Before leaving New York in a hurry to return to France, Mathilde Villemejeanne, photographer, sent us her story and photos of the last hours of the Big Apple before confinement.
From Soho to China Town, from Times Square to Midtown, the streets are deserted. Would New Yorkers be more disciplined than the French in the dark days of Covid-19? The epicenter of Manhattan, usually a gathering place, day and night, for tourists from various walks of life. New York, the bustling city, the city of a thousand facets, finally came to a standstill on the weekend of March 21. Shops, bars and restaurants closed, metro deserted.
Preparations before confinement
Saturday March 21, “lockdown” of New York had just been announced for implementation the following day at midnight. The New Yorkers understood the gravity of the situation and had already self-contained.
Line up in front of Whole Foods, the meter “social distancing” respected as well as mask, gloves and hand sanitizer as main main fashion accessories confirms us in this curious period.
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How did I personally experience this situation from abroad? While I have been in New York for three months to work in an art gallery in the heart of the district of Tribeca, my New York idyll, my American Way of Life takes a real turn.
A progressive awareness
The situation unfolded in a crescendo but ultimately accelerated very quickly. After the first cases in China in January, the deterioration of the situation in Italy and the spread of the virus in Europe, fears began to be felt and fear gradually began to mount in the United States.
Initially, we took little precautions, we obviously washed our hands more intensively, but that was about it. Gradually, with my work colleagues, and after listening to the many warning messages on French and international radio stations, we decided to buy hydroalcoholic gel to start taking the necessary precautions. So I went to buy gel for my colleagues at the little store next to the gallery. The panic started, the store agreed to sell me only 2 bottles of gel, as well as 2 packs of Clorox wipes. It was the start of the implementation of quotas in New York on products related to Covid-19.
So I was starting to become more aware of the situation. A few days later, on Tuesday March 10, we organized the opening of our new exhibition. Our guests no longer shook hands, they rubbed their elbows as a hello. It was from that moment that I felt a little more involved. On Wednesdays, the main museums in New York closed, as did the Opera House and tourist spots.
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On Thursday, supermarkets were starting to get crowded, customers were lining up in front of stores, and there was still a two-hour line inside. It is known that Americans “make it big”, everything is “bigger”, “bigger” in supermarkets in the United States. This was even more emphasized during this period of preparation for the pandemic. Caddies overflowing with toilet paper, cans, pasta and rice. Spokes robbed.
On Friday, we were already teleworking. On Friday evening, all galleries in New York closed. Working in marketing, I urgently sent a newsletter informing of the temporary closure until further notice [“jusqu’à nouvel ordre”] from the gallery.
At the weekend, all the bars, restaurants and shops had lowered the curtain.
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Things have accelerated
The situation was deteriorating as I went, I felt that the coming months were not going to be all rosy. But I decided to stay in New York and continue to telecommute from my Brooklyn shared apartment. There were five of us in my roommate. On Sunday evening, I learned that two of my roommates were returning to France, on Monday I learned that my other two roommates had also decided to return to France. We had to go to Miami for the coming weekend. Given the situation and the return of my roommates to France, the weekend was of course compromised.
I was starting to feel anxious, a little lonely. I found myself alone in an apartment where the five of us lived. The fridge was full of food, so were the cupboards. Indeed, it all happened in such a rush, we had just gone shopping and had no plans to leave.
I still did not want to return to France, despite the warning signs from family and friends. I continued to telecommute, I felt that the activity had slowed down but, passionate about my work, I did not want to give up.
The decision to return
I never lost sight of the figures, the rapid and cruel evolution of the number of cases, I constantly consulted the media. Even if the situation deteriorated, and New York State already had as many cases as the whole of France, I did not want to put an end to this rich New York experience. Until Thursday morning March 19, when I called the French consulate in New York, which urged me to return to France. “Take the first plane tonight at 7:45 pm at JFK, after that it will be difficult to return, there will be fewer and fewer thefts. ” I called a second time to get a second version, an exchange with another consular officer, who had the same speech. It was 10 am, I had a videoconference meeting with my work colleagues an hour later, I had to make a decision. I obviously took this decision reluctantly, I did not want to return. My boss had just told me that the gallery was probably going to remain closed until mid-May. I could hardly see myself locked up alone, 6500 kilometers from my home in an apartment. So I decided to go home, by constraint. Still wishing to continue working, I decided to work remotely, teleworking from France. We will therefore have to adapt the 6 hours of jet lag to this new pace of work.
Once the decision was made, we had to find a flight. Much more complex than I expected. Air France was overbooked and did not answer the phone. After two hours of waiting on the phone, after asking my relatives to stay on the line with Air France for two hours, after trying over and over again on the Internet, I had no choice but to go directly to the airport. airport to buy a ticket.
Give your all before leaving
Victory! The best solution was therefore to go directly to the airport. I was able to get a flight for Saturday, it was Thursday night. I still had to empty the whole apartment, pack my bags, clean the house, and of course find a solution for all the food in the fridge and cupboards. Not wishing to throw away and all the donation associations being closed at that time, I took the decision to post messages on several groups on social networks by offering to those who wished to come to the apartment to recover from the food. Mutual aid and sharing are all the more important in these situations. I managed to give everything I had and bring an ounce of happiness to these people during this dark time.
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Bags packed, it was time to leave for the airport. The airport, a hub where thousands of people pass through every day, left me no choice but to wear a mask and gloves. The situation was so strange at the airports. Many shops were closed and you could tell the anguish on the faces of the travelers.
The pandemic has obviously changed my whole project. I was to stay until July. I hope with all my heart that the situation will improve, and I have, in any case, made the promise to return.
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Source
Launched in April 2016 and intended for French expatriates and expatriation candidates, Courrier Expat offers information drawn from the international press on the professional and personal environment of French people living abroad, on the
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