I had discovered a Facebook page for the Alozaina City Council by this point and was able to determine that the masks were provided as a courtesy since they were difficult to find in stores. It also appeared as though they were to be saved for when/if someone in your home became infected with COVID-19.
After homeschool on Monday, the girls played dress up. Aliah put on her Mulan costume that she got for Christmas (Thanks, Uncle Boog) and found a fan somewhere in the house. Haila styled Aliah's hair, then donned the folklorico skirt she got for Christmas (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa with Otis). Later, they made a trailer for a movie they entitled "Never Trust A Maid".
I talked to my Mom on the 30th. For those of you who don't know her, she's 86 years old and still lives in my hometown of Two Rivers, WI. Her assisted living facility was locked down on March 16th. This means that visitors are no longer allowed in the building, and the residents are no longer allowed to eat together in the dining room. She sounded good but said it's a bit scary. I've been watching what's happening around the world in elderly communities, and it's not good. I write to her every week as she doesn't always answer my calls, and I hate that she's isolated. I feel terrible for all the older folks in the world who can't see their families right now. It absolutely breaks my heart to think of them being shut in, alone, and lonely with no end in sight.
A friend of mine once told me that FEAR stands for Forgetting Everything's All Right. This doesn't mean that everything is alright. Instead, it's a reminder that fear is not from God. I have this belief that a rainbow is a sign from Heaven that I'm right where I'm meant to be. In other words, it's all right. The weather was super odd that Monday and Tuesday, and I kept looking outside for a rainbow. This one materialized on Tuesday afternoon very close to our house. You can't see it in this photo, but it actually was a double rainbow... my favorite!
That Tuesday, the girls sported some fun exercise outfits before hitting the Just Dance floor. They also made another movie trailer. This film was entitled "Never Trust a Skinny Chef".
Wednesday was April Fool's Day, and the joke was definitely on us. Shawn opened the door to go to the bakery for bread and discovered dog diarrhea splattered on our front step and up our front door. He left it for me to clean up, so I guess the joke was technically on me. I didn't have any disposable gloves at that point, so I used a bread bag as my glove. So gross! It's one thing to clean up after your own dog, it's another to clean up after some unknown pooch. Our streets are cleaned daily with diluted bleach, and I was more thankful for that on April 1st than any other day! Here are some photos of the cleaning crew passing by our house during the past month.
Our generous neighbor, Juan, continues to bring us local produce, including large and juicy lemons. We've used them to make lemonade in the past, but this week we decided to make some lemon bars. We don't have any baking pans, so we used an oven-safe skillet. They didn't look as good as they tasted. They were yummy! We will definitely make them again soon as he's recently brought us a new batch of lemons.
Friday, April 3rd, was the end of the school trimester in Alozaina. Aliah's teacher sent her grades along with a very nice message. Here is the translation: "Aliah is an excellent student, responsible, charitable and participatory. She has adapted very nicely to the spirit of the class and to the challenge of her companions. She has a unique academic level and her effort and her work have led her to achieve very good results." Haila didn't think she was going to pass any of her classes, but she was wrong. She actually did quite well in the majority of her classes, and of course, they both got a10 in English.
The girls were on Spring Break from Saturday, April 4th, through Monday, April 13th. Shawn's Mom and Aunt Michele were supposed to arrive on Monday the 6th, and we were going to rent a car and do day trips with them. Instead, we found out that our lockdown was extended until April 26th.
This was obviously going to be the ultimate staycation. The weather wasn't the best that week, so we spent most of our time inside. We played cards on the balcony when it was nice enough and played Bananagrams inside when it wasn't.
We rewrote some lyrics from Adele's Hello (see end notes) and recorded Haila singing them. We recorded a public service announcement with our resident monkey.
Aliah played with her stuffies, even creating a hammock and laptop for her favorite, Curious George. She also took some photos of our first signs of Spring. I handsewed some masks.
Haila treated Aliah to a spa day and makeover. Shawn and I did more yoga.
We all worked on the puzzle, and Shawn got the honor of placing the last piece.
Haila and I read the same ebook (Into the Water) and watched some Mad TV clips on YouTube (she now does a pretty good Miss Swan impression).
On Saturday, the girls and I made a Happy Easter sign.
The girls were really questioning whether the Easter Bunny would find them all the way in Spain. Holy Week is called Semana Santa here and is one of the most important times of the year. There are usually events going on the entire week before Easter, and none of them involve the Easter Bunny. All of these events were cancelled this year. It was disappointing to miss all of this rich tradition. We were hoping one of our American traditions that didn't require us to leave the house would continue, and it did! The girls each got a "basket" of goodies (and a yoga mat).
We decided to try to make Easter Sunday as special as we could under the circumstances. We all got dressed up for dinner. Shawn made a delicious meal of baked chicken and sweet potato gratin. We listened to a worship service and sang some worship songs. We video chatted with Shawn's family and played Easter bingo with my family via Zoom. To close the day, Haila got to video chat with her youth group from our church in Madison. It wasn't our usual Easter celebration, but it was still a great day!
Monday, April 13th, was our last day of Spring Break, and we were supposed to have flown to Greece for a 10-day visit with Spyros. Spyros was once a postdoctoral researcher under Shawn and is now a consultant for the Coolbean program. Had we gone, we would have been with him and his family for Greek Orthodox Easter. Again, we were disappointed to miss this opportunity to experience the deep and meaningful traditions of another culture. Instead, our new experience for the day was getting to watch Haila reluctantly trim the sides and back of Shawn's hair.
Well, at least it's a little better.
Our highlight for the day was baking banana bread, which I have since heard is the official comfort food of the coronavirus quarantine (although that might be fake news). Since we don't have a loaf pan, we used a terracotta cazuela. It took quite a long time to bake... almost two hours... but it was absolutely what the doctor ordered. We had it for dessert and breakfast. It did not last long. Hmm... so good.
We were back to homeschooling on Tuesday and every weekday since. Haila continues to be very self-sufficient. She has Zoom meetings with some of her teachers. Other teachers just send her assignments through Google classroom. Aliah and I work together every day as she is learning new material. This continues to be a challenge for me, but I am getting better each week (or at least I want to think I am). Some days are better than others.
Some of Aliah's work requires creativity on our part. She had to make a weather vane one day. Since we didn't have all of the materials, we had to improvise. We made a straw by rolling up paper, used an empty yogurt cup in place of a disposable drinking cup and a sewing needle in place of a stick pin. If we weren't social distancing, we probably would have asked neighbors for the items we didn't have. When you can't shop or share, you use what you've got. That's what I call a lesson within a lesson.
Yet another disappointing travel cancellation occurred on Thursday, April 16th. We were supposed to take a 7-day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Italy and France and back in June. I had been preparing the girls, telling them that this was most likely going to be cancelled, but I hadn't really prepared myself.
I think the reality of all our cancelled plans finally hit home after the cruise was cancelled. I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster for days. One moment, I was grateful for our income, our health, for having each other; the next moment, I was sad and disappointed we lost all of these opportunities to make priceless memories. It felt selfish to be having a pity party when I wasn't risking my life, on the verge of financial ruin, grieving a loved one, or some combination of the three, but I eventually allowed myself to grieve what could have been. I needed to let go of all the plans we had so I could accept what is and move on.
The girls have been troopers and seem to be taking things in stride. Both of them find ways to make their own fun. Aliah asked if I had any balloons one day and before long came up with this amazing creation. She's also created homes and entertainment options for the little critters she brought from home. Amongst other things, Haila draws and makes her own video makeup tutorials.
We sat down on Friday, April 17th and considered the pros and cons of heading home early. There weren't a lot of good reasons to come home considering Wisconsin had just extended their stay-at-home order until May 26th. Our three pros for returning to Madison were 1) being able to be outside together, 2) sleeping in our own beds, and 3) being in the same time zone as our family and the vast majority of our friends.
The very next day, we learned that kids might be able to go outside starting April 26th. The discussion evolved over the course of the next week as to what should be allowed. Initially, the government announced that kids could accompany a parent to the store. That made no sense to me, and it apparently made no sense to a lot of other people. Within hours, the government changed the plan and announced that kids would be allowed out for walks. Initially, the government said this would apply to children 12 and under. That would mean Aliah could go for a walk, but Haila could not. Again, this evolved. The final decision was to allow children 14 and under to go out once a day for up to an hour with one parent, and they must stay within 1 km of their home. This felt like an answered prayer.
On Sunday, April 19th, I challenged Shawn to practice yoga every day for 30 days. He had only recently starting practicing with me, so I wasn't sure what he would say. I am pleased to announce he was up for the challenge. We're 8 days in and neither of us have missed a day. We practice together some days, and other days we practice separately. My sister Ann told me about a yoga app called Down Dog which allows you to customize your practice. Since I've been practicing for a while, I choose a strength building practice when I feel up to it. On days I don't, I join Shawn for yin yoga.
He and I were having coffee Tuesday morning on the balcony. It wasn't even raining when this rainbow appeared over Alozaina. It felt like another reminder to be grateful for what's happening right here and now. It's called the present for a reason!
Thursday, April 23rd was World Book Day. Aliah's teacher asked each family to send a photo of their kiddo reading a book in their favorite reading spot. Here is a collage she made with those photos. Aliah's teacher, Maestra Lourdes, is in the middle. I am pretty sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again... We adore her!
Our nightly routine of dinner and a movie has continued. Disney+ launched in Spain the last week of March, and we subscribed to give us more viewing options. We've been working our way through some of the oldies. In case you are looking for some ideas, here's what we've seen so far:
101 Dalmatians
Aladdin
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Brother Bear
Cheaper by the Dozen, original and 2
Diving with Dolphins - nature documentary
Dolphin Reef - nature documentary
Eight Below
Freaky Friday
Garfield
Ghostbusters
Harry Potter series
Into the Woods
The Kid
Malificent
McFarland, USA
Mighty Ducks
The Pacifier
Princess Diaries, original and 2
Princess Protection Program
On Thursday, April 23rd, Spain extended the state of alarm to May 10th. As far as I can tell, the government doesn't have a clear de-escalation plan. They have made plans for a randomized serology survey to determine the true infection rate, but it keeps getting delayed. The government was planning to use the data this provided to make decisions on how to proceed. For now, they are taking baby steps.
Our girls were allowed to leave the house today after 42 days of strict lockdown. Only one parent is allowed to accompany them for now. It sounds like that may change in a week if case numbers don't rise. It would be so lovely to go for a family walk.
It's not required, but the government has recommended that we all wear masks in public. The Alozaina City Council provided child-sized masks today as our village prefers we wear them. Aliah wore one of those masks today. She said, "You can't tell, but I'm smiling."
End Notes:
Hello
It's me
I'm in Alozaina dreaming about going out to eat
Just some pizza
from Maleni
with some cheese and olives, mushrooms and a little salami.
Hello
Can you hear me?
I am shouting out to neighbors who I used to like to see
when we were outside
and free.
Is there something else to watch besides Netflix on my phone?
There's social distance between us and I'm freaking out.
Hello from the inside
It's just me, myself, and I
and a stay home order that's breaking my heart
but it's clear what we should have done from the start
Hello from corona life
I've WhatsApp called a thousand times
to show you I'm sitting right here on my couch
What's the point of putting on pants anyhow, anymore?
