The past year has been difficult to say the least. The whole world shut down entirely for months at a time in a bid to help stop the spreading of the CoVid19 virus, or at least to “flatten the curve”, making a mess of the world economy. We are almost at the brink of another recession, maybe even worse than the Great Depression itself, and it looks like we’re stuck for the long haul. While the entire world’s medical hands are busy fighting this horrible virus, the world’s greatest and brightest minds have come up with several vaccines in record breaking speed, but all the virus had to do was mutate into another strain and we’re all back to square one, and sometimes square one feels like square zero.
In the meantime, we are now here living the New Normal, whatever that meant. Early on in this whole pandemic situation we have been hearing about this so-called new normal, and what does that really mean?
I thought I was equipped to handle the Pandemic. I have, after all, seen Hong Kong in the throes of the SARS outbreak and lived to tell the tale. And this is also what made me ensure all my bags had those little dangly thing with alcogel/hand sanitizer on them. I’ve had a lot of folks laugh about it actually. They always ask me why i have that thing in my bag, and I always tell them, because I always need hand sanitizers. They never got that. I digress, but my point is, I thought I was ready. But I never really thought about how jarring the effects of this pandemic is.
For a lot of people, myself included, it means becoming a remote worker. I mean, I’m fine with it. I kinda like the flexibility of being able to work from practically anywhere. It may be a problem sometimes, with all the social distancing protocols we have to abide by, however, this pandemic has taught a lot of us, big corporations included, that most jobs can be accomplished just about anywhere with a strong WiFi connection.
Here in Dubai, and in majority of the world, that’s not a problem at all. Strong working connection can be found just about anywhere, for free even! But not in the Philippines. I learned that the hard way when I went home over the holidays. I went crazy trying to connect to my office network from the nearby coffee shop franchise! Heck, I went crazy trying to connect to my office network from my home internet! I really hope this becomes a wake up call for the authorities in the Philippines to take charge of the internet service providers as it is really a basic necessity. Ah, but that’s a story for another day.
The pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns was like a reset button for the world. It certainly forced me to sit down and assess my life. I have finally learned an important life skill that I have been putting off for ages – I learned to drive!
As mentioned in my last post, I am now part of the driving public! I could not be anymore happier because of it. It has given me back my wings, so to speak. I no longer feel trapped in my own home, as I know, anytime, in case of an emergency I can just go and drive.
But that’s not all – I finally learned to bake bread, yeast and all!
So before the pandemic, my Uncle Ulf has been trying in vain to teach me how to make bread – but I simply do not have the patience for it. I keep telling him that I preferred baking cakes, muffins and cookies to bread, because there’s no yeasting involved, no kneading, no rising, no waiting. He used to tell me that patience is a virtue that has been lost on me.
And speaking of patience, this is also why I never learned drawing and painting, despite my Uncle diligently trying to pass down his crafts to me. He told me that I had the talent, I had the visions and I had the passion, the only thing hindering me from creating art is I don’t have the patience to see a project through. Thanks to the pandemic (and to the magic of Procreate and iPad Pro), it has given me the gift of patience!
In conclusion, I’m not really sure where this Panemic will take us, but with all the hardships and pain it has caused the world, it has also taught us all a skill or two, and I’m a firm believer in the saying that what does not kill you will only make you stronger!
I hope that you are healthy and safe in all this chaos going on, and that you are taking care of yourself. This Pandemic and the whole social distancing thing can feel very isolating, trust me, living alone in a foreign country, I’ve been there, so if you need somebody to talk to or just say hi to, don’t hesitate to reach out. Drop me a line. Until then…
Stay Wild, Moon Child!
XXOO
Ella
EllaLand 