Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Friday, January 1st, 2021

A New Year

Today is the first day of 2021. What an unexpected year 2020 turned out to be! We had started into the year with a party by the docks, dancing, fireworks and an early flight back to the US. On March 10th, everything changed. The US as well as most of the rest of the world stopped life as we knew in an effort to slow the spread and beat COVID. With significant restrictions on our movements COVID has made our lives small; confined to our houses for work, school and the immediate vicinity for leisure. Devoid of travel. Life seemed to come to a grinding halt for four months. When it resumed, it was very slow to begin with and never really came back in full swing. The virus has defined everything and since especially the USA never managed to curb the spread much. As a result our lives, even over the summer when most of the rest of the world had a breather, stayed very limited. We did appreciate our house so much more. I am grateful for the extension I build last year. I am grateful for our beautiful garden which we thoroughly enjoyed during our first and presumably last full summer in DC. In fact, there are many things we can be grateful for as the pandemic has put life into a new, humbler perspective for us all. Not only are we able to feed ourselves and live in a beautiful home, we are able to continue to work/ go to school from home. I am grateful for my families and the technology which has throughout the year enabled us to stay close to loved ones even as we could not travel. Lastly, but certainly not least, I am full of gratitude for our health. Limited life has also exposed true friends versus hangers-on resulting in a much smaller social circle - at least for us. It was a year of self-reflection, self-centering and self-entertainment. It was also a year of intense worry. Particularly for EM and her friends it was a hard year. School has been virtual for all but the first eight weeks of 2020. She did not get to see her father in ten months. Her swim teams ceased to exist. Her lifeguard job was cancelled as pools did not reopen. None of the Senior year rights of passage happened. Beyond a core group of three friends there are few social interactions. Old friendships have succumbed to the mental pressures of COVID and EM is extremely stressed by school, university applications and the lack of casual relationships at school. All in all, I do not think anyone was sad to see 2020 go. We had a quiet passing from one year to the next; just mum and I at home. The new year was off to a leisurely start with a late breakfast, some reading and later a walk by the Elbe, a new year's tradition in Hamburg. Even though the weather was a bit on the damp side, it was busy. I am very much hoping 2021 will be better than 2020; giving us some of our lives back as we had previously known it. If so, I believe everyone will be so much more appreciative of waht they have. I hope to see a vaccine rolled out to all people by the middle of the year, ideally with three or four vaccines widely available. Immunization will be key to expanded movement. I would not be surprised if many countries will require a COVID vaccine as a prerequisite of entry; much like many African countries require Yellow Fever or Cholera shots. The WHO has licensed the BioNTech/Pfizer for emergency use, which means UN organizations may now administer it. This of course brings up the question whether or not the UN will procure said vaccine for its employees, which would include all of its sub-organization; including the one I work for. As I have previously posted, I worry that as aliens in the USA we might not make it onto any list and as we currently are not registered residents in Germany, we would also not make it onto the list here. I am hoping the WHO will also follow the EU and the US and license the Moderna vaccine soonest. Likewise, I am looking to the EU, the USA and the WHO to follow the UK in allowing use of the AstraZenca/ Oxford vaccine soonest. India is already in the process of approving emergency use for it and set to manufacture 2 billion doses. In addition, China has approved the vaccine Sinovac developed by Sinopharm for use in China after phase 3 trials have been completed indicating a 79% efficacy. China is beginning large scale manufacturing and distribution not only in China but also in Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil where the vaccine had been in phase 3 trials. All this makes me hopeful for 2021! 2021 will bring a lot of change; most certainly to my life. EM will graduate from high school and I will not only be an empty nester, but also free as a bird. To live the life I had pictured, following the sun, I do need the vaccine to be widely available though. No vaccine, no travel. While I am not yet sure how 2021 will evolve and end for me, I am certain that EM will move to Europe – somewhere. She has applied to six different universities on the continent and I am confident one of those will pan out. And while she may well get into one of the universities she has or is applying for in the USA, I do not see her getting a scholarship or anyone paying that much money. With her set to go to Europe and my work in DC likely coming to an end in 2022, I anticipate selling the house in the course of 2021. Because we love our house and the garden it will be a little sad to let it go. I will also miss the friends I have made, especially the Aikidoka and our fabulous Dojo. At the same time, I am sure new adventures, as yet undefined, await. With the vaccine, I am hoping I can get back to regular Aikido practice on the mat somewhere in the world. I might even be able to attend all of those seminars I had planned for last year! Dependent on immunization status I am also hoping we can do the two-week Blue Cruise we had planned for mid-July to celebrate our teenagers high school graduation. What will happen there after is hard to forecast, though takin the Aikidoka to Cape Town in Q3 or 4 would be a highlight. Towards the end of 2021 I expect to know where my new home might be. 2021 is however beginning with record numbers; sort of a hangover from 2020: 230k newly infected to bring the total in the USA over the 20 million mark and 346k dead. Globally infections are at 83.6 million. This comes in the aftermath of a record breaking December as far as COVID is concerned: most infected, most death, most pretty much everything. Given inability of Americans to get with the program and holiday travel in December, sadly one can expect January numbers to be worse. 2021 does not deserve this start! But with all the vaccines becoming available, I am sure it will deliver a healthy and happy new year!