Where do I even start. I am on Day 11 of quarantine. I wondered yesterday on which day I would say I first started quarantining, and I think March 13 aka Friday the 13th is a safe bet, given it's the first day I worked from home. Since then, we've only left the apartment three times (four if you count our trip downstairs to get gelato to go, which I don't count). Before I go on, there were other things I wanted to write about before this started happening, so I'll go ahead and do that.
First of all, I finally drove a vehicle again after almost six years! What's more, it was in Guatemala. After a few days of co-running an event one of my colleagues and I planned and organized in a nice hotel in Antigua, I treated myself to a fun 4WD tour. This picture was taken by my tour guide Sergio. He drove on the narrow dirt roads with steep drop offs and guided me as I drove everywhere else. It was exhilarating!
I loved Guatemala. It was amazing seeing some of my colleagues from there as well as Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador again, as well as staying with two of them from Guatemala City over the weekend. They showed me around their hometown, and I met up with one of my friends from my semester in Rwanda who was doing human rights work there. I left in high spirits feeling like I could be a successful event planner and wanting to plan my own destination wedding.
This was in February before all this madness started. How lucky I am to have had a trip to the Philippines as well as Guatemala within the first two months of the year, since travel out of the country (or even out of Atlanta) won't be likely for a while...
Onward to the current situation. While I am extremely worried about what would happen if James or I got sick given our lack of a personal vehicle and the shittiness of the American healthcare system, I still enjoy daily life and don't feel like my quotidian has been too disrupted. For one thing, I sleep in a little extra in the morning now that I don't have a commute, and I've always been a homebody anyway. I am also very good at keeping myself entertained at home and feel very grateful to be quarantining with James, rather than by myself. While I also spend more time on social media than I already do, I've been using it to get in touch with friends from around the world and to feel solidarity with them as they go through quarantine in their own countries. There's also lots of amusement to be found on Instagram, which I use more than Facebook now because I find Facebook is where people share distressing (and possibly fake) news.
I've also been cooking and making my own Vietnamese iced coffee! Since I would usually get coffee at the coworking space or in cafes on the weekends, I realized I would have to make my own. While I do have a cold brew pitcher, I find that making a whole batch is better when two people share it. Since James doesn't like cold brew as much as I do, I decided to try something new. At the Asian grocery store during one of our three outings, I got Café du Monde grounds, condensed milk, and a Vietnamese coffee filter called a "phin." I looked up a tutorial on YouTube and was stoked to try my hand at making one of my favorite coffee drinks.
It's safe to say I will probably never order Vietnamese iced coffee again now that I can make it just how I like it. Unless I'm in Vietnam one day, of course.
As for work, I'm very used to being in a remote office so all I had to do was set up a work station at home. I'm glad James has let me take over our normal eating area, since we don't have a desk. We eat either at the kitchen counter or on the couch while watching TV and it works fine. Here is where the magic happens.
Normally the door to the bedroom is closed so I don't get distracted by the thought of going to bed. Haha.
Finally, I decided to post on my Instagram story asking my friends to request art of me. I was inspired by my friend Maya, who posted on Facebook saying that whoever commented on her status would get a story from her based on the commenter's choice. I decided to do something similar, but with art, so that I would have something new to draw and draw something for a friend!
9 different people responded, and all but two of them chose number 2 (though Maya, one of those people, picked 1 as well as 2 and because she's doing a writing thing for me I'm happy to give her two drawings). Guess we all could use a little extra motivation right now!
To hold myself accountable not only to my lovely friends but also to myself, I will say it here now that I will post the drawings in my next blog entry.
That concludes the first installment of my life in quarantine series. Who knows how many more there will be!
First of all, I finally drove a vehicle again after almost six years! What's more, it was in Guatemala. After a few days of co-running an event one of my colleagues and I planned and organized in a nice hotel in Antigua, I treated myself to a fun 4WD tour. This picture was taken by my tour guide Sergio. He drove on the narrow dirt roads with steep drop offs and guided me as I drove everywhere else. It was exhilarating!
I loved Guatemala. It was amazing seeing some of my colleagues from there as well as Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador again, as well as staying with two of them from Guatemala City over the weekend. They showed me around their hometown, and I met up with one of my friends from my semester in Rwanda who was doing human rights work there. I left in high spirits feeling like I could be a successful event planner and wanting to plan my own destination wedding.
This was in February before all this madness started. How lucky I am to have had a trip to the Philippines as well as Guatemala within the first two months of the year, since travel out of the country (or even out of Atlanta) won't be likely for a while...
Onward to the current situation. While I am extremely worried about what would happen if James or I got sick given our lack of a personal vehicle and the shittiness of the American healthcare system, I still enjoy daily life and don't feel like my quotidian has been too disrupted. For one thing, I sleep in a little extra in the morning now that I don't have a commute, and I've always been a homebody anyway. I am also very good at keeping myself entertained at home and feel very grateful to be quarantining with James, rather than by myself. While I also spend more time on social media than I already do, I've been using it to get in touch with friends from around the world and to feel solidarity with them as they go through quarantine in their own countries. There's also lots of amusement to be found on Instagram, which I use more than Facebook now because I find Facebook is where people share distressing (and possibly fake) news.
I've also been cooking and making my own Vietnamese iced coffee! Since I would usually get coffee at the coworking space or in cafes on the weekends, I realized I would have to make my own. While I do have a cold brew pitcher, I find that making a whole batch is better when two people share it. Since James doesn't like cold brew as much as I do, I decided to try something new. At the Asian grocery store during one of our three outings, I got Café du Monde grounds, condensed milk, and a Vietnamese coffee filter called a "phin." I looked up a tutorial on YouTube and was stoked to try my hand at making one of my favorite coffee drinks.
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| The filter in action |
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| Yummy! |
It's safe to say I will probably never order Vietnamese iced coffee again now that I can make it just how I like it. Unless I'm in Vietnam one day, of course.
A dish that I will probably make often is Taiwanese beef noodle soup. I saw a BuzzFeed recipe video on Facebook and decided that I had to try and make it. I've made it twice now in the last month, and I get like 8 servings out of it so it's a great thing to cook over the weekend and eat throughout the week. I'm proud of how it's turned out, and it only gets better with each attempt!
As for work, I'm very used to being in a remote office so all I had to do was set up a work station at home. I'm glad James has let me take over our normal eating area, since we don't have a desk. We eat either at the kitchen counter or on the couch while watching TV and it works fine. Here is where the magic happens.
Normally the door to the bedroom is closed so I don't get distracted by the thought of going to bed. Haha.
Finally, I decided to post on my Instagram story asking my friends to request art of me. I was inspired by my friend Maya, who posted on Facebook saying that whoever commented on her status would get a story from her based on the commenter's choice. I decided to do something similar, but with art, so that I would have something new to draw and draw something for a friend!
9 different people responded, and all but two of them chose number 2 (though Maya, one of those people, picked 1 as well as 2 and because she's doing a writing thing for me I'm happy to give her two drawings). Guess we all could use a little extra motivation right now!
To hold myself accountable not only to my lovely friends but also to myself, I will say it here now that I will post the drawings in my next blog entry.
That concludes the first installment of my life in quarantine series. Who knows how many more there will be!
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