day 4

So for the past four days I play these roles, sometimes all at the same time:

        -Mother
       - Cook
       - House-keeper
       - Teacher
       - Referee
       - Full time employee

It’s tough especially when you get solicited by all of the above at the same time.  And my kids don’t really understand that although I’m at home I’m working.  To simplify I put on a ridiculous red beret and tell them when Mommy’s wearing the red beret she’s working so she’s not to be bothered.  My daughter gets it but it goes something like this:

Daughter:  Mom can you blow this balloon up for me?

Me:  Honey, remember what I said?  What does it mean when I wear this red beret?

Daughter:  You’re working!

Me:  And?

Daughter:  We’re not to bother you.

Me:  Ok.

Daughter:  [Leaves.  Comes back in five minutes] Mom can you blow up this balloon for me? 

At least I get five minutes.   This is how it goes with my son:

Son: Balloon!!!!!!!

Me:  Honey, remember what I said?  What does it mean when I wear this red beret?

Son: Red!

Me:  Yes it’s red but what does it mean?

Son: Red!

Me:  I’m working.

Son: Balloon!!!!!!!

Me:  And not to be bothered.

Son:  Balloon!!!!!!! Balloon!!!!!!! Balloon!!!!!!!

Later my boss messages me with an urgent task.  At the same time my husband wants to know if I need anything because he’s ordering online now because the next available pick up is in one week (normally we can order two days before).  There were also a lot of items unavailable so he asked me to anticipate any needs.  Oh and he wants to know why am I wearing that ridiculous beret?  In the background my kids are having a “who can jump higher” contest on the couch.  So what do I do first?  What’s the priority?  My boss? Having enough food to eat?  Preventing my kids from hurting themselves because this is not the time to go to the hospital?  And these are the urgent things.  I also have to get their afternoon snacks ready otherwise we’ll add hungry unhappy low blood sugar kids to the mix and I should really clear the floor of toys least someone (mainly me) trips and falls and, of course, now is NOT the time for someone to go to the hospital.  

While I’m thinking about all this husband wants to know when we can take the kids out because they’ve been cooped up all day hence the jumping on the couch contest but unfortunately I need to get this thing done for my boss and oh, are there apples available at the store?

Finally I finish the thing for my boss and we take the kids out on their bikes so they can exercise without touching too many things or trying to talk to too many people.  All of a sudden I notice my son is going way to fast across a small street and there’s a car and omg I grab him as fast as I can as the car hails to a stop. 

He’s ok.  I am lucky. 

And ashamed to admit that right before this happened, this was what going through my mind:  I should really stop by the store to pick up some apples since we don’t have enough fresh fruits until next week’s grocery pick up. 

….

Today at 8pm we went out on our balcony to cheer for medical personnel on the front line in the fight against the Coronavirus. 

Bravo.

day 3

So it’s not exactly true that people can’t go outside.  You’re allowed to go outside for the following reasons:

1.      In order to go to work if you cannot work from home and your work cannot be done at a later date.

2.      To buys “necessary” things

3.      Moving about for something related to your health

4.      Extremely urgent matters relating to family

5.      Brief outings close to home for exercise (as long as it’s not part of a group) or walking household animals

In order to do so you have to have a self-declared certificate outlining the reason you are out.  It states your name, your date of birth, where you live and which reason of the above you are out and about, the date of the outing, and your signature.  

So we actually have gone out.  Yesterday it was to pick up our groceries in our car (we had ordered online) and today we took the kids out on their bikes while we went jogging.  Despite having handwritten my certificate (we don’t have a printer) with me there was no check.  We must have seen about twenty other people in a space of about one hectare in a duration of 45 minutes.  The types of people we saw:

- People jogging
- People biking
- People walking
- People sitting on benches
- People blowing bubbles with their children
- People walking their dogs
- People with grocery bags 
- People driving cars

Do these people fit into criteria of allowed outtings?  Maybe.  It’s hard to tell, or even check.  Which makes me wonder how effective the measures put in place are.  Apparently France has one of the highest infection rates.  Every day the number of people infected grows by more than 30 percent.  As of today there have been 264 deaths.  Yesterday alone 89 people died and more than 900 are in the process of resuscitation due to the Coronavirus.  Authorities predict that the worse is yet to come.  Add that to the “normal” medical emergencies that occur every day I can understand why they need to stop this thing. 

So today was a good day simply because we are all together and safe and I’ve gotten news of family and friends all over the world who are living the pandemic who are also a bit bothered, but ok.  And that’s something to be thankful for.  

Today my daughter told me she knew the origin of the virus.  I asked her to draw a picture of what she knows.  Here is it:

(With explanation):

day 2

So my husband was like, this is just like when the strikes where happening.  I begged to differ.  The strikes where like this:

Day 1:  You working at home with a five year old.  Can go outside.

Day 2:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old.  Can go outside.

Day 3:  You working at home.  Can go outside.

Day 4:  You working at home with a three year old.  Can go outside.

Day 5:  You working at home.  Can go outside.

Some combination of the above for an indefinite amount of time. 

This would be what lock down would be like:

Day 1:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old. Cannot go outside. 

Day 2:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old. Cannot go outside. 

Day 3:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old. Cannot go outside. 

Day 4:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old. Cannot go outside. 

Day 5:  You working at home with a five year old and a three year old. Cannot go outside. 

Repeat for at least two weeks. 

So basically you never get a break from your kids.   Not only that you’re expected to work while you take care of them.  I wasn’t sure how this was possible without plopping your kids in front of the t.v. all day which basically is what happened on Day 1 due to all the uncertainty and food hording going on. 

My kids are awake ten hours a day.  Subtract meals and bath and that means I have to fill six hours.  The average duration of a child’s attention span varies from two to five minutes for each year of their age. This means my five year old daughter’s attention span is ten to twenty-five minutes.  My three year old son’s attention span is six to fifteen minutes.  Our daughter’s teacher had given us assignments for her to do during the lock down.  There were four of them.  That wouldn’t fill a half a day.  

And remember that I’m supposed to be doing eight hours of work each day.  Oh and no one can go outside. 

Good thing is that my kids are pretty good at entertaining themselves so I let them do that until one of the following happens:

-        They do something that can permanently damage property or each other  

-        They fight and can’t work it out that the noise caused by fighting is distracting/attracting unwanted attention from neighbors/cops

-        They run around like headless chickens

-        They ask for t.v.

-        They are completely quiet (this one is the most alarming)

Once one of the above happens I intervene with an activity.  Today’s activities included Pictionary, baking muffins, drawing, singing, and picking up groceries.  Total hours of t.v. watched:  0

I’m pretty proud.  Even if my daughter drew this today:

She said it was a rabbit in prison. 

day 1 (monday March 16th 2020)

So after having come back from a wonderful winter holiday in Chamonix I headed to work on Monday morning not knowing what to expect as the French president had announced on Thursday that all schools and day care centers would be closed till further notice due to the Cornavirus.  

On the metro there were a lot less people than usual and when I got into work there was no one.  I checked my emails and saw that three out of seven team members had been out sick the week before and what was at first emails like “let HR know if you will be working from home next week” turned into “Everyone work from home next week”.  This directive was sent Sunday evening.   An email from the CEO stated that all projects were frozen and we had to take seven to eight days of leave for Easter Break.  

While digesting all of this an eternal consultant came in with a face mask to get his laptop.  Did you hear he asked me?   All contracts with external consultants would be terminated before the end of the month.  He quickly left and I said goodbye to him, not with the customary French kiss on the cheek but at a safe distance of one meter.  Afterwards other co-workers slowly came in to get their laptops and it was announced that this was the last day the office would be opened.  I gathered my things and said goodbye to my co-workers not knowing what to say as I didn’t know when I would see them again especially the external consultants whose contracts would abruptly end before the lock down ended.  

On my way out I stopped by the pharmacy and the counter had been blocked off with tables.  On the table was a hand sanitizer and all the pharmacist had on masks.  

As I headed to the metro after I got what I needed from the pharmacy, I couldn’t help but notice the long lines of people forming outside grocery stores.   While on the metro I received a text from a friend of mine whose wife works at a hospital stating that the hospital had been informed that there would be a lockdown starting the next day.  I started to understand the long lines outside the grocery store.  

I decided to try my luck and stopped by the grocery store nearest to the apartment.  When I got there the selves were already starting to empty out.  Items already gone:  Milk, water, bread, pasta, eggs, flour, sugar, and toilet paper. 

That evening the President of France announced the lockdown that would start at noon the next day and would last for at least fifteen days.  He said the country was at war with an invisible enemy.  In his speech would use the the word war six times.    

tet 2020

tuna stuffed onigiri

coconut milk crepes with caramelized coconut filling

banh bao

canh chua cá

bo luc lac

vietnamese flan

Strike

So for the past 16 days there has been an on-going strike different than the yellow vests strike that had been plaguing France since October 2018.

How is this strike different?  It is different because for the first time in my ten years of living in France the metro is on strike.  Specifically the metro near my apartment has not been running at all for the past 16 days.  Things I have learned:

1.    Like where you live.  You will spend a lot of time there.  Like a prisoner.

2.    If ever you have a chance to change your drivers’ license the first year you come to France DO IT even if you don’t plan to stay in France anyways and even if you live in Paris where the metro is awesome and never on strike.  IT CAN HAPPEN. 

3.    Always smile and be polite even if the person in front of you is telling you the day of that the day care/school is closed or if it’s not closed it’s closing early so instead of leaving two hours early from work you will have to leave three hours early from work.  Seriously.  These people are at their wits end trying to get to work to take care of your kids.  Be nice and tell them you understand.

4.    Get a job where you can work from home.

5.    If your boss starts to hint that you are working from home too much make the effort to come on but don’t kill yourself trying to respect office hours.  Instead get in two hours late and leave three hours early and in between sit in front of your computer like you could have done at home because YOU WORK IN IT.  Make it a point your boss sees the ridiculousness of the situation.

6.    If you can work from home DO IT.  Anyone trying to go anywhere during these times can tell you less people need to be out there.  Not more.  It’s a public health issue.

7.    Be ready for anything.  An example day:  Get up early to get daughter to school because school isn’t on strike today except daughter can’t go because she’s caught some kind of virus from her brother due to fact that we’ve been quarantined together for the past week.  I eventually get as well because it’s hard to wash your hands when they cut the water during the day in order to repair the pipes for a fire in the garage that happened three years ago.  Managed to get a doctor’s appointment but it corresponds with the Christmas holiday party at the day care requiring you to pick you your child up early not because of the strike but because they want to give you holiday cheer.  You go to the doctor’s appointment anyways because it’s hard to heal naturally due to the sleep deprivation you experienced taking care of your sick son that you will now have to repeat with your sick daughter.  All this while working from home and seeing emails about is Thursday a good day for everyone to come into the office for “Secret Santa”?

8.    Be nice to everyone because everyone is experiencing some form of the above day for the past16 days and is ready to crack.

Vive la France.