Lockdown in the City of Light

My family and I moved to Paris in January. The Corono-Virus arrived here shortly thereafter. Last week, the schools across the country were shut down. Today, March 17, at noon, the French government has instituted a lock-down program for all Paris residents. We are to stay inside except for visits to food stores, pharmacies or to walk our animals. When we are outside, we must carry an “attestation” (a paper filled out with our names, address and the reason we are out.) Also, only one person per household should be out at the same time.  That certainly puts a damper on living “la belle vie” in beautiful, springtime Paris!!

Happily, the children’s school – an international school run on the British system – smoothly switched to on-line classrooms. Both children “show up” for school each morning by logging into their computers. (I do insist that they are dressed in regular clothes with their teeth brushed & hair combed – just the same as they have to do for regular school. The pyschological state of mind of being “ready for school” is important. They don’t believe me but do as I ask.) My son is using his gaming PC. My daughter is using her iPhone. Google Classroom and Google Meet are the buzzwords that fill the air and school emails to parents.

Technology is also saving my social day. The children’s school has a parent’s WhatsApp group for parents that I am signed into. From this outlet, we can ask questions & share news (like “how serious is the lockdown?” Answer: Quite serious right now. The French military has been mobilized to patrol the streets.)

I’m a board member of a ladie’s volunteer organization, The American Women’s Group of Paris (AWGParis). The group has a WhatsApp group for board members which is great for sharing news and encouragement. The emails to members are upbeat, encouraging and informative.

On a personal level,  through email and WhatsApp, I have reached out to nearby acquaintances from both the school, AWG and other friends to setup an informal support network in case folks get sick (which is what we should all expect to happen, I suppose). We can certainly do soup&baguette drop-offs as needed!

Just an hour ago, I messaged several friends to poll: What books are on your reading list right now? (Yes, Amazon is our go-to for digital entertainment!) And, what’s cooking at your apartment? (My family and I are Southern – we cook and bake our way through life’s good times and bad times.) Answer to what’s baking at my apartment: Banana bread! I would be baking oatmeal cookies, too, but I left my favorite recipe for oatmeal cookies in the States. I do have an email into Cook’sIllustrated.com begging them to send me a digital copy of their Best Light Recipe Cookbook’s “Light Oatmeal Cookies” recipe.

Maybe it’s time to pull out Ina Garten’s brownie recipe?…