Week 6: Loooockdooown

I started the last week of the more or less golden October with a nice walk along the Canal St. Martin. There are some boats here that have been converted into cafes or libraries and they look very inviting! Some of them even have live concerts occasionally. I hope that in some future I can spend an evening or afternoon immersed in a book on one of these boats. During my walk, I also came across a piece of home, as you can see in the pictures. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the autumn holidays are over and I finally started teaching my remaining six recorders online again! Unfortunately, the internet connection was not as stable as hoped, so let's see how the next few weeks go.

Since I spent many days alone in the bar right around the corner, drinking cocoa in the afternoon or a glass of wine in the evening, I got into a conversation with one of the waiters there, his name is Haceme. When I was there again on Monday morning, we agreed to go to another bar in the evening with a few of his friends, and I was really happy about it because I don't have any real contacts outside of school here in Paris! In the end, there were three of us in a bar near the Nation stop and it was a really fun evening. I was really annoyed that the curfew starts at 9 p.m., because we had to interrupt the evening in the middle to go home. Anyway, Haceme's girlfriend and most of her friends also make music, and they want to invite me to the next evening when everyone wants to meet up, how nice!

On Tuesday, I took a trip to the Quartier Saint Michel and the Latin Quarter. Here stands Notre Dame, the cathedral that burned down last year. Unfortunately, you couldn't go inside because of that. However, there was still plenty to see. With many small streets, the district is very cozy and inviting to explore the streets and discover new places. I visited Sainte Chapelle and did some French exercises to protect myself from the drizzle: I took information sheets in French and German and then tried to translate them as beautifully as possible from French into German, as it is written on the 'correct' German flyer. It didn't always work out so well, but it was fun!

But it was doubly worth it when I ventured out into the rain again: First, I found the most beautiful bookstore/library ever, and then I had the best lunch since I arrived in Paris. The bookstore is called Shakespeare & Company and mainly sells English books. Just because of that, it has a bit more warmth and emotion than French bookstores, because in my opinion, English books always have very appealing book covers. The cover of an English book gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect. The genre and usually the author's style are clear. French books all look the same at first: completely white, with a small photo on the cover. The books don't have an attractive effect on me. That's probably why I felt so comfortable in the beautiful bookstore, but maybe also because there is a piano there, photos on the walls, cozy reading areas in the corners, and a cat wandering around.

For lunch, I went to an Indian restaurant that offered a menu with appetizer, main course, and dessert for 12€, incredibly cheap for Paris. So my expectations weren't very high, but I was completely convinced. Delicious naan bread with various sauces and vegetarian samosa pockets as an appetizer, rice with seasonal vegetables (pumpkin!!) in creamy sauce as the main course, and a coconut cake as dessert made me very happy.

In the evening, I went for coffee and to the cinema with Anne-Lou, my colleague from the Collège. We watched a film about Michelangelo, called 'Michel-Ange' in French. It is quite common here for films to be shown in the original language with only the subtitles in French, and that was the case with this film as well. It was spoken in Italian, while a French subtitle ran along. There are also dubbings, but not for all films, as is usually the case in Germany.

On Wednesday morning, I went to 'Le Petit Carillon' again and took the time to make a rough annual plan for 2021. The background to this is that a friend's ensemble asked me if I wanted to sing with them. I really want to, but I had to check if I have the availability next year. The result: YES! May and September are already quite full, but the remaining months have very few fixed dates apart from university. It would be so nice if it works out!

In the afternoon, I met with a person from an Erasmus WhatsApp group that I joined yesterday to explore the Jardin du Luxembourg. Lea also wanted to come to Paris, so she joined us. Sadullah is from Turkey, from Izmir, and is studying computer science. He was really nice and took lots of photos and videos because he is more modern than me and makes a so-called vlog (video blog) about his time here. It was a bit strange when he kept filming even while eating crepes, Lea and I were a bit confused :D

In the evening, the whole of France probably sat in front of the screens to listen to Macron's speech at 8 p.m. He was supposed to announce the new corona regulations, and there were already many rumors going around: complete lockdown, bringing forward the curfew to 7 p.m., all schools only online, and so on. Of course, I also watched online to find out the news. Result: Lockdown. Leaving the house is only allowed if you have a reason (work, shopping, doctor's visit). Additionally, each person is allowed to leave the house for 1 hour per day within a radius of 1 km to, for example, go for a walk. For all these cases, you need a 'certificate', which you have to fill out before leaving the house, with your address, reason, and time. All bars, restaurants, cinemas, and shops have to close. Schools remain open.

Pretty drastic. After this news, I was stunned, as I had gotten used to stopping by a café during a walk or having a drink in the evening. I find it really harsh that even meeting between 2 households is not allowed, as is the case in Germany (where all bars also have to close). Especially since many people live alone here! The measures will initially be in place until December 1st, then a decision will be made on how to proceed.

Of course, I considered canceling. But since schools remain open and I can leave the house for a longer period of time three times a week AND live in a shared flat where I have at least occasional human contact, which is also in French, I decided to stay, also because it's not much better in Germany right now.

Lea decided to go back to Germany. She lives alone, right next to the school, and in an area where there is absolutely nothing (so going for a walk is boring). She will do the program again next year. I'm pretty sad about it because she is my closest friend here, but I realized she had made up her mind pretty quickly and was happy with her decision, so I didn't try to persuade her.

I was a bit depressed, so I actually started watching the series 'Emily in Paris' in the evening, and what can I say: I was amused and distracted!

Lea and I then used Thursday, our last day in Paris without a curfew, to do a lot of things! We met at 10:30, went to the Eiffel Tower, went up the Eiffel Tower (AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL), ate pizza, looked for gifts for Lea's parents, walked along the Champs-Elysees, and had a last drink in my favorite bar around the corner. Then we went to her place, watched a film there, and ate brownies. It was a beautiful day, but also a bit sad.

On Friday afternoon, I went back to Paris, and when I went shopping, I had to fill out a certificate for it for the first time. Crazy! I also discovered that the TooGoodToGo app is also available in Paris and picked up an order from a bakery. For 4€, I could take a filled sandwich, a baguette, an apple turnover, a piece of cake, and a 'religieuse', really great!

My roommate Victoria spontaneously flew to Mexico this morning with her boyfriend, her mother and sister were anything but thrilled about it, but she will stay there for a month now, that's also very crazy. In the evening, the three of us sat in the kitchen and watched videos of my two beloved choirs, the LJC and Vocal Journey. It was really nice.

On Saturday, a topic was discussed in a Facebook group of Germans in Paris that has also been on my mind for a long time: The chocolate muesli problem! Muesli somehow isn't such a big thing here in France, and the three muesli varieties I have tried so far really didn't convince me. But maybe I can finally find a good chocolate muesli here soon with the tips in the group's post.

Otherwise, my weekend was very quiet. I used my one hour of walking time on both days, that was okay, and otherwise I planned a bit of teaching, facetimed with friends and family, and had another really good tandem conversation with Philippe. My parents had a really spooky Halloween experience last night: there were screams outside their window all night and nobody knew where they were coming from! But the next morning it quickly became clear who the culprit was: a sweet little kitten! It got lost and chose our house. Of course, it was named Halloween, and now we're trying to find out if it's missing from somewhere. If not... well, let's hope that Nala gets along well with Halloween!