Today, I woke up a lot during the night. I dreamed, sweated, wiped myself with a towel, went back to sleep, and then sweated again. So I always kept a bath towel by my bed. I hoped the fever would go down.

When I woke up in the morning, everyone was up early because today was the day we were leaving and returning to Toulouse, and I had showered and packed my bag, so by the time I went downstairs, I was the only one at breakfast and everyone had already finished eating. I wasn’t feeling well yet, so I spent the rest of the morning eating bread and drinking lemon-flavored cold medicine and acetaminophen drinks. Plus, I had a Coke.

Pack my bags and ready to go!

I just had a hospital appointment with Jelena today, so I decided to go to the same hospital too. Before I left the house, everyone was putting things back in order, and I thought they were really polite. I thought “They are just like the Japanese people”.

Everything was exactly as it was before, and the caretaker was checking everything. The caretaker and her mother were very friendly.

I shook hands with Dominique and Dominique’s wife and said “thank you” in French. And Dominique said something like, “Your mother and grandmother will be here in two years!” I think he made a gesture like that. I’m not too clear on that though.

After that, I got in the back seat of the car and off we went! The whole time I was staring blankly out the window. Perhaps I wasn’t in good shape or wasn’t feeling well.

I didn’t do anything in the car, just gazed at it for a long, long time.

On the way there, I felt the need to go to the bathroom. Her mother took me to the nearest interchange.

First time in my life, I went to a hospital in France

We arrived at the hospital near her house. It was my first time in a French hospital. The receptionist was very kind and even sang along with Daniel Balavoine’s “Sauver l’amour” while I was waiting. I thought it was nice that even though it was a hospital, it didn’t feel like a hospital.

Before going to the hospital, her mother wrote a check for 50 euros and gave it to her. I thought it was really cool because in France, you write it on a check and give it to the person who pays. In Japan, it seems like something you would only use if you won the jackpot in the lottery.

The receptionist at the hospital said, “He’s Japanese! Wow, that’s great! Cool! It’s so nice to have a Japanese friend!”. She seemed to be saying to Jelena.

I waited for the hospital doctor to call me. In France, you have a family doctor, and you can see him or her and have tests and simple examinations done there. But you have to get medicines from a pharmacy, and for larger tests, you have to go to a big hospital. I thought it was really a difficult process with so many different processes. In Japan, most of the medicines and tests can be done at the same place.

And then to the examination room

First she went in, then I went in. The doctor smiled and started talking to me. It was a fake smile probably, so I didn’t feel good about it, but I wonder if French people probably don’t even care about fake smiles or anything like that, and it really seems like a normal thing to do. That, on the other hand, didn’t seem stressful to me.

I told her that my condition had changed since January 1 and that I had a fever, a runny nose, and a cough. I moved to another place and I was given a stethoscope and a corona test.

Oh, my God, I’m..,

What a minute later I found out the test results and I was positive. I really couldn’t believe it at the time. I never thought for a millimeter that I would get corona, and I thought it was probably the flu, so I really couldn’t believe it. At the same time, I felt really sorry for her family and her.

We left the hospital and headed to the ATM from there. Mom had contracted corona two months earlier and had been immobile for five days. Jelena had also contracted corona a year ago, but she had been vaccinated and was fine. At any rate, I was relieved that no one died. It was really a surprise to hear that I had corona on January 1.

I’m going to stay home and relax

All the pharmacies were closed, so I decided to relax at home. I stayed at home for a long time after I got home and wrote in my diary. I am glad that I am getting time to write my diary now, since I did not have enough time to do so. However, I am really sorry. I have been infected with corona, and it has caused a lot of trouble for her family. I stayed at home and Jelena and her mother went to pick up some medicine for me.

I was washing my food plate to see if there was anything I could do to help.

When I stayed in my room for a long time, Jelena would sometimes visit me and ask me if I wanted something, or if I wanted canulés or chocolate. She would bring me canele, chocolate, chocolatine, or soup. She also gave me a lot of medicine and tissue paper.

She would say things like, “Let me know if you like canulé,”. I thought she was a really, really warm person. I thought she will definitely be a good wife in the future. Thank you very much. I was in such a bad situation because of the corona infection, but she didn’t avoid me and came to see me. I am really too lucky to have such a family. Thank you so much.

I really want to go down there too and watch movies together and spend lots of time with her. We became friends and we first met in December and are spending New Year’s Eve together, but after that I fly out of Toulouse on January 5 and go to Paris. I don’t even know when I will see her next.

Of course, it will probably be a different town when she goes to the Master, though I’m hoping we can go back to visit.

This now will never, ever come back. That’s why we really have to live in the moment, using the time we have together now to the best of our ability.

Since I’ve been holed up in my room since becoming Corona, I can’t help but look at a lot of photos. There are many pictures of her childhood pasted on the wall. All of them are really cute. Her smile is so beautiful and adorable. I was reminded once again that children are adorable. She is especially cute when she smiles.

I also have a lot of pictures of me as a child pasted up in my house, so I thought that we are very much alike.

So I decided to go to bed at around 10:30, just as She said good night.