Summer Recap

I’m sorry for the lack of articles lately, so I’ll go through the main events that happened in the past few months.

STACK Results

I’ve managed to go to the oral exams of the contest. It’s my first time in two tries and since I wasn’t really working towards that end, it’s quite the achievement to me. I tried to cover as much as possible before going but it’s obviously impossible to do it in such a small period of time (3 weeks).

The place is nice with a lot of trees and a huge garden. Plus, the temperature suddenly raised so it was pretty hot for the season and somewhat unsustainable for the candidates that weren’t used to such high degrees.

I was scheduled at 1:30 PM but someone didn’t show up and I was offered to take his place. I filled in the available spot since it didn’t really matter to me. Maybe I shouldn’t have done so but I’m not superstitious...

The weather might have been to my advantage but in the end, I couldn’t pass and it’s not even close. Whereas I think I mostly had troubles with the contents of my presentations, I feel confident the contact and discussion with the examiners was good. I’ve seen many candidates just look at their notes and not even turning to the examiners when answering questions.

On the other hand, my lack of work showed a little bit too much for me to pass. You can’t fool an examiners when you show him your exercice which has been resolved by the calculator...

Anyway, I’m glad I met the examiners because they weren’t aggressive at all despite my poor presentation and also because of the little chat we had afterwards. This is definitely a good experience that should help me go further next time.

As for my comrades, they’ve all passed the contest so congratulations to all of them. I’ve heard they have been affected to some high schools already so we’re now colleagues ! Too bad we don’t work at the same place...

I’ve heard the affectations were a mess. First ranked guy didn’t get his wish granted while lower ranked girl got affected to that position... Well, nobody’s perfect, even higher up in the administration right ?

I probably won’t see them anymore for a while since I don’t particularly plan to go back to cram school again with my job as a substitute teacher will probably not be revoked.

I feel I would need to work as much as they did at the cram school but I don’t seem to be able to stand the homeroom teacher. Somehow I’m growing old enough to be upset whenever I don’t get an answer to what I’m asking, especially in maths since we’re supposed to be very coherent and rigorous with our phrasing and wording.

Maybe I’m just making up excuses and sorry if I do it my own way.

July in Paris

After taking up the exam, I spent a couple of weeks in Paris with my cousin. It was indeed a great time since we don’t see each other that much and also because we had our share of good times in December 08/January 09 when I last visited him.

Plenty of good times again, with food, gaming and tennis altogether.

Speaking of food I re-discovered some Korean dish named "Bim Bim Bap". I don’t know what it means but I was somehow disappointed the first time I had some (back when I lived at 80 rue de la Croix Nivert). My cousin, on the contrary had a very good one impression. He said it surpasses even the Bo Bun, hem wait, can those who don’t know what a Bo Bun raise their hands ?

A Bo Bun (pronounce Bô Boon) is a Vietnamese Dish who can be served as a main course or even a whole meal. There are white rice noodles, slices of cooked beef, onions, cucumber, shredded salad, soya bean sprouts , candied carrots and turnips. The Bo Bun is commonly served with slices of nems and then acquires the name of "Bo Bun Chia Gio".

I’m a big fan of some Vietnamese/Laotian restaurant in Paris XIII : the Lao Lang Xiang aka the Ruammit. It’s where I’ve tasted the best Vietnamese dishes ever. Well, I’m no expert of Vietnamese food, I just actually love everything they serve =P.

For the record, and if you’re ever interested, it’s there at 103 Av d’Ivry 75013 PARIS.

Anyway, I’ve introduced my cousin to the place a long time ago and he was also very happy about it. So when he announced me the Bim Bim Bap even overthrows the Bo Bun, I was kinda shocked. I don’t see the Bo Bun as my favorite Vietnamese dish but I then had to try this Bim Bim Bap.

Then, what’s a Bim Bim Bap ? Long story short, (sorry for Korean specialists) it’s basically a brown rice version of the Bo Bun with different candied vegetables... I concur it’s a good dish and will gladly eat some more whenever I find the occasion but somehow I expected more of the dish. Maybe I’ve eaten too many Bo Buns to be truly impartial...

I’ll let you be the judge here...