Je suis perdu!!

It means I'm lost...

Let me tell you my misadventure of looking for La Poste office.

Ok, La Poste is the local post office here in France and I was expecting my parcels to arrive from Malaysia. I've got some important books (more french books) and papers that I needed.  Anyway, most of the time, as my friend told me, the parcels are sent directly to the residence's office by the postman and then we'll pick it up from there. I got my parcels a week and half after my sister sent to our Pos Malaysia..but, I only collected one from the residence's office. I got a ticket from La Poste to pick the other one. You must wonder how did I manage to read the ticket..10 minutes of translating word for word using a dictionary and double confirm from a nice lady at the office. 

Me : Je ne sais pas...errr...La Poste (while pointing at the adress on the ticket)

Nice lady : Aaa...oui....(speaks in french)

Me : *blink*blink*blank*

Nice lady : You speak english?

Me : Yes! merci.

Nice lady : ok, aaaa...you walk out of the residence..turn left and walk straight..ermm..do you know Dia?

(Dia is a small grocery store nearby)

Me : Yes!

Nice lady : ok, aaa it's just behind Dia..not so far from 'ere.

Me : Ok, thanks.

The next day, at 10.00 am on Friday (Vendredi) morning, I decided to look for the La Poste myself. 

Ok, walking in Grenoble is great because the town is flat and the weather is cold so you don't feel tired easily. But, an Iban that doesn't know how to speak french and not knowing the place, yet, the journey is going to be difficult. So, I walk up the road and found Dia and then I turn in to the parking area and walk behind the store, hoping La Poste to be behind the store. Hah...I thought and hoped wrong...All I saw was a park with kid's playground and more residential homes. On my right was a few rows of shophouses. So, I thought, maybe La Poste was in one of the shophouses. Teeeetttt..nope...I was wrong again. Sh*t..I don't know where's the %@&!*! post office. 

Then, I saw a La Poste van passed by.  So, I followed....but actually, the van was delivering parcels. Takkan la I follow the van until he finishes his round? Then I saw a postwoman on a bicycle. 

Me : Pardon, excuse-moi, madame!

Postwoman : *looked annoyed* Oui? (maybe I should've called her mademoiselle,instead of madame)

Me :Où errr.... La Poste? (while pointing at the address on the ticket)

Postwoman : Aaaa.....(speaks french)....à gauche...(speaks french)....dernier...(speaks french)..à gauche....La Poste.

Me : errr....à gauche... dernier...

Postwoman : Oui, (speaks french)

Me : D'accord, merci...*blank face*

Ok, the keywords I caught from her was left, behind and then left...greaaat...

So, I walked straight passed the shophouses (can't turn left) and the park (can't be at the park) and passed some flats. Then, I saw a lady walking her big dog and decided to ask her for directions. 

Me : Excuse-moi, mademoiselle?

Lady with dog : Oui! (looked happy this time)

I repeated the same sentences I used before. Note that I don't have enough vocabs. So, the lady told me to walk straight, and turn right (droit) and if I see a construction site, I should walk again..actually, I couldn't catch what she said la..but it was something like that. Anyway, I said merci and bid good day (bonne journée) and continued my adventure. Ok, I turned right then....I saw two construction sites. One on my left, and another one across the road....oh...no..So I just walked straight til I reached the end of the junction. So one construction on my left and one in front...hmmm...should I cross the road, or should I stay on this side and walk up?

Then, suddenly the same lady appeared the other end of the junction to my right and she saw me and I just smiled. I walked up to her and said, "Je suis perdu..." She just laughed and pointed construction site across the road and said something in french and La Poste. I thanked her again and crossed the street.

As I walked pass the site, I saw a pharmacie to my left. This was the pharmacie which the postwoman explained earlier..sigh... and.....in front of me...a small sign said, La Poste!!!Oh, I was so happy to find La Poste!!! I wanted to just run and open the door and hug the La Poste man!! wanted...ok..wanted..

Alright, so, I showed the guy at the counter the ticket and he just said, ahh..and picked my box behind the counter and said voila! I signed, said merci and off I walked happily back home with my box.

Oh, what an adventure... I told my adventure to a few of my malaysian friends here and they told me to always bring a pen and paper and tell them to draw for me if I don't understand. *very important note, Sarah*


Ok, à bientot! I end my entry with the stamps my sister had to buy.hehehe...

X-ray of Malaysia stamps

au revoir!

Fuh..fuh....dusting off my blog

Hey it's 2012!jeezzzzz...it's been a while (very long while) since I laid my hands on you, Mr blog. I guess, I'm now bored and living alone abroad. Did I say abroad? yeah... gonna do my last stage of degree, PhD my man!

Alright, enough of that. It's exactly 11 days in Grenoble, France. So far, I'm confused over many things. Blame it on not understanding the language. I regretted not paying attention and skipping Rudolph's classes last year. Some of the phrases that I am familiar are only Je ne sais pas and Désole, je ne comprend pas français..oh and je ne parle français...not forgetting, oui and non. I just found out that ouverture means opening (very important to know this especially if you want to know the opening hours of shops) and acheter means buy. I can't wait to go for a french class next month. Why next month? Read on..

First, I've learnt that I need to complete my charte de thése which means thesis charter. That took me about three days to complete as I had to do other things: first, get a mac adress so that I can access the internet from the lab/office. Then, I had to get an access card from the technician after I have the permission from another lady in the école doctorale of engineering, then presented (not introduced) myself or présente moi to another lady in école doctorale of mathematics to show her my certificates....oh, the procedures and the confusion... hanya Tuhan jak tauk.

Then, once I have settled in my shared office, then I started to do my charte de thése...discussed with my supervisor, he seems to have some ambitious ideas, I don't know whether I can do them, but he seems to be optimistic and has shown me where I can get help and gave me books to start reading. There are still other things that bother me especially about my data. I'm praying really hard that I can get that data. *crossfingers*

Ok, after I have finished my charte de thése ( I have to get used with this term), my supervisor presented (hehe) me to another lady, very nice one, she was the first one who greeted me with bienvenue en France which means welcome to France. Right...moving along.. her job is to get the signature from the head of the lab, and then, pass to me the charter and then pass to the lady in école doctorale of mathematics to get signature from the school...then....I can be registered as an official Phd student. Which, I hope will happen next week! oh goshhh.....so many procedures. This hasn't include my application for  health insurance, social security and responsibility (can you believe that!) insurance. My aim now is to get my carte d'étudiant or student card. Once I have that, then I can apply for CAF. It's a help for students who study in France but I'm not sure how much CAF will help me.

The OFII office which is the immigration office has not contacted me to go for an interview yet. That's another thing to worry. Apparently, they will interview in french and if I passed, then I will get my carte de séjour or residency permit card...see.....there's so many things to do..gosh, they just love paperwork. *bangs head on the wall*

Some said they managed to get all things done in 3 months and some said 6 months! I'm counting my days now til I get all things done. Sigh, I must be crazy to study here. Never a day that I did not ask myself, why in the world do you want to study in a country that you don't know the language. Oh well, I guess learning won't be fun if everything's the same thing...I haven't told you about recharging my prepaid for my mobile, yet. Oh, I'll take ages writing about it here. Just have to say I owe my officemates a lot..I can't understand what the operator said on the phone.

To end this entry, I have this cool picture (yerrdehhh) of my french for dummies books and cd box. Two of  are gifts from my sisters (gosh I miss my family :(   ) and one which I bought for myself. I've started with the cds, now moving forward to the not-so-thick book. Once I've mastered the not-so-thick book (oh, when is that going to happen...when?quand?), then I'll move to the thick book. huhu...I need to go to class...I want my carte d'étudiant..

p/s: you may find spelling mistakes, je suis désole. saya budak baru belajar. :D

Au revoir et à la prochaine...ciao.