Chroniques Covid Chronicles Day 39

Today meant going back to school.. so to speak….! So I gave classes from 9 to 5 with a small hour break, then went shopping and prepared a fruit salad. All my students attended but this was right before the announcement that, for the very few classes which would test their students,

les examens ne porteront, quoi qu’il arrive, que sur les contenus enseignés avant le 13 mars.
20 mn.ch

The confirmation that the exams would be based on what had been done at school prior to the confinement. In other terms there was absolutely no reason for me to work from 8 am to 8 pm as anything I’ve done will not be taken into consideration. To say that I’m furious is a very light expression of what I’m feeling right now. I understand that some teachers were simply not able to cope with the situation but the problem was known all along… Oh well humanly it was a fantastic experience and today chatting with my students was a very pleasant feeling as these young fellows are truly extraordinary, all of them. Many started jogging, something they used to hate doing, some have learned to cook and now master it perfectly, Their English has improved dramatically thanks to their watching anglophone programs. I’m glad things are turning well and after all I’ve been paid for what I’ve done. I just wish our government gave us a little more credit. Now, at almost 10 pm, I’m getting ready for an early evening in bed with an excellent book to read since its title is the perfect definition of the virus “à la mesure de l’univers” !

I heard on the news that a tragic shooting took place in my darling Maritimes, The worst killing ever taking place near Halifax, unbelievable! This is extremely sad because for me Canada is a haven of peace and peaceful coexistence but of course mad people are unpredictable, it’s just too bad this one had a riffle !

It’s now time for my Portrait gallery : I am going to talk tonight about my friend Momo. This giant man is as authentic as possible. Born in Croatia, emigrated to Israel then to Switzerland, he lived in so many places I would be a shame not to recall them all but basically if I’ve ever met a citizen of the world this is Momo, who now settled for Corsica as his dream destination.

The way we met is even stranger, I normally keep away from any Jewish organisation, not out of personal choice but because as a child growing up in Paris where my father was heavily involved in community affairs, I became allergic to communautarian feelings. However, I was invited 8 years ago to take part to a meeting regarding the Israeli-Palestinian situation and the creation of the JCall movement in the wake of the J Street movement. That’s where I met mobile very quickly we became convinced that something had to be done in Switzerland. I had my doubts but Momo was very convincing and the rest is history. I had immediately indicated that I would not remain in the movement as my life is complicated enough as it is and I didn’t believe any more in associations after 25 years at their service. However the number of friends I still have in JCall is incredible and far reaching (my acquaintance mentioned in my blog yesterday with Gáspár Támás is an indirect consequence of this involvement). This friendship with Momo we’ve now gathered other friends like Ingrid, Camille, Jasna, Isabelle and Isabelita and more recently Daniel and my Marc. We share much more than a conscience, we have a very similar way of thinking and he is extremely precious to us all!

The only paper I read today was this BBC account of “the last cruise ship finally comes home”, an odyssey! And now the goodies of the day (and yesterday’s).