C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (15)

Our boat...everything is picturesque!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (14)

The tour guide boy caught a turtle!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (13)

And lobsters, which were tres bon!!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (12)

We ate the fish caught in the sea.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (11)

And the birds!!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (10)

Look at this incredible blue sea and white sand!!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (9)

Among other island where I visited this time, Nokanhui was absolutely the best...! The fish looked so comfortably swimming near the shore.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (8)

And there are many French cars in New Caledonia, including the parking lot of the school.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (7)

This is the French language school where I attended. It's run by the local government.

Ma professor est tres severe, mais tres bonne!!

And this is the back yard of the school....wow!!!

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (6)

Bonsai in the sparkling sea....

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (5)

This is a natural pool called "La piscine naturelle" in Ile de Pins. Simply by walking and looking down, you can encounter tropical fish.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (4)

At a morning market that starts at 5 am, there are so much frensh food.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (3)

Every night, if the weather is good, you can see this sun set from the hotel window.

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (2)

In Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia, I found an interesting sushi restaurant. Isn't this so French and tropical at the same time...??

C'est la vie -- tres bonne! (1)

I've just come back from my eleven-day vacation in New Caledonia. I simply enjoyed seeing the spectacular scenes and colors that needs no further explanation. From today, I'll show you one scene per day...stay tuned. Today's photo is Nokahui Island.

Luxuary Sadness

Shinjuku 43 km -- a green sign appeared in the dark, toward which many back-lights were driving like taking off.

On Sunday late evening, when returning from a trip, I love the moment that reminds me that it is the nation's capital where I'm coming back to start a week the next day.

It's sad because it clearly shows the weekend is over. But it's luxuary sadness, sort of.

I remembered having the same luxuary sadness when I saw the "Washington 160 miles" sign lit by my head light as I was coming back from a weekend trip to Ocean City in Maryland.

Yeah, I love the idea that I live and work in the nation's capital, that I have this little space of my car all to myself, and that I can listen to whatever music I like in the car......all this makes me feel I'm a true-blue yuppie:)

The Luxuary of Feeling Natural Breeze

A week ago, I moved to a new apartment. The main reason was that the previous place faced a busy street, and the noise had gotten worse and worse -- to the extent that I couldn't sleep well.

So, for the past few months, I spent many weekends looking for a quiet place, with a parking lot. I finally found an apartment that met my most conditions. I felt overall OK.

But it has turned out to be more than just OK. In fact, this new place reminded me of the luxury that I had missed for a long time: feeling natural breeze coming from the window while still in bed. Last Sunday, as I felt the breeze, that automatically in my mind brought me back to a dorm where I stayed eight years ago: Escondido Village at Stanford University (see picture).

When I attended the summer school, I lived with a room mate and her boyfriend, living a kind of strange but fun life. Due to her dorm contract, she later moved out and then I had the two-story, three bedroom apartment all to myself. That accompanied natural breeze coming on to the bed in the morning.

Somehow, my new apartment in Tokyo possesses the same atmosphere as the Escondido Village that I cherished......well, I guess that's a good start!

A Good Year

About a week ago, I saw a movie entitled "A Good Year." I was supposed to see it for free, as I had received an invitation ticket to a preview. But as the day coincided with my boss's farewell, which I couldn't miss by all means, I gave the ticket to an old friend. She wrote to me and said that it was a fun, good movie. Since I really wanted to see it, I decided to go see by paying 1,800 yen in a Sunday afternoon.

The story is about an aggressive, successful British financial dealer called Max, who spends a very busy life in London. He was notified that his uncle running a vine yard in southern France died. As Max was the inheritor of it, he flew there, to sort out and sell it. But as the old house brought back good childhood memories and related people, mixed with romance, he decided to live there in the end.

Aside from the romance department, I encountered a similar situation this week. My dad told me he will give me our house, which is located in a leafy Tokyo suburb. Since he is hospitalized, nobody currently lives in the house. So, I go there every two weeks to ventilate it, take away spiders' nests, vacuum the rooms and stairs, etc. This week, somehow electricity was gone, so I called the electronic company. A technician came, checked and found out the automatic short circuit censor had functioned and stopped all electricity. Which means, inside the fridge was mess, so I got rid of rotten food and wiped out inside the fridge.

Then I checked the garden. Last time I was in the house, a gardener came by and asked if I wanted him to take care of it. Well, the trees did need to be trimmed, the grasses did need to be taken away. So I asked them to do the gardening, which they reported they did last week. Well, the result was the garden got back to normal, now looking like a garden! As they left an invoice in the post, I sent money to their bank account this evening.

Hummmmm....all this needs a lot of work. It really takes a lot of work to maintain a house. But for me, doing so is a luxury. Condos would be more convenient, but I really prefer a house to a condo. Especially when it is related to good memories......

Still in the Dream

It was as if I were awaken while still sleeping.

"Hi Sam, how is it going?"

That was a phone call from a guy whom I had JUST SORT OF, SLIGHTLY KIND OF been dating. Since I hadn't seen him for long, I almost forgot about him, and my memories about our conversations were mostly deleted from my brain. But just like a PC, my own brain went back to a certain time we used to talk a lot.

"How is your writing project going?"

He was talking about my novel, which I somehow stopped writing a few months ago.

"Ah, yes, right, sure...well, I am stuck. I mean, I ran out of creative juice....thanks for reminding me of that....yeah...that's right....."

You know, it's hard to speak right after being awaken. I was just like that.

"Well, then, you'd need to drink some beer...."

Maybe because my answer was just "yeah" and not anymore, he moved on to ask how I will spend summer, when I take a vacation, etc. He then told me his own summer plan, which was going to a resort island on business. Well, that may be true, since it is also god damn true that I did go on a very busy business trip to the Caribbean last summer. He ended the conversation by suggesting lunch together without suggesting any specific time and place.

I wondered why he called anyway. Maybe it was just that I ran into him on the street yesterday for the first time in a long time. But at that time, I was probably in the worst condition: my hair was messy under this humid weather, my shirt was tatty, and I was groggy as it was Day 2 of my period. So, when he asked me how I am, I only replied in the standard beginner's middle-school English, "Fine thank you, how are you?"

Well, the world is too mysterious to decipher. That is the only thing I can say..........

Louvre Pyramid in Tokyo

In the Louvre Pyramid-like gym (see picture), I swim a few times a week. That is the best way for me to disperse confusion and take back sound simpleness.