day 12

So like with all things the lockdown isn’t all bad.  Some things I’m actually grateful for:

- Less pollution
- Less laundry
- My kids speaking more English even if my daughter says things like “Swwwweeeet!” and “Dang it!” (My kids are obsessed with Loud House at the moment)
- Instead of spending ten hours a week in public transport I have breakfast every single day with my family
- Instead of waking up to my alarm I wake up to my son yelling from his room “Mommy, can I come in bed with you?” (Answer:  Yes)
- Taking cuddle breaks during the day with my kids
- Doing things around the house that we have always meant to do like clearing out the “messy” room to make a real office
- Taking meetings in my pajamas although the meetings go something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyuFDcysihY

day 11

So this was the criteria I used to buy groceries before:

-    Organic
-    Price
-    Origin
-    Environmental impact
-    Treatment of animals

Today this is the criteria I use to buy groceries:

-    Is it available? (Take it!)
-    Will it make someone in the family happy? (Take it!)
-    Will it reduce frustration in the apartment? (Take it!)

I also used to take my time choosing and usually only bought a couple of items that I could put in my book bag throughout the week in supplement to our online purchases.  Now I buy as much as I can in order to not be out so much. First I go through heavy/non squishable items so I can put them first in the bottom of my shopping trolley and then move on to squishable items so I can put them on top.  I also need to make sure to separate the hot/cold items least my essential chocolates melt next to the rotisserie chicken.  At the end I make one final sweep in case they re-stocked anything I haven’t been able to find since the beginning of the lockdown like flour or mustard.

I have to be quick and do this all before my self-declared “why am I out” certificate expires.  Oh and I try to keep at least a meter and a half away from anyone else (a real challenge when you get in line) while remembering not to touch my face (a real challenge in general).

Then I get home and my kids rush at me like dogs wanting treat biscuits and I avoid them best I can without using my hands as I make my way to the bathroom to wash them. 

After I finish washing my hands I come out to put away the groceries only to find half the stuff on the floor and my kids stuffing their faces full of snacks.  They are happy.

Which makes it all worthwhile.

day 10

So Today I received this from the U.S. embassy:

Health Alert - U. S. Embassy Paris, France  (March 25, 2020)

Event: France has confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout the country. U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return home or be prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.  You should have a plan to depart from France that does not rely on U.S. government assistance.  Direct flights to the U.S. are available through Air France. Currently, there is one direct flight per day.  Book flights directly through Air France at https://www.airfrance.fr/en.  Flight availability is subject to further restrictions.

Curious I went on the Air France site to see what was available:

For some reason there are no flights next Monday or Tuesday.    There are still available flights but most of them go through Amsterdam and then New York. I found the one “direct flight” from Paris to New York.   The next available one is Friday the 27^th.  There were 7 seats left:

France has also gotten stricter regarding the lockdown.  Last time we went out all the benches were blocked off (this really upset my son for some reason).  My husband and daughter were checked by the police.  Now if you go outside you need to stay within one kilometer of where you live and it can be only for less than one hour.  Your self-declared document needs to include not only the date but the time as well. 

We went to pick up the groceries we ordered online and got about half of what we ordered.  We tried ordering for next week but instead of a long delay there are no more available pick up times.  We tried another grocery chain.  Again no available pick up times.  

The French president addressed the French pubic again thanking everyone for their efforts especially doctors and nurses and promising to recompense them for their efforts and injected much needed money into the hospitals.  Instead of addressing the public from the Élysée as he had before, he’s outdoors in front of the Military hospital constructed in Mulhouse to aid France’s most affected region.   

We watched the speech mostly to know if the lockdown will really end next week, or will it be till end of April as rumored.  The president said he will address this in the following days.

day 9

So in the beginning I tried to see much I could leave my kids to manage themselves and since my husband and I are usually both working we involve ourselves in a silent game of chicken as to who cracks first and would deal with the kids.  

It has basically turned into Lord of the Flies.  

At one point while my husband and I were working we noticed the lights gradually dimming into darkness until eventually the only light available was the glow from our laptop screens.  My son was running around us with body lotion smeared all over his face (more on the left side than the right) with only a tee-shirt on and my daughter, in a pink Disney princess bathing suit, was dancing and pointing at us taunting us to turn back on the t.v. back on (it was her that slowly closed all the blinds in protest to us turning off the t.v.).  I felt like I was in a David Lynch movie.

Instead of course feeling like I was in Contagion or Groundhog Day. 

day 8

So France public t.v. launched virtual classroom programs.  At 9am the level is two grades up for my daughter but she tries anyways and then gets bored and goes and plays something else (which is great because it limits her t.v. time).  Afterwards they have programs for younger kids which turned out to be… cartoons.  At least sometimes the cartoons are more educational than what my kids pick out on their own. 

After a schedule-less free for all that was basically last week I decided that I needed to find a way that all parts of my life could co-exist at the same time while maintaining order.  It goes something like this:

6:30am – Wake up (my son is still calibrated for non-lockdown mode).
7am:  I put on a pot of coffee and I check my emails and do some work
8am: Everyone wakes up and eats breakfast
9am: Kids to go to virtual school
9:30: Call into my daily team meeting
10: Start to look into what we can eat for lunch since I now have to make all meals and my kids have kept their non-lockdown eating schedules in which they eat lunch around 11.
11am: We eat lunch
12:  I do schoolwork with my daughter while my son naps and my husband calls into his team meeting
2pm:  Drink coffee and I put on my ridiculous red beret and go back to work (thank you two hour French lunch breaks) while my kids do an activity.
4pm:  Gouter (afternoon snack)
5pm: Stop working and everyone goes out for exercise least everyone gets stir crazy/fat.
6pm:  Start making dinner
7pm: Eat dinner
8pm:  Give kids their bath
9pm:  Put kids to bed
9:30pm:  Clean up the huge mess that is made in twelve hours by two children as their parents turn a blind eye to non-dangerous activities so they can work.

So that’s how it goes.  More or less.  

It’s as if you took four people’s day and mashed them together and only the most urgent thing survives.   Any residuals are placated through the magic of improvisation.

day 7

So weekends take on new meaning when you’re on lockdown.  Most weekends I look forward to family time or going somewhere or relaxing.  When this weekend came up I had already had 120 hours straight of family time and I wasn’t going anywhere.  I could relax but what would I do with the kids?  They had already spent the majority of their time watching t.v. during the week so I could work.

Feeling guilty I put on my teacher hat and finally got around to helping my daughter with the work her teacher had assigned.  That lasted about thirty minutes.  Afterwards they wanted t.v.  We baked banana chocolate muffins.  They wanted t.v. We ate lunch.  They wanted t.v.  We took a nap.  They wanted t.v. We did a puzzle.  They wanted t.v.  We went outside.  They wanted t.v.  We had dinner.  They wanted t.v.  We went to bed. 

Most of the day consisted of me trying divert their attention from t.v. or downright fighting them about it.  It was definitely not relaxing.  It actually kind of felt like a lot of work.  And now it’s 10:30 pm and I am exhausted from my weekend and need to go to bed because tomorrow starts the second week of lockdown. 

P.S. My favorite social media lockdown quote from some one with kids:  "En fait ce n'est pas la maîtresse." [Translation:  So now I know that it's not my kid's teacher that's the problem."]