Category: Post Peace Corps

One week of self-quarantine and one more to go. So far, so good with no fever, no dry cough, no fatigue. I still have my sense of smell and taste. I am good and hope it stays that way. I am very comfortable in my son’s basement, basically his man-cave. I have a very comfortable double bed, my own bathroom, a flat screen TV with Netflix, Amazon, and more channels than I possibly need. I have a refrigerator mostly stocked with water and beer but now also milk, yogurt, cheese, fruit, carrot sticks. I have a small coffee maker and I bought myself an electric water kettle from Amazon. I told myself an electric kettle would be my first household purchase when I moved back to the states, and it was!

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We have been very compliant with the social distancing and limit our socialization to sitting in the driveway. When the weather cooperates, we have a cocktail hour, a sundowner. The first several days I caught up on sleep and absolutely felt disoriented. As the jet lag wore off, my brain started normalizing again and I started making lists of the things to do while in quarantine. As you can see, I have completed most things and will soon need to add more to my list.

	TO DO		TO DO
X	Complete my mark sheets for subjects	X	Review finances
X	Give tenant notice	X	Talk to financial advisor
X	Set up my cell phone	X	Add son’s CDs to my Itunes
X	Volunteer Report Form (VRF)	X	Exercise
X	Description of Service (DOS)		Buy a car
X	Review the PC medical documents		PC medical orders (physical/blood tests)
X	Complete Taxes		Get things out of storage
	Create PC stories/presentations		Move into rental house
	figure out health insurance

I caught up on several TV series, such as Ozark, Jack Ryan, Mrs. Maisel. I watched Ken Burns’ “Dust Bowl” series and multiple movies. I finished reading the Beantown Girls and am almost done with the Yellow Crocus. I’ve been on the phone catching up with friends and family for countless hours. I participated in a virtual church service on Sunday followed by a virtual ‘coffee hour’ via Zoom. It was so fun seeing my church family and how happy they were to see me.

I am slowly but surely adjusting to my new reality. It is weird to think that everything would be different now in Namibia too. Schools were already closed, now all non-essential businesses are closed, and travel is discouraged across the regions.  The changes instituted because of COVID-19 are just another example of how fast life can change. One day you are a harried teacher with 40 noisy learners and the next you are living in your son’s basement trying to figure out what’s next.

All for now with all my love,     

Ellen