The Cold Freezes Everything

I ought to blog more often as I have so many things to share - about living in France, about being yet another Malaysian, but mostly being ME, infusing in a foreign culture and lifestyle. But the winter winds of the Indre Valley is numbing me to a halt. I feel like I'm semi-frozen, even in a panoply of woolies. The cold doesn't agree with me. I am tropical through and through.

It has been over 3 months since I last made my measly effort to record my thoughts in cyberspace and I'm not too proud of my non-enthusiasism. I'm lazy and I lack motivation. Has this new life of sleepless nights (kids) and endless physical labour (expensive domestic help) and the feeling of entrapment (practically zero social life) taken a toll on me? Maybe.

Almost all Malaysians with French partners (or other non-English speaking natives for that matter) who moved to their partners' country go through a "difficult" period at the beginning. Most, are smart enough to take the initiative to learn French immediately. As oppose to me. I have learnt from my time that this is absolutely CRUCIAL and the root to happiness when we arrive into France. It's the key to total immersion into their world. Without this proficiency in their language, you will not be able to enter into their society in contentment.

This is what I lack and although it's never too late to learn, once children comes into the picture, your mobility becomes very much limited. So, for those who stumbled upon my blog, who are in fact 'newbies' to this Land of Frogs, hungry for the littlest of insight into this unique world of the French - my first advise to you is GO LEARN FRENCH PROPERLY! :) There is no way around this. It's now or never. Once you are equipped with this, I tell you, half of the battle is won.

Back to the freeze. Oh yes indeed, it is COLD. Brrrr... I was mortified the other day when I saw an outside reading of -9C on our thermometer. These days, I dread at the thought of going out of the house. Sending and picking up my kids, included. I just want to stay indoors, snuggle up in a warm cover with my 2 hands clinching tightly on a hot cup of cocoa. The reality is that daily chores await and I don't have the luxury to do all that was mentioned. I hate putting piles of clothes on. It's weighty and restrict my movement. But I have no choice, if I wish to stay defrosted. Our house is maintained at 18C for 2 reasons. One, gas and electricity is expensive here (we have a huge space to heat), and two, my husband insists that this temperature is the healtiest to be in. (My parents used to turn the heat on to the max, probably more than 25C, in winter, when we used to live in Europe - I was always sleeveless and in shorts). 18C - me no like. Me from hot country! What do I do? I put on my warmest pants, throw on 3 layers of itchy woolen tops, put on my Merino wool-lined Emu boots on (yes, that Ugg boots competitor) and hey why not a hat too, since I'm about to climb the cold Hilamalayas. Err... no, you are still inside your house, dear. And off goes the abominable snowman, I mean snow woman, to do her mundane wifey, motherly, tasks... clean, clean, scrub, scrub, wash, wash, wash, store, store, chop, chop.. and round again.



Aaah.. at the end of the day... What's nicer than to de-stress in front of the fire place, prepared with love by hubby dearest... oh, wonderful flame, may you crackle and pop till my winter blues are burnt away..