• Home
  • categories
    • Argentina (home)
    • Belgium
    • New York
    • General
    • do & go
  • website
  • Why on earth

Global Citizens

~ a blog for Tourists, Expats and Locals

Global Citizens

Tag Archives: lock down

What’s another Year

26 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by katti in Argentina (home), blog

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

argentina, chacarita cementerio, facemask, hugging, Johny Logan, lock down, mate, recoleta cementerio, retiro station, what's another year

Who remembers me being a Pariah in Argentina? Who remembers that? It is a year ago. One year.

One year ago we were stuck in Argentina, one year ago our flight was canceled 9 times, and one year ago we were repatriated through an Air France flight, long after the airport of EZE was closed. One year.

Circle of life, Recoleta Cementerio, March 2020

One year ago, a bit more, was the last time I hugged someone else then my husband and kids. Lupe, Gustavo, Patricia, Gabriel,…to name but a few. More than once. And very close. Do people in Argentina still hug? Do they still share mate? I wouldn’t know, because…

One year ago was the last time we flew an airplane. Without face mask. We knew we probably should have, but they were not available, not in Argentina, not in Belgium.

All the things that did and didn’t happen in that one year, the things we did and didn’t do, it is too much to count.
Things that were unthinkable then, are normal now. And what we took for granted then, makes us crave for and embrace now.

We are supposed to see light at the end of the tunnel, or so they say. I don’t know.

Chacarita cementerio, Buenos Aires, March 2020

We are supposed to be able to travel again soon. But where to? While we are going towards summer and opening up, the southern hemisphere is going towards winter and closing down the borders again. While the north is going to take a short summer break, the south will go through yet another storm. Vaccination doesn’t catch up with the virus, not in Europe and not in Argentina.

But well, what’s another year.

Whats another year, Johnny Logan, Eurovision song contest winner 1987, my favourite song at that time. Probably secretly in love with him.

What’s another year, Argentina…. Wait for me. I’m coming as soon as it is possible. With or without hugging, with or without sharing mate.

What’s another year.

Retiro trainstation

The art of keeping busy

20 Monday Apr 2020

Posted by katti in Belgium, blog

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boredom, covid-19, lock down, lock down in belgium, look at the bright side, make the best of it, reset button, to do lists

What happens when all of a sudden you can no longer do what you are used to, what you are expected to, what you have to? Especially when this ‘all of a sudden’ really didn’t give you time to adapt or prepare!

That’s exactly how it went in Argentina. Now you were in one place and the next you had 4 hours get ready before the country went into total (total!) lockdown.

In Belgium things didn’t move this fast, thanks to the indecisiveness of our government, and the rules aren’t that strict, but still, in just a few days time many, not all, but a vast majority of people, was either working from home or put on technical unemployment, and all of sudden you find yourself at home, day in, day out, together with your closest family.

Day in, day out.

After 2 weeks in complete boredom in Argentina, where we were stuck in the house and couldn’t go out for walks nor to the food stores, where internet through our phones was so bad that it didn’t even allow video calls, where we couldn’t buy anything online to keep us busy, with no TV and no movies we could download, Belgium lock down seemed a treat to us. There is no place like home, where your family is, where your computer is, where work is, where you can find a zillion things to do. Where even spring cleaning seemed like fun!

Even though we work form home, there is still a lot of time to enjoy the situation, as nobody is stuck in traffic, no appointments, no meetings where we must go to. Everything is done from our home.

Time to eat all together -just the family of course-, to go for a walk in streets where for a change cars have been replaced by pedestrians and bikers -all at a safe distance-. There is no longer a rush hour, nobody rushes as even a visit to the supermarket takes time, and there is nothing to do at home anyway. No deadlines to be reached. The speed button of the whole world has been turned down. Life has become slow. Slower than during holidays even, where we want to see things, visit things, do things.

It’s time to reflect. Were we living in the right way? Was that speed necessary? Were these never ending long to do lists really needed? It’s now time to make a different to do list, of fun things that we never thought of because we didn’t have the time anyway. No time to make the list, no time to think of what we would really want to do, and not time to do those things either. Things for now, and for when life goes back to normal.

But, do we want life to become normal again? Do we want to go back to what it was?

It’s as if the reset button has been pushed, and we have to fill in the void. It’s challenging but at the same time it’s fun.

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Global Citizens
    • Join 615 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Global Citizens
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...