Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 38 - A good day

Today was a good day. Made some progress around the apartment, worked on my new project, laughed at my 1 year-old nephew's blueberry-covered face in Sweden while my 4 year-old niece tried teach their dog tricks (or rather the dog was teaching her), listened to some good music. Not bad for a Monday! Thankfully it's a holiday Monday! 😎

Saturday's announcement that the government is studying the possibility of letting children out to play for a little bit each day in a week has started up the meme machines again. 

"Child for rent"

"Who do you want to go out with? Daddy or Mommy" "Do you understand me now?"

That second one reminds me I haven't shared my favorite canine memes yet! Coming soon! (or past, I still have a few catch-up posts pending)

Another thing that popped up today which brought a huge smile on my face and got my feet moving, was a quarantine edition of an old song I love, by Spanish Celtic Rock band Celtas Cortos.  The song is supposed to be a letter written on April 20th 1990, so today would be its 30th anniversary. The band have recorded a new video from their homes, joined in by staff in essential services (including first responders, health professionals, cleaning services, supermarkets, transporters, teachers, researchers and farmers), other musicians and actors in Spain, as part of a fundraising effort for Médecins Sans Frontières. It's a blast!

As for that new project? I'm launching a new blog! (yes another one, whoops!..) Have been working on the layout, inaugural post and my own story all weekend... Will share more once it's ready, hopefully any day now!

#stayhome #quedateencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 36 - We're not going anywhere yet

Today's good news is that in the President's speech he said the government is studying the measures (and conditions) to let children under 12 outside to run around and play for the first time in 6 weeks starting Monday April  27th (in some regions they are allowed to accompany a parent to take our the trash or go grocery shopping or walk the dog if they are too young to be home alone, but that's not running or playing). This topic has become so prominent in the past few days that I've been wondering if we weren't seeing a small rebellion brewing. Tensions do seem on the rise with no clear end in sight. We seem to have passed the peak ten days ago, numbers dropped, but seem to be staying constant at a level that is not low...

In other good news, the field hospital set up in Madrid (here's an interesting Spanish article about it from last month) has announced they're going to close down one of the pavilions because the number of patients has gone down enough to let them to that! 🥳 Clear sign of things improving. Funnily though, the three field hospitals in the Valencia Community (Castellón, Valencia & Alicante) were finally completed a couple of days ago and are now ready to receive patients.

Today's bad news is that the President also announced that he's going to ask Congress to approve another 2-week extension to the State of Alarm, until May 9th. That will make it 8 weeks. *sigh* He also said that hopefully at that point they'll start the gradual opening up process, but we'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out what that might look like.

So I think it's time to just go wild and dance on the balcony... (my neighbors pumped up the volume after the daily clapping this evening) 😜

Today's smile (in case that video didn't crack you up), comes from all the talented people participating in the live "One World: Together at Home" festival organized by WHO and Global Citizen.

I'm watching and listening in as I write this... Have been enjoying it for the past 4h, but I think I'm going to have to catch the end when I get up in the morning. It's almost midnight and the headliners won't be on until 2am. Mañana más!

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 35 - Distant goodbyes

After the overwhelming first couple of quarantine weeks I've been trying to keep coronavirus "news" down to a minimum. It's too absorbing and not healthy. And it makes me sad. 

I know a lot of people of all ages are very scared of this virus, of catching it, falling sick, having to be hospitalized. In all truth that's not something that has worried me too much. Statistics are in my favor. When I catch it (because let's face it, most of us will at some point in the next year), based on my age and general good health and immune system I should be among the "mild" cases, or if a stronger one have a good chance of coming through it ok. Of course I know there's no guarantee of that, but it is likely. I have had a serious flu once before (2nd year of college) and have no desire to go through that again if it can be helped (have never been so ill in my life!). The only thing that really scares me is catching it and because of that long incubation period (and chance of being unsymptomatic) unknowingly passing it to my mom who is among the high-risk population (70 years old, damaged lungs and other significant health issues). About 70% of Covid-19 cases in Spain have been in people over 50, and over 60% of the ICU cases have been in people over 60. Retirement homes have been hit particularly badly (there are even investigations into some of them to see if sufficient mitigation measures had been implemented).

Whenever you turn on the news, or go online to read about the situation, it is impossible to avoid stories about people mourning their loved ones. Loved ones who died alone, or just accompanied by medical staff. Families not able to say a proper goodbye, even when the death wasn't from Covid-19 because funerals are no longer an option under the social distancing quarantine rules. A few weeks ago a friend had to wait a full day before she could drive 2h to the city where her parents live to be with her mom after her father died. She couldn't go until she had received a copy of the death certificate (needed in case the police stopped her along the route). No funeral, just the two of them at home waiting for the ashes to be delivered. The first week of the quarantine we had the first Covid-19 death connected with my work place. A staff member of the university (known to quite a few people in my office) died, and her partner and family couldn't get together to say their farewells. And a couple of hours ago my sister (who lives in Sweden) told us that her father-in-law (in Texas) was in hospital and her mother-in-law couldn't go see him or be with him. An hour later she told us he had passed. Under the current situation my brother-in-law (or my sister) obviously can't go to the States now to be with his mother. These days everyone has to mourn from a distance, often physically separated from the people who need their comfort. Video calls help, but they're no substitute for a good hug. And that's heartbreaking. 💔😢

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 33 - Quarantine Movie Marathon!

When we all got locked in a month ago (that long?!) one of the first things that popped into my head was "Tolkien movie marathon!!!" So the first weekend I watched the Hobbit trilogy, and the second one the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And then I stalled... what next? Looking at my dvds... Star Wars? Nope, missing the latest (doesn't come out on disc in Spain until June). Harry Potter? Indiana Jones? So many fabulous options!

Many people around me have been talking about fun "quarantine projects" involving books, Netflix series marathons, movies (I've been organizing online Saturday "movie nights" with friends)... And then it came to me! A quarantine-long (but not daily!) movie marathon in which the criteria were:

• Has to be a movie I own (some of them haven't been taken off the shelves in a loooong time)
• Whichever movie I watch has to be related somehow to the previous one (with the exception of Saturday Movie Night, since that's a consensus pick among the gang)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 32 - Slowly opening up?

Two weeks ago, to slow down the virus spread even more, the Spanish government froze all non-essential jobs for 8 (working) days, putting anyone who was still going to work (as opposed to working from home) in non-essential services (so not in the food supply chain, health, public sanitation or transport) on a "recuperable holiday", the idea being that they would still be paid, but they'd have to work out with their employers how to recuperate those non-worked hours. Honestly I don't know how much of the labour force that represents, as most businesses that depend on customers have all had to shut down putting their employees on Covid-furlough (they should be receiving 70% of their salary from the government, but I don't know anyone who's gotten it yet). I guess some industry, plus construction, and domestic helpers (unless they were going to care for sick or elderly)?

Anyhow, between yesterday and today (because yesterday was a holiday, Easter Monday, in a third of the country) all those people were allowed to go back to work, following strict social distancing measures. It was even announced that there would be a distribution of face masks at the entrance to public transportation for people who used it. We'll see how this goes... hope the numbers don't start increasing again! There were some vocal protests by certain professional groups (I saw one from nutritionists?) saying it was too soon. I hope not! If it goes well, hopefully they'll start relaxing the measures for more of us.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 31 - Catching up

Easter Monday... As my mom has been reminding me all weekend long, traditionally people around here (Alicante, Valencia areas) would have family picnics and go out and eat "la mona de Pascua", another traditional Easter pastry with a hard-boiled egg on top. My mom often tells us that when she was young her group of friends would go to the beach, and the game would be to crack the egg on someone's forehead to then peel it. Of course there was always that one jokester who came with a raw egg... 😉

4 day Easter weekend. From Good Friday to Easter Monday. Yup... Not that different from the other Quarantine days! Other than not having to log into work, something that is always much appreciated on a Monday!

For the past 2 weeks I'm afraid I've been neglecting the blog. Not feeling the energy in the evenings after work. Although in my mind I was posting regularly! (pity I can't just "think" these posts into existence) I was setting aside photos or memes to share. Make note of things to write about. And then evening came around aaaand "I'll just watch this movie and then sit back down at the computer". Nope. Books and bed! 

On the plus side, I'm devouring books like I hadn't done in a long time! Unfortunately not having much impact on my humongous TBR pile because one of the books I've read has led me down the rabbit hole of picking up other books from the same author that I've read before because they're connected - and just damn good reads! The book was The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman (I've written about her before). Honestly she should put a warning on the first page of her books "Beware - finishing this book will inexorably lead you to continue with the rest of the author's collection".

I've also been doing quite a bit of baking... Today I experimented with making a "lemon drizzle cake" following a recipe shared by a Scottish colleague. Super tasty!!! Albeit a bit on the sweet side. Mental note: less sugar next time. And thank goodness for Google to help figure out substitutes! I don't think "self raising flour" is a thing in Spain (at least I couldn't find any)... Google kindly helped me figure out how to "make" that myself (just add baking powder, duh! question was proportions).

I will be catching up with blog posts from some the missing days (between March 30th and today), because as I mentioned I had things set aside for them. Today I managed to post Days 17-18-19-30. Hopefully I'll be able to do a better job continuing onwards. Although I am preparing a fun project for the travel blog, if I can get contributors.... 😉🤞

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 30 - Happy Quarantine Easter!

Well this will definitely be an Easter to remember... Instead of joyful family get-togethers, Easter Mass for the Faithful, joyful Easter Sunday Processions (here in Spain), we get... who knows?! I imagine everyone is doing something different... What I saw among my own friends and family in social media was quite diverse! One friend was "attending" Mass in the Vatican on TV. Others had prepared traditional Easter meals and decorations. Some of my cousins in the US and my sister in Sweden prepared Easter baskets for the kids and hid the eggs in the garden or the house (was raining in Sweden). I saw friends in New Zealand and the U.S. paint printed pictures of Easter eggs with their kids to put up in windows... In my case the only "Easter" thing I did was have "torrijas" for breakfast (French toast with thick bread, and sugar & cinnamon instead of syrup), something typical here in Spain during Holy Week and Easter, and then watch a concert in the evening. It was a grey day here, not very cheerful. But perfect for huddling under the blanket on the sofa with a book and a movie. 😎

(disclaimer: these were from a frozen food company, not from scratch! 😜)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 21 - Spanish universities are "closed" for students until September!

At least for face-to-face classes. Online education is going strong. Or trying to. It kind of depends on the professor's IT skills and willingness to put in the extra work. 

I have friends who are university professors, and others who are students (I'm non-academic staff). From what I hear some professors are trying to adapt their materials to an online format as much as possible, and giving some "live" lectures on Google Meet or Zoom (of course my friends included because all my friends are cool like that). But some others are just uploading PowerPoint presentations or reading materials and exercises to do and the students are NOT happy about that at all! Not to mention they're worried about how they will be evaluated for this semester (oral exams? continuous evaluation? papers? test?), how they're supposed to do internships (those that had them) or labs... What they don't always realize is that this is just as stressful for the professors! And definitely a lot more work. It takes A LOT more time to prepare one's materials for remote teaching, you can't necessarily go about things the same way you would in a classroom. And yes, there are quite a few professors who are just not that technologically savvy! Our university has a service up and running to help them, but... there are limits to what people can do in a short time and in stressful circumstances. 😓

Back to the headline... most Spanish universities have started announcing today (following government recommendations) that students wouldn't be heading back to campus the rest of this academic year (some, like the Catalan ones, are still hoping they can get students back in June). The first phase of the quarantine was the universities (and profs) trying to get online classes up as quickly as possible. This next phase will involve continuing that and figuring out how to evaluate the students. All I can say is... good luck to all, students and professors!

On my end... I'm wondering how that's going to impact the rest of the university staff. I'm thinking once this lockdown is over, and they progressively start letting people back to their businesses, jobs etc. it will probably be gradually and with social distancing measures in place. Those of us who can work from home will probably be among the last to get back to the office. Among the university staff this would have been difficult for those who work face-to-face with students (profs, department secretaries, librarians etc.), but now there's no rush for them to go back either. In any case, without our 30'000 student population on campus it will be a ghost town when we finally do get back...

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 20 - Canceled festivities

If there's one thing you need to know about Spaniards, it's that they LOVE their traditional holidays! Particularly in small towns, and in certain city neighborhoods that feel like towns. They're bright, colorful, festive... and very noisy! 😂 Marching bands galore, music late into the night, and in this part of Spain (Valencia region) lots of firecrackers and related noise-makers. The big ones around here (Alicante province) are the Hogueras (big ones in Alicante city for June 24th, smaller ones in other towns on different dates) and the Moros y Cristianos (main ones in Alcoi and Villajoyosa, but getting bigger in many other towns like neighboring San Vicente where the university is located).

The thing is... these events bring out massive crowds. Social distancing? Impossible! So one after the other cities and towns have been announcing the postponement of their big holiday. The Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante? Shipped off to the first weekend in September to wrap up the summer instead of launch it. Fallas in Valencia scheduled for mid-March? Just 10 days before (with some of the monuments already half set up!) finally shifted to 2nd half of July. Moros y Cristianos in Alcoi (end of April)? They're considering the first weekend in October. And so on, and so forth. 😥 

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 19 - April Fools?

Soooo... For this year I'm more along the lines of this:

It helps that April Fools isn't a "thing" in Spain. (we've got the "Day of the Innocents" on December 28th)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 18 - Out and about!

Today was shopping day! Which means between 1h30 - 2h out of the house and stretching my legs. PARTYYY!!!!

My usual route has me leaving around 1pm-ish. I walk to the supermarket that's a block away and grab the "non-fresh" stuff on my and my mom's grocery lists (her list is usually twice as long as mine!). Then I walk 10 minutes to a small shopping centre and go to the produce shop to get fruit & veg, to the butcher's for meat, a bakery for bread and a few treats, and a small "home cooked meals" take out spot to grab a couple of meals for my mom (and one for me since I'm starving for lunch by the time I get home!). From there it's just 2 blocks to my mom's apartment, where I unload the groceries, help out if needed (changing sheets!), and then walk on home (another 10-15'). On the way back I walk through the park near home, so nice to be surround by some green and to see flowers!

Today was a lovely day too... felt wonderful to be outside! 😎

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 17 - Police cheers

Well this was new! I'd heard from friends and colleagues about the Police going around to some neighborhoods to cheer on the people for staying home, but hadn't happened around here yet! But last night I heard music out the back windows, went to check... and a couple of police cars were playing a birthday song for someone in the building behind mine! 🥳

After that they drove down the street playing the national anthem and saying "muchas gracias". 😊

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 16 - potty laughs

The Spanish government has officially locked us down even further by reducing the number of businesses / industry that can still be open, sending more people home on furlough with the aims to get more people off the streets because the numbers are still going up and many hospitals (particularly in Madrid) aren't able to cope... 😢

Time to look back a few weeks to when this all started and lots of laughs were being passed around on social media, many of which about the great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020!💩 

Here, have some smiles... 😆 (sadly I cannot link to sources, these have been circulating widely on Facebook & WhatsApp)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 15 - Movie night!

What a lazy Saturday it's been... I can honestly say I have done nothing productive today! Not that I had any specific plans to, but I was hoping to get something done. But it's getting harder to get out of bed in the morning unless work beckons (weekdays). And then of course random stuff happens! Like a 90' FaceTime call involving a 15 month old who wouldn't give up the phone to either his mom or his sister (or at least not for long). Let's just say I am now very familiar with the ceilings in my sister's house! 😂😂😂 

Fortunately one thing I had planned did work out: movie night!!! My frequent cinema companions and I each set up on our TVs or computers the same film, I launched a four-way video call on WhatsApp - first time trying that option, worked like a charm - showed off our snacks (ranging from popcorn to brownies) and chatted for a nice long while. And then THREE - TWO - ONE - PLAY! 2h later and group call again to compare notes. One disadvantage compared to the cinema: one person fell asleep 15' before the end, tsk! tsk! We weren't there to nudge him awake! 😜

I've been told I should check out if Netflix in Spain has the "party" option, apparently you can watch it with friends in different homes and it will start it for everyone at the same time and you can comment or something... Might look into that for next weekend! Low-tech worked just fine this time.

Can I add, Tom Hanks is always a reliable choice for movie night? 😉

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 14 - Life goes on... online! (cont)

I honestly can't imagine this lockdown going this well, if it weren't for high-speed internet, social media channels, and video-conferencing options! (and I shudder to think what would happen should the internet collapse)

Ok, true that there are quite a few people out there who either don't have internet (don't want / can't afford) or are familiar enough with the options to make the most out of it, but I'd say a majority of the locked-in populations in Europe DO have a decent broadband connection, 4G on their smartphones (for when the wifi doesn't work), and know how to use them (or have someone to explain it) well enough to do video calls using FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber or whatever else is out there. Some of these can also be used for group calls, or people can set up online meeting rooms in Zoom, AdobeConnect, Google Hangout or Meet etc. We've also got text and video messages flying at us from all directions (to the point we've all received a forward that recommends reducing the sending of video messages to not collapse or dramatically slow down the service with heavy files).

Feeling a bit lonely or isolated? Just pull out your device and video call a friend. Video, not voice! Nothing really substitutes the face to face, but "virtual" face to face can help. Since this lockdown started 2 weeks ago I've had a video chat with my mom (who lives 15' away) almost every day (interspersed with regular voice calls), several video calls with my sisters overseas, video calls with individual friends and several group hangouts. In fact in these two weeks I have probably spent more time hanging out and chatting with friends than in the past two months! Were we really all too busy before? Or did we just not make it a priority? Now we are each other's lifelines... Company for when we're feeling lonely, an audience to crack jokes with, therapists when we need to complain or commiserate about whatever... Our second day locked in I had a 5-way Skype call with close friends in Spain, Belgium, France and Austria. Last Sunday I had a 90' FaceTime call with a friend in San Diego.