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Mascarilla Time!
Mascarillas are all the rage here, to the point where random people will yell at you if you are not wearing them on an empty street! If you haven’t heard, or maybe self-isolation is a familiar term and you are living like the Unabomber in a cabin in Montana, there has been a little virus going around that has completely shut everything down. I myself, have already spent 20 days of government imposed quarantine on our community in Santiago, and then emerged to freedom for several weeks (freedom light I guess), and then saw my shadow (Santiago Steve), so we head back into quarantine this Friday. It was a nice run of freedom (we even got to go get coffee once), and whether this quarantine lasts another week or another month, who knows. Chile like everywhere else in the world has been under various forms of quarantine, and at the moment we are heading in to our elenventy-ith week of working from home at this point…I think.
Not to feel sorry for myself, but I do like to feel sorry for myself, as I am a tragic figure, but in the last two months we should have had pictures of us in Easter Island, Macchu Picchu and maybe Rio…*sigh*…instead we are creating a collection of paper roll animals and spending 60 straight days of
More Mascarilla Time!
Maelle, not so hot on Mascarillas trying to find ways to keep our kids from watching too much Netflix on the iPad. And while I love being more tuned into what they are doing at school, I’m not sure I make the best preschool teacher, despite the fact that I can do all of Zoe’s Math, and all her English (I’m very smart, when compared to people 32 years younger than me). Sure it’s nice to feel “connected” to the school, and know what’s going on, I’m not sure my colleagues at work think it’s cute anymore that Maelle makes a cameo appearance in 90% of my skype calls (usually screaming, and usually over something very trivial).
It has in all honesty, been a weird 6 or 7 months here, starting with the social crisis that began in October (not surprisingly, protests, currently not a problem – imagine that), and being put under curfew during that, and getting sent home at a moments notice due to protests, experiencing basically 4 or 5 months of that, to now a worldwide pandemic that has essentially shut all our lives down…it’s been emotional…our original plan was to be here for 3 years, at least that’s what
Fire time!
Like camping, without the camping. Kids don't seem to notice. we thought, but back then I was a wide-eyed young 36 year-old who didn’t know any better. So now when we complete the mining project that we are down here for, our kids will probably be college aged, and we’ll probably get back to Canada in time for COVID-20, or 21, or 24…guess we’ll see.
I have to admit we are fortunate. So far, we’ve been relatively unscathed from this. We’re healthy, we have jobs, the kids are good, and besides watching the roller-coaster ride that our investments have been on, we have not been affected financially yet. Nonetheless, as I am sure with everyone, it sure does take its toll. I joke to people that last September when we returned from Brazil, I finally felt at home and was relaxed and comfortable about being here…and then BAM! Chileans were burning metro stations…and then an element of uncertainty creeped into our lives…now that uncertainty has creeped into everyone’s lives.
Is Chile handling the crisis well…I dunno - maybe…I read the news, but as Spanish is not my first language, you do miss some of the details of what the tone of articles are (just
Talk to the animals
While everyone is learning new languages and how to cook with all their "free time" this is bascially all I have accomplished the facts please). I think they’ve done an ok job, although probably were somewhat fortunate that it arrived here a bit later than in other places, so the government had a bit of a blueprint of what to do. There’s a real distrust in the government here, and at first some people were skeptical because they thought the government was using “social distancing” as a way to keep people from gathering for protests (oh ok guys), although that changed real quick. But the strategy of rolling community quarantines in the capital has not seemed to totally work, as the last week has provided a new high water mark for daily cases pretty much each day. Hospitals are starting to have trouble coping, and we are certainly feeling a bit anxious...as well as a bit isolated, as it begs the question about when we can either return home or have family come visit us again. So while it seems like areas in Canada are starting to open up a bit, and are on the downside of the curve, it looks like we may be right in the thick of it here in Chile.
Anyway, we all hope that everyone is doing well, and that you and your families are all safe and sound.
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Ian
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Fun times!
I like the part where they yell at you for not wearing a mask in the middle of an empty street. How ridiculous!! Cool firepit. I will take 5 of your animal craft art mugs please. (Possible new career avenue for you!) Are they dishwasher friendly? ;)