To help support the community at this time, The Tokyo Life has reached out to friends to get COVID-19 stories from around the world. In these updates, we hope to bring our readers the raw experiences of people in different countries and share how their communities are handling the abrupt changes to daily life.
*Check out last week’s submissions here.
Con Te Partirò (Time to Say Goodbye) – Tia (Canada)
It feels so odd that time has passed so quickly. Inside of it all, isolation felt like an eternity. But here we are now at the end of summer, and I feel like I could have blinked and missed the entire ordeal. These journals are a testament to the fact that the last 5 months were not a dream—proof that every week was a different chapter with its own ups and downs, emotions, thoughts and feelings. I started this journey thinking that it would be a short one. I thought that this would take a couple of months and we would be getting back to ‘normal’, but now I think this is an experience that has permanently changed life in some way or another for everyone. I didn’t think I could make it through isolation or deal with this reality, but each day it’s easier to find ways to make it work for me. I know a lot of people out there have had their own experiences throughout this entire thing and I know it hasn’t been easy for most; however, I hope that by writing these journals from my perspective, I have allowed other people to see that they aren’t alone in this and that as distant as we all are, we are still very connected. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my musings. Stay strong!
Come Together – Shannon McCarron (United States)
When I first started working from home in mid-March, I was very focused on the latest local updates in terms of the number of cases and what preventative measures were being taken (or not taken) around the country. Even though my wife and I were more prepared than most, the whole situation felt so surreal. When I first wore a mask in public, I was shamed for it. Now, in many places around the country, the tables have turned.
Sadly, I believe that many of my fellow Americans are still poorly educated on COVID-19. Our intrinsically strong cultural values of freedom of thought and speech, which breed wonderful attributes like creativity and courage, have also contributed to the spread of misinformation. Many Americans have become extremists concerning a wide range of issues that the rest of the world seems to agree on, from climate change to COVID-19. Despite all of this, I do have hope that America is moving forward.
As recently as this past March, I could not have imagined that wearing masks would become the norm in my country. But it has. One of my sisters even said she might continue wearing them around flu season each year. Especially after living in Asia for so long, where surgical masks are no big deal, I really hope that these preventative measures stick around in my home country for the long term. In any case, if there is a light at the end of all of this, it’s that this virus has brought us all closer together—despite our social distance.
T.H. (Australia)
As I reflect back on the last 22 weeks of these updates, I see how far we have come from those first days in lockdown to where we are today. If you would have told me back in early March what the next 6 months would hold, I would have said, ‘You’re having a laugh, right?’
I was very naive back in March with what was going on around the world and the developing situation here in Australia. I thought at worst we might shut down some public gatherings for two weeks or so, and the virus would disappear as quickly as it arrived. How wrong I was.
In the first few days of being off work, it was like having a holiday and I thought that ‘this was a bit of alright’. When the government started talking about these lockdowns lasting 6 months at best, I started to worry about where I was going to find the money to keep a roof over my head and have food on the table every night. On reflection, I have to say the government did a great job assuring working Australians would be given some sort of financial help during these unprecedented times.
I guess over the last few months I’ve seen the best in some people, but also the worst in others. My bosses have been great to me and my fellow staff, getting us on job keeper payments and assuring all of us that no matter how long we were closed down for, we would all have a job to come back too. On the other hand, to see the amount of selfish people in the first days of the pandemic panic buying large amounts of essential items, only to try to sell them at inflated prices to those desperate to look after their families was disgraceful.
The last 6 months have taught me to appreciate the smaller things in life and to realise how lucky we are here in Australia, given that our numbers of virus cases are relatively small in comparison to those around the world, especially in Europe and America.
As for the future, I think we will still see travel restrictions for at least another 12-18 months. Even when international borders reopen, I expect strict testing measures will be in place for tourists exiting and entering their countries of origin.
End of Summer – Meagan McCarron (France)
The end of August is here and with it the end of summer. Paris’s slogan for the summer “un été particulièr” or “a special summer” in English, really hit the nail on the head for me this year; maybe more so as an English speaker than as a French speaker. We certainly had our ups and downs this summer, making it quite “special / particulièr” indeed.
The local football team made it all the way to the finals for the European championship on Sunday, but ultimately lost to Munich. Bars seemed to do alright limiting table sizes, but the big crowds weren’t exactly ideal for social distancing—at least as far as I could see from the street. The metro was definitely a little fuller these past few weeks with football fans headed to bars for some of PSGs last few matches. As weird as summer has been, it was nice to have everyone talking about football for a few days rather than Covid.
For the time being, Paris remains the same, and we’re all grateful we can still go out. We hope things improve for our neighbors in Spain and that we can both avoid another intense lockdown. I’m grateful I’ve been able to work out my experience in writing through this correspondence with The Tokyo Life and wish all the staff and readers well. Take care; sending masked kisses from Paris! Xx
Good Health – Christopher Temporelli (South Korea)
Time goes by quickly; I have already written around 6 months of updates from Korea. These articles began as Korea and the world were facing great uncertainty regarding Covid-19. It has been a global experience unlike any within my memory.
We were relieved in Korea that the situation had been resolving well, but ironically, as these updates are coming to an end, Korea has again seen an upswing in cases. However, I feel this time things are different. There is already a precedent set by prior successes, and Korea and the world are more prepared for the future.
For Korea as well as the world at large, I wish us success and good health in dealing with this situation, and want to thank all our readers for the last several months.
Christopher Temporelli is a musician, educator, host, business entrepreneur, media personality and master life coach. www.christophertemporelli.com www.apollonatur.com
A Time to Remember – Yoko Furusaki (Ethiopia)
In my last submission, I would like to reflect on the positive impacts brought about by this pandemic. In short, the violent changes from this pandemic forced me to learn to take better care of myself and my cat family.
The best thing is that I have been able to spend more time with my beautiful cat family. Although I found out that they must have been mostly asleep while I was away, I feel it is such a blessing just to be able to share the same space with them. I get to spend more time playing with the baby kittens before I have to send them to their new homes. Also, it is good that I can now immediately notice when they are not well.
The second good thing is that my house and my things are cleaner. I have a maid who comes three times a week, so I was spending very minimal time on housework in my pre-Covid-19 days. I still rely on my maid (as clothes have to be washed by hand, it is difficult without a maid), but now my things are better organized and the walls are scrubbed more often. My laptop, my smartphone, the wristband of my water-resistant watch, and my glasses are cleaner than they have ever been. This really feels good.
The third good thing is that thanks to the extra time and the realization that being able to freely roam around the streets cannot always be taken for granted, I managed to make jogging a daily habit. I started this habit in mid-April, and I have been logging more than 200km/month since then. I haven’t become any faster, but it is wonderful that my waistline is in check. Now I am trying to work on the challenging task of moving up the starting time of my jogs so that I can continue them after physical classes resume.
I have a tendency to be hyperactive and restless. In pre-Covid-19 days, the majority of the time I was awake was spent on some form of work, even on weekends. Covid-19 reminded me that time for myself is really important and fulfilling. The pandemic undoubtedly brought so many terrible tragedies around the world and challenges, inconveniences, and anxiety to me, and I wish that the pandemic would be over soon. However, at the same time, I think there are aspects of this time that I will probably fondly recall in the future. Covid-19 cases still continue to increase in Ethiopia, so I still have the big responsibility of protecting my cat family and myself. But I hope I will continue tackling this pandemic while finding silver linings. And I wish the same to our readers.
What’s the situation like in your home? Have you checked on your friends and family lately? Share your experiences with us down in the comments below!
Featured image by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash
