Foreign in a Pandemic- Part Four

*For the privacy of the school, staff, students, and program itself, I’m going to leave the region/town names in which I live/work out of these pieces. Despite now living in the largest town in the academy region, it is still a small region with even smaller towns. If I gave even one piece of information, many other things could be uncovered, and I don’t wish to risk the privacy and breach trust of anyone I work alongside. For more notes and stories of my experiences, read Foreign in a Pandemic-parts one, two, and three available on my page*

Living in my own country during a pandemic was… definitely a story in and of itself. It will be another story upon my return in a few months. But living in a foreign country during a pandemic? TRAVELLING in a foreign country during a pandemic? That’s a totally different story to be had.

Thankfully, I am lucky enough to be able to tell it.

As part of the job here, every 6 weeks we have a 2 week break. We also have every weekend, and since assistants only work 12-15 hours a week, we often have days off during the week. Normally, this would leave a lot of time for us to explore, travel, and see a lot of the country (or other places in Europe). However, with lockdowns and strict curfews put in place to try and keep a handle on the virus, this isn’t nearly as accessible as it would typically be.

While I was at my first school, from the end of October to mid-late January, I hardly traveled. In all honesty, I barely even explored the small town I was in. With lockdowns and curfews, most of the shops I would have normally visited were closed, or on limited hours that conflicted with my class schedule. Without the reason to go out and see or experience these things, I didn’t really leave my apartment at the school unless I walked down the street to the grocery store, or a 15 minute walk to my bank.

However, there was a Christmas miracle! I have an aunt and uncle who live in Germany, and during the winter holidays, I was lucky enough to be able to spend 10 wonderful days with them. The catch? I was quarantined for it, and couldn’t leave their house and see parts of this other new country. We couldn’t see the Christmas shops that normally lined the streets, or dined at a German restaurant- had they even been there, or open.

Now, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my vacation. Absolutely, I did. The reality was it was probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had, despite some of the gravity that Covid had on my family that week. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

One of the other weeks that compared to that was the next vacation we had, but we’re getting there.

I may not have been able to really see a whole lot on this trip to Germany. Nevertheless, there were still some pretty great places I can say I’ve been to now.

On my all day train ride to Germany and back, I had to not only stop in Paris, but also change train stations. That meant that I had to cross town, giving me an opportunity to see, at least from the outside as a passerby, some of the sights along the route. It also meant that I took my first Uber on the way there, and my first taxi on the way back.

Those were also very… interesting experiences. Not in a bad way, just, not what I was expecting. And I wasn’t expecting anything in particular.

In the Uber, the driver had his school age son with him. After discovering I was American, and an English teaching assistant, I ended up talking more to the kid and giving him pronunciation tips. He also asked a lot of questions about the US, similar to what my students did. Am I happy Biden is our new president, do I own a gun, what’s my favorite fast food place, is healthcare really that expensive… you name it.

The two of them were very nice, and while the trip was a bit weird for me personally, it was pleasant. I was a bit confused and perplexed when at one point, the son hopped out of the car and came back several minutes later, at a different part of our trip, with a pastry in hand. This was definitely not something I expected to happen from start to finish, but hey, is life ever what we expect? I still got to the next train station safely and in time, and it appeared that the boy knew what he was doing and where he was going.

The taxi, on the other hand, was a bit more what I expected. Just the driver, set rules (that okay, yeah, I know I don’t know any of them, but they still have set rules alright?), very professional. However, despite being in the middle of a pandemic and knowing full well that many European Union countries had borders closed to countries outside the EU, it didn’t occur to me that I would be one of the only Americans in most places. Even now, it still doesn’t feel like a reality, although it was clearly pointed out to me by the taxi driver.

He was so excited when he realized that I was American- and no, not just because Americans tip. At the end of December, I was the first American he’d seen, or heard of his colleagues seeing, since the start of March. Nine months, and I was the only American he’d seen in Paris? Under the circumstances it makes sense, but it just blew my mind. It still does, and almost 2 and a half months later, we’re still in the same situation. I’m still one of the only Americans, and only non-EU citizens tourists around. That’s crazy, right?

Now, while also being my first time in an Uber or taxi, I also didn’t have a lot of experience in trains. At the time, my only prior experience was when I first got to Europe and took the train to my new home. I still wasn’t sure the process or how they worked, and every single train seemed to be different from the next. They were loud, fast, full of people, and for lack of a better word, terrifying. At least, for me.

This was also my first time taking the fast train, and if I thought the normal trains were fast, ohhooooh boy was I wrong.

It’s honestly a miracle that I didn’t end up having a full panic attack. Of course I was still freaking out, seeing the world not only fly past so fast I couldn’t process the colors that raced along the terrain, the echoing whistle as we entered and exited every pitch black tunnel, feeling the carriage rock back and forth on the tracks as the wheels pounded underfoot. The entire two and half hour journey each way, I was in a constant state of near-panic. But, the important thing is that I didn’t actually dissolve into a puddle of my own anxieties and fears.

At least, on this particular train. The train from Paris back to my home destination was completely different.

During this particular train ride, there were several things I noticed that definitely preyed on my endless anxiety. First, I noticed the severity to which we were rocking on the tracks. Second, I noticed how we slowed down compared to first setting off, and that we never sped back up to match the previous speed, despite being in open countryside with no houses, turns, or roads to worry about. Then, I noticed longer stops at small stations- times that would normally never happen. 2-5 minutes in a small rural village? That time usually lasted 20-60 seconds, maximum.

At the same time, I noticed the constant flickering of the main lights. Now, these lights ALWAYS stay on. They’re not natural light sensitive, or something that turns off when there’s a lot of sun and on when it’s getting dark. But, I also noticed these flickerings tied directly into the electronic aspect of the train, or at least my particular carriage. Honestly, that probably wouldn’t have been something I noticed, but I was trying to charge my phone at the time. Every single time the lights turned off, my phone stopped charging. When the lights turned back on, my phone vibrated to indicate that it was now connected to a charging source. This is the time when I really started to panic, but as everyone else was calm and seemed to be oblivious, tried to self soothe and play it off as normal, nothing to worry about.

As it turns out, I was actually right to panic.

When we were supposed to be around 20 minutes from our destination, we took an unexpected stop in a town 45 minutes north. This was definitely weird, and with everything else, had my Danger Radar set on maximum.

After 10 minutes, we were still there, with no news, and people were starting to question why we were still stopped. This told me that this type of thing definitely did not happen regularly, and was, at this point, absolutely strange and unusual. I also had one last connecting train that we were getting dangerously close to missing if we didn’t leave right away, and I couldn’t find a single attendant. They were nowhere to be found, so I went back to my seat and waited, albeit rather nervously.

Not long after sitting back down, the main lights went out completely. Not just the main lights, but also the emergency lights overhead. We were thrown into total darkness, and at this point, everyone else started to freak out too.

I was certain. We were all going to die.

However, I had enough problem solving energy to text my assistant group chat to see what to do. I had no faith that I would be able to get to my small town, explained the situation, and asked if anyone would be able to house me for the night if our train was able to get to our destination. As it turned out, there was another assistant on the train. I was able to go sit with her, and she was kind enough to let me sleep on her couch that night after getting to the city 2 hours later than we were meant to.

Her carriage also still had the emergency lights, so she was shocked when she walked into my cabin to see that I truly meant there was no light but our phones. Once the lights finally came back on, the train moved for maybe 10 seconds before stopping again, and leaving us in the darkness once more.

As it turns out, the reason there were no attendants on the train is because they had to spontaneously change the engine. That was a comforting thought to be told, 15 minutes after taking our true leave.

My fear of trains grew dramatically after this venture.

After the holidays were over, the next thing you could really call travelling or exploring was when I moved to the city a month later. I had a day between moving and starting at my new school, so I used it to walk around the city in order to map out my route to the train station and see what things were near my apartment. Later that week, I met up with my friend, another assistant at my second school, and really explored and did more tourist level walking.

We met at the library, right next to city hall, walked to the main cathedral, through the large gardens around it, down to the river, along the riverwalk, past the closed aquarium, and to the city center. Here, I had my first street food ever, and even returned a few times over the last month and a half for more.

That week, one of my teachers at this new school took me on a tour of the village we work in. Although we couldn’t go inside this cathedral due to the renovations and covid, we could still see the catacombs from the outside. We saw the big bell tower, went to my first bakery, through the park, and to the train station. I was able to geek out over the old architecture, as this small place was built all the way back in the 12th century! For two more weeks, this would be the oldest place I had ever seen.

After those first two weeks, we were back to vacation! At first, I had no plans and didn’t think I’d be able to see anything or go anywhere new during these two weeks off work. However, the same teacher who showed me around the town was able to take me with her to her property in South-Central France. I spent 5 wonderful days with her and her parents, seeing and doing more in those days than I have in my entire life.

I got to see somewhere around 13 castles, walk in the walls of some, and on the top of the battlements of another. I hiked up and down monk paths in the mountains, and literally climbed hundreds of stairs and up steep winding paths to reach the castle at the top of the city carved into the side of another mountain. I walked, hiked, climbed miles and miles each day, despite the rain, and sedimentary rain, that we had the whole trip. I saw waterfalls, stared down the countryside from the top of a mountain, and really lived.

As a local, my teacher was also able to give me a lot of intimate information about the many places we visited. We were able to see the places many tourists don’t know exist, and get insider scoop on the life, history, and culture that I would never have had otherwise.

It was also really cool, because we didn’t have to deal with people most of the time. Not only did covid mean that there were few tourists available to explore these places, but it was also in the middle of February. This time is the off-season for tourists anyway, so the few people that WOULD have been there without a pandemic WEREN’T there. We had all these places to ourselves and other locals. No crowds, no long waits, no worries. It was the best possible outcome I could have in these types of situations, and I never thought I’d have the change to do any of it.

But, despite everything, I did.

And it was the most amazing experience, and stories that I will cherish forever.