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Published: October 1st 2020
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Family time!
All day every day! So I started writing an entry a few weeks ago, as I really feel this whole COVID situation deserves an entry, but I think I was in a dark place, so when I reread it after writing about 1,000 words I decided that you know, it wasn't really in the spirit of what I had been writing in here...not to say I'm in a "bright" place right now (well it is very sunny outside), but it's less dark, and maybe this will be a bit on the lighter side.
Well really, there's not a lot to say on the travel side since my last entry...mainly just travel cancellations...we did get squirrely after spending about 3.5 straight months in the house in a government mandated quarantine (minus a few days in April), and traveled back to Canada for five weeks to enjoy some Canadian summer in July...which was great mind you, seeing family and friends and hanging out in Canmore, Alberta to enjoy a bit of Canadian summer with the kids in a beautiful place. And as a positive, we never would have done that if the whole COVID situation would not have happened, and Canmore has to be one of
Bizarro COVID Travel
Unbelievably, still a lineup at the LATAM counter my favourite places in the world...so to show the kids, it meant a lot to me.
When I said in my last blog that Chile was managing this well...well, it turns out, I was lying! Mentira! Back in May as we headed into our second round of lockup after about 10-15 days free from the first one, things got real hairy real quick...Chile ended up with one of the highest per capita rates in the world, Heath Minister got canned, kids are still not in school...parts of Santiago are still in quarantine, and have been since March. We did our two weeks of quarantine when we got back to Canada, and then another two weeks when we got back here in August, and then still could not be let out on the weekends until September...so in the end we spent 100 days locked up in the house, only being able to leave twice a week for groceries (you can see why my last entry got dark...). It was really awful. We had our two year anniversary of being here about a month ago (August 23rd), and it was hard to be positive. If someone would have proposed this experience
Lake Louise
First day out of quarantine (minus travel days) after three months to me, and then told me "Well, you may not be able to leave the house, you can't travel out of Santiago, you can't see family, you may not be able to see friends in person" I think I may have passed (no gracias senores). If you look back on my very first entry, the day we arrived, there is a picture in front of a huge Chilean flag by Parque Bicentenario looking downtown. It was a beautiful, clear sunny day, and Zoe is on my shoulders. All this amazing experience was in front of us, and the possibilities endless. I drove by the same flag on August 23rd 2020, and it was dark and grey and smoggy and it was just so reflective of 2020...2020 stinks!
Now there have been various phases of our 100 days of quarantine, based on the different noises or activities - this is how I will remember them:
Phase 1 - Making toilet paper roll animals with the kids (Day 1-10)
Phase 2a - Motivation to be the best damn homeschool teacher I can be (Day 10-15)
Phase 2b - Hometeaching sucks (Day 16-20) (also Days 20-102)
Brief recess
Homeschooling
They're so adorable when they're learning - everyone is Chile gets COVID (Free time - Tiempo libre)
Phase 3 - Quarantine restarts. The Number Blocks on Netflix watching phase for the kids...theme song is permanently burned into my mind and I shake now when I hear it (Day 20-30)
Phase 4 - They why is the pool filter so loud...also burned permanently into my brain (turns out it was broken!) (Day 30-45)
Phase 5 - How and when do we get the f*** out of here!? (Day 45-50, but really all days)
Phase 6 - Why did work give me a second job to do during a pandemic while I'm locked in the house with my kids? (Day 50-65)
Brief recess - woohoo, going back to Canada. I'm free (for two travel days)
Phase 7 - Dammit, back to quarantine again for two weeks, but at least it's somewhere new. (Government of Canada sends threatening emails, maybe does not want to pay long distance to call our Chilean cellphones to check on us) (Day - 68-82)
Brief recess - woohoo I'm free again! for three weeks! fun overload! (Free time - Tiempo Libre)
Phase 8 - Back to
2 years of Chile
Not quite as sunny... Santiago - locked in the house for two more weeks ): (Chilean government does not check at all) (Days 82-96)
Phase 9 - Free again! Oh wait, not on the weekends...have to quarantine...c*ck b*lls! (Days 96-102)
Phase 10 - Weekend quarantine ends....we can do things outside the house! wearing masks in the park is hot and uncomfortable! (Free time - Tiempo Libre...ish)
So that is the 10 step plan when the government "requests" you spend 100 days at the house. If I ever have to log onto a police website to get myself a piece of paper to leave the house ever again after all this...then...well...just punch me in the face! And I do hope that I never have to say again "wow what a pleasant Sunday" because I got to leave the house to go to the grocery store for up to two hours...as we approach October, there are days when I am hopeful, and other days where I am not so much so...but I do hope for all of us we can return to some kind of collective normal, although that does still seem a bit far off right now.
And for myself, and for my family, hopefully soon this Chilean adventure turns back into what we had originally anticipated it would be not so long ago, as we stood there in front of that giant waving flag on that bright August day in 2018...it's been a long 2020, and I think we all deserve to feel hopeful again.
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