Lockdown - Week Three Recap!

We are just ending our third week of lockdown in Paris.  Unfortunately, with that, new restrictions are being put in place.

Our favorite park near us is now closed, so we can no longer escape there to exercise.  We are also now confined in the times we are allowed to be out to exercise. We are not allowed to be out running or walking between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  We are able to go out for short walks, if we have a dog or kids.  The French government has said that with the warmer weather, they have seen more people out exercising.  They hope, with these new restrictions, that this will lessen the number of people outside at the busiest times of the day.  I believe we will also be required in the next day or so to wear a mask when outside.  Most all of us do that anyway, when we go into stores.  I am not sure if that also means when exercising.

The sign posted saying the Bois de Boulogne is closed.  

Police are even checking motorists for their attestation forms. 

I get asked all the time how things are fairing here in France.  It is really hard to tell.  Over the past few days, the number of deaths has been really high.  Part of this has to do with the fact that they are now recording the nursing home deaths that occurred over the past few weeks, making the daily death toll higher than it actually is.  One measure of good news is that they are seeing a decrease in the number of people admitted to the ICU each day - 94 on Monday, compared to 140 on Sunday, 176 on Saturday, 263 on Friday, and 382 on Thursday.

My spirits were a bit shaken with these new restrictions and recorded deaths.  Like many of you, I wonder how long this will continue.  Add to that, we had developed quite a nice routine of school in the mornings with exercise in the afternoons.  We will continue to adjust, changing things up a bit to make sure we can get out while we still can.  My biggest fear has always been that they will take away being outside to exercise completely.

Today was the first day of this new ban on exercise during peak hours and Jeff said that by 10:15 people were yelling at runners to get off the road, while other runners were directing you to turn early if the police were ahead.  There will be no leniency on this one!

Outside it is starting to feel like summer.  We are starting to smell familiar smells from when we first arrived.  We are able to open our windows again.  With that comes the return of a few bugs and flies in our apartment.  (Remember they don't use screens here.)  But even those are a welcome sight.  Flowers are in full bloom and there is the smell of freshly cut grass as apartment buildings are trimming and pruning.

Fresh mulch - you just can't sit on the picnic bench.  

Even the Seine River seems brighter!

Houseboats along the Seine.

The kids and I have been keeping journals of what we do each day while living in Paris. As you can imagine, our journals the past three weeks have started to read the same.  So I have tried to notice one unique thing each day, that I wouldn't otherwise see or do if we weren't in lockdown or weren't in Paris.  Here are a few photos of unique things I noticed from this week:

Grafitti art about Coronavirus.

Here is where all the cement trucks go during a pandemic.

You don't need to pay as close of attention to the crosswalk signs anymore, since no one is out.  

Even though it wasn't St. Patrick's Day, we made green rice

Finding joy in online videos.  

A "Hosanna" on Palm Sunday!

Our communion on Sunday - chocolate bread and orange juice.

A heart in the sidewalk.

I am still able to deliver sandwiches to the homeless.  We have a box on our attention form that allows us to be out if we are helping the "vulnerable."  So every Thursday, I head about 2 miles from our apartment to drop sandwiches off at my friend Ashley's apartment.  Since we are social distancing, she gives us the code to access her court yard and we leave the sandwiches in a bag there.  Then on Fridays, the sandwiches are picked up by Tom, who goes and delivers them to the homeless.  Last week, our group made 310 sandwiches!

Heading out to deliver sandwiches. 

Looking towards Trocadero.

Usually this road and the sidewalks are full of people.

Here is all the food we made and donated.

We continue to keep ourselves busy with school.  The kids are stretching their work out over more and more of the day, sometimes not ending until about 5:00.  We continue to play cards and watch movies.  So far we watched:  Legally Blond, La Manns, Top Gun, Free Solo, Scarlet Pimpernel, Miss Congeniality, Focus, and The Thomas Crown Affair.   Will has gotten Jeff hooked on Minecraft, building and expanding a virtual world with lots of Metros.  Edy and I have taken to perfecting our nail polishing skills.  (Will even got his done.  He is trying to earn 10 euros to not bite them.)  Edy continues to love her new social life with Facetime, HouseParty, and Google Chat.  She and Will get on each others nerves, but also provide each other with much laughter.

Focusing hard on Reading Plus.

Crazy Hair Day!

Our first science lesson with Professor Aunt Judy!

Working on her art project!

Nail painting.

Will continues to grow at a remarkable speed.  He has shot up at least 5 inches since we have been here.  He also just lost his 6th tooth while here.  He is eating non-stop.  As soon as breakfast is done, he wants to eat lunch.  At this point, he eats more than the rest of us.   This means I head out more than one time a week for groceries.  Shopping for food is not as fun as it used to be.  Everyone is eyeing each other above their masks, saying with their eyes, "don't get too close."  So you dart in and out, hoping not to brush up against anyone.  I even saw a woman in the checkout line, yell at another woman yesterday because she was four feet away, instead of the recommended 6 feet away.  I also hate wearing a mask, for it feels claustrophobic.  But if this is my greatest grievance during all of this, I shouldn't complain.

His favorite lunch is nachos with salami.  

An afternoon Coke break.

A few different people said to me this week that they felt bad that this was happening to us on our year abroad.  I found myself answering "don't be."  When we committed to living a year abroad, we made that decision knowing that whatever came our way, we would deal with it.  Our year abroad was about being together, living in a different culture, learning from them how to live life.  Even in quarantine, we are still doing that.  Like everyone else, we too had plans that had to be changed.  We won't be able to travel as much as we hoped.  But this is the reality of EVERYONE we know.  And this disappointment isn't nearly as horrible as many of the disappointments that so many people are facing.  The plans we made, the places we hoped to travel, won't happen during the next three months, before we return to the U.S. on July 2.  But it doesn't mean they won't ever happen; they just aren't happening YET.   Instead, we are making different memories.

Ending each day with our neighbors, cheering for all the medical workers. 

Last week, I shared a few songs that are on my Quarantine Playlist.  I will close today with the lyrics from a song I added this week.  This is "Rise Up" by Andra Day.  I put a link to her song below.  Her lyrics are especially comforting to me when I feel myself getting down.  I hope you find enjoy them.

Rise Up by Andra Day

Rise Up

Andra Day

You're broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can't find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
We gonna walk it out
And move mountains

And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
And I'll rise up
High like the waves
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousands times again
For you
For you
For you
For you

When the silence isn't quiet
And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe
And I know you feel like dying
But I promise we'll take the world to its feet
And move mountains
We'll take it to its feet
And move mountains

And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
For you
For you
For you
For you

All we need, all we need is hope
And for that we have each other
And for that we have each other
We will rise
We will rise
We'll rise, oh oh
We'll rise

I'll rise up
Rise like the day
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I will rise a thousands times again
And we'll rise up
Rise like the waves
We'll rise up
In spite of the ache
We'll rise up
And we'll do it a thousands times again
For you oh oh oh oh oh
For you oh oh oh oh oh
For you oh oh oh oh oh
For you

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Cassandra Monique Batie / Jennifer Decilveo

Rise Up lyrics © BMG Rights Management