Fall Escape

 

Since my last post, the country went through a fourth COVID wave, and numbers are falling again. Work hast started up and there are actually kids in the classrooms. We have been lucky to have no cases of COVID so far, but every week, a kid in each class is usually out with a cold and they have to get a PCR test before they can return to the center. One positive is that regular colds and illnesses haven't spread as much because the kids have had to stay home if they show any new symptoms of anything. The masks, handwashing, and distancing also seem to be helping. For now, we keep on trucking. This has been one of my hardest years in terms of work, ever. So much has been thrown at us and continues to be thrown at us from every direction. Some of the work is even enjoyable. I am very lucky to have a strong and experienced team.

A week ago we had our first little escape in six months to Mohonk Mountain House in the Hudson River Valley. The hotel was founded in 1869 and the property has undergone many changes over the years. It was kind of nice to be in a historic building with beautiful nature all around. It was a reminder that many things were around before this pandemic, and people/places/things/ideas can and do endure. It was also nice to be somewhere where we could do lots of family-friendly outdoor activities, and that it was understood that everyone be masked when indoors (vaccinated or not). Penny loved exploring there and spending time with her cousins. She was particularly excited to swim at an indoor pool for the first time - it was quite the novelty. 

Because of traveling out-of-state, Penny had to stay home for a few days before returning to school, just as a precaution. It was actually pretty nice to have a taste of being home for a little while with nothing particular to do. It was like when we had been home during the earlier days of the pandemic as a family, only without all the fear and anxiety, and knowing it was just temporary. 

Since my last post, I have received my COVID booster shot. I'm grateful to have access, particularly since I'm working in-person with young, unvaccinated children. 

It feels like we are all operating in limbo - wanting and feeling like the pandemic is nearing its end, but never being sure what is around the corner. We are all exhausted from living through interesting times. I am hopeful, but I know better than to assume anything these days.

The Dog Days of Summer

 

The numbers of vaccinated people have been going up, and the numbers of cases and deaths were going down for several months. Now it seems as though there's another uptick of COVID-19, but I am hoping that the vaccines will do their work and keep this a relatively low rise. There are still pockets of the US where less people are vaccinated, and those will sadly cause problems for the rest of us. But, as a whole, we are lucky that Virginia and the DC area are doing well in terms of vaccination and low case and death numbers.

Reading the news and social media from Sydney, they are on an extended lockdown and their worst outbreak to date (which is still very low compared to the US). 

At least this summer is better than last. We have a pool where Penny has been getting swim lessons, and she loves being in the water. We were able to do a mild family getaway on the Eastern Shore of MD. Michael and I got to go camping and kayaking with friends this past weekend. Penny has been able to attend daycare, have a few outdoor playdates, and see both sets of grandparents somewhat regularly.

My work situation has changed, and will change again next month, and the month after. By that, I mean I am in a new role, and then I go back in person, and then children will start attending the school again. So, my day-to-day work will change. So, it will be a while before I feel settled. It's also hard to enjoy the end of summer when work has already ramped up and I have a gargantuan task of bringing a little school back from the dead, essentially. 

I recently rediscovered "At My Most Beautiful" by REM. So I'll end with that...

The Pandemic Hits Home

 

Just over a year into the pandemic, it finally directly touched our household. We have been lucky that we can manage, but it's really difficult with a 3-year-old. She grapples with understanding why we can't get closer to other people, she misses her friends and daycare (such a change from not wanting to go everyday), doesn't always remember to cough into her hand, and forgets to wash her hands if we don't remind her and really watch her do it. And those are all developmentally appropriate ways to act when you're three. It has also been tricky because I'm fully vaccinated, Mike is partially, and Penny is obviously not. We have to navigate different risks for each family member.

What has also been difficult is receiving conflicting information from all the contact tracers. I ultimately have given up on them, and we are just following the published CDC guidelines. It's frustrating because I want to trust the health dept., and follow what they say, as our personal responsibility to the community. However, when each person says something different, it really just tells us they have no idea what they're talking about, and aren't even properly reading their own script or formula. 

We are grateful we have family close by, since they have been able to drop off fresh bagels and homemade chicken soup and fresh fruit. Still, we are counting down the days to things being "normal", or at least pandemic normal.

No rest for the weary, I am being summoned.

One year on, I still don't know how to cook or eat chicken feet.

 It has officially been a year since the pandemic began. After very many lows, things finally seem to be at least starting to improve. I've received my second vaccine. My parents are on their way to being completely vaccinated, and my in-laws are done too. 

Penny has returned to half days of daycare this week. It's an adjustment, but it's good for her, and she's excited to play with more kids again. Now that she's used to playing with a few older kids who really look after her and got along with her from the get-go, though, I think she's seeing that it's a little more work to play with kids her age. She's used to trying to keep up with the big kids, but now she's got to adjust how she interacts with kids that aren't as quick as her buddies, mentally or physically. It will be interesting to see how her whole cohort does in the next few years, socially and academically. 

My extended family is planning its first gathering in a year - an outdoor Easter gathering. We are planning two local trips in the next few months, within Virginia and Maryland. We will have a pool membership for the summer. My work may start up in-person again starting at the beginning of the fall semester. There are finally events to look forward to again, although they will still be mainly outdoors/distanced/masked.

Thinking back to a year ago, a lot of my realizations that things were getting bad happened at the grocery store. Suddenly the toilet paper and paper towel aisles at every store were wiped out. Soon after, other aisles grew bare and stores started rationing, saying you could only buy two of each item, like pasta, rice, and meat. Funny, there was never really a problem finding fresh produce. When Mike and I temporarily moved to Maryland (to stay at our in-laws' empty house while they were still out-of-state), the meat aisle at Giant was completely empty except bags of CHICKEN FEET. When I saw that, I remember thinking, "Well I guess we will become vegetarians for a little while because I don't know how to cook or eat chicken feet". It didn't come to that, but I mentally prepared myself anyway. The next thing was the line out the door of Trader Joes to limit the number of people inside; I probably had to wait 20 minutes just to start shopping a few times. Then, masks were mandated, and I would look around at all the masked people afraid to go near each other, still trying to pile up the food in their carts so they wouldn't have to come back again for a week or two or three. Slowly, the shipments caught up and the grocery stores stopped rationing. Despite the fact that things are pretty well-stocked these days, I rarely leave the store without a pack of toilet paper, even if we don't need it. Just in case. 

The Beginning of the End?

 

The pandemic has been going for 11 months. I have been very lucky to receive my first dose of the vaccine a few days ago. 

The Bar Keeps Dropping Lower

 I think everyone is still processing the news from two days ago. While this was not a true surprise, because there were lots of signs that something violent was ultimately going to happen, it was still shocking to see how easy it was for our Capitol building to be overrun by people who weren't particularly clever or cunning. Even though a small number have been arrested, it just seems that there has been little consequence for their grotesque actions. I continue to feel disgust that this happened in our country. I keep hearing sentiments like, "This is not who we are". This is exactly who we are, and that's precisely why it is so disappointing and embarassing. 

All of this has happened in the midst of a deadly pandemic that grows worse by the day. The vaccines rollout has been botched, which isn't a surprise considering how the country has handled the whole pandemic.

The US country is truly at a low point that keeps getting lower. January 20 cannot come soon enough. 

The night of the riot, I decided to eat vegemite toast for my evening snack. It's times like these that I remind myself of my Australian-ness. 

COVID Update - 39 Weeks

We are still home. We have lots of friends overseas in Australia and other countries whose lockdowns have come and gone, and they have kept the virus in check as outbreaks come and go. Our situation has never really improved and we are going on our 10th month. Today, more than 3000 Americans were reported dead from COVID; more than on 9-11. That's just today. The average has been hovering around 2000-a-day for a week or two, and before that, it was around a thousand-a-day for a long time. It's really hard to grasp the scale of that much death in comparison to other events, wars, and diseases in our lifetime, or even our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. This has just lasted so long and been so cummulative. The anniversary for Pearl Harbor was the other day and I checked the numbers a few times just to see if they would surpass the casualties for that anniversary. They didn't, but they were closer.

There's been an exodus from the city. We know several couples, families, and individuals who have left for now because they can work remotely. A handful of friends changed professions altogether and moved away.

Now that the weather is cold, we take advantage when it's unseasonably warm to see family or few friends outdoors. We continue to do recess with our neighbors every weekday at 10 sharp, and the kids still really love it. It's Penny's main socialization (and ours too!) other than being with her parents all day most days, so it's pretty important and helps us all maintain our sanity. We all get out our energy and warm up in the sun by swinging on the playground, running around with nerf guns, tossing the frisbee or shooting baskets, the kids scootering or chasing each other around. We have our snacks and morning tea.

Halloween came and went. It was surprisingly fun because our neighborhood did a fantastic job of communicating socially distant/safe practices beforehand, and almost everyone followed them. There was a one-way path, pre-packaged treats, and anyone that wanted to greet kids did so from a distance, usually sitting out in lawn chairs with blankets or by a little fire. It was adorable and heart-warming. To my surprise, we even had a few leftover bags of treats, which means that after the first greedy boogers we saw trying to raid tables, nobody else took more than their share. 

The election came and... is still going away slowly. 

Thanksgiving came and went quietly. We traded some food with family during brief outdoor and/or masked visits, but mostly spent the day by ourselves and partly outside with the neighbors, and did a zoom with family too. It was almost like one of our Thanksgivings overseas. 

And now that it's the Christmas season, we are all in. We have multiple advent calendars, we are doing Hanukkah, and I probably did too much online shopping already. 

Today, I went back to the ghost town that is the campus where I used to work in-person. This was the third time I'd been back; I tend to go once a season and this was my winter visit. the building was cold because the heat has been turned off. It's eerie because so much of how the classroom was left looks just like kids were there yesterday, even though no kids have been there for over nine months. There's art on the drying rack, a March calendar clipped to the parent communication board that was never taken home, the sign-in sheet with names of some kids who won't be back, spare jackets still hanging in cubbies, the spare clothes bins and nap blankets and items that may or may not ever get taken home. I finally took home some items like my bottle of ibuprofen and box of tea that I figured would just be there when I came back and get used eventually, but after this long I'll just use them at home. At my work, my colleagues hope we will be able to return to work in-person in the spring?  Maybe April? May? We have no clue. My one year work anniversary was a little over a week ago (of when I returned to work there; I had previously worked there about two years also); 3/4 of that time has been from home. I'm still very grateful that my work has gone through every effort to minimize layoffs and furloughs. Those of us that can't work at our full capacity remotely have taken on temporary work with other departments. For now, we have five furlough days we can choose when to take, from November to March. It's a small price to pay, and I have no complaint. 

A vaccine is already being rolled out in the UK. It will start being given out to first responders and the elderly later this month. It will still be several months before it will actually have any effect on our lives though - we will all still need to wear masks, socially distance, and not spend much time indoors with people outside of our households. 

I am hopeful 2021 will be better, but it will be a long time before life can remotely feel "normal" again. For all we know, it may not return to the old normal ever again. I can't imagine I would feel comfortable spending time indoors in public spaces without a mask, near strangers, for a long time... even if I was vaccinated and the majority of people were too. It will feel foreign and strange. We watch movies from just a few years ago and instinctually think, "Those people are too close", "They shouldn't go in that house with those people they don't live with", and "That gathering has too many people". The thought of going to a wedding or large gathering indoors makes me cringe. Hopefully after the vaccine is widespread, regular travel can resume, and it's finally safe for all schools to return in-person, it will eventually not be scary to see groups of people like we used to.  

I always think about how this time is affecting the development and personalities of my daughter and all the kids we know of various ages. It's the biggest experiment we never wanted to impose on them, and on ourselves.