As Our Paths Cross #1

"We don't meet people by accident, they are meant to cross our paths for a reason".

We cross paths with random people everyday, while going to work, while going to school, and in most of my cases, while TRAVELLING. Sometimes it just takes a simple 'Hi' to turn strangers into acquaintances. As you know, devices today are already equipped with the most efficient GPS technology designed for us to find locations easily when we are lost.

Here's a tip, LOOK UP.

What I'm trying to say is, when you are pretty sure you are near to your destination, LOOK UP from your device, and start asking actual people around you where this place actually is. Well, of course it won't be as easy as using your device. First, you have to find someone you can speak with, ie. someone who speaks languages you understand. As for me, I would yell:

"Anyone here speaks English?"

"Ya-t-il quelqu'un qui parle français?"

But if I see a Malaysian somewhere along my journey, the first thing I would say is "Belacan!" to see if they turn their heads. Haha

So, once you have someone you can refer too, you can ask them whatever you want. If you're lucky, the person will bring you straight to your destination and sometimes you'll become acquaintances and have a short conversation along the way. If you are REALLY lucky, they'll invite you to a drink and you exchange contacts. That's the power of communication. Here's a quote I would always say to myself;

"Communication works for those who work at it".

If you communicate, somehow you boost your confidence and speaking skills. In 2012, I have met some of the nicest, warmest, and most unique people in the world. They are:

Me and my foster dad looking as Malay as ever.

1. My french host family.

I had a host family when I first arrived in Aix-en-Provence. Here's a photo of me avec my foster dad, his name is Jean Pierre Tomaszek. He's a very warm, friendly, funny and cheerful person. I met him a week or two after my first day in France, and we clicked, tout de suite. He respects that I am a muslim, so he and my foster mum doesn't serve me pork and only serve Halal meat. He believes that 'Terrorism Has No Religion'. And that is why we still kept in touch to this day. Any problems I encounter in France, I refer to this man.

Unfortunately, he only speaks French, and therefore many won't know how nice he really is :(

Avec my foster mum at the dinner table.

This is me avec my foster mum, Danielle. She cooks the best french dishes; Spaghetti, Ravioli, Ratatouille, Tarte Tatin etc. She never gets angry during our stay and speaks in a calm, soft, motherly manner.

However, both Jean Pierre and Danielle never got married. When I asked him why, he said,"If someday someone prettier likes me, than I might leave Danielle," and he laughed, I remember Danielle was sulking and he consoled her, still laughing though. But the second I saw them together, I knew they are a genuinely loving couple. The pair that will always be together till the end :)

2. Miki and Mariko

These two women are from Japan. They are also under our host parents' care. I don't recall their full name, but on the left, she's Miki, and the other is Mariko. Miki is much younger, but even so, Mariko's 50++ years old but she still looks young for her age! Miki prefers to travel so she's never actually at home, and she travels alone. All her photos don't include her in it, and selfie sticks weren't yet invented in 2012. Mariko, on the other hand, wasn't very good in French, but I know thaat she worked hard. Both of them were staying for French language studies for a short while in France.

We miss you brah

3. The Brazilian Guy

I know, he's a heartthrob for you girls out there. He's Haïk Bouillart. He's a fun, outgoing and cheerful guy. We were classmates for 2 months during our intensive french classes. He was one of the closest international student to us Malaysians. His dad is Brazilian, his mom's French. My Malaysian friends and I actually taught him to curse in Bahasa Melayu, and at one time he said 'Gila Babi' out loud, and a Malaysian lecturer was surprised and laughed upon hearing it. I wish we could lepak lagi bro, just like old times.

4. The Colorado Friends

Top photo: Ashley, Sarah, Joe, me, Amir.

Below: Abbey, me, Maureen.

These were taken during Fête de la Musique (Music Festival) in Aix and it was a memorable night. Music Festival is celebrated every year on 21st June (Summer solstice), which marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer. At one time when a band was playing Rock n Roll, we Malaysians actually danced with the Americans. Some of us did the 'Twist'. It was a great ambiance and a joyful moment, that I wished we had a video on.

Haïk was there with us too on that night. He was really drunk, so we barely saw him with us. Haha. So, Joe's a philosophic guy, and actually a really cool and fun guy if you force him to dance. I remember the look on his face when said, "Nah, I don't dance". But he slowly moved his body and danced a little when he saw everyone else dancing. Me? I was and still am a bad dancer. Next, I don't remember much about Sarah, all I remember was her vomiting due to excessive alcohol intake. Now, Abbey is the sweetest of them all. She was always smiling. She doesn't speak French that well, therefore she was glad that I could converse with her in English. She's now happily married in America :)

And Maureen, this girl is a great american french speaker. She sketched a lot during class and never really listened to our French teacher. I asked her to do a simple sketch for me as a farewell gift, so here it is:

Maureen, if you ever read this, Thank You!!

These people from Colorado are fun people. I miss you guys :'(

5. These guys I met in Zurich, Switzerland.

A French, a Malaysian, a Spanish and 2 Chileans

Frankly, I don't remember their names, but I do remember each of their stories. I met these guys when we were staying in a hostel in Zurich, and boy, these guys love to partayy.

So I'll just fix their names like this,

From left: French, Chilean #1, me, Spanish, Chilean #2

Le French: So this guy has issues with France, his own country. I'm not sure if he was drunk or sober when he was talking to me. He said he has found his true love in Switzerland and he's never going back to France. We conversed in French but at one time he said this in English to prove his point, "The french are egoïste. They only think they are the best. To them, this is La France (drawing me a star-shaped land in the air), and all the countries around it are shit". He really hates his country and wasn't planning to come back. Ever.

On the other hand, the two Chileans are brothers. They travel around the world and party along the way. We spoke in English. They said that they didn't learn English at school. They learnt it during their travels. By what I heard, their English is good, which meant that they have been travelling A LOT. I've also learned that Chileans speak Spanish as they were colonised by Spain some time ago.

The Spanish is a waiter at a fine dining restaurant, I'm not sure where exactly. He speaks 4 languages, English, Spanish (his mothertongue), Italian and Portuguese, which proved to be very useful in his line of work.

Well that's about it for now. These are the people whom I met and hung out with in 2012. I will tell you about more people I met in my journey in my entry As We Crossed Paths #2.

More photos here on my Flickr

Follow my Instagram too!

Thanks for reading this entry.