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For a short time in 2020, when my daughter, Elena, was four, we lived in France.
2020年，我女儿埃琳娜四岁时，我们在法国住了很短的一段时间。
On our first day, our kitchen in boxes, I took her to McDonald’s and told her that the French call it “Le Macdo”.
第一天，我带她去了麦当劳的包厢厨房，告诉她法语称其为“Le Macdo”。
I propped her up on a counter and read her the French menu items, as she giggled into my shoulder.
我扶她坐在柜台上，给她念法国菜单，她在我的肩膀上咯咯地笑。
“Mummy, the French are so funny!”
“妈妈，法国人真有趣!”
A few weeks later, we ran into a boy from her school. He said “Coucou, Elena!”
几周后，我们遇到了她学校的一个男孩。他说: “你好，埃琳娜!”
She waved coolly at him, then grinned at me. “Isn’t that so funny?”
她淡定地朝他挥了挥手，然后对我咧嘴一笑。“这不是很有趣吗?”
Her secret laughter reminded me of my first glimpse of family life in the west.
她那神秘一笑使我想起了我对西方家庭生活的最初一瞥。
I was nine and we had just escaped from Iran, because my mother was a Christian convert – an apostate.
那时我九岁，我们刚从伊朗逃出来，因为我母亲是一个改信基督教的人——一个叛教者。
My mother, brother and I had been living in undocumented limbo in Dubai, and when the migrant hostel closed without notice we were taken in by a family of Australian missionaries.
我和母亲、哥哥一直住在迪拜的非法地带、居无定所，当移民旅馆没有事先通知就关门时，我们被一个澳大利亚传教士家庭收留了。
On our first night in their house, we three retreated to our room and giggled as we dissected their routines.
在他们家的第一晚，我们三个人回到自己的房间，一边剖析他们的日常生活，一边咯咯地笑。
We were grateful to have a comfortable room and a bed, but the family seemed so strange to us.
能有一个舒适的房间和一张床，我们就很感激，但这个家庭对我们来说太不寻常了。
There was also a thrill in scrutinising the habits of white people; we didn’t often get the chance.
仔细观察白人的习惯也令我们兴奋; 我们很少有这样的机会。
My mother’s eyes went wide when dinner arrived: plates of cold cuts, cold vegetables and leftovers.
当晚餐端上来时，母亲的眼睛瞪得圆圆的: 一盘盘的冷肉片、冷蔬菜以及剩饭剩菜。
Each night, their son Nathan, a boy my age, got his private time, then official tuck-in with each parent, a bizarre ritual.
每天晚上，他们的儿子内森(一个和我年龄相仿的男孩)先独自待会儿，然后父母亲会正式给他盖好被子，习惯真是奇怪。
I had never been offered private time. My mother was in my business all the time.
我从没有得到过私人空间。我妈妈总是掺和我的事儿。
In the hostel, she had slept in my bed. Nathan’s closed door seemed to me so performative and unnecessary.
在收容所，她曾睡在我的床上。内森关着的门在我看来是那么多余与矫揉造作。
Did mothers in other countries close the door, count the minutes and wait for their child to complete some kind of playtime ablutions?
其他国家的妈妈也会关上门，数着时间，等着孩子完成某种洗澡游戏吗？
In those early immigrant days, my mother, brother and I lived in a perpetual state of wonder and bafflement.
在早期移民的日子里，我和母亲、哥哥永远生活在一种纳闷与困惑中。
Everything these anglophones did was weird, and at night we clung to one another and laughed about it until our mirth turned to tears, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms, wishing that one day we’d get their jokes and sit easy at their table.
这些讲英语的人做的每一件事都很奇怪，到了晚上，我们三个紧紧相拥，笑谈这些怪事，直到欢笑变为泪水，我们在彼此的怀里入睡，希望有一天我们能听懂他们的笑话，在他们的饭桌旁能泰然自若。
