Ninth Year in Paris – Paris During the Pandemic

It's unbelievable, but as of today, it has been nine years since I settled in Paris and here I am today. Ninth Year in Paris I am here with the article. This year, as every year, I would like to tell you about what has happened recently and give you an idea about the pros and cons of living in Paris, with an article that is a summary and general situation assessment of the last year, and lots of photos and videos taken during this year. Before preparing this article, I sat down and wrote what I have written so far. First Year in Paris, Second Year, Third year, Fourth Year, Fifth Year, Sixth Year, Seventh Year ve Eighth Year I read your articles one by one from the beginning; I recommend that you read it to give you an idea and to better evaluate the article you are currently reading. Then you will understand me much better.

Being in Paris for nine years and experiencing the beauties of Paris is of course a wonderful experience, but especially in the last year. Covid-19 pandemic These extraordinary days we are living in and the time period in which we live in a surreal science-fiction atmosphere have shaken up my life, as it has for all of us. a year ago, Eighth Year in Paris I look back to the day I published my article. At that time, we did not understand exactly what the epidemic was and none of us could predict how long this epidemic would last. Three months, five months, then a year has passed...

At that time, many people were experiencing serious depression due to the interruption of their normal life flow, but I was able to survive that depression for a day or two and recover very quickly. Of course, I didn't know how long this job would last, but I decided that I could manage this strange period for at least three months. Right, but it would take about three months at most; I couldn't guarantee anything after that. If the epidemic continues, I will stop being careful and say, "no matter what happens” by saying “I'll go and lick the subway rails" I was saying 🙂

As you can see, we have come to these days… Covid-19 Special Announcement As I wrote in detail in my article, France was one of the countries that implemented Covid-19 measures very strictly and we started to live imprisoned in our homes for weeks. Because no one understood what was what at first. as if the virus would leak through the gap in the window and fill the room There were days when we felt it, and there were times when we were worried that it might jump from people passing five meters away from us on the street and infect us. Moreover, now that I look back, we were protected from the disease by chance, as there were not enough masks for the first few months.

My work was done long before the pandemic started. Yellow Vest Their actions had already become unpleasant due to the abnormally unstable Euro / TL parity and the subsequent strikes. Always "Let me hold on a little longer, I have worked so hard for years, no shame, let me be patient a little longer, it won't go on like this, it will definitely get better.While we were waiting for those difficult days to pass, when this pandemic scourge emerged when we least expected it, I could no longer resist and had to raise the flag of surrender.

When touristic travels between Turkey and France were banned, there was no point in me working hard for a touristic event. Moreover, none of us knew how long this would last; As such, none of us could predict how long we would have to be patient. As time went on, hopes diminished, and I realized that things would not get better for a long time, and in a sense, I found myself in despair. stand-byI decided to buy it. Of course, I didn't want to throw away all these years' effort, but there was no point in working like crazy anymore. That's why I put things on hold and put myself on forced leave, in a sense; plus unpaid leave…

If you ask france great state But, like almost all countries in the world, could not manage the crisis well. Various financial supports were provided in the first few months, but as the pandemic dragged on, the sectors to receive economic aid were reduced and the aid never covered the damage. The inability to supply masks, the understanding of the inadequacy of hospital intensive care units, and the knowledge that vaccine supply will not be realized in a short time. ve slowness in vaccine administration We all witnessed with astonishment how, when added one on top of the other, the gilding of the great state fell away one by one.

Of course, everyone looks at life from the window of their own life; Maybe the situation is much worse in other countries, and maybe this is the best that can happen, but still, these strange days we live in have shaken up not only our lives, but also the concepts of state and human in all of our minds. Especially in France, economic problems were already on the agenda before the pandemic, and people frequently showed their discontent with protests and strikes. And when the burden of the pandemic fell on him, life became even more strange. It seems like nothing is being talked about other than the pandemic for now, but I think there will be much bigger problems for social, economic and psychological reasons in the future. I hope I'm wrong.

Of course, I tried to protect myself as much as possible to protect my mental, physical and spiritual health during such a strange period. Although my mind wandered for the first day or two, I quickly recovered, accepted the situation, and tried to adapt to the current situation. During that first period when we couldn't leave the house for weeks, I took care to pay attention to my regular sleep and nutrition, I dressed and tidied myself up every morning as if I were going to go out, and I exercised regularly every day. In fact, some days the best activity of the day was the one-hour exercise I did at 6 o'clock in the evening...

I tried to stay in touch with my friends and acquaintances by calling them frequently. When they were down, I tried to cheer them up, and when I was down, they lifted me up and somehow we supported each other. Before the pandemic, I was a child who would normally call my mother and father in Istanbul once a week and ask how they were, but during the pandemic period, since I was extra curious about their health, I started calling them every evening and we started talking on the phone regularly and we have been continuing like this for a year. Just kidding, I've gotten so used to hearing their voices...

I kept saying "I'm fine" to those who asked how I was doing, but I never knew whether I was actually fine or not. In this period when everything was developing absurdly, if we were in good health and the health of our loved ones was OK, we could say "I'm fine", but none of us were actually fine; In all this dust and smoke, the criteria for being "good" have been reduced to these criteria. Look at how many people have been dying every day for over a year. In the past, when a plane crashed and a hundred people died, it would be a big deal. Now, in a sense, the death of a hundred people in every country has become second nature. This is not a nice thing at all.

Despite all these unpleasantness, the biggest plus of the pandemic period for me is the book I have been thinking about writing for years. A Week in Paris It gave me the opportunity to write and finish my book. When work stopped, I was left with plenty of free time. Until today, I couldn't find time to write a book due to being busy with the blog, but now that the blog has stopped completely, I sat down and worked seven or eight hours a day to complete my book in two months; Two or three months passed with reviews and corrections, and in August 2020, I started sending the book to publishing houses. In March 2021, exactly six months after I sent the book to the first publishing house, one of the publishing houses I sent it to agreed to publish the book. In fact, I was accepted by another publishing house right after. I can't explain how happy and happy I am.

Now if you are asking  bookis being prepared for publication by my editor. We think that if everything goes well, it will be printed within 2-3 months, but of course, under pandemic conditions, this period may take longer. No matter what, the biggest success for me was being able to write this book... The next success was, of course, that my book was found worthy of publication; I'm glad I experienced that feeling, too. Now, it will be my greatest happiness to see the day when the book is first on the shelves and then in your hands. Just kidding, when I started writing this book, I had no idea how and to whom I would publish it; I was just focused on writing, putting what was in my mind onto paper. Once he finished the book and made the announcement, the rest came crashing down. In fact, you gave me so much support during the writing process of this book that I would like to thank each and every one of you.

For those who know me for the first time through this article and those who do not know the subject, let me briefly talk about the content of the book: This book I wrote A story that tells the story of a group of people spending their holidays in Paris. guide-novel will be. In fact, everyone is like me. Paris Guide He wanted me to write, but I didn't want to prioritize writing just a guide because I thought I had written the best of it on Pariste.Net on the internet. I had in mind to write a guide-novel about Paris. What does Rehber-Roman mean? I wanted those who read this book to enjoy reading a novel, and while reading it, I wanted them to take note of the most ideal travel route in Paris and some tips in their minds.

Those who will come to Paris for the first time will have information about the ways to enjoy Paris, those who have been there before will remember the places they have visited and take notes about the places they missed, and finally, those who think they will never have the opportunity to come to Paris will feel like they are in Paris while reading this book. They will feel like they are traveling around. I wrote the book with utmost peace and joy, and I want you to experience that peace while reading it. So at least I wrote the book with this intention and this feeling, I hope I was successful, and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did while writing it.

Part of the reason why I want to be successful is to find the courage to write new books. Because this book is, in a sense, Classic Paris It will be a book and it is not possible to describe Paris in a single book. As someone who has written more than 500 articles about Paris and its surroundings on this blog, I also Alternative ParisI want to write a second Paris Book, in which I will describe , and share stories that take place in well-known or overlooked parts of Paris. Afterwards, guide-novels introducing other regions of France are waiting to be written in my mind. If I can't slow down, my beloved  AmsterdamWill it be known if I write books set in London and other cities? Everything depends on the “success” of the first book, that is, it depends a little bit on me and a little bit on you 😉

It's been an extremely unpleasant year, but one of the good things about it is that I've increased the frequency of my live broadcasts from Paris. You know, I have been on the streets of Paris since 2018, Instagram ve Youtube I broadcast live on Facebook, so I haven't just started doing this, as it was fashionable during the pandemic period 😉 Normally, I would do live broadcasts from the streets, but in that first period when we were confined to our homes, I started live broadcasts from home and we had a great time with you. The most enjoyable ones were the French word competitions 😀 So much so that I don't even remember how many people I promised coffee to as a competition prize and how many people I won coffee from :) But don't worry, I wrote them all down somewhere; Of course, these difficult days will pass and you will find your way to Paris again; Then we will remember these days with a smile while drinking our coffee together.

Although I am generally an optimistic and positive person, I have had some ups and downs in the past year. Especially at the end of October 2020 Izmir earthquake It impressed me a lot. So many lives were lost, so many people were hurt, and I I realized that nothing will be done to strengthen buildings and take precautions against earthquakes until the next earthquake, and we will write the same articles and share the same posts in the next earthquake.. In this earthquake, everyone To prevent such pain from happening again He prayed, made wishes and statements, but It's like living in a house with a hole in the roof and praying that it won't rain again instead of moving the roof. This is starting to seem to me... I feel very tired, very weary, making a statement on social media I realized that I was tired.

“If everything will always be the same, if the same pain will come back and repeat, why do we keep writing about it on social media?” give me a they came; In that mood, I decided not to use social media for a while after the Izmir earthquake. I used almost no social media for four months. Sometimes I had to post a post or two, sometimes I had to log in to get news about something, but overall I didn't look at social media for four months. My soul was incredibly tired, I had no strength left to deal with anyone. That's why I wanted to stay away for a while and rest my soul. Even For the first time in my life, on a birthday this year, I even turned off my mobile phone, preventing people from reaching me.. I didn't even feel like telling my problems to the people I loved the most, it was such a state of withdrawing into my shell... You wouldn't believe it, these four months away from everything were incredibly good for me...

Of course, a life cannot be lived that way, humans are social beings; We were forced to come out into the light again... While I was ready, I took to the streets and started making live broadcasts again. I do live broadcasts from the streets of Paris at least twice a week. From Pariste.Net Tv Youtube channel It is possible to follow. You can also watch the videos I have sprinkled throughout this article that interest you. In the past, the live broadcasts I made on Instagram would disappear after 24 hours. If there was a way to hide them, we would have hundreds of videos about Paris by now, but where can we avoid the loss? :) We get to know every aspect of Paris together with the new live broadcasts I make frequently. Sometimes we talk about serious topics and sometimes we have fun. We are like life and we are always together. That's why I love live broadcasts so much.

Oh, by the way, in the first period of the pandemic, he often appeared on Turkish television and said,I reported from Paris" Covid-19These broadcasts, in which I shared the effects of France in France, were enjoyable at first, but over time they became tiring. Because the day I received the broadcast invitation, I had to sit down and scan the news in France. However, although I followed the statistics with interest at first, I later stopped following them because it tired me mentally. On the days I was going to go on air, I had to research and prepare for at least half a day. If you take into account waiting in front of the screen for at least half an hour for the broadcast, uploading the recordings to YouTube and sharing them on social media after the broadcast, and responding to subsequent messages, even a ten-minute broadcast would result in a day's work. You can watch a sample broadcast in the video below, or all broadcasts. from this link You can review it.

If I'm not mistaken, after appearing on these broadcasts about 15 times, I had to apologize and decline the invitations because it caused extreme fatigue. One of the most valuable among these publications for me is TRT RadioThere was an interview with me in . It was very special and meaningful for me to join the radio station, which I looked forward to with excitement when I was a child, in a live broadcast from Paris years later. Since the broadcast time was long, I was able to say what I wanted to say easily. You can listen to this broadcast in the video below, and while listening, you can watch the beautiful images of Paris that I have chosen for you:

I can say that one of the things that challenged me the most during the pandemic period is that I have not taken the metro in Paris since the first day of the restrictions, that is, for more than a year. Although I have such a "luxury" because I am one of the "lucky" group who does not have to commute to work, I would also like to say that this is not a good thing at all. As I always say paris metro For me it means freedom. Not being able to use the freedom of being able to freely reach wherever I want, whenever I want, within half an hour at the latest, has restricted my life tremendously for the last year, I felt like I was trapped.

I tried to commute by bicycle in good weather instead of the metro, and at other times I had to take out my car, which had been sitting in the garage for a long time. You know driving in paris ve parking in paris As I mentioned in my articles The inner part of Paris is not a suitable place to travel around with your private vehicle. In this case, traveling by car can turn into torture. Well, since you can't ride a bike all the time, I have to say that I spent a year in Paris deprived of that feeling of "freedom" that I love so much. Moreover, since I do not use public transportation My Navigo transportation card I also had to suspend it. In a sense, this means the end of freedom in Paris for me.. I want things to get better again and the days when I can use the Paris metro safely will come again...

Same way Cafes and restaurants have been closed for months in Paris This means that one of the most important qualities that make Paris Paris disappears. Imagine, there is no metro, no cafes-restaurants, and museums are closed.; It's as if Paris wasn't Paris but any other city. Of course, there are still magnificent buildings, magnificent squares, parks, gardens and endless boulevards, but just walk and see how far it goes... As such, most of our time is spent in quiet places outside the city, especially in the countryside and gardens, not in crowded city centers... Of course, that is also the case. It is enjoyable, but after one cannot fully experience Paris in Paris…

In fact, in the past year, we have neither been able to receive a guest nor visit anyone's home. We used to meet in cafes and eat and drink when the cafes were open for a while, but since those places have been closed for a while, we meet our friends in Paris on the streets and spend hours together. blankly walk away full of We are trying to chat. This is such a ridiculous situation that one does not know whether to be happy to see his spouse or friend or to be sad about the situation he is in.

Fortunately, the summer of 2020 was relatively easy and we were able to breathe a little. Even though most of the year was spent like a prison life, I had the opportunity to go on vacation twice this past year. The first of these holidays is in mid-June Brittany RegionHe wandered through. loquierec So, we rented a small cabin by the sea in a small coastal town, spent a week as far away from people as possible, and tried to breathe by wandering around the area. I can't explain how it felt like medicine after long-term house arrest.

During that holiday, we visited beautiful small villages and towns rather than visiting big cities. Since this was my third or fourth trip to Brittany, we were more focused on enjoying the places we saw than seeing new places. Although he mostly spends time relaxing at home, he also spends time Roscoff, Tréguir, Paimpol, Lannion, Morlaix small towns like, Saint Brieuc ve Saint Malo We visited cities like. Aside from the sunsets when we returned home in the evening, it was also very enjoyable to witness the incredible tides. You can videotape one of these tides as a time-lapse Pariste.Net Tv Youtube channel I uploaded it. Maybe you'd like to watch it too:

Our next trip was a three-week tour in Southern France at the end of August. Everything was so uncertain that we didn't even know whether we would be able to set off until the morning we set off. If we did, it wasn't clear where we would go, we couldn't even arrange the places we would stay; because everything was a mess. Despite everything, we wanted to go somewhere and unwind, but at the same time, we were hesitant because we took health precautions into account. While we were in this mindset, just the night before we set off and the next evening MontpellierWe were able to clarify that we would stay one night with friends in , but none of us knew what happened next. It was truly an adventure for someone like me, who has gotten into the habit of making holiday plans months in advance, to know what is what and what should happen, and to set out in this way in this ridiculous period, but incredibly, these three weeks passed like a dream. Especially on the road, in a way I never expected, the one I always wanted to see in life. Millau ViaductPassing through was one of the best surprises of this trip for me:

We planned to stay one night in Montpellier, but we realized that one night turned into seven nights. We took our friends there and went on day trips, wandering around the area and discovering beautiful places every day. Sète, Nîmes, Port Camague, Le Pont du Diable and Saint Guilhem le Désert Places like these were truly like a dream and we forgot all our troubles in the first week.

The second week was in a place near the Spanish border. Saint Cyprian We stayed in the seaside town. It was a little quieter there. Even though we were very close to the border, we did not want to cross that side because the number of cases was very high in Spain. Choosing Saint Cyprien as the epicenter, we toured the surrounding areas every day. PerpignanWe went to Collioure Then we went up to the mountains and visited three beautiful villages: Castelnou, Eus and Villefranche de Conflent...

In the third week, we went a little further east for accommodation. Hyères We went to the side and this time we visited the places in that area. Toulon, Porquerolles Island, Saint Tropez , Lavandou ve MarseilleI had the chance to visit . Yes To the shores of the Côte d'Azur I went many times but never Saint Tropez I couldn't get to . This trip was my chance to see Saint Tropez. Also, during this trip, I decided that Marseille, which I have described as "one of the three cities I do not like in France" until now, is not such a bad place :) Côte d'Azur Guide I should update the article and add Marseille and Saint Tropez information. Once these things get better, the borders open and you can come, then we'll see...

We returned to Paris in mid-September and little by little, life started to turn into a nightmare again. We had another extremely unpleasant winter with new closures, new rules, new restrictions and restricted freedoms. As I said, I cut off my connection with the world between the end of October and mid-February, and then I became visible on social media again in mid-February and early March. As the weather started to improve little by little, morale seemed to improve again, and now we come to today. Actually, nothing has improved, but I have regained the energy to tolerate what is happening and I think I will be able to endure it a little longer, as far as it goes.

Now, when I look back, even though I had a tiring and difficult year, I managed to take beautiful trips despite these extraordinary conditions. Of course, this cannot take away the sadness of the places I cannot go. We met with our friends from various parts of the world in June. Nice We were going to have a meeting, but it was cancelled. I didn't know whether to regret that I couldn't go to Nice or that I couldn't meet my friends... I had a London ticket that was bought long ago, I was going to see my cousin, and that ticket was sitting in a corner as an open ticket. Again, I had a ticket to Montréal, bought for the end of last summer, and I was supposed to go to Toronto from there, but that turned out to be a lie too... Of course, despite all this, we cannot speak out too much because we are in a period where we should be grateful for being alive and alive...

One of the issues that made life difficult for someone like me, who goes to Istanbul three or four times a year, was that he went to Istanbul only once in the last year, and that too due to health emergencies. My father had a health problem that has now been resolved but seemed risky at the time, and for this reason, I had to urgently go to Istanbul and back for three or four days last October. Of course, when a visit is made for health reasons, one does not understand anything from what one sees. I couldn't see anyone, nor could I satisfy my longing for Istanbul. Apart from this mandatory visit, I can say that I have not seen Istanbul since January 2020.

In this case, like me,I don't miss IstanbulSomeone who rants about "" (see articles from previous years) might miss Istanbul terribly. Apparently, I thought I didn't miss Istanbul because I could easily go there whenever I wanted and see all my loved ones. 🙂 I mean, my beautiful brothers and sisters, I look forward to the days when I can visit a beautiful Istanbul in peace, but believe me, I don't know if those days are on the horizon. When a person cannot go when he wants, his longing grows exponentially; You exaggerate more and more like the love you can't get back :)

Oh, if everything goes well, my book comes out next May, and I come to Istanbul on Mother's Day and visit my family and meet my wife and friends. Then, we could organize book signings in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Bursa, but believe me, I don't know how we can do what I say in this pandemic environment. Yes, Institut Français – French Cultural Center He agreed to open his halls in the cities I mentioned to organize signing days for me, but what will the conditions be like, how will we be able to gather and come together in peace and when will this happen for the first time? We will see this together.

Actually, there is more I want to write, but I don't want to make it any longer. Now that I have read the article again, it seems that our last year has been like this. Let's see how next year will go and how I will enter my tenth year in Paris. Even Let's see if I can still be in Paris next year. If we cannot move away from our homes for a long time, if we have to stay away from people, if our needs, expectations and priorities have changed and if it will continue like this for a long time, believe me, I don't know how long life can be sustained this way.

Although I say Paris has lost its taste, perhaps the same is true for other parts of the world, and instead of living in a place that has no taste in other places, Paris has no taste left Maybe continuing to live is “better than nothing”? I'm really curious about your opinions on this subject. Is life better or worse where you live than in Paris, or are you more or less in the same situation? I would be very happy if you share your opinions with me.

Despite everything, I continue to maintain hope that things will get better, and until then I will do my best to keep myself alive and then Pariste.Net.. There are already some of you out there to support me. Membership for my Youtube channel Some people bought it and that made me incredibly happy. For all these years, I have shared with you everything I know about Paris, without any financial expectation from you. My income model was running on a completely different system, but when the tourism industry stopped due to the pandemic, all my income stopped. I want you to know that you gave me morale with your support during such a period. When things return to normal, I hope for the day when I will continue my work as before, without demanding anything from anyone, without expecting anything in return.

And this one sponsorship There is a subject that I have been talking about for years, but have I ever knocked on the door of a single company? No 🙂 Well, then, of course, no one knows about me, but You and I know that Pariste.Net is the most content-rich Turkish blog written about a city abroad and is considered a very valuable reference source.; The point is to announce this to the sponsors, but I am not the person who can do this. We recently talked about this issue with a friend of mine, he will take some steps for me; Let's see, if there are positive developments, I want to do much more for you than I do now, with a sponsor.

Or sometimes the devil tells us to leave everything behind and settle in a quiet seaside town and hang out in shorts and slippers all day long, but I continue to fight because I think we should continue to produce as much as we can, while we are in such a beautiful age where we can share our savings. Maybe you will see that my book project will be successful and I will focus on writing new books. I guess making a living by writing books would be one of the most valuable things for me, but I don't know; I am also content with those good days when I earned my living by blogging :)

Let's see, let this article be like this, otherwise I will not be able to finish it, this article will grow longer and longer, just like my hair that I grew out with the pandemic :)

In Conclusion To date, I must say that I have lived nine unforgettable years in Paris.. The first seven years were in paradise, the next year was a beautiful, down-to-earth Paris life, and the last year was spent in the shadow of the pandemic, trying to survive with as little damage as possible.

See you in good sharings,

Stay well…

Ahmet ÖRE – 26 March 2021 – Paris

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