En Français!
C’est le premier jour de juillet. Aujourd’hui est mon premier fois de taper en français sur mon portable pour ce site web… et j’apprends toujours le français. Alors pardon moi quand je ferai des erreurs en ècrivant. J’espère m’améliorer d’ècrire la langue avec un petit d’aide au Google translate pour èpelant et pour l’instance quand la phrase ne fait pas clair. Je ne veux pas ècrire en français avant, mais je me sens plus prèt et je veut practiquer maintenant sur le clavier. J’ai ècrit par main à l’ecole et à la maison quand j’etait etudier. Maintenant j’ai un clavier français et mes doigts se rend confusè. Dans le futur je vais ècrire de mes penses et d’adventures en français autant que je peux faire. Je ne prendrai pas longstemps aujour’dui. Ca pris dèja longtemps pour ce taper. J’ai fini maintenant mais je serai prêt à la fois prochaine pour ècrire plus.
June was Pride month in the US and there’s usually a celebration in Paris, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Instead it’s now set for November. However, instead of just altered celebrations, the month was full of demonstrations and not just in France. The video of the George Floyd’s killing in police custody which sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the US spilled into Europe and other parts of the world including the UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium, France, and Australia. In Paris, people were not only speaking George Floyd’s name, but also that of Assa Traoré who died similarly while in police custody in 2016. By June 19, the European Parliment declared “Black Lives Matter” as a show of support to Americans fighting racism. The conversation is far from over, but is involving more voices than ever before.
Besides taking a very long, emotional, and global look at systematic racism, the world is still working through the coronavirus pandemic. The numbers had gone down enough for France that it got rid of the 100k tether for residents in early June, opening up its borders to some countries, and allowing schools to come back into session. Fête de la Musique happened on Sunday the 21st and people didn’t exactly follow the 10 people maximum to a group rule, or wear masks, and there were some issues with police partly due to a demonstration. According to the Worldometers website, the number of daily new cases and daily deaths may be down, but the total number of active cases has gone slightly upward looking similar to the number of active cases back in April. I’ve heard that France doesn’t plan to shutdown the way it did then, but I’m sure it would depend on what happens in the next few weeks to months. The EU just released its list of allowed countries for travel and the US is among those that are still banned. The list is supposed to be updated every two weeks as conditions change, but I don’t know how long it will take for the US be taken off. Currently all the news seems to show are dramatic increases all over the country especially in the South.
Here in Paris, Russ and I have slowly and carefully come out of our little apartment shell. I’ve gone to the post office, art store, grocery store, and copy shop equiped with mask and hand sanitizer. Stores also have sanitizers ready for customers to use. We’ve been taking our bikes out more and were even brave enough for a picnic with trusted friends, very socially distanced from everyone else in Bois de Vincennes. We have yet to visit a restaurant, although social distancing measures and other customer safety protocols are in place. Instead we’ve opted for food delivery. Most of the time it’s burgers. We’re still not completely convinced that France is out of the woods, although it is in much better shape than before. I wonder if the number of cases will be affected much with borders being open again. The nightly clapping at 8pm had ended in the last couple of weeks. It felt completely over when we stopped hearing the clanging of pots and pans that usually kicked off the whole event. Most people on the street seem comfortable, like everything’s back to normal. Masks are starting to become the new cigarette butt on the ground. The new normal is still evolving.
