I have never lived in a house. When I was in Singapore, I lived with my parents in a condominium, a condominium that my parents have been living in for close to forty years. The reason why my parents have never bought a house in Singapore is because they are not Singapore citizens. In Singapore, …
Our house search was launched right after the summer vacation, in September 2020. We started by poring through the information available on seloger.com, the most popular website used for the rental and purchase of residential properties. Unfortunately, not soon after our house search started, the number of Covid-19 cases returned with a vengeance. The French …
Anyone who has ever bought a house knows that the process is not an easy undertaking. Complications spike when you are buying your first house in a country where you are still trying to get your head around the various antiquated French administrative processes, speaking a language that you are not totally at ease with, …
If you are new to France, you might have mistaken today, 19 May 2021, to be a public holiday in France. You might have thought everyone in France is celebrating a national day, perhaps a day named ‘Terrace Day’ or ‘Fête des Terrasses’. You are not far out. 19 May 2021 is the first day …
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Guess what? Last night, the French President officially announced a national Covid-19 lockdown for the second time, starting from Friday, 30 October. French Lockdown, Season II. In the past five months since the gradual lifting of first national lockdown, the French government has reiterated that the country cannot afford another national lockdown as the first …
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France’s economy, like those of many countries, almost came to a complete standstill during the Covid-19 lockdown. For France, it was for two months from 17th March to 11th May. In these two months, only establishments such as pharmacies, hospitals, supermarkets, bakeries and weirdly enough, tobacco stores (“bureau de tabac”) that were deemed indispensable to …
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Last Tuesday, 15 days after déconfinement, I finally got my hair cut. Post haircut. Hair clippings can still be seen on my face. Messy-Hair Couple Silviu and I are different in many ways, but we are similar in that we do not take as much care as we should of our crowning glory. Silviu is worse …
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Today is the first day of the déconfinement. Déconfinement is the French word used to describe the period after Corvid-19 lockdown. Do you know the English word equivalent for Déconfinement? Please drop me a text if you do. I was stumbled by my students when they asked me for the English word. After poring through …
Podcast: Download (Duration: 25:03 — 16.0MB)
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In the last episode, I told you about a new routine that I have picked since the start of the lockdown in France. It’s indoor bike training. I am training 5 times a week on my bike, based on a 6-week training plan from Zwift, a virtual training application for runners and cyclists. In this episode, I …
Podcast: Download (Duration: 13:33 — 9.7MB)
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What’s keeping you sane during the lockdown period? For me, it’s the 30 hours and 610km of virtual indoor bike training with Zwift, and of course, the buckets of sweat over the last six weeks.In this episode and the following one, I am sharing with you my virtual cycling adventure that I have embarked on. …