Invictus

I love this poem. Watched the movie and was so inspired by Mandela ..

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

2010 lineups

November/early Decembre were madness ... I'd just gone through 3 exams the last two weeks .. worked hard for it and all paid off. The exams weren't difficult, the best thing is, I can now speak, understand everything that was said to me, and read novel/newspaper in French. Although not 100 percent but I am confident by April I will be able to understand 95%.

Somehow life seems so much better now ... :D French class will finish this Friday and I got a week to do ABU things before Noel and going to Swiss at the end of the year.

January/Feb will work fully for ABU whilst revising my French. Go to all recruitement agency and language institute to drop of my CV.
March/April (Level 7-8 French)
April (Level 9 Test)
And the rest of the year, if not (C1 & C2 at University du Mirail or work)

So 2010, what will be the things that I look forward to...

1. Fluent French
2. Job
3. Saving up for our house
4. KL for Raya
5. One vacation (Corsica/Oslo)
6. Mini (if I got a good job)

My first 'literary text' in French (far from it actually)

My homework this weekend: write a description about a person in a literary way. To me, it sounded as write a description about a person (minus the literary part, don't want to sound so ambitious).

As you know that at this point my life is centred solely around my husband .. no kids yet that's why, so he has become my muse. So this is what I wrote ...

Au premier coup d'oeil on aurait dit qu'il avait vingt-cinq ans, vingt-huit ans. Il n'avait pas de tout de rides, sauf les lignes fines au bord de ses yeux, seulement visible quand il sourit. Ses yeux etaient gris et clairs, petillants et magnifiques. Ils changaient en blue au soleil. Ces yeux la etaient expressifs, comme des enfants, malicieux et plein de joie meme lorsque it etait triste.

Il avait les cheveux blonde et bien coiffes, les sourcils longs et epais, le nez avec du caractere et le visage carre. Son sourire sensuel et aimable.

Le corps etait plutot pas mal, muscles et os tres allonges, minces et pas de graisse.

Il n'etait pas parfait bien sur, toutefois, il etait un homme parfait pour moi.

I tried translating it in english with the software, the tenses are all over and the preposition are wrong because i dont have the accents on the keyboard to write proper french, but you can get the essence .. ;-)

J'ai la mémoire qui flanche

J'adore cette chanson ... ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l0ytUxNh2s

The melody makes me think of summer, sitting in the garden, sipping rose.

Truth to be told

Yes I know I have been complaining about how difficult it is to find a job in France, how sad I am the fact that I am unemployed, how frustrated I am, la da da .. i just realised that up to today, I had sent only two resumes .. shocking isn't it !!

Truth to be told,I have absolute no right to complain about thow hard it is to find a job .. i wasn't sure what was i on about these past few months. Okay, okay, I'll be frank -- when I hear stories about how hard it is to search for jobs, how my friends have been dissapointed many2 times, I had been putting myself in their position, feeling what they are feeling:- their misery, frustration, dissapointment. I have been moaning and complaining with them, talking as if I had gone through the same ordeal myself. I blame it all in my philosophy of learning from other peoples' experience. I believe in the power of listening and observing. Taking note of the mistakes and success of other people and adapting it to my own situation. That said, perhaps this is why I had put myself in my friends shoes -- being miserable with them. How twisted is that??

Truth to be told, I am happy learning French. Every morning I get up at 7, get ready to catch the morning train at 8.00 to town. Got there at 8.30 and start walking to school. I love my morning walk -- the smell of crisp fresh air mixed with the aroma of coffee and fresh croissant -- an essential in all frech bakery. I love passing by the garden, the carousel against the green grass and trees -- all calms me down. I love stopping by my favourite bakery and getting the 50 centimes beignet (doughnut) covered with icing sugar. I love eating my beignet whist passing by the flea market, on the way to my class. Truth to be told, I love my life at this moment. I love the city, the weather, the food.

I love it more if I can have my friends here to share the moments with me.

P.S: I promise that I will take the pictures of the garden, my fav bakery and the flea market next week -- snapshots of my daily life.

French course

I started new French school last week. It was a bit weird being in a roomful of peole aged between 18-26. There are only three students who are older than 26 years old including me. Good thing is they dont know how old I am. Europeans will never get your age correct, rest assured. You will always be 5 to 10 years younger than your age. Well of course it's flattering but in my 'I hate my life here in France' phase find that thought to be insulting. Why did they think that I am that immature and not worth to be taken seriously??

I was nervous as the outline of what the course will cover was laid out in front of me. It stated that I am supposed to know all the tenses that is in the french grammar bible and this level will be more in the practical use of those grammar. Are they joking...geez I have only covered past and present tense. There are still 6 different tenses to cover. How on earth am I going to cope with it. Thus, I spend hours and hours after class last week studying French tenses. Blimey I had to struggle with English tenses and even until now I dont get it 100 percent right. And now attempting French grammar. Feel like somebody should aim a gun on my head and pull the trigger! Well after one week slogging with French grammar, I came to school on Monday feeling slightly relieved but still walking on eggshell. True enough.. wa..la.. present tense revision was what the teacher had planned for us. So I glided through the exercises with ease and found out that half of the class did not even get it rightly, so all that worry last week, was pointless!! Shit.

With that new revelation I spent the last three days reading novel and watching movies. It's like payback to all my worries. Although I felt guilty spending my time on mindless activity as such, I reassured myself by saying -- I deserve this. However, my conscious returned and reminded me that I should be studying French, because without it, it may be almost impossible to jumpstart my career in this godforsaken country. So here I am again back to square one, waiting to be inspired.

Une petite composition

Je prend Francaise meiux maintenant. Avant, mon vie ici c'est tres difficile. Je parle pas le langue, je pas compris le culture, je pense le monde et francaise ce fou. Autrefois, je deteste mon vie et francaise. Je manque mon amies et mon famille beaucoup. Mais, mon mari c'est tres important pour moi mais, mon heureusse c'est trop important, aussi.

Maintenant, mon vie ici c'est meiux. Je faire beaucoup le choxses tout le jour. Je faire un regime et je vien l'ecole le apres midi. Je prend le Francaise. Je ne pense pas mon profession, mon amis et mon famille. C'est bien. J'espere parle bien Francaise. Apres, je cherche pour un career avec beaucoup d'argent. Je accheter une Mini pour moi et une grande maison pour mon mari et moi.