Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Sunday, December 13th, 2020

Arrival

We have arrived in Germany.

How different Frankfurt and Dulles airport where. While at least half the shops at Dulles are closed, almost all are open in Frankfurt. There are hotdog stands on the concourse, bread and pretzel vendors and so on. The airport was relatively busy, unlike Hamburg where almost all shops are closed. At this stage we have been wearing N95 masks for well over 12 hours, doubled up with a medical (in the airports) or cloth mask (on the plane). While doable, it is definitely not pleasant.

We got our bag rather quickly and made our way to the Covid testing center. Negative results came back tonight, but then that was to be expected, given we had three tests return negative results throughout the week prior to our departure.

Mum was thrilled to see us. She is so happy that we made our way here. She thinks it is the best Christmas gift ever. We grabbed the groceries and drop most of our bags off before crossing the road and selecting a tree. On the way to our quarantine house we stopped at Beiersdorf to pick up a parcel EM’s dad had left for her, including a new German SIM card.

We made our way to our quarantine house in Brunsbüttel in what must be the ugliest car I have ever driven! Halfway there I realized I have left the WiFi router at mum’s so the plot is for us to meet tomorrow morning halfway which makes it a 30 minute drive for each of us, what a pain though.

My friend M has kindly let us use her house. It is a house I spend many weekends visiting her and her hubby no one while doing my Masters. In fact, my master’s thesis was edited and printed in this house. Lots of wine was head here. It is weird to be back and alone here as she has been living in Berlin with hubby number two for decades now. Fortunately for us she keeps the house here as a holiday home.

We do have an internet issue though until I get the router and the data sim which will hopefully come tomorrow so we can set ourselves up before classes start at 15:00, hence also no updated COVID numbers today, though what everyone feared is now arriving.

The post Thanksgiving COVID infections are on the rise and at least one third of US hospitals are overwhelmed. Sadly, COVID will result in 2.5-5 million Americans becoming homeless as renter protection programs expire by the end of the month. Meanwhile the MAGA crowd descends upon DC for a little more spreading  to protest the election results.