flush hour

        Here I am at the multimedia centre, sitting in front of a documentary on the history of japanese cinema with Wyatt. Back in the fifties, even onscreen kissing wasn’t allowed. Sex was an extremely personal affair. We’ve finally planned to have a nice dinner out tonight, mostly because Florence is leaving tomorrow. 

I’ve tested my courses, most of themare really intense. Particularly that Energy systems analysis course, it is complicated, fast, has loads of formulas, calculations, computer implementations… I’ll definitely have to work, even though I plan on having the fun of my life here. Oh, we have a group assignment due in next week : a heat exchanger design. Urghh….

I haven’t been to a single CN3421 lecture (numerical methods and analysis), but apparently it doesn’t matter since according to my INSA teacher back home I’m going to have to drop it. A great thing about courses here is that if you accidently miss one you can view it on the web afterwards.  I’ve tested this system for CN3421 and you see the course papers while hearing the teacher yelling at the crowd to be quiet. It’s actually very practical.

        I’ve retruned to being depressed, I feel cursed. All week I have been holding on really tight to the ticket I need to get my student’s pass, and this morning when I woke up to collect it at the Immigration and Checkpoints authority, the ticket had disappeared. How? Why? Where? 没想法. As far as I can remember it was in my passport yesterday evening. I do have a lead though. The pocket-contents-leprechaun must have stolen it. Gods. I had to wait for two hours and they still couldn’t find it, if they succeed they’ll phone me up tonight to let me know. It took long enough for me to miss a lecture (a CN3421 lecture). 

        I had my first Chinese class this afternoon. It was great fun, the students can all reasonably well speak Chinese, the teacher is fun, and not too slow.   I can bring my computer to class and work with 小马词典, my ever-favourite online dictionary. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAahhhhh !!!! how much more pain must I suffer ??? I have had to buy one textbook per course that I am taking, and their cost has added up to the unbelievable amount of 250 Singapore dollars. I am well aware that textbooks costs a fortune in the USA and other anglo-saxon countries. The shock however is still as tremendous. 125 euros ? on schoolbooks ? at these times I miss the good old French system, a system in which all are equal and everyone is privileged.