Quarantine Chronicles: Day 13

Greetings and salutations, dear readers!

I'm still here in the house after 13 days of the Madrid Quarantine (Shout out to COVID-19). What's new? Well, not much I'm afraid! But I'll try to give you some news anyway.

So you probably know that COVID-19 has spread all over Spain. Italy has been closed down for over a month and Spain shut down 2 weeks ago. The days are long sometimes, and I haven't been the best at times, I'm not going to lie. I'm not completely okay. I spent a few days in bed, just processing every day.

My neighbors left today to go back to Croatia. Zagreb to be exact, had an earthquake a few days ago. They were super nice, but this was supposed to be their Erasmus trip and it turned out to be hell for them. I know they sacrificed a lot to be here, and they ended up having to cancel all their plans to sit around quarantined in a foreign country. They gave me some wine and food from their fridge before they left, which I'm thankful for. I hope they have a safe trip home, and that we meet again sometime in the future.

It hasn't been all bad, don't get me wrong. I had a dance party on the terrace with my neighbors and I've started teaching online again. It's been great talking with my old students. Some are quarantined in other parts of the world, and it's been fascinating to hear their stories. I've made two new friends for language exchanges, so I can practice speaking in Spanish more. I'm also watching new shows and, as you can see here, writing a bit more.

I'm watching concerts, drag shows, and dance parties on different forms of social media. I've used Skype, Zoom, and Instagram more in the last 2 weeks than I have all year. I've been planning to work out more, I've done bellydance and Zumba but I haven't had the heart to do it the last couple of days. It'll come back to me, I'm sure. My goals are to make more plans to get things done while I'm here.

Today is bittersweet. When they originally announced on March 9th that schools were going to close, we were supposed to be out for 2 weeks. But on Sunday (March 22) they announced that it would be another 2 weeks on top of that. Had the original timetable happened, I would have returned to school yesterday, March 26th. I had the feeling that it wouldn't be just 2 weeks, but watching the date go by and knowing we won't return to normal has me feeling some type of way.

I'm not struggling like others but yeah... morale is low. So is energy. I'm not returning messages and calls like I normally would. I'm struggling a bit. I miss my friends and I miss normal interactions. Even so, I know that others have it much worse. New Orleans is completely shut down, as are many places in the United States. 7 of my friends have tested positive for COVID-19. It's a tough time for so many people. I know that. But I truly feel that a lot of us will be okay. We don't really have a choice. I know we'll get through this and I'm putting on the bravest face that I can. It's not easy but as long as I can just... be quiet at times... I know I'll work through this. My thoughts are with all of you. Now, I'll go to bed and wake up tomorrow. Hopefully, my mood will be lifted a bit so I can record a video message for my students. I miss them too. I hope they're all well and handling everything okay. Good night, and take care of yourselves. We're all in this together. Thank you for reading. Be well.