It feels difficult to feel any gratitude when you're cooped up.
Yet, these weeks in relative isolation have also brought unexpected joy. This is a small insight into how it has changed our personal live and even the structure of our online courses.
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It's not easy to be in lockdown. But these are stories of gratitude.
We kind of knew our neighbours. We'd say hi and they came across for dinner a couple of times.
But the lockdown got us to behave in a different way.
For instance, when I'm at the store, I will text them and ask if they want something. And they do the same. Even with my own family, the store visits are quite individual, but with the neighbours, we tend to get stuff for each other.
And they really stepped in when we just got back from India. We put ourselves in voluntary isolation for what we thought would be 14 days.
In those early days they brought stuff for us and left it at the door.
They realised I'm never going to mow the lawn, so they mowed it for us. And for three weeks we had chats with them (separated by about 10 feet). They'd bring their chairs and drinks and come across outside our lawn or we'd go across and they'd sit on their deck and chat.
For us, the lockdown has also meant that Renuka has had more time
She'd cook before, but on weekdays, my niece Marsha would come across to be mentored. She's here around 3pm and leaves around 7:30 pm/ After maths etc. Renuka would be too tired to cook.
Marsha has been at home for the past month and a half. Which is when Renuka stepped in to cook—Indian veg dishes.
And she's been outstanding at it. You know how it is: even when you like cooking, you love it when someone else cooks. And Renuka makes great pasta etc, but Indian food was really not something she tackled.
The lockdown got her to explore some Indian meals and they're superb. I look forward to dinner every night. I can't wait to see what she's cooking.
And there's the 4 pm coffee
We'd often go out to the cafe. She'd go by herself or I'd go by myself. I think it is an important space that we need to just talk to others. I also plan, strategise etc. at the cafe. However, New Zealand pretty much shut down in March and moved to Level 1 on 9 June 2020. Which means we've been drinking coffee at home.
And the 4 pm coffee has become a routine. We have a Bialetti that for some reason gets jammed. The routine is that I have to show up and open the Bialetti, after which the coffee is brewed and we have a chat. It's a half hour nothing chat. No work, no strategy. 🙂
Our lives were pretty much organised around a “lockdown scenario” anyway. We work from home, we have our own spaces in the office, etc. But the few changes have been for the better, not for the worse.
Oh, and we got to see Jacinda Ardern, our prime minister, pull up her socks and take this country to a safe zone yet again (third time in this year alone).
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