Weeks 18 & 19: Housing stress and carnival

I started the new month of February with a relaxed Monday. Since I don't have a SIM card and therefore no mobile number or WhatsApp access, I couldn't give recorder lessons and instead spent some more time in the city. I walked in Montmartre, ate delicious ice cream, sat in front of Notre Dame, found silence in a church, browsed in two secondhand shops and bought new pants. I really enjoyed the time, but I also got lost more often and was happy to find a metro station where there is at least a rough city map to see where I am. Because of the ongoing curfew at 6 p.m., I had to be back in the apartment, and I had an appointment with Luise for the closing talk about the dance workshop, which was only for January. That was very nice, and I hope to be able to take the course again in March! After that, I had a Zoom appointment with Lucas (and Nina half), of course I sat in the living room, but I was too loud, so I moved to the kitchen, then eventually cooking started and I couldn't understand Lucas anymore and he couldn't understand me either, so we stopped. That was quite unsatisfactory for what had been such a nice day.

On Tuesday, I got up super early to use the music room at the Lycée for the first two hours on Tuesdays as (almost) always. I tried out the double bass a bit and then played the guitar again, of course the only three songs I know by heart: Moonlight, Blackbird and Shallow. Still nice :D

Together with the teachers from the Collège and the Lycée, we are planning an escape room for the 3rd grade of the Collège, so that more students will be motivated to choose German as their main subject at the Lycée. All my German colleagues got together for this, unfortunately Héloise and Sébastian were only online because they (or their children) were cas contact. But planning a joint project together (which unfortunately will not take place until May) is pretty cool. However, Anne-Lou was very shy during the meeting and visibly intimidated by two native speakers (Julia and me), even though she also speaks German almost perfectly. That was a bit of a shame, but I still hope the project works out well. Maybe I'll come back to Paris for that!

I have already discussed the cotton production process with one class and wanted to move on to a topic more specific to Germany, namely Fridays for Future. I was shocked when I found out that, unlike in Germany, hardly anything exists here. The FFF Instagram page of Paris only has a few hundred followers, and when I wrote the hashtag FFF on the board, there were only mediocre suggestions for what it could mean. In the afternoon, I was with Anja in the prépa class, where we had a discussion with two students about pop feminism. Relaxed tandem conversation with Philippe, and I spent the rest of the evening enjoying (still, yes!) Papillon.

On Thursday, my day off, I took another small tour to St. Michel to get a small book gift at Shakespeare & Co. I really enjoy walking around Paris, actually I don't do it enough. I also received a package: my new (used) phone! I bought it on Monday evening because after two weeks with the old phone, I realized why I needed a new one. However, setting it up didn't go so smoothly, and I had internet problems during my university event, everything was annoying, so in the evening I just treated myself to sushi, Netflix, and a summer cinema-winter concert from "rausgegangen köln".

After work on Friday (it was super boring because I was just watching), there was a beautiful farewell party for a colleague who had worked at the school for 35 (!) years. Afterwards, we went to Rémi's place, ordered pizza and played the guitar. On Saturday, I went to "Picard" for the first time, a store where everything is frozen. Picard is on every corner here, and what I have eaten so far was quite tasty! Funny enough, they even have pre-cut onions there. With nems from Picard, I watched American football for the first time, because it was raining all the time outside anyway. On Saturday evening (6 p.m.) we met up with Bubs., but I was really annoyed with my roommates. I spoke very quietly and very little in the living room because I didn't want to be in the kitchen, but then there was a complaint from upstairs and I moved, then they started cooking again and I moved again and well, that's just annoying.

Sunday morning, as always, I talked to mom, dad, and grandma on the phone and later went for a walk in Paris with Luca. And even though I have absolutely no concerts in sight, especially not here in France, I couldn't resist this beautiful black jumpsuit. Luca then came to my place and we made ravioli with Parmesan and a salad and chatted in the kitchen for a long time. Luca told me a lot about the coming-out and the reactions of the family, which was intense, and I felt honored to be entrusted with that. Because the curfew had already begun, I wrote a note for Luca explaining the late exit. Fortunately, the note was not needed.

The second week of February was the last one before the two-week vacation, and everyone was actually expecting the vacation to be extended by one week due to the uncertain infection rate. But that didn't happen in Paris (it did happen in other regions), so I was able to work normally. Of course, on Monday, I had my recorder lessons again, which I had to do without for a week, and in the evening, I did yoga with Sally for the first time in a very long time!

I spent the Tuesday morning in the music room, first with an electric guitar and then with the Bach aria "Ich folge dir gleichsam" from the St. John Passion. Of course, on two days before Fat Thursday, I talked about the topic of carnival in class, and we watched beautiful videos from Cologne that made me very melancholic. And when I came home, there was a crazy moment: I was ALONE in the apartment! That hadn't happened since October 1st (knowingly). I enjoyed the moment and SPOKE LOUDLY and even TURNED ON MUSIC WHILE COOKING and HUMMED ALONG! Unfortunately, the solitude lasted for less than 5 minutes. Because on Thursdays, Florence teaches online and on site from the living room. But anyway, I couldn't stay in the carnival zoom meeting for long because I had a university event. The volume is usually lower there anyway. My heart rate was down again (I always find it very uncomfortable when conflicts arise, and of course the tone gets rougher when it's always about the same topic) and I had an appointment with Michael, my singing teacher, to talk on the phone. In fact, I want to take the entrance exam for EMP (Elementary Music Education) and GP (Vocal Pedagogy) to possibly study one of the two courses in addition to my teaching studies starting in October. To do this, we first had to decide with which vocal range I would apply (soprano) and then select six pieces that I might want to sing. Very exciting! It's really special to deal with it so concretely. In the last semesters, I realized how much I enjoy singing, and I want to learn much more about it. Above all, I want to learn how to teach singing better myself, and both courses can help me with that.

In the evening, I had arranged to meet the handball girls for a carnival drink. During the meeting, Florence knocked on the door and asked if we could talk. Of course, I agreed. She told me that the way it went today was absolutely not acceptable to her. I apologized again directly for the loud moment, but then she said it wasn't so much about the one loud moment, but about the fact that I had been speaking all day. She could hardly hear her students on the laptop (she teaches without headphones) and when she teaches on site, piano exercises are not common when I speak upstairs in my room. I then suggested to her to use headphones (no, that's not possible, too exhausting to use headphones every day of the week), then that she should ask me next time how long I will keep speaking, and then she should only use headphones for a certain time (maximum half an hour, no longer possible), then I asked if the music school could provide her with a room, as it is empty anyway (that is not allowed by the country), then I suggested asking the school if I could stay in a classroom for an afternoon. We left the conversation without a solution. In retrospect, I realized that I was way too passive and could have also said that I have the right to work and speak in my room just like she has the right to work and speak. And she didn't make a single suggestion herself, I wonder what she expected from me? Did she expect me to say that I won't speak anymore when she teaches? That's simply not possible in a year of pandemic. And for a few hours of using headphones, which is really not cool, but if there is no other way, you have to accept it.

So; a day full of emotions.

On the weekend, I escaped from the apartment and went to Rémi, a colleague from the Collège, whose roommate is at his girlfriend's place during the holidays and almost every weekend, so his room is available. The apartment is right next to the train station in Le Raincy and on the top floor, a really nice large living room, with a cozy couch, TV, dining table (also suitable for table tennis) and a small but functional kitchen. Here I prepared my next week, because I will be doing a week of early musical education at an Ecole maternelle. On Saturday, the MV Idenheim also met online on Zoom to celebrate Karnevalssamstag together from 14:11. Because I called Philipp briefly, I took a look and it seemed to be a good atmosphere! While I was preparing my week, Rémi cooked Kenyan food (what a service) and afterwards we watched a strange French film called "Fatal". I knew some quotes from the film because we played "I'm packing my suitcase" a few weeks ago at Mathilde's place and film quotes were packed with it. But it was quite funny :D

Sunday morning, as always, I talked to mom, dad, and grandma on the phone, and they all noticed that I'm feeling better when I'm in a different place. Also, mom and dad renovated our living room (repainted and new furniture) and I got a little tour. I'm really looking forward to seeing it live! The highlight of the day was this beautiful cat.

In the evening, someone in an Erasmus group asked if anyone is looking for a room, so I just spoke up and said that I might be interested only for March. The girl then wrote to me that it is a small chambre de bonne femme in Montmartre, which may be available in March. After a few messages, we found out that she is also German, and she wants to leave earlier because of the journey home, and maybe we will just meet for a walk in the near future. Funny coincidences!