed over the phone to their ‘Commandant’. He sounded very scary and demanding. He ordered us to call the front desk and have more phone cards charged to our room and brought up. Once we had the cards, I read all these numbers and pin numbers again and was ordered to flush all these in the toilet. In the meantime, she warned us that if we told anyone about this, they knew our flight schedule and that they would kidnap us. Then she ordered that we open another suitcase to look for cash. Obviously, we did not have any cash. She told us to check out of the hotel before the 5 am shift because this shift could do this to us again. Even without her telling us this, we were so scared, we just wanted to get out of that hotel.

We checked out at 1:03 am and took a cab to go to our relative’s residence at Rockwell Makati.

We were both trembling all the way to our relative’s place. We were both trying to be brave for each other but in reality, we were so traumatized by this event. We consoled each other and thanked God that we are alive. It could have been worse. My daughter was so traumatized that she wanted for us to take the next flight out in the morning, but because I had several important meetings to attend to, she agreed to stay a couple of days. Under the advice of my client, we booked ourselves to return to the States on January 19, 2005, Wednesday instead of the original date of January 21, 2005.

The next day, we mentioned this to our lawyer friend, and he did a little investigation of Shangri-La Hotel, and apparently there were three other victims the same day and all of us were picked up by the Shangri-La Hotel.

We were still so scared of taking the ride to the NAIA Airport, but fortunately, our lawyer friend provided us with top security all the way to our airplane.

Apparently, this modus operandi targets balikbayans and not foreigners. They want money, and they get it. I don’t know if the owners of these big hotels or our Tourism Department are aware of this incident. Maybe not. I did a quick search on the net about a possible exposé or article on this incident and only found this which doesn’t give any detail at all. Are these kinds of stories taboo in our daily journals?

I just hope my friend will find the courage to tell the story and get over with the trauma this incident had caused her and her family.

What is happening to our country? Where are we going? Why are we, Filipinos, insist on pushing our beloved country into the ditch?

I hate to say this but: Mga kababayan, ingat po tayo sa ating kapwa kababayan.

PRINTEMPS

Spring season will officially ray its light on the 20th of March, that’s in two weeks time, and that would mean closet reorganization – thick pullovers and jackets a shelf higher – thinner pullovers and skirts on accessible shelves. I’m actually impatient to see those leaves and flowers sprout up from their dormant season – the glow of the sun as it gently caresses each petal, the birds coming back from their winter hideaway, longer daylight, more people crisscrossing in parks and centre-villles, the world transforming from grey to green and eventually, reopening of the very French terrace cafés. But with the snow endlessly covering the whole of France and the rest of Europe, I guess my thick pullovers will still conquer the lower shelves of my closet.

Never had I considered Dijon as a winter wonderland, but this year, I guess it merits to be nominated! Since December, snows come and go, as if they found a new playground, sometimes they rest, sometimes they don’t. Already in mid-march but snow downfall is still forecasted eventhough they’re not anymore le bienvenu.

Luckily, I succeeded to persuade frenchguy to buy a maison de ville (houses in the city center) rather than a maison de campagne (houses in the outskirts of the city). Roads are well salted (to increase the friction between the road and the tire) and well kept in villes than in the suburbs. Hmm, not really. Dijon had a heavy snow downfall last Friday and inspite of the efficient road maintenance, snow persisted.

As I take the same road itinerary everyday, I don’t really pay attention anymore on road signs or road conditions. I know it by heart. I can even go to work with my eyes closed. I know where the radars, the traffic lights, the policemen, and the schools are, hence I know where to decelerate. I was then in complete surprise (I was actually frightened!) when I glided and almost touched the parked cars as I shifted left to join the next avenue. That was my first ever car-slide! Lesson learned!

Well, enough for me. I already had a good dose of winter this year, but as I am writing this entry, the snow outside still continues to tease me. A big PRINTEMPS is printed on the 20th of my calendar, but the sole indication that it’s really coming is the longer daylight, other than that, everything reminds me of winter.

I survived!

With the current economic situation, hence the increasing unemployment rate, my entry to the current workforce is really un coup de chance, a rare opportunity I shouldn’t miss. What more is that, my employer weighed out every bit of a detail one should consider in evaluating the position status and the salary for an inhinyero like me. Well done, Madame!

After a year of tête-à-tête work experience with these hard-to-please frenchies, it’s inevitable for me to have a love-and-hate relationship with this 5-days-a-week journey I now consider LIFE.

I once tried to explain to my Mom and Dad how I work à la française and I thought they completely understood. But each time they ask me pertinent questions about my job or just the way I work, I just realize that it’s not at all the case.

So Mom, if you read this, just explain it to Dad. And Dad, if you read this, please be reminded that I’m not anymore working in our beloved Pinas and I don’t need that goddamn pension plan!

So there you go, let me explain myself:

March 1 – today marks the anniversary of my arrival in the busy world, in an industrial plot here in my adoptive country called France. My chronometer restarts. 41 more years to go before retirement.

May 1 – Labor Day. It was also my first day, well, with a permanent contract or what they call CDI here (Contrat à Durée Indéterminée). Ça s’annonce bien! (It starts well!) It was my first day and I was already on holiday.

Flexitime – yey, as long as I complete 35 hours per week, my quota is accomplished. Whether I work less (which is hardly the case), or I work more (which happens quite often especially when I’ve got an ongoing project) a day, my salary remains the same. Wala po akong OT. But the great thing is that, I’m the master of my time. I could arrive in my office at 9:30am or 7am and nobody cares. Anyways, I’ve got no salary deduction because I was late nor a salary increase because I was early. Fair deal, right?

Faire la Sociale – this was a tough initiation for a neophyte coming from another side of the planet like me. I mean, for those who work in an industry where time is gold and the only conversation you could have with your colleague is when you both are in a meeting. Here, socialization is allowed…and sans moderation!

Pause Café – 9:00, 13:00 (or after lunch), 16:00. I don’t know if they mark these planning on their agenda, but I assure you, they’re punctual. Here is where you could practice the above-mentioned faire la sociale thing. Well, not everybody of course follow this planning religiously, but I assure you, there are some!

Pause Cigarette – this is another thing for the faire la sociale application. When most of my men colleagues are out, surely, they’re on their smoking session!

Vacations – a friend of mine made a sarcastic remark telling me ‘hey, don’t you have but vacations there?’. Yep, in this part of the world, the rule is: We WORK in order to LIVE, not the other way around. Vacation is part of their culture and of course, their budget! Beware when you transact a business with them in July - August or anywhere between December and February, there’s a great chance that they’re on vacation.

Work Stress – beware, it’s contagious! Symptoms: You have sleepless nights. You succeed to sleep but you dream about your job. You have more pimples than before. Your favourite topic is your job. You complain about your job. You try to be organized but you work 12 hours a day or more. You work at home. You talk about work at home. You talk about work with friends.

Reserved Parking – I am entitled to one because my position status allows me to. I haven’t asked for it, I just park wherever is available. And if nothing is available inside the vicinity, I park my car outside at my own risk. My principle dictates me so. Heck, don’t other employees with lower classification deserve the same security?

Taxes and Social Security – the 22% deduction per month (revenue tax not included – I’ve got exemption for one year), plus the company’s participation which is double my contribution, covers taxes, social charges and social security. The company pays a complementary insurance for me too.

Stock Options - everybody got one here. Who wouldn’t? It’s known to be the best investment ever. Well, if you know how to play.

Work Accident – if you had an accident on your way to work (or vice versa), please be informed that it’s considered as work accident (thus company pays!). Just be sure that the accident happens on your normal route, and not on private accesses (such as universities, hospitals etc to shortcut the trajet).

Endless Negotiations – well, I find this particularly difficult. Everybody has got something to say. It’s kinda tiring and it delays much of our work. People management is certainly a tough job here. If there’s one which stresses me out, this is it!

Well, not bad. I survived!

My Share on Sustainable Development

The responsibility of the protection of mother earth, be it known, is not exclusive to industries alone. Each inhabitant has his own share of responsibility, whether we like it or not. Little measures, if done by many, would end up as a good tool for environment protection.

trash
Originally uploaded by analyse.

Here's my 10 hit list on how I help preserve mother earth.

1. Segregate - in France, they have this colour coding system which guaranties effective waste elimination. Green for bottles (vert pour les verres - easy to remember, right? Vert (green) and verres (bottles) have the same pronounciation), yellow for recyclable wastes such as plastics and papers, and gray for other domestic wastes. Each household is of course equipped with their own garbage bins which are furnished by the city or communal government.

2. Recycle - check the packages. If there's this recycle sign, then do it. Batteries for example, which don't fit with the green, yellow and gray segregation, could be eliminated by bringing them to the nearest electronics store where a bin is stationed for this purpose.

3. Re-use – problem with old stuffs monopolizing your drawers, cabinets and closets? Check if you could give them on charity agencies that could eventually send them to people in need. It may not serve you anymore, and elimination might not be the best solution yet.

4. Sell – vide-grenier: a day when French people empty their attics and resell those old / unused / unwanted stuffs which long been sleeping in their grenier. There are always those who seek what others wouldn’t want anymore: antique stuffs, stamp collections, old coins, old books, old maps, old rocking chair, old plates, old cups…vide-grenier is just about anything!

freeze
Originally uploaded by analyse.

5. Reduce fuel consumption - there are a lot of ways to limit fuel consumption and at the same time prevent throwing those bucks out of the window.

a. 19°C - it's the temperature best adapted to the human body. So if you're experiencing winter now, stop exaggerating, reduce that temperature and wear your pull-over now!

According to experts, an average of 21°C inside the house means energy optimisation. A meagre 1°C increase would mean 6% energy consumption, would you believe that? Here's a good temperature distribution for you:

Bathroom: 22°C
Living room: 20°C
Bedroom: between 18°C and 20°C
Halls and corridors: 17°C

b. Programmable thermostats - keeps temperature uniform inside the house. The best way is to manage the system:

Start heating an hour before waking up
Stop heating an hour before sleeping
Stop heating when you're out (mine stops at 7:30am and restarts at 5:30pm)

c. During summer, 22°C – 25°C on your air-conditioner will surely lessen your electric bills. You know, setting it at 18°C and wearing pull-overs on summer is simply ridicule!

d. Turn off the television and other electronic paraphernalias when not in use. Leaving them on standby mode is not the best solution as it still consumes electricity. Leaving a television on standby mode the whole evening, for example represents 2 hours of actual utilisation. Multiply those extra hours now with 30 to get your monthly extra charges for nothing.

e. Switch off those lamps - if not in use, better switch it off dude.

f. Take public transportation. If possible, take those public transportations. They are there to serve you. Not only you reduce your gas consumption a.k.a. budget, you also help limit gas pollution.

g. Take those bicycles out. Don’t you think it’s time for you to transform those fats into muscles? Here’s one practical solution for you.

h. Walk. If your destination is really near, please don’t bother to take that car key, walk! For a healthy lifestyle, an hour of leisure walking do wonders.

i. When you buy a vehicle, please take note of fuel consumption too. Don’t forget to have your vehicles controlled to ensure proper functioning, thus correct consumption.

j. Drive correctly. Yep, have you heard about economic driving? Be noted that each time you try to speed up, that translates to higher fuel combustion.

6. Plant a tree – for obvious reasons, right?

7. Product lifetime – as you must have noticed, product lifetime has decreased considerably nowadays, especially electronic appliances. Is it to accelerate the rate of consumption? Frenchguy has an old clock from his gradmom which is more than 100 years now. Every little part of it still works, to the enchantment of everybody in the family of course. I’ve got a decorative clock which I bought barely 2 years ago, it’s dead! When you buy, do you consider design and/or quality? Think about it.

8. Don’t throw anywhere – there’s a place for each waste, remember? Once upon a time, a friend of mine told me that he was charged with P500 fine for littering (a cigarette butt) at Buendia St, Makati. Everybody has got to learn their lessons, he learned it the hard way.

9. Preserve water – it’s one of our natural resources which is in real danger due to pollution and abundant use. I don’t want to propose flushing every 2 peepees because that would naturally cause air pollution, but get that economizer thing where you’ve got 2 buttons, one for half the volume, and another one for full volume. Do I have to elaborate in which cases you’ll have to use such button?

10. Stop farting – no kidding! A study showed that cows produce methane when they fart. Holy cow! Uh-oh, not me…

I must have forgotten some, or do things not listed which eventually go in this same purpose. One thing is for sure, I do my share, and I hope, you do too..

Concerned Citizen

Weekend Gimik

As jetlag accustomization (read: mental and physical alertness despite travels which could stretch out up to 26 long and tiring hours!) has been part of our professional life à la jetset, an effective way to fight this goddamn fatigue which miraculously works for both of us is to adjust ourselves at once with the actual time upon arrival at our destination. That is to say, adapt a life-on-the-go attitude as if everything is synchronized.

Frenchguy just arrived last Saturday afternoon from Thailand, just in time to have our lunch together. My pasalubong, a bunch of ripe mangos from Thailand was our mouth-watering dessert. Yummy yum yum! Needless to say that I would much prefer the not-as-delicious-as-our-Zambales-mangos from Thailand than the not-at-all-delicious-mangos from Brazil/Africa which are being commercialized here. I just hope Philippine mangos would one day reach the European markets..well, at least Dijon hehe.

After this sumptuous lunch, we then proceeded with our house decoration. Yep, frenchguy traffics a lot of Asian decorations each time he travels so each balikbayan drama with him means additional art expo in our saloon. What the heck, it’s thrice or so moins cher (less expensive) in this tsangge* haven. (*did I spell it right?)

The sun was still up when we finally finished our interior design session so we decided to grab a little relaxing gimmick. Bowling and billiards were on the menu, with of course the unbeatable San Miguel Beer. The rule, as always, was: loser pays. He paid. Wow, for a second, I thought I was in the good ole Philippines!

on sustainable development

picture taken from le figaro
Originally uploaded by analyse.

After 8 long years, the Kyoto Protocol has finally seen it's light today, the 16th of February 2005. 141 countries, eXcluding the USA and Australia have given their accord to protect mother earth by decreasing their emission of greenhouse gases to prevent global warming. A tough decision which engages not only big investments but most importantly, everybody's willingness to help protect mother nature.

So what is greenhouse effect all about? It's the rise in temperature of the earth's climate due to the emission of certain gases in the atmosphere or the so-called global warming. This is greatly penalized by of course the rampant industrialization experienced in the last decades leading to gross consumption of fossil fuels.

Eco-Efficacité was the subject of the training I attended to last week. It tackles our companies approach to sustainable development and how we could transcend this step in our respective subjects.

I conducted a comparative technical-economic study last year for one of my projects and this same study has been dissected to add its environmental impact, digging down even at the smallest percentage of uranium to produce one piece of our product. The choice could have been different if we were to implement this same project this year.

For us, this additional constraint will add up to the long list of our already-head-aching decision matrices that we have - launching delay to the market, budget, technical complexities, product quality, human ressources, etc - I know that project implementation will be all the more difficult, but I'm just glad that our company engages to be environment friendly and that stretches out to all our production sites worldwide.

My Valentine Blog

Don’t ever ask me why I blog on valentine’s day. I’m alone, period. Frenchguy's out of the country.

To be honest, I find this day too advertised, too commercialized, a day to spend those bucks out. Why wait for this famous February 14 to offer your valentinas their much-awaited red roses and candlelight dinner in the well-decorated rooftop of your kapitbahay?

Ha? Sourgraping? Sino? Ako? Hello?

Ok ok, so let me just reminisce the past valentines I had with my frenchguy..

2004: I was alone too..he's again out of the country. Hmmm, Am I actually getting used to it now? Well, it was actually un jour comme les autres (a day like all others) - when my daily itinerary was restricted to juggling between books, television and internet. So what made this day different from the rest? At exactly 7pm, the doorbell rang and infront of the main building door was a young lady whom i never met (our doorbell was equipped with a camera and an interphone). As I was told not to open doors to strangers, I didn’t answer pretending there was nobody and continued savouring my self-made rhum-cola. The doorbell rang again so I finally decided to answer. It was actually a flower delivery. Seconds later, my phone rang and it was frenchguy saying je pense à toi, je t’aime. *kilig*

2003: My university days. Went home late and was surprised to see frenchguy in his dressed-to-kill attire and our apartment in a romantic atmosphere. He actually took his afternoon to prepare a sumptuous dinner for us – better than any Bourgogne restaurants!

2002: Our first valentine together. Unluckily, he was in the Philippines on a project assignment (and later with my family) and me, on scholastic vacation, visiting romantic Venice alone, well, with a friend! We spent valentine together on the phone.

2001: On a Philippine setting (I was still working there and he was on a project assignment in our company). After work, we headed in a cozy restaurant, far from the curious eyes of our colleagues – were we hiding our relationship? Yep.

2000: We’re not officially together yet. Went out with other friends. Just on a Philippine gimik mode.

2005: I just had a phonecall from frenchguy asking me if I could be his valentine. Hangkoolet! Ok, we just fixed Saturday as our valentine date (he will arrive on the same day from Bangkok), starting off at the nearby bowling inn. Loser pays!

Roméo and Juliette was the valentine special in one of the channels this evening...naisip ko lang, if only there were chats, texts, blogs and cellphones during those times, things could have been different. Naku, ito na ba ang symptom ng SMV (Samahan ng Malalamig ang Valentine)?

Happy Valentine's Day Folks..

I've been Tagged !

CeliaK, a co-Malayan (geeze, baduy talagang pakinggan) just tagged me in this music même chain blog craze. At first, I just wanted to ignore it as I’m not anymore a die-hard music lover as I was back in my teens. Secondly, I hate chains (letters)! But then, I don’t want to be tagged as KJ (kill joy) so here I go:

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

Don’t know exactly. I guess I have more in my car, does that count? … and oh, this ain’t a survey, is it? … heard about 3 years imprisonment and a 300,000€ fine (in france) because of illegal downloading.. beware guys and gals.

The CD you last bought?

Errrr, it was a compilation of ‘driving musics’ in 2 volumes that dates way back 1999!

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?

Hmm, nice question. I was lazily humming it this morning. It should be the music aired at exactly 8:42 this morning at RFM.

Write down five songs that you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

"Mon Fils Ma Bataille" – Daniel Balavoine – At first, I just loved the melody as I didn’t understand anything yet the first time I’ve heard it. Now, I love the music, the melody, the lyrics, the singer and everything about it.
"Belle Ile-en-Mer, Marie Galante" – Laurent Voulzy – same reason as previous selection. And yes, love it especially when frenchguy and I dance with this tune.
"Elle Danse" – De Palmas – he’s just mucho guapito and his songs have equally the same merits. Love this song too.
"La Solitudine" – Laura Pausini – it’s a challenge to sing it (I’m a hopeless soprano) even if I understand just a bit of it – this bella italiana just amazes me.
"Whiter Shade of Pale" – Annie Lennox – an all-time fave

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Oh no, didn’t I say I hate chains!

mapuan ka ba?

Then read this. Or better yet, sign this online protest.

So much things has changed since I left this institution. Dati, just before graduation, tsismis na yang pagbebenta ng Mapua sa mga Yuchengco. Most of the organizations even formed the first ever rally inside the campus, but since we're not used to this kinds of protestations, ayun, we still continued with our reports/drawings or whatever sa bawat sulok ng CR. Wala lang, tsismis lang naman e. And then, nagkatotoo ang tsismis barely 2 years yata after i left.

After that, they closed Mapua High School, implemented quarter-mester program (P100,000 na daw per year!!!), added other IT courses, pati nursing courses...and now, they're changing the name!

So what's the big deal abouth that name-changing? Siguro naman everybody could relate with me that you're proud to be alumni of your respective universities. And yes, every Mapuan is darn proud to be one! In that name comes a reputation...

I just hope that whatever the decision may be..this new name could inherit the same legacy as what Mapua has proudly embedded to his graduates. Sabi nga ni Mr President..

"Mapua" has been synonymous with quality engineering education for a long time. In preserving the precious name "Mapua", this can remain true moving forward, even as "Malayan", we hope, will eventually become synonymous with quality education in general.

Reynaldo B. Vea,
Ph.D.President

where did my accent go?

My colleague's phone rang just as I entered my office this morning, opps, I should say OUR office as I'm sharing it with him. Once again, he forgot to divert his phone calls to his voicemail and he's on a meeting the whole day, darn! So before I could even start my daily morning habit - removing my winter gadgets (coat and scarf), hanging them at the corner, opening my PC, pushing the start button, and lastly opening my window - I frantically grabbed the phone and answered:

Me: Analyse, Bonjour.
Early Morning Caller: Good morning. Can I please talk to Colleague?
Me: Oh, Colleague won't be in his office the whole day, do you want to leave a message? May I know who's on the line please?
EMC: It's Khun EMC. (Khun = Mr, Ms or Mrs in Thai language)
Me: Oh hi Khun EMC, it's Khun Analyse.
EMC: Oh, sorry, I didn't recognize you, I thought you were French!

And this wasn't my first encounter with this troubling bizarroide remark!

Encounter # 1:

I was on vacation in my beloved Philippines and was chit-chatting with my sister (in our dialect of course) with our usual 7-11 midnight snack when she looked at me seriously and said You know what, you sound Bisaya! No kidding!

Encounter # 2:

I was on vacation (again?) in the énormes US and was chit-chatting (again?) with my friend and suddenly, she told me Funny, you sound like frenchguy! Darn it!

Encounter # 3:

Pause-café. A colleague told me Sérieusement, je trouve que tu n'as pas beaucoup d'accent. (Seriously, I think that you don't have a lot of accent). Waaaaaaaaaaaah!

I don't believe this happening. Naman, it's just 2.5 years that I could consider myself francophone and voila the result? Oh my..

Where did my accent go?

when french complains..

WHY DO THEY TREAT THEMSELVES LIKE A DOG? THEY ALWAYS BARK!

French people have always something to complain and brag about, and mind you, that adds up to their overly elevated stress intake during the day that normally ends up with stress overdose. More often than not, their stress is psychological, nothing but a magnified micro-stress that naturally transforms into a mega-stress.

It normally starts with il ne fait pas beau aujourd'hui (the weather is not good today) - this is one of the major and favourite discussions to start the day. This brief sentence will of course grow into a paragraph, then into a book, until it becomes the best-seller with millions of copies translated into different languages sold all over the world. Yes, I call them la population Big Deal! Did you know that they even claim that they're less productive when il ne fait pas beau et quand il n'y a pas de soleil (when it's not sunny), and take note, this phenomenon is depressing for many! The funny thing is that, when it's sunny, they would say c'est dommage de travailler quand il fait beau comme ça (too sad that we have to work when it's sunny like that)! Or c'est dommage de rester à l'intérieur avec un soleil comme ça (too sad to stay inside in a sunny day like that). Haha, they will never be happy!

Here's the hit list of the causes of their stress gathered from my private observatory:

1. La ligne - if I were to give a sole adjective to the frenchies, I would choose vain. Read: V A I N ! They're always preoccupied about their body's sculpture. They love to eat and it's a fact, it's part of their culture, right? They would talk about food on the table...and yes, about their balanced diet. So anything that could hinder that objective is part of their stress. They would blame the excess fats, salt, sugar or whatever...but take note, they would never compromise the quantity and quality of what they eat! Did you know that there's a pese-personne (weighing scale) in every french bathroom??? Well, for those single and looking especially.

2. Le travail - let's start with their boss. Do I have to elaborate?

3. Les dépenses - everything that touches their hard-earned money requires detailed weighing before passing to the act of spending. They always fined everything trop cher (too expensive). If they could pass without paying, they would certainly do..so if you see two french people in Paris trying to squeeze themselves together infront of the Metro entry...it's not only because they're oh-so-romantic, it's also because they want to get away by saving one Metro (underground train) ticket too.

4. Le travail - it's either they've got a lot of work...

5. Les nounous - the nannies! They're marked as endangered species here...there are even some cities where soon-to-be-moms start their nounou hunt at their first month of pregnancy! And yes, what have you - they're either angels or bitches.

6. Le travail - or they've got nothing to do...

7. Les tâches ménagères - the problem is, if both are working, who will do the chore? And if they do, of course everybody should know! They talk a lot here, just about everything infront of a cup of tea or coffee. I guess I have to pass a decree here: minimize la pause café (coffee break)!

8. Le travail - sometimes they love it..

9. Le conjoint or simply l'ami/e- if they don't have a partner, of course it's a problem. They would interest in every uninteresting stuffs just to find one. And if they have one, OMG, you would ask yourself why they still stay together. Yep, they lack discretion here!

10. Le travail - but most of the time, they don't!

Another remarkable observation about them is that it's too easy for them to say NO. This is of course in consequence with their 'complain first before you do' attitude. Imagine the negotiations you could have with a French counterpart? Well, on the other hand, if we consider the positive side, we could consider this attitude as a preventive action as they will lay down all the constraints in trying to evade from the possible difficulty. So as a negotiator, you will automatically add their 'presentiments' to your risk analysis. Isn't that great?

Well, not really...

Quand la Chine s’éveillera, le monde tremblera…Napoléon Bonaparte.

After a long silence, the sleeping dragon has finally waked up. The world has changed China, now brace yourselves, China will eventually change the world.

Historically, they know how to manage business. They know the ins and outs. You can find them in the four corners of the world and their forté is the word TRADE! Go to Chinatown and you will see what this word means.

Recently, China has been imposing in the world scene too. Their quest for space discoveries, gold medals in the olympic games, the arts, their growing investments..we’ve been talking about them in the net, in the magazines, in the newspapers..

With a demography equivalent to 20% of the total population in the world, China represents a promising market to all commercials and investors. Some Paris boutiques even have Chinese-speaking sales agents to welcome the next powerful population of the world.

Its take-off to the world market was definitively on time (China has joined the World Commerce Organization last December 2001), when all means of exchange has opened the doors to easier business trades – the net, competitive airfare prices, free trade – the liberalization of world trade.

It was no secret that the rest of the world was behind China’s explosive take-off – their market, their technology, their capital! China has provided its country and its people…and now, like a little bird learning how to fly, it has gained independence and now ready to explore the world on its own.

positive tidbits

Ok, I was quite negative on my last post so I'll try to balance now and be positive. It was probably the influence of the weather on me. Dijon was below freezing point from sunrise to sunset last week and that plus my daily dose of work didn't give me enough motivation to be on the lighter mode.

So what's up?

Les soldes d'hiver (winter sale) started 2 or 3 weeks ago and glad to say that inspite of my shopping phobia, I succeeded to find a winter coat for me..the negative point was that...it wasn't on sale! It was even in the nouvelle collection (new collection) section...but what the heck, there was nobody in there and I didn't have to push everybody so I could get my size. Wow, that was pretty quick..

Last week, I found an envelope on my desk..and surprise!...in it was a notice signed by the chefs (bosses) for ma prime exceptionelle (incentive) because of the good results I had with my Philippine project last year. Wow, not only it gave me enough miles to have a free round trip ticket Paris-Manila, it also gave me enough budget to buy my winter coat atbp and most importantly...the motivating words from my chefs: travail rémarquable - implication, rigeur, professionalisme et initiative - avis très favorable... excuse my french people but i want to savour it that way, as it is... too much adjective for me boosting my yoyo-like self-esteem. It was like i was in the middle of an applauding crowd while i was accepting my Oscar's best actress award..if you dont know the feeling, me either..but it was exactly like that...hmm, i hope they wont forget that during my annual interview e.g. salary increase!

by the way, la prime exceptionelle was taxable...eh merde!

Last Friday was the strategic meeting for our group held in a chateau (castle) way between Paris and Dijon. After the not-so-bad results for the year 2004 where one of my subjects is on warning zone (I hope they wont take my incentive back!), the objectives and forecasts for 2005 were equally presented. I was glad to know that a lot of the expansions will be destined to Asia and our Philippine sites will get a good share of the cake. That left me thinking about my future here, my professional evolution, the future of my future children. A lot of groups are in the desindustrialization phase and mass productions are en route to Eastern Europe or Asia. What job will be left for the future generations here?

Ok ok, before i get negative again...

Since we moved to our new house, every weekend was consacrated to petits travaux (repares, small jobs, etc) inside or outside the house. It was tiring but fun and fulfilling as we see the results transform our house into a new one. This coming weekend will be another itinerary for us - the mountains! Yahooo!