One of the most difficult things so far was to live in a much smaller space than we used to. We swapped a large house with garden and the park 5 minutes away for a 2-bedroom flat with a tiny kitchen and very few entertainment. This has not happen without any tension.<\/p>\n
L’une des choses les plus difficiles c\u2019est vivre dans un espace beaucoup plus petit que d\u2019habitude. Nous avons \u00e9chang\u00e9 une grande maison avec jardin et le parc \u00e0 5 minutes pour un appartement de 2 chambres avec une petite cuisine et tr\u00e8s peu de divertissement. \u00c7a ne s\u2019est pas fait en douceur !<\/em><\/p>\n Alex has his phone with all his games, but there is no way he’d be allowed to play all day. The TV is mostly in Chinese apart from the news channels. Not very entertaining! Emilie found a channel called Pet TV in English, but I could not let her watch stupid programs about dog fashion or how to train your puppy! In addition to the screens, we have 2 card games, some colouring books, one small box of lego and a few books to read. I didn’t think about entertainment when I packed for the month and a half before we get our stuff.<\/p>\n Alex a son t\u00e9l\u00e9phone avec des jeux, mais il hors de question d\u2019y jouer toute la journ\u00e9e. La t\u00e9l\u00e9vision est principalement en chinois, \u00e0 l’exception des cha\u00eenes d’information. Pas tr\u00e8s amusant ! Emilie a trouv\u00e9 une cha\u00eene appel\u00e9e Pet TV en anglais, mais je ne pouvais pas la laisser regarder des \u00e9missions stupides sur la mode vestimentaire des chiens ou comment \u00e9duquer les chiot! En plus des \u00e9crans, nous avions 1 jeu de cartes, 1 jeu de 7 familles, des livres \u00e0 colorier, une petite bo\u00eete de lego et quelques livres \u00e0 lire. Je n\u2019ai pas pens\u00e9 aux divertissements quand j\u2019ai fait mes valises pour le mois et demi \u00e0 passer dans notre logement provisoire.<\/em><\/p>\n As you can imagine, Alex and Emilie being in such a small space, they fight a lot. And, let’s be honest, I shout a lot. Well, I try not to, but they get on my nerve as they get on each other’s. I had to find a solution or we were just going to kill each other!<\/p>\n Comme vous pouvez l’imaginer, Alex et Emilie \u00e9tant dans un si petit espace se battent tout le temps. Et je crie beaucoup (m\u00eame si j\u2019essaie de ne pas le faire). Ils m’\u00e9nervent tellement quand ils se disputent ! Il me fallait trouver une solution ou bien nous allions simplement nous entretuer !<\/em><\/p>\n First thing, I managed to install the Apple TV in the kids bedroom. At least, Emilie can now watch movies and not silly pet things.<\/p>\n Premi\u00e8rement, j’ai r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 installer l’Apple TV dans la chambre des enfants. Au moins, Emilie peut regarder des films et pas des b\u00eatises sur les animaux de companie.<\/em><\/p>\n Then, we went to the toy store and got a second small box of lego. Now they have enough bricks to build things. Of course, they also fight to keep their constructions from being destroyed by the other. But at some point, I think they just want to argue so what can you do?<\/p>\n Ensuite, nous sommes all\u00e9s dans un magasin de jouets et avons achet\u00e9 une deuxi\u00e8me petite bo\u00eete de lego. Maintenant, ils ont assez de briques pour construire des choses. Bien s\u00fbr, ils se disputent toujours pour que leurs constructions ne soient pas d\u00e9truites par l\u2019autre. Mais \u00e0 un moment donn\u00e9, je pense qu’ils veulent juste se disputer, alors il n\u2019y a rien \u00e0 faire !<\/em><\/p>\n We also started reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together.<\/p>\n Nous avons \u00e9galement commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 lire ensemble Harry Potter et l’Ordre du Ph\u00e9nix.<\/em><\/p>\n I also though that being at home with the children, it was time for them to participate in the chores. So that’s another thing they do: helping with keeping the flat tidy (making their beds, sorting their shoes), with meals (putting the plates on the table and off, helping with cleaning the dishes). It’s not much, but it helps.<\/p>\n Comme je suis \u00e0 la maison avec eux et disponibles (ce qui n\u2019est JAMAIS arriv\u00e9 avant), je me suis dit qu\u2019il \u00e9tait temps qu\u2019ils participent aux t\u00e2ches m\u00e9nag\u00e8res. Du coup, \u00e7a les occupe aussi. Bien s\u00fbr, ils ne sont pas tr\u00e8s contents d\u2019avoir \u00e0 faire \u00e7a : aider \u00e0 garder l\u2019appart bien rang\u00e9 (faire leurs lits, trier leurs chaussures), avec les repas (mettre le couvert et le d\u00e9barrasser, aider \u00e0 faire la vaisselle). Ce n’est pas beaucoup, mais \u00e7a aide.<\/em><\/p>\n I realised how much we get used to our comfort and how hard it is to adapt to a new place without all the stuff we are used to. For me the most difficult so far had to cook with so little. My first meals were not really good. I find it very hard to cook with 2 hobs, 2 saucepans and a pan (now I’ve got a wok as well \ud83d\ude42 !) The lack of tools coupled with the different food available makes it difficult. after a couple of weeks, I am started to get used to this. I now understand what Sophie told me about stripping your life of the superfluous.<\/p>\n Je me suis rendue compte \u00e0 quel point on s\u2019habitue \u00e0 son confort et \u00e0 quel point il est difficile de s\u2019adapter \u00e0 un nouvel endroit sans avoir tout ce \u00e0 quoi nous sommes habitu\u00e9s. Pour moi, le plus difficile jusqu’\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent c\u2019est cuisiner avec si peu. Mes premiers repas n’\u00e9taient pas vraiment bons. J’ai beaucoup de mal \u00e0 cuisiner avec 2 plaques de cuisson, 2 casseroles et une po\u00eale (maintenant j’ai aussi un wok \ud83d\ude42 !) Apr\u00e8s quelques semaines, je commence \u00e0 m’y habituer. Je comprends maintenant ce que Sophie me disait \u00e0 propos de se d\u00e9barrasser du superflu.<\/em><\/p>\n Another thing that I realised is that I didn’t know my children anymore. Being together all the time (and I mean ALL the time) is difficult. Because they are different from who I thought they were. I mean, who is this boy saying so many silly things? Oh, yes, that’s Alex! How come he became like that? You can say he’s 12 \ud83d\ude42 Well that would certainly explain some things. I am so happy I can get to know them again before it is too late and they don’t want to be with me anymore. Even if that means I need to suffer all the silly jokes!!<\/p>\n Il y a aussi autre chose que j’ai r\u00e9alis\u00e9e c\u2019est que je ne connais plus mes enfants. Ces quelques semaines ensemble sont difficiles, mais c\u2019est aussi un vrai bonheur que de les red\u00e9couvrir. Et, oui, ils sont diff\u00e9rents de ce que je m\u2019imaginais, mais ils sont quand m\u00eame des enfants extras ! Bon, apr\u00e8s, il y a quand meme une limite \u00e0 la quantit\u00e9 d\u2019idioties que je peux supporter venant d\u2019Alex. OK, il a 12 ans et il va falloir que je me pr\u00e9pare aux prochaines ann\u00e9es, \u00e7a ne va pas s\u2019am\u00e9liorer !<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most difficult things so far was to live in a much smaller space than we used to.[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-fullwidth.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}