Day 6,7,8: Organization and Moving

Tuesday started with sorting out some organizational matters. I had some email correspondence with the (very nice) German teachers of the schools, in which it was decided that my first day would be on Friday at the Collège, because none of the Lycée colleagues will be present on Thursday. I will be working a total of 12 hours per week at two different schools. It can be such that I am present in the teacher's class as support, that the class is divided and we teach in smaller groups in parallel, or that a small group of students is accompanied by me. At least that's how it was for my predecessor, who told me a lot about it in her report.

In the afternoon, I drove back to Paris in pouring rain. This time, I wanted to visit the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, without gummy bears and all the way to the top. Just before the Basilica, there are many stairs that you have to climb to reach your destination. There are always men standing there, trying to sell their goods (bracelets or similar) to tourists. I had to pass by them, of course, they approached me, and I answered with a brief 'Non, merci' and continued walking with my umbrella. The man did not accept this and came up to me, took my hand, and put an unasked-for bracelet around my wrist! I was really shocked and told him off that he should not touch me. That was a very uncomfortable moment. Nevertheless, it was worth climbing the stairs, because Sacre-Coeur, the symbol of the Montmartre district, not only looks beautiful from the outside. To escape from the rain, I also made extensive use of the time inside the Basilica and admired the 425 sqm (!) mosaic above the altar area.

Afterwards, I followed the tip from a city guide for an Indian restaurant, but unfortunately, the restaurant was closed at that time. However, there was an Indian restaurant right next door, so I had a vegetarian Thali there and drank a delicious French Orangina.

On Wednesday morning, I was busy with organizational matters again because I received an email from my employer, the Académie Créteil, for the FIRST time. But probably only because someone clicked 'reply all' and I received the email again. Apparently, there is some problem in my email center, since I am obviously in the distribution list, but have not received any emails so far. My spam folder was also empty. Since I didn't know if I had already missed other important information, I chose a female name from the public distribution list that looked like a German name, and sent an email to this Lea, asking her to forward all other important emails to me. She responded very quickly, clarified the organizational matters, then we switched to WhatsApp and found out that we both studied in Cologne! Funny coincidence. We will meet for coffee on the weekend.

In the afternoon, I met up with Conni, a woman who comes from Idenheim but has been living in Paris for a long time. We strolled around the Jewish quarter and she showed me her favorite shop for 'Pastel de nata', a Portuguese dessert. I know (and love) Pastel de nata, and now I know that I will definitely be eating a lot of it in the near future. It's just the perfect treat: puff pastry, custard, warm, and handy. Yum!

In the evening, I bought a bottle of wine for Antoine and Maeva and thanked them for the very pleasant week. They invited me to come back anytime when I'm in Le Raincy.

Today (Thursday), fortunately, I didn't have to go to school yet, so I could move from Le Raincy to Paris in a relaxed manner. I had arranged to meet Florence from the new apartment at 12 o'clock. In the morning, I packed my things calmly and crossed over with the first half, the heavy suitcase, and a backpack. I rarely have been so glad to see an elevator in a building!

In apartment 154, I met Florence, who lives here with her daughters Victoria and Gloria. She was even nicer than I had estimated her in the video call, and the apartment is actually even more beautiful than I had expected. Maisonette apartment with terraces on both floors, two bathrooms, a grand piano (!!), and my own terrace from my room. By the way, from the 'shared' terrace of the apartment, you can see both the Eiffel Tower AND Sacre-Coeur. That's so crazy! We briefly talked about music, and since Florence is a singing teacher, she promptly asked her friends if their choir was rehearsing, if they could use another soprano 2, and if I had a piece ready to sing with an ensemble. What? All of this happened in less than 5 minutes, let's see what happens now if I live here for the next 6 months. I drove back to Le Raincy, loaded the second load of luggage, said goodbye to Antoine, and finally arrived at the apartment in Paris. I could calmly unpack my suitcases into the closet (finally no longer living out of a suitcase!) and buy a few small things. In the course of the afternoon, I briefly met Gloria and Victoria and chatted a bit. So, now I'm sitting here and for the next six months, I can say: I live in Paris!