The Last Domino

Hey guys!

Long time since I've posted anything new on my blog.... 2 weeks and half remaining... everything seems to be so unreal... I'm slowly getting prepared. I'm still fighting with the loan and bursuary bureau and I have yet to have a definite answer regarding the whole thing. Luckily my friend Laurence got me to think about taking a student loan at a Bank and now I feel a whole lot safer money wise. I'm really wondering how everything is going to be... if my program will suit me, if HK will be as great as I remember it. It's hard to explain that I dont want it to be the same but human mind is always using memories to build up the anticipation. So yes, I dunno how it's gonna be, everything is coming really fast and I have yet to realize the new challenge i'm undertaking. Let's see how the Honky in Hong Kong will do for this new year, shall we? It's all confusing, frightning, exciting at the same time, and the only thing I can do is to try not to freak out by overthinking everything. There's a great deal of uncertainty in everything, the more you are willing to risk, the higher the yield. Of course this is a bit dramatic, HK isn't another planet, or a definitive path that must lead to sucess but rather just a chapter, not necessarily an important one. I need closure with HK, with last year and I need to start a life for myself in HK... If I'm not able to do so, I might as well come back to Montreal.

So ready or not, Hong Kong, here I come... I dunno where it's gonna take me, but at the end of the day I'm sure I will have made the right choice.

So to all my HK friends who are reading this, be ready, because I'm ready to attack everything that will be thrown at me :o)

-F

Summer in Montreal

Hello everybody!

I'm glad to be finally back on the web !! The past four weeks have been pretty hectic in general, moving out to my mum's place, spending time dealing with bureaucracy and worrying a lot about whether I would get the student loan for Hong Kong. Anyway things are starting to look better now, my student visa application has just been approuved and the waiting period is almost over to see if my program will be indeed recognized by the Quebec government... So, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that everything will be fine... maybe that's too optemistic but I have no other choice than wait and wonder. I'm thinking about going to NYC really soon to meet with one the great girl I have come to know in the past year! If she can't make it, I don't mind going there on my own and go sightseeing for a weekend... It's funny that New York is 8 hours away from Montreal and before this year I never actually consider going because I never stopped to think that this city had anything worthwhile to see... Outside of thinking about school, and slowly preparing myself to leave Montreal, there isn't much going on for me this summer.

I've included here some pictures I took last week when a friend of mine from NYC came to visit Montreal with her boyfriend. These are pictures from "Festival International de Jazz de Montreal" which is one of the biggest outdoor music festival in the world. Each years I go there when I can, I just like to walk around and see the crowds... It's really a well planned festival which is growing in popularity each years.

I guess this is one of the official mascots of the festival. Meow!

Kung Fu/Chinese Tale/Breakdancing/Comedy

Colourful grafiti wall

I hope that by next time I post on that blog, I will have positive news about the whole process

Meanwhile, everybody please take care :o)
-F

When I'm 24

Hello everybody!

Thanks a lot for all the birthday wishes! Especially to those I took the extra time to send me elaborate emails! This birthday has been quite simple but probably the best one that I can remember in recent years.



Merci a tous !
-F

Les Douzes Travaux de Francis

Greetings everybody!

The past week has been an emotional roller coaster. First finding out after 1 year of planning (and 8 weeks from departure) that my program is not recognized by the Quebec government was a bit difficult to digest. Luckily, even though it looked a bit bad in the beginning, it's supposed to be a very straight forward procedure since the university is already recognized and that I'm the first Quebecois to go there.


Between that and fighting with clueless clerk at the faculty of Law in HK, I'm trying not to go crazy over all the stuff I have to finish before I leave. It really feels like Les Douzes Travaux d'Asterix, I guess most of you guys don't know what I'm refering to. Basically, its mock-up version of the twelve extraordinary tasks that Hercules needed to complete in order to prove that he was worthy of being a god. I feel that I somehow need to prove that I'm worthy to go back and that the whole ordeal is just a test to see if I measure up to the challenges up ahead. Tonight is also my last night in my apartment, it would maybe be a sad moment except that I have no special memory about this place. There's only 60 days left before I go back to HK, I don't know what kind of challenges still lie up ahead but I feel I've been through the most frustrating part, so everything should be smooth from now on... i hope...

-F

PS: This video is a good showcase of how nice HK can be, and also how Westerners are always portrayed.

Motion in the Ocean

I decided to call this post "Motion in the Ocean" because I feel that my life has suddenly switched from being extremely calm to extremely busy. I guess it has to be expected, especially when you are moving (litterally) to the other side of the world...

A lot has happened during the last month. Me finally graduating is major change, has I'm no longer bound to live in Montreal just so I can finish my education; the world is now mine to play with. Seems I've spent all my life thinking and working toward being an adult and now that I'm there staring at the choices and possibilities that this world is offering me, I'm finding myself to be at a crossroad in my life. Seems as we get older the main difference is in the question we ask ourselves. I guess it's true when they say it's more in the questions than the answers themselves.

Also, I had to say goodbye to Raissa AKA the Mexican girl. I have been a bit sad over her departure. Dont get me wrong, I have had to say goodbye to a lot of people in my life so I'm pretty much used to it... but I guess some people are harder to forget than others. Without sounding like a cliche, I feel it's hard to explains what she meant to me. It's not that we had such a close relationship or that she had such a big impact but rather because the relationship was so simple in its own twisted way. I feel that she's larger than life in her own way, she has a great inner strengh and I guess that's what attracted to me to her at first. I will miss our discussions, our ackwardness, but mostly her boldness and her amazing smile. Saying "adios" to her felt like my days in Montreal were finally over and that I needed to move on to the next chapter of my life.

On the work side, everything is going great. I guess the secret to happiness at the workplace is mostly dependable on the people you work with. Some people just make the working day seems
less like a chore but rather like an interesting project where everybody has their part to play. Ubisoft and it's people have taugh me many things over the year, and I guess the irony is that I'm realizing it 2 months before my definitive departure.

It feels strange to think that in 2 months and 1 week I'll be back in Hong Kong. It seems that I have spent so much thinking about it that it doesnt seems like it's real anymore. Sometime I try to remember certain things about it but wonder if I'm making it all up in my mind. Everybody seems to want to meet me once I'm back in HK, I understand that it's quite normal but I dont feel like being rushed back into these relationships. People there sometime have a hard time to understand that moving from one continent to another is a great ordeal physically and mentally. I think I will bring some deception to some people but they will have to understand that I have to sort out my own life before going back into this hectic chaos.

That's all for me for today, I need to call CUHK once again to get them to sign a !&#@$^ of paper! Ahhh red tape bureaucracy in HK, how I missed you!

-F

East Asia Skyline

Beijing (from the top of the Summer Palace)

Shanghai (from the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower)

Tokyo (from the top of the Tokyo Tower)

Seoul (from of the top of Building 63)