Week 3 Social Distancing

3 weeks, we made it 3 weeks! I remember when they announced Japan was shutting down schools for a month, I thought, "man, sucks to be them!" Jokes on me (on all of us!). We did find some things to really laugh about this week though.

After Monday's birthday high, Tuesday was a low. Extra tears and tantrums from over tired kids. Thankfully in week 3 we figured out "quiet time." Now, with toys in hand, Maeve will spend an hour in her room playing on her own. This daily break is good for all of us.

All of the memes are getting me through (and also thinking about how I tried to convince Audra it was prounded Mem-As). My favorites from week 3: Adele Parody, The UK family's Les Mis parody, and the Winnie the Pooh image (not for kids). And John Krasinski's Some Good News network is really the best. And season 4 of Money Heist came out!

My anxiety was on high alert for April 1st. It was reckoning day where we were to learn the fate of both school and my job. We learned that ISA has a tentative reopen date of May 6th (not holding my breath on that). And my job is on hold probably through at least May as we wait for invitro fertilization centers to reopen (an update is expected April 13th). I wish I could still work, but honestly it is a blessing to not have that on my plate right now with everything else going on. My heart goes out to IVF patients who had their dreams ripped from them with the unexpected closures. Another heartbreak to add to the growing list.

I'm clearly not the only person out of work and the Dutch government is doing some things to help. Entrepreneurs like myself are entitled to ±1000 euros (singles)/±1500 (with families) a month for March- May. It is a supplement up to that max. So if you make 1000 in the month and have a family, you'd get 500 from the government. It's a hit, but obviously I will take whatever I can get! Unlike entrepreneurs in the states, I don't have to worry about health care. At $120/month it is not a financial strain.

We have been watching the spread of this virus around the world. The Netherlands has implemented more strict social distancing measures (fines of 400 euros for any groups that are gathered). When I was with the kids at the playground, an official walked by, scrutinizing that we were part of the same family. There is even an app to report people breaking the rules (oh how the Dutch love to tell people when they are not doing the right thing!). Our ICUs appear to be maxed out. Many more rooms have been added, but I expect that we will be taking Germany up on their offer soon and transferring patients there. Germany has so many ICU beds! They definitely appear to be the most prepared nation with all of this.

Oma and Opa were meant to arrive today. We haven't seen them since October. On Friday, we would be on our way for 9 days in France. It really sucks that the trip was cancelled. We were supposed to be easter egg hunting in the French jardins in Lyon, getting some fresh mountain air in Lake Annecy and eating all of the baguettes and croissants on the French side of lake Geneva. I spent hours (and hours) planning it all and to have that time lost as well sucks. I expect next week on "spring break" to feel a bit blue. Hopefully we can think of other fun things to do. Ideas welcome!

We also had plans to spend a long weekend in May in Scotland. We were able to transfer the flights to another destination at another time so we settled on Tel Aviv for next February break. Why the heck not!? We paid just $15 on top of the $250 we'd spent for all 4 tickets. Silver linings...

My big concern remains our summer plans and not being able to plan is really difficult for me. We have flights booked to go home to the states on July 1st. If we're not able to go, I hope that we can at least go some places at Europe. Borders seem to be gradually closing around us. It makes me really contemplate where it is best to ride this thing out. I know I'm not alone as expats around the globe try to make these decisions. Ultimately, a country with some form of universal health care and solid leadership is where I want to be. I do hope that one good thing to come out of this pandemic is that America takes the steps to make health care universal. Though the news stories on the gun sale figures in America has me doubting the countries priorities.

How about food? Anything you can't get your hands on in the States (besides TP it would seem)? The biggest national grocery store chain here has always had online delivery. Living a 5 minute walk from one meant that we'd never really ordered before, but now we are all about it. Anything to keep us out of stores. Slots can be hard to get, but we've managed to get weekly delivery since this all started. I have never been more happy to have two extra fridges (one with freezer) in the shed for Pete's beer making! Flour, yeast, eggs and pasta are hot commodities around here. In a panic over the weekend, I crowdsourced all my friends to track down eggs in the city. Turns out another store by us had packs of 30 white eggs (most eggs here are brown). Great success! I was thinking about how to get American candy for Easter, which led me to Kelly's Expat Store, where I comfort ordered 40 euros worth of American goodies.

School projects:

Rainbows for the windows

Counting dolls

Baking bread

Very impressed with the quality of apps on Jude's school ipad

Listening for the sounds of nature for Maeve's music class

"I like my eyes. I like my smile. I like that I am six"

Friday was PJ day. Maeve also requested face paint and Jude obliged. 

Pete had an online homebrew club zoom. He was in such a good mood after! Even men need zoom hangouts it seems ;) He's also been supporting all of the local breweries with beer and more beer arriving to the house.

Jude enjoying the stomp rocket he got for his birthday

We rearranged our house to be more home-learning friendly

We learned that Yoko (to my right) would be leaving in just a few weeks to go back to Japan. Soichiro and Jude have been classmates since they were 2. Photo taken in January when she taught us to make sushi. So sad that we won't get a proper goodbye. 

So many eggs! 

And American goodies! 

Nana and Pops are doing virtual bedtime stories for the kids. Reading from Peter Rabbit. 

We were supremely lazy on Saturday, letting the kids watch hour upon hour of TV all morning while we also relaxed. It was a gorgeous day so we were feeling very guilty. We sat ourselves in our front garden after dinner to enjoy the evening sun. Without prompting, the kids made us dinner out of garden items (spring onion soup anyone?) and then put on a play, which Jude directed. One set of grandparents were available for the show. Not our usual Saturday night, but with wine in hand, it wasn't too far off from the norm. 

On Sunday we redeemed ourselves and didn't let the beautiful day get away from us. We headed to the polders near our house. The playground became too crowded so we sat waterside in the sun while the kids explored the woods.