JustJess
If I should summarise my feelings from the whole winter 2020-2021 it would look like this: ‘Die, covid! Die!’ I think many people around Europe, maybe even the world would agree with me on this one. I was so tired after a year spent in uncertainty and restrictions. Tired of checking on pandemic rules every other week, tired of being afraid for my grand-parents, tired of not being able to move freely. Almost a year after the pandemic had started and it seemed that it would never come to an end…
The national confinement in Czechia started at the beginning of March 2020. But covid-19 started quickly spreading through Europe during February, which means we are more or less in the times of the first anniversary.
Well, happy birthday, dear pandemic, but would you please, finally f*ck off?
People are not made to spend their time within four walls. We are meant to be out, breathing in the fresh air, learning about the world, getting to know each other. We can communicate via the internet, learn through videos or take online classes, but there is still no way to simulate a beloved person’s touch. Or a way to feel cold wind ruffling one’s hair. Or anything to stimulate the rush of emotions you feel when you stand in front of your favourite artwork for the first time. Or when you climb a mountain. There are still limits to what modern technology can do for us. The rest is still out there, behind the window.
So please, please, dear very hated pandemic, just die out and leave us be.
But okay, let’s be fair. My situation is not that bad as the situation of many others. I may have lost the life I’ve created for myself in Czechia, but I was able to move on and found a shelter in Switzerland. That helped me to circumvent a great part of the pandemic. Thanks to the fact that I work in a private household, I was never stricken by any additional pandemic rules, like keeping a distance or wearing masks at the workplace.
In general, it feels like Switzerland was much less stricken with it all than Czechia was. I think it is mostly because Switzerland was much more consistent with the restrictions than the Czech Republic. While during summer 2020 in Czechia people could have put off the face masks completely, in Switzerland it was still obligatory in all the interiors and public transport. The precaution was never taken down. Also since I came to Switzerland, the schools were never shut down and most of the free time activities for children run as well. Meanwhile back home schools were locked, children had to take their lessons online and their parents were mostly confined with them at the home office.
So If I am looking at the bigger picture, my constant whining that I can not go to any museums seems pretty shallow.
Since August 2020, my life has been going on quite peacefully in the manner of:
- Going to work
- Coming back home
- Taking French lessons
- Going somewhere during the weekends (or not!)
But…
Feelings are always individual as well as our situations. At one point, when I was sitting in my old flat in the Czech Republic, during the first confinement, I realised that I would not be able to go like that for long. So I started searching for a way out and I was lucky enough to find it. I don’t even wanna think about what would become of me, if I stayed home.
So here I am, almost a year after the beginning of covid-19 pandemic. I am safe, stable and able to enjoy life in a way many people back home could not. But still I can’t help myself but scream for this crazy state of things to finally dissolve so everything can come back to normal.
So even when I will repeat myself I have to say: ‘Die, covid! Die!’
On a more positive note, my relationship with my host kids is getting better with each week. I am able to enjoy my time with them, the more I understand what they are saying. I can’t react adequately yet and I can‘t joke around. But I understand when they do, which brings me to a few of my recent memories with my youngest girl, that I just have to share.
Because of the confinement, the father of the family works from home a lot. Sometimes he is home the whole week and he has a lot of online meetings and video conferences. Ofcourse, the Little monkey wants to talk to him too when she is home for her lunch breaks. So sometimes she just demands his attention and waits for him to finish his sessions. Lately she had the cutest zinger ever:
Her dad had just finished a meeting. We’ve had heard him saying goodbye to his colleagues and after a moment of silence she yelled:
“PAPA! TU AS FINI TON KARAOKE?!”
In translation: “DADY, HAVE YOU FINISHED YOUR KARAOKE?!”
I thought I was gonna die on the spot. Because calling a work meeting a karaoke is just…. Well it’s just so her that I can’t!
Not even two days later we were sitting by the table in the evening. The whole family was there and my host mum was just telling me in English, how she is sorry for me, because normally the lake area is full of festivals and events and because of the pandemic I will not be able to see any of it. The Little monkey needed to have it translated immediately, so she would know what we were talking about. After her mum translated, she looked at us in all seriousness and stated:
“MAIS J’AI PENSÉ QUE C’ÉTAIT MOI, SON FESTIVAL !”
In translation: “BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS ME, HER FESTIVAL!”
The whole table bursted out laughing. But actually, she is not wrong. This seven, no, almost eight years old girl, with all her energy and crazy ideas is giving out for all the festivals that could happen by the lake. Something is telling me that once I am out of here, she will be my strongest memory.
At this point, I really can’t imagine that I should have been leaving the country in just two weeks. My work contract was supposed to end at the end of February 2021. After a long autumn spent contemplating and discussing with my host family, I decided to sign a contract extension and stay until the end of the school year. This is not at all what I had in my plans but somehow, I know I won’t regret it.
Also, my friends circle, which includes my host family, their neighbours, my French teacher and Jo, has recently expanded by one more person. Ivana, the young lady who drove me to the Czech Republic on Christmas. I mentioned before that we are the same age and have some things incommon. After the December journey we agreed to stay in contact. But I was actually surprised, when she reached out to me recently, asking if she could come to visit me for a weekend. I don’t know why, but I often get a feeling that things like ‘we will stay in touch’ are more often just said and not meant. But maybe it says more about me, than others.
The weekend she came, the weather was as awful as for the past few weeks. So she didn’t get to see much of the beauty of this place. I have to make sure to make her come again in spring. We spent most of our time inside of my apartment, watching movies and dying her hair. Ivana brought many hair colours and I contributed a few hours to making her hair look like a rainbow. The result was not bad at all. Maybe I’ve missed my calling?
But it was great to see a different face and spend a day and a half talking in my mother tongue. I think I gained another travel buddy in this girl, because she is really interested in joining me and Jo on our Switzerland exploring. I wish it would happen soon – I wanna see how these two girls will go along.
After Ivana left, I was again alone with the ugly weather and my daily routines. Six days later, we are sitting in my apartment together with Jo. We are looking at the map of Switzerland, once again, contemplating where to go. And the pattern repeats: ‘Too far for a day trip’; ‘Too expensive for our budget’; ‘Bad weather’. And over and over again. So we are sitting, looking at all the green flags in my google maps, marking the places where we want to go and suddenly, we realise one thing:
‘We only have five months to go.’
We look at each other in disbelief. There’s only five months left until the end of the school year and our contracts. After that, there will be no more mountain peaks, no more crystal clear lakes, no more plans casted off for later. No more Switzerland. And we still have so many places to visit!
At that moment, we took paper and we made a list of places we absolutely have to visit before we leave the country. Including Luzern, Geneva, Zurich, Lauterbrunnen, Matterhorn and many other places. We are quite sure that we have no chance to visit all of these, but we are definitely going to try. Spring is coming and the weather is going to get better soon. We are so ready to start the last part of our adventure!
