Week 16/17: The Technology Debacle

The week started off with me not having a laptop charger. I forgot it at the Collège on Friday and asked Anne-Lou if she could check for it at school on Monday. She agreed, and I spent Monday without my laptop and taught classes in the afternoon as usual. In the evening, I wanted to pick up the charger from her, but she had forgotten to check! It was annoying, but I messed up when I forgot it myself. Monday evening's dance class was really nice. Luise choreographed a routine to Skinny Love by Birdy, a song I used to listen to a lot 10 years ago and recently discovered that the music video was filmed here in Paris in my favorite library. On Tuesday morning, I used the music room at school to practice the song on the piano and made a little recording to combine the choreo and my own version in a video. That was fun! I taught the Première and Terminale classes as usual, the topic was Fake News, it was a bit challenging with very weak students. After that, I started preparing tomorrow's lessons on the school computer because I still didn't have a charger for my laptop. However, Anne-Lou told me that she found it and I can pick it up from her this afternoon. So I went home with the plan to cook something first, then pick up the charger and finish preparing my lessons for tomorrow. But as soon as I arrived at the apartment, I received a message that the charger is in her locker at school and I can just take it. What?! Why didn't she bring it home as she had announced? Aargh, if I had known, I would have simply gone to the other school to get the charger! Now I didn't have a laptop again, but I didn't want to take another hour each way to pick up my charger. Luckily, Victoria lent me her MacBook, which was very kind of her! At least I was able to prepare my lessons. I also had a meeting with Lea at 6 and had to make the toughest decision of the new year at 8: participate in the meeting with Vocal Journey or watch the first live concert and interview with Jupiter Jones? The answer was: both!

On Wednesday, I worked at the Lycée as usual, then went to the Collège to pick up my charger, and in the afternoon, I prepared my presentation for Thursday's music education class with Jürgen Terhag. The topic was "It doesn't always have to be hip-hop - Teaching unpopular music". The introduction will be that we go from the opening scene of The Shining to Berlioz's Symphony fantastique to Gregorian chant, so it's about unpopular music. I really like the topic, so my motivation to prepare it well was very high :)

In addition, we created two audio documents on the bandlab website through Bubs. Each of us can record our voice at home and merge them in a collaborative online program, which is very convenient! One current project is "Kaleidoscope," a very short piece that I wanted to sing. Since Florence was teaching in the living room at the time, I thought it wouldn't be a problem if I made some noise in my room. I was wrong! After two or three trial runs, there was an anxious knock on my door. She couldn't hear her students anymore when I sang. Why doesn't she use headphones? I always use them when I teach. It annoyed me for a short but intense moment.

Thursday was a very exciting day! At 11 am, I had a meeting with many important people from the university regarding our petition to distance ourselves from Mr. Neuhoff. Moritz and I represented the whole group in this meeting, along with Ms. Meyer (head of the EMP program), Ms. Niessen and Ms. Meine (department of musicology), and Mr. Geuen (rector). Moritz and I briefly explained the history of the petition and our current demands/suggestions for how things could be improved at the university and in musicology. All four of them were very receptive to our proposals and want to implement as much as possible. It was amazing! After 1.5 hours, it was over, but the adrenaline level was still high. We were both very happy with how the meeting went and are now curious to see what will actually be implemented.

In the afternoon, I gave my presentation in music education, which went very well. In the evening, we had a meeting with Feminetz because we are currently working on the logo. After that, I was very glad to lie down in bed and read something. I had to cancel dancing that day because I had too many other commitments.

Friday was a normal work day, and on Saturday, I started the day with a yoga class taught by Luise, a great start! Amelie also called me to tell me that a room in her apartment will be available from March and asked if I want to move in with them! Phew, of course, I want to, but do I want to move back in with the guys afterwards? It's a real dilemma. I had already talked to Immo, a fellow student, about moving in with him for half a year. After a few days of consideration and conversations with friends, I decided to accept!! I'm already really looking forward to living with Amelie and Johanna for at least the next six months. Then we'll see if Felix stays in Cologne or moves, if we want to live with three or four people, and so on. I'm sure it was the right decision :))

Sunday started with a killer workout from Zhian, 3 minutes of planking and after an hour of exercises, 5 minutes of wall sitting. I probably won't be able to walk for the next few days. The rest of my Sunday was filled with more Zoom meetings: Feminetz, Anna, and as always, my language exchange partner Philippe. Of course, all of this took place in the kitchen because I disturb Florence too much in my room or in the living room. Oh, the joys of living in a shared apartment!

I started the new week full of energy: cleared up contract details for music education at Ecole maternelle, prepared a debate on pop feminism for a Terminale AbiBac class, cooked a delicious meal, taught classes, solved my creative choreography task (dancing with an object), and finally had a dance class with Luise. Today, we did a choreography in the "commercial" style to the song "Legs" by RuPaul's Drag Race, which was so much fun!

Tuesday was also a fantastic day: I taught for 4 hours successfully and then used the music room. Stephane, the music teacher, asked if I wanted to stay in the afternoon. He is currently planning a kind of "digital concert" with his students and recording many different songs, including "Knocking on Heaven's Door". I was allowed to play the double bass :D He also gave me a brief introduction to recording software Logic, and together we recorded the students the whole afternoon. Trombone, solo vocals, choir, ukulele, everything was there!

I left in high spirits and, as always, listened to music with my AirPods on the RER train. I got off at Magenta, holding my phone in my right hand and in my jacket pocket, went up the stairs, took out my Navigo ticket from my fanny pack on the way out to tap it and accidentally touched the person behind me with my right elbow. I apologized and continued walking. Suddenly, my AirPods lost their connection, so I checked my phone in my jacket pocket to see why: it was gone! Right at that moment, I heard someone behind me say, "Anna...?" and my colleague Anne-Lou was suddenly standing behind me. And I immediately said, "Anne-Lou, I think my phone was stolen!" Fuck. We searched my bags first, retraced our steps, then went to the police station, who referred me to filing an online report. We were also able to track my phone through the "Find My" app on Anne-Lou's phone. Strangely, it didn't move away from the train station and it was on the whole time! But we couldn't find it anywhere. We also enabled the "Lost Mode," but it was immediately turned off again. I used her phone to call my parents and we spent the evening together at her apartment. When I got home, I told my flatmates, and we sat together in the kitchen for a while. It was finally a good flatmate moment, even though it was an unpleasant topic. Unfortunately, I had just bought the phone 4 weeks ago. However, I still had my old phone in Paris, which I could use temporarily. It doesn't have a SIM card, so I can only use it for Instagram, Facebook, and emails, but it's better than nothing.

On Wednesday morning, I got up at 5:30 am to search for the phone again at the train station because it was still showing that it was there until 5:30 am. I suspected that I had only lost it and hadn't found it the day before in the hustle and bustle. I was already at the station by 6:10 am, but there was no sign of the phone. Neither in the tracks (I was approached by concerned bystanders asking if everything was okay), nor in the trash cans, nor in any stairwells. But I immediately continued searching after school, went to all the lost and found offices at Gare de l'Est, Gare du Nord, and even spoke to SNCF employees at Magenta. I met two very nice employees who searched with me again. One of them told the story of how he once lost his ring in the sea and found it again the next day. Crazy! After an unsuccessful search, I cooked a delicious chili sin carne, attended the translation course at the university, and then just read in peace. I'm still reading the book "Papillon," but it's the first French book that I really like and that I will definitely finish reading! I'm currently on page 250, I've never lasted that long with a French book before. In the evening, Lea, the former teaching assistant, called me because she and her dad (who is an Apple specialist) were concerned about my phone, very sweet of them!

During the first two days, I was very annoyed that my phone was gone. Especially I'm sad about losing my photos, videos, and chat history since December 20th, so Christmas, New Year's, all the videos from the dance course, and so on. But the rest is still there, so all the contacts, calendar entries, and more important things. So it's an annoyance, but it's also a classic Paris cliche that my phone gets stolen here. I would say now I have truly arrived in Paris!