Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Saturday, April 17th, 2021

Simiti

Today was a rather busy day, more so than my normal Saturday as the day started with a three-hour workshop.

When I woke up at 5:00 to get ready it was still dark outside. This did not stop the birds from making a racket calling for the sun to rise, which it did about an hour later. Appropriately attired I had my two morning coffees while logging onto Zoom to ensure the tech worked. Just before the start of the workshop I quickly made my fresh Ginger-Lemon-Honey tea and settled onto my office couch, laptop on lap and turned on the camera. Throughout the workshop I needed to be mindful to either move the screen or turn the camera of when drinking as my counterparts are all observing Ramadan and for them it was 13:00 when we started. Funnily enough it was the Ministry of Telecommunications which encountered connectivity issues so we kicked-off with a thirty-minute delay.

The workshop went very well and his excellency the Minister made many contributions, taking notes throughout our discussion. At the end they took a screenshot and this workshop will likely make its way to the local press. Next, we will need to translate this into tangible actions, so the next few weeks will likely continue to be super busy workwise, which I like as it is productive busy versus busy work.

EM and I shared a breakfast of fried Plantains and bacon before I headed of to the park for practice. We are now back in our usual spot under the trees. It was a beautiful day with a slightly chilly wind, which the Aikidoka celebrated with the seasons’ first lunch Waza. Today was Vietnamese, for most of us an order of Bun Cha, my favorite Vietnamese street food, and some craft beer. To be able to join the lunch, I cancelled my swim slot, but was lucky enough to find a free lane at the Y for 14:00, so left L.’s house to head straight to the pool and do my 35 minutes of laps.

Coming home I decided to read and take a nap, which I found I deserved.

The early evening was filled with chores like doing the laundry – yikes – and beginning preparations for tomorrow’s Turkish brunch with the book club ladies, which I enjoy.

EM used the morning to make fresh Simit, which turned out to not only look amazing, but also are very tasty, for tomorrow's brunch. I will warm them up ever so slightly tomorrow morning. My main to do today was to cook the lentils and make the dressing for the Beluga lentil salad, so they can marinade overnight. Everything else will need to be freshly made in the morning. Given I am currently living on Sudan time zone getting up early should not be a problem. Despite my nap I think I will have an early night.

On a day like today I almost forget the evil Virus exists and determines our lifestyles. I fervently hope the vaccines remain effective with all the variants and mutants out there so we can return to our lives. My brilliant friend has been strangely absent. I had somehow thought he would be in touch urging me to get my shots so we can meet, well he has not, I guess that is the end of it. I am a little bit sad, and a little relieved.

Numbers in the USA are not good, trending in the wrong direction with 82k new cases reported over the past twenty-four hours to bring the total to 32.3 million. Outbreaks are now particularly bad in India and Brazil, with the Brazilian variant spreading for instance in Canada. It is more deadly and may be able to outsmart vaccines/ antibodies. Not the kind of news I want to read. Turkey is also not doing so well and cases there are on the rise again. At the same time some countries are making significant progress on the vaccination front. Bhutan has vaccinated 93% of its adult population within two weeks. That is 472k people, so an average of 235k per week.

I wish Europe can overcome its supply shortages and be able to roll out a major inoculation campaign. In light of unused vaccine doses piling up across the USA the supply constraints to some parts of the world are difficult to understand. It hardly comes as a surprise that mostly Republican states are not using their allocations. I suggest they will not be supplied with new doses until all doses available in one State have been used. Meanwhile the USA could allow the export of access doses to Europe, Canada, Mexico or any African country.

While fully vaccinated people can travel again, scientists warn that eating and drinking inflight is still dangerous, like indoor dining. Until 50-70% of the population have antibodies the risk of getting infected, even if vaccinated remains.

Beyond the birthday dinner we had to celebrate EM becoming an adult I have had no urge to dine indoors, so not doing so will not be a big hardship on me!