Organized traffic chaos in Saigon

Chuc Mung Nam Moi !

Here I am now, working in Vietnam, for a year or two. A whole new culture, a whole new country to discover :)

Everybody is preparing for Tet (Lunar New Year). My Vietnamese teacher has invited me and a friend spend Tet's eve with her family tonight !

We bought them a little tree with yellow flowers, which Vietnamese people give each other for Tet. A flower market has been set up specially for Tet in the center of Saigon.


I was told that tonight's program will be : eating, drinking, praying the ancestors and karaoke. Excellent program !

Chuc Mung Nam Moi 2009 everyone !

-pic taken at the floating market near Can Tho (Mekong Delta)

Séville après un looonnng silence

Hi there !!
Here are some pics I took during my recent trip in Seville for the feria...

The "Feria" is a huge party which takes place in April in Seville. People dress up in Flamenco costumes, and party from 1 PM to early morning for a whole week, dancing the Sevillana and drinking....
It is AMAZING. It is as if you are attending a huge costume party, as everyone in the street is dressed up, from babies to elderlies...


Some families going to the feria use those horse carriages:

You really get the impression to have somehow traveled time :)

Noël aux Philippines

Maligayang Pasko and Bonne année !

I just came back from the Philippines where I spent three weeks eating and catching up with family and friends. Needless to say that it was absolut heaven.

And now I am back in reality, with a 10 page essay to hand in next week, and exams for the whole month of January... But I don't care, I had a perfect holiday :)

Christmas in Manila was crazy. The whole city is even busier than it usually is. Traffic everywhere, people are shopping, singing, smiling... Days before Christmas, you spend your time wrapping gifts and dropping them at your friends and family's homes. Then you spend Christmas with your close family (hmm, lets say around thirty people for lunch and thirty people for dinner...).
For the whole New Year's eve you just can't hear each other because of all the firecrackers. We had some in our garden and it was really impressive. Even the really nice (and dangerous) ones with so many colours...

I don't have any picture because I forgot most of them in Manila, but here is a picture of this really nice place called Pansol (an hour and a half from Manila) which has natural hot springs (it's near a volcano). So this swimming pool actually has natural hot water, and you can take a plastic chair and just sit under the (hot) waterfall and relax !! :)


Merry Xmas and Happpy New Year to all of you, and see u soon British - Chinese people !!!

Et bonne année aux franco-suisses dont la communauté va s'aggrandir avec l' heureuse arrivée du bon Johnny (ah que peut on faire contre la fuite des cerveaux...) ;)

Taking time

"Steal me.
Melt my gold centre.
I enter through your dreams,
where you're weak,
and where I'm clean of inhibition.
I'm killing this body, this prison of flesh,
this heart and this head that you loved - put to rest,
but I'll see you in sleep,
when I'm perfect. "

http://anno.co.uk

Hamburg, blond people, bicycles and parks

One of the really nice things with my internship is that I get to travel a little once in a while...
And this time, I spent almost three days in Hamburg, Germany.

It was nice being out of the "busyness" of Paris for a few days.

...

In reality....

I haven't had an easy access to internet lately. And since I already spend most of my day in front of a computer for my internship, I usually feel to tired to go on internet when I get home. That is why I haven't emailed you recently, and haven't updated this blog... ;)

I hope you all are enjoying your summer. I am, though Paris is deserted in August so that makes the city seem a bit odd. But little by little friends are finding their way back to Paris.




Have you seen The Science Of Sleep, a movie directed by Michel Gondry ?

"In dreams emotions are overwhelming"

Fecamp et Etretat... or French beaches

This week-end I went with some friends to Fecamp and Etretat, two cute towns in Normandie near the sea...
It was absoutely heaven to just sit, swim and look at the sea after such an intense week at work.

Bicycle ride ou l'escapade à vélo

Last week, a friend and I decided to go biking in the coutryside for several days :)

On my way back to Paris I received a phone call from this Law firm to which I had applied previously, aking me if I were free for an interview. A few days later I had the interview, they asked questions on legal matters, on me, on what I intended to do in the future etc... And bam, they accepted me as a trainee !!!!! I am sooooo excited and nervous as I have never trained in a law firm before!!

Anyway, the good thing is, as I might try to become a lawyer next year, I think it could be a good idea that I get some experience first and be sure that it is what I want to do, and as they want me to train for three months I am sure to get a general picture of what it is to be a lawyer in an international law firm. The bad thing is I don't get any holiday this year, as I am starting next monday and finishing on the 29th of september...

But I will definitely try to see if I can get a few days off to come over to Liverpool :)

Festival Sèvres SUM

HAPPY HAPPY BDAY to Dave ! :)

Two days ago, I went to a music festival in the suburbs of Paris,. Music festivals start taking place all around Paris when summer begins.
Anyway, there were several bands that played during the evening, from rock, to jazz, to reggae etc...

Later in the evening, some people started juggling (?) with fire, and it was pretty impressive

In memory of slavery ou le jardin du Luxembourg

There is this park in the center of Paris called the Jardin du Luxembourg. People go there to jog, relax, picnic... And children love that place. One of the only "green" place in the center of Paris... Though it really has nothing like those huge parks in the center of London.
Anyway, recently France was commemorating the end of slavery. There were shows on TV, and cultural events about it. In the Jardin du Luxembourg they've installed bamboo plants, blue sand and pictures on a special cloth in the entrance of the park to remember.
I think it is supposed to make you think of the sea.