Life in the Age of Corona
A Daily Diary
Sunday, May 16th, 2021
Working on the Blog
Today was a grey and rainy day, warm and sunny initially, but deteriorating towards the afternoon.
Accordingly, we had a slow start to the day, me reading the news and EM with her college councilor trying to figure out scholarships for IE Madrid. I do feel a little mislead as all communication said Staff Association members were eligible for a 10% discount. It did not say we would need to go through a process applying for financial aid, which I doubt I / EM qualify for. Anyhow, she is now going down that rabbit hole while trying to find accommodation. All dorms a re full, even the ones showing open on the website. She is now in touch with a professional commune organizer who has an apartment for three available. Next step is to find room mates for this apartment. I cannot be but amazed how EM is navigating all these challenges and the communication technology that goes with it. Apparently, there is a slack channel for students new to Segovia where she can search for roommates.
The rest of the day was spent on errands. We did a grocery run shopping for her and my lunches which will be separate affairs as she has in person classes, so I am planning salads for the week and she will do sandwiches. We picked up sushi for lunch and planned to dine al fresco until EM saw four Cicadas perched on our outdoor furniture which grossed her out sufficiently to opt for inside. They are ugly, but entirely harmless creatures. Nonetheless, I do not cherish the thought of them being everywhere. I fear I may not be able to enjoy the outside office for the next few weeks, leave alone lizard in the sun!
I am hoping the Cicadas will take another week to emerge in full force as we have the IBDP picnic planed in the Brookdale neighborhood park for next Saturday and we really do not need the students to be weary of these creatures, never mind have the Cicadas begin their song so no one can hear the speeches.
The picnic is supposed to be fun. A number of us are making food, my friend HN will bring sodas for all and I have a bunch of paper cups and sparkling apple juice to share. We have gifts for the students (personalized M&Ms). Mums are baking extra-large cookies and M. has offered to wrap them in cellophane bags with ribbons and little cards attached.
Five mums are basically sponsoring it all, yard signs, food, drink, gifts. I hope the Chrythansemums I purchased for the Prom will survive as we want to use them to decorate and give to teachers. I may need to buy a few extra flowers. I shall see on Friday.
EM is a little sad as the coming week is the last week in school in person in her life. Her actual last week will be a Zoom week and she does not cherish the idea of ending high school with clicking a button saying “leave this meeting”, which is precisely what will happen on May 28th. At least there will be an on-field graduation and yearbooks are supposed to arrive on time for that. It would be rather amazing if at least one thing would work out, but after the past year I am so not betting on it.
Post my swim I spent the afternoon and evening cleaning up the blog. I write these posts in a word document which I then copy and paste into the blog where I edit the posts and hyperlink the articles. Later I reverse copy everything back into a word document. Today I copied about 100 days worth of posts to find that including all the photos this now is a 664 page document; a book so to say. I may print it for EM, myself and selected family members to document what our pandemic life has been like.
It has certainly been a journey. It is winding down and this blog will end as we return to normal, which with many being vaccinated is likely going to be very soon. Our California trip will be a first step in our return to normal. I shall see iI can continue to write while we travel,probably not.
The USA has added 17k new infections over the past twenty-four hours. The lowest yet to bring the total to 33.7 million.
Scientists are learning more about mRNA technology, specifically testing the current vaccines. It turns out they may be effective against different forms of Corona viruses, so be far more effective than initially believed.
Following latest guidelines issued by CDC last Thursday on mask wearing for fully vaccinated people many States are now dropping mask requirements. The main problem: they rely on the honor system, which is unlikely to work as those opposing mask wearing are the same ones refusing to be inoculated. There is no way we can identify who is one of the 56% who has had one shot, never mind who is part of the 36% with two shots.
So, until the USA officially reaches 70% cross board, I shall remain one of the mask wearers. And proudly so.
