Lockdown Life Becomes a Series of Routines

By Harry Hodge

“I believe I can see the future

‘Cause I repeat the same routine

I think I used to have a purpose

Then again, that might have been a dream”

• Every Day is Exactly the Same, Nine Inch Nails

Another year goes by, another lockdown thanks to Covid-19. Only they’ve been tightening them since May, and it’s the toughest grind yet.

Is it our fourth wave now? At any rate, it’s the most lethal. Our school sent kids home in early May, when we jam-packed our exams together early knowing a lockdown was coming later that Saturday night. The staff still came in and taught online, clocking in at the building.

But you could see the signs. First we could go to a cafe on a break and get a coffee and sit. Then we could go to the cafe and take one away. Then, the cafe was closed. Circle K used to have tables for us to sit outside; then those got chained up. Then the mall closed for all shops except the supermarket. Now you run the risk of getting fined by police if you’re outside and can’t explain to them why you’re out in the general population.

As an expat living in Vietnam, with a wife and children to boot, getting through these various waves of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns come down to adhering to various routines. With my wife My and children Avery, 6.5, and Payton, 5, home with me day in and out, it’s important to give some sense of normality to the children who are, once again, away from their friends and teachers.

For Avery, who’s entering Grade One, her school (where I happen to work) has a four-day-a-week schedule with different teachers administering lessons for different subjects in English and Vietnamese. Of course, what people can do in their homes provides some limits; there won’t be any full-court basketball drills in our two-bedroom apartment. 

Normally those classes are in the morning, and when I’m not doing work of my own for the school, I teach Payton from my collection of textbooks and powerpoints while his sister studies. Kindergarteners have a pretty limited attention span, so Zoom or Google Meet classes aren’t really an option with that age group. Once the morning learning is out of the way, riding bicycles or rollerblading outside (masked) give a chance to get fresh air and leave our apartment.

Lunches are almost all made at home now, where we used to get takeout more often. That said, the lockdown of street markets and dismissal of sidewalk vendors led to today’s somewhat irritating development with empty shelves at a nearby supermarket. Most canned goods were available, but fresh vegetables had all been snapped up. Our children are used to eating both Vietnamese and Western food, so it’s not too difficult to feed them if you know their likes and dislikes. They used to eat breakfast and lunch at school, but they also used to have a reason to get up early in the morning; I’m the human alarm clock in our household.

In the afternoons, I teach the children a lesson together, mostly vocabulary lessons and fun videos to keep them interested. We also fire up workout videos for children, which can be challenging for four of us in our small living room; there have been a few times that we didn’t make it through the video.

In my case, between being on reduced hours at school and taking more care of the children, I do some copywriting on the side, tutoring online at night, and my weekly gig reading news for the Saigon Times website. My wife has various side interests at well, so the drop in our incomes hasn’t been too major. As well, we don’t really go anywhere so our spending is down.

The tedium is the part that I fight to keep from creeping in. If the children get routines that they can come to expect, the return to school will be less jarring, whenever it happens to be. It’s a drag to not be able to interact with my wife’s family much anymore, our in-laws live on the other side of town so we don’t get to see them. We also used to take trips to places like Bao Loc or Nha Trang every couple of months in the past; that’s been put on hold.

That said, those trips will be more exciting when they can resume. I haven’t been to Canada since 2018, and my parents miss seeing their grandchildren in person, so I look forward to the day we are getting off a plane in Toronto and catching up with family there. In the meantime, keeping our eyes on the prize will get us through this latest lockdown. 

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Fifteen Months into our Canadian Adventure

By Harry Hodge

Fifteen months ago, we left Vietnam and turned up in Canada. It has been OK for some things, especially as seeing my parents (who are getting older) was our primary motivation to return. I was also tiring of working in the elementary school (for-profit) system in Vietnam and needed a change. I also thought it would be a good experience for My and the kids to experience another culture as residents, not tourists. I’ve compiled my observations about moving to my home country after spending the previous 12 years living in Southeast Asia.

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Work: Better than expected, once I overcame the initial challenge of securing my first job (3 months is a lifetime in Vietnam!) it has been steady and I’ve received pay bumps between positions. In between my university and healthcare gigs, I stressed a bit as teaching ESL in North York was barely covering my gas into and out of Toronto four times a week. The hospital marketing position I currently hold came along at the right time.

Housing: Largely unaffordable. I expected to do 1-2 years with family upon our arrival and this has played out more or less like I anticipated. Especially since we needed to get our hands on wheels for me to work, since Port Hope is 100km east of Toronto and 150km west of Kingston (and the train system here, outside of the GO into and out of TO, is garbage). That said, July we are moving “somewhere,” which could be any town on the 401 at this point that has a reasonable price point.

Family adjustment: Better than expected. Children zipped straight into Canadian school without issue, learned how to skate and play in the snow, eat “different” foods (although a lot of it was stuff we used to eat in Saigon anyway). My wife also found some Vietnamese folks and has been able to keep herself busy since arrival here; if only the immigration system was so fast. :_(

Entertainment: Not great/too expensive. My grand plans of going to rock shows and NBA games and Toronto’s finest restaurants? Almost nada. We rarely eat out compared to doing it a few times a week in Saigon, and if I’ve seen any sports it’s been Canadian bands or leagues at a fraction of the price of a Raptors game ($150 to sit in the nosebleeds to see the Bulls? $300 to see Muse on tour?). Plus the whole tipping thing? C’mon North America. Time to emerge from the stone ages.

I consider myself fairly resilient, so minor life adjustments (less dining out, more road trips than resorts, etc) are doable. Even with those, I worry about the cost of living here compared to what we were accustomed to overseas. But I also came back with the thinking that we are here for my parents and their grandchildren to become acquainted, which falls outside of the areas I touched on above. Steady as she goes until I update everyone again, thanks for reading!

Our First Five Months in Canada

Photo by Andre Furtado on Pexels.com

By Harry Hodge

Wow, after almost a year-and-a-half away from the ol’ WordPress blog, I felt due to write about how it’s been going since we moved to Canada just over five months ago, my first time living here since 2010.

My family (My and our kids Avery and Payton) had actually planned to make an earlier return, circa 2020, but of course the old pandemic situation was an issue. In addition, after more than a decade in Vietnam, I had become accustomed to life there and worried how things would go should we move to Ontario. My father and stepmom are in Toronto, my mom is in Port Hope, and I grew up in Ottawa so I have friends there, making it the logical destination. Workwise, it also seemed to have the most job postings and opportunities for me.

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Returning to the Homeland

Being entrenched at my school and occupying a position of middle management, we had a number of reasons to stay where we were. While the hotel business, where my wife had been working, suffered greatly during COVID, education kept on chugging along – albeit with a forced move online. My children also benefitted from the arrangement as I had a substantial discount for their tuitions, and obviously as an employee I could stroll by their classrooms whenever I wanted to check in to see how they were doing. Things weren’t perfect (as in any workplace) but all things being equal, there was no need to really move elsewhere.

Except – there was. Almost 12 years overseas and you start to see all the life events from your homeland that you’re absent for: My grandmother’s funeral; my friend’s weddings (and some divorces); and mainly time spent with my parents whom my children had little connection to, apart from via Skype sessions every month or so. When you log in and see everyone’s gotten a bit older, or hearing isn’t what it used to be, or mobility is limited (or halted altogether during the pandemic) you start to reflect on how much time they’ll hang around for as the children just get older and older. Avery turns 8 in a few weeks, and Payton is 6.

COVID was also pretty dire for quite a while in Vietnam. The lockdowns were quite strict, seeing truck convoys and people walking their dogs and what-have-you without police bellowing at you to re-enter your building suggested to me my countrymen weren’t really aware of how restrictions were dealt with in other countries. I never considered foregoing vaccinations and the like, least of which was my own selfish desire to be able to board an airplane and return to Canada at some point.

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The Return

Shots sorted, lengthy visa delays (Vietnam wasn’t an urgent visa to grant in light of applications from Ukraine, Afghanistan etc) and deciding how and when to wrap my time in Saigon all led to our eventual decision to return mid-July. Getting the apartment packed up, gifting away almost everything we had, deciding how much to bring back in cash and what to leave in Vietnamese accounts for our different properties were all factors. And of course goodbye parties – there were a couple of bangers before I left! Trying to squeeze in final trips to Bac Ninh, Vungtau, Cat Tien park with friends, neighbours and family were all part of our final 4-5 months.

Transiting through an eerily empty Hong Kong airport and then 16 hours to Toronto Pearson, it made me realize how little I had seen outside Vietnam in the last four years. Arrival in Canada was messy – the airport staff seemed fairly clueless about everything from the ArriveCan app to what happened to our luggage. And then poof! You’re out of the baggage area and back into the general population.

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Readjusting to my Own Country

Initial return things like getting children health cards, signing them up for school, getting my wife a phone and ATM card were all actually fairly smooth. Even getting my licence renewed after it lapsed overseas was (mostly) stress-free, although when they said I’d need to do a “test” I worried about the guy pushing 50 being in with the teenagers driving around cones. Turns out they meant a vision test, thankfully. Taking a trip to my province of birth, Prince Edward Island, gave us a chance to see some old pals and family in Ottawa, passing through Quebec to New Brunswick and hitting the island for my first visit in over 15 years. With the pent-up demand for travel after restrictions ending, I didn’t foresee how pricey the country had become! Also, whiffs of cannabis almost everywhere we passed since the stuff became legal after we were here roughly four years ago.

Fast forward and sure, some things haven’t been smooth, but it’s gone more or less as I’ve expected. My job search actually was fairly quick by Canadian standards (three months) and I’m working in marketing on a serene university campus in Oshawa, between where we’re staying in Port Hope and the Canadian metropolis of Toronto. My wife has made connections to the Vietnamese community in Port Hope and the children are in school as well as taking Muay Thai and swimming. I’m trying to use some of my old tricks from moving around over the years, since Port Hope is not a place or scene I’m familiar with, by getting in on some old boys rugby with a team in neighbouring Cobourg, and also reading the news Monday and Wednesday mornings on the local community station.

There are days where I still feel like I’m digesting a ton of information, not only informing myself of the working world in 2022 but also what has changed socially in my country after living in another country for almost 12 years. The reconnection to the grandparents coupled with my own natural restlessness after things become too “comfortable” were strong enough forces to get our asses in gear. Of course there are things I miss about Saigon, like the friends and in-laws over there, the awesome food, the ability to put away cash easily for investing; I also remember the crowding, traffic and blazing heat starting to get to me more than they might have when I first moved there.

As long as my wife, children and parents are happy, I can make anything work. So far, so good.

Happy holidays to where you’re reading around the world!

Covid is Bigger than Birthday Cakes

By Harry Hodge

I’d love to tell you that I was going out to buy all essentials during this pandemic, which is somewhat true, but… I had other motives.

My wife’s birthday. I wanted to get a cake. Let the comments begin. Half of the trolls don’t have children who have been off school since the beginning of May, being taught and fed by their moms and dads. Those parents have been putting in the time, but no wise-ass remarks here. You do you.

While I understand the (majority of the) public’s interest in quashing the pandemic and avoiding unnecessary item shopping, I went on two trips in two days (heresy!) which was partly justified; I missed some items the previous day and then… I wanted to buy supplies for a birthday cake.

Some will argue: There are people selling (are they supposed to?) cakes online! Buy one of those! This is what it has come to online; defend yourself, because we’re coming. No other reason needed.

The truth of the matter is, yes, we looked… Despite my hopes to try to make it a surprise for My’s birthday. The cakes we saw were either underwhelming or overpriced. This launched my decision to go on a supply mission.

I’ve barely left my area in over a month. The Citimart, roughly three kilometers up the road, has been the farthest I’ve ventured since the end of June. Those trips I grit my teeth in fear that I’ll get stopped by police, asking for a paper that I don’t have (and may not exist?) to explain why I’m outside.

Anyway, back to the cake; this part of the ride really hit me. Phu My Hung is extremely different from how it looked when I was still working in the neighbourhood less than four months ago; the “for rent / cho thue” signs are everywhere; the streets are empty. I carried on driving, just looking to see what was open.

Some supermarkets were open, but the lines to shop were dozens deep; it occured to me, everything is bigger than what I want. I kept driving, I passed Riviera Point but the sidestreet nearby had local people lining up to apply for government allowances, since many people in the city have been off work for months now. My needs seemed trivial at this point.

I decided with my wife that in absence of a cake, we’d make our own. Provide an element of normality for our children, if that’s possible. We’re better off than most. We opted for a cheesecake that she has experience in making. The things we like to do on her birthday include more the element of shopping than the browsing of websites, so the gift part can wait. The children and I are making the birthday cards. We know Vietnam is doing the best it can with what it has at its disposal, and we carry on trying to make the best of things. Brighter days lie ahead, and they will be all the sweeter when we can celebrate them outside, with our friends, in the sunshine. In the meantime, we love you My; daddy, Cherry and Speedy wish you a happy birthday!

• 

  Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

Pandemic perspectives part 4: Views from around the world

By Harry Hodge and Ariel Ian Clarito

The world is under varying degrees of lockdown owing to the threat posed by Covid-19. The pandemic is currently spreading across the planet, with some countries having been given early exposure and others in the early hours of the situation.

My counterpart at the Manila Times, Ariel Ian Clarito, and I have reached out to various connections around the world to understand how they’ve been affected. Clarito first compiled some of these in an online form dubbed Tales of Lockdown (TOLD) and some of those quoted have been added to this multi-part series. This is the fourth installment of replies we received from across the globe.

The articulate, thoughtful replies that have been shared so far have been thoroughly gratifying and uplifting, in spite of the turmoil we’re all dealing with right now.

Photo by Keith Lobo on Pexels.com

Ola Dabrowska – Bangalore, India

I do believe that my soul and my heart are very much Asian. I lived and worked in Chongqing, China before. Then I came to Bangalore from Poland two years ago. I work here in our Indian branch as a project manager or as our “European extended hand “.

Things in Bangalore are okay. The Covid numbers are growing each day but these are still comparatively low. People avoid going out. There is less crowd in the streets. I moved in to a spacious apartment two and a half weeks before the pandemic blew up. I think compared to many others, I’m still in a very comfortable position.

India for sure isn’t the safest place during the pandemic but I know that you cannot feel very safe in Poland either, or anywhere else in the world. Mentally, the biggest challenge for me is that I know I cannot go back home even if I wanted to or even if I had to.I do not know when it will be allowed again and when the country’s borders will reopen.

It is tough being in a spot where I have no control, I am lacking in essential information, and I know that nobody else in the world knows more than I do. But I do see how people have been caring for each other more and community ties have gotten stronger. That is all we can do now for now- support each other.

We can only stay positive and hope for the best. It is easier for me to say that as in general, I am an optimist and I have a lot of faith in the future. I know somehow we will overcome this.

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Juan Carlos Noria – Benicassim, Spain

We are a family of three, with a small dog and two cats. Our biggest adjustment has been living confined in our small home. Fortunately, our patio offers us the opportunity to be outside and to feel like we can “get away.” As of the 26th of April, children under 13 accompanied by a parent are allowed to leave the home within a kilometer radius of their dwelling, for an hour. This breaks the 43-day confinement. We love being home so it’s not a huge sacrifice.

There is an effort to be productive through the pandemic. I work from home {visual artist} so the studio is very active, especially because I’m preparing for a postponed show in Canada. Our daughter is 12 and has been home schooling since the lockdown. Her studies set the rhythm for each day. My partner, Carolina and I take turns helping her with her studies. We both cook and bake so the kitchen is always active. Boardgames also keep us enthused. Not to mention housekeeping.

Our family isn’t approaching the pandemic with fear of infection . We watch a half hour of national news updates, to keep up with the latest government actions. Our efforts to keep the constant feed of fear news out is proving to be important.

The difficulty we face is financial. I’m not selling art and can’t leave the house to work. Carolina is also not working. Money that was owed to us came in just in time to help us pay rent and amenities and, Carolina’s dad is helping us with his savings. Next month, we’ll be receiving a government subsidy not linked to the pandemic. It will cover our rent. As long as we are together, healthy and productive, we feel hope. More than hope, we need a little luck to meet our financial targets.

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Casey Collins – London, United Kingdom

(Our challenge is) juggling home schooling with work. This means more family time and being even more creative with the kids; making games and crafts and baking more etc. Schools won’t open back up again until September! What’s giving me hope is that the good times will come again and hoping that our holiday booked for August will still go ahead.

Pandemic perspectives part 3: Views from around the world

By Harry Hodge and Ariel Ian Clarito

The world is under varying degrees of lockdown owing to the threat posed by Covid-19. The pandemic is currently spreading across the planet, with some countries having been given early exposure and others in the early hours of the situation.

My counterpart at the Manila Times, Ariel Ian Clarito, and I have reached out to various connections around the world to understand how they’ve been affected. Clarito first compiled some of these in an online form dubbed Tales of Lockdown (TOLD) and some of those quoted have been added to this multi-part series. This is the third installment of replies we received from across the globe.

The articulate, thoughtful replies that have been shared so far have been thoroughly gratifying and uplifting, in spite of the turmoil we’re all dealing with right now.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Heather Hornor – Dallas, USA

I knew separating work/school time from home was going to be really important for our stress level. My daughter however, has been much more active with riding her bike and taking walks with me and she’s enjoyed being more active.

My job is safe for the next year, but since I am now Central Admin (in the education system), my job would be the first to go after next year. My hope comes from the fact that we are together, we are healthy, and we all have jobs, and we are saving money right now.

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Jordan Yap – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I covered the Kuala Lumpur Dragons’ home games in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) before the pandemic blew up. But I kinda knew it was coming sooner or later. I thought people did not take it seriously and that they underestimated this virus. Our government enforced the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18.

Now we are in the middle of the third phase of the MCO, which will end on April 28. Then the government will decide whether to extend the MCO again.

About a week before the enforcement of the MCO, I already started working from home. There are pros and cons about working from home. The pros are I have more time to spend with the family and kids. The cons is that sometimes, the kids would drive me crazy.

Honestly, it is much harder to work from home than in the office because the kids will ask to play with me from time to time. We are not allowed to go outside of the house. If we need to go out to buy stuff, only one person from each household is allowed to go out. My wife who rarely cooked before the lockdown has now become a master chef.

I think when this is all over, my view on life and death would change. I mean, we just cannot take life for granted. During this pandemic, we saw so many families lose their love ones. It shows that life can be so vulnerable. We only live once, so I would try to live in the moment and try to be the best version of myself.

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Shin Sung Eun – Seoul, South Korea

Aside from having to wear masks daily while out, the biggest adjustment would be not being able to go out to the places you are used to going like restaurants, bars, etc. It also requires you to get creative killing time at home. I’m afraid that there may not be an end to this and the economy will be shaky.

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Vaughan Swart – Amman, Jordan

The biggest adjustment for our family has been the full lockdown orders from the government. In response to COVID-19, the Jordanian government has closed all non-essential businesses, but also forced people to stay in their homes and prohibited driving.

On the weekends, we are not allowed to leave our homes at all and if we do, we face fines or jail. We have struggled to be more productive during this time. Teaching online is more taxing than we had anticipated and has led us to not being overly productive outside of work.

When given time by the government, our best time is taking our dogs for walks on the empty streets of the city. We have taken up urban hiking.

Our biggest fear is not being able to go home. The airports in Jordan have been closed since March 18th to all passenger traffic. The messages from the government have suggested it will be closed until the end of May, but we think it will be longer.

Teaching abroad is a great experience, but going home, especially during this time, would be much needed. The biggest hope I have is that we (humanity) changes our ways, that there will be a new normal. We’ve been so destructive to world and I think it’s sending us a message. Unfortunately, I’m not sure we’re going to listen.

 

 

Pandemic perspectives part 2: Views from around the world

By Harry Hodge and Ariel Ian Clarito

The world is under varying degrees of lockdown owing to the threat posed by Covid-19. The pandemic is currently spreading across the planet, with some countries having been given early exposure and others in the early hours of the situation.

My counterpart at the Manila Times, Ariel Ian Clarito, and I have reached out to various connections around the world to understand how they’ve been affected. Clarito first compiled some of these in an online form dubbed Tales of Lockdown (TOLD) and some of those quoted have been added to this multi-part series. This is the second installment of replies we received from across the globe.

The articulate, thoughtful replies that have been shared so far have been thoroughly gratifying and uplifting, in spite of the turmoil we’re all dealing with right now.

Photo by Amy Chandra on Pexels.com

Danyk Amyot – Osaka, Japan 

It has been 50 days since I have set foot in a work environment outside my home. As a teacher, I typically have time off in March, so I didn’t feel the crisis as a bad thing when the first cases were being reported. Mostly, it had to do with passengers among the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Tokyo. I felt it was the furthest thing from my mind and was keen to “Keep Calm and Carry On” in Osaka. Now, after my fiftieth day without stepping into a classroom, I realize the weight of the crisis and the toll it has had on families who feel locked-in together.

Adjustments are typically dreaded affairs that have to be made until everything returns to normal. But in my case, normal meant working 50 hours a week on a schedule that differed completely with that of my wife and daughter. I hardly ever saw them. So for me the adjustment has been a positive change, in that it has brought me closer to my family and, though it has at times been a bit too crowded in our modest apartment, we have managed to weather this crisis with more smiles than fear.

When my school informed me that all classes would be taught online, many teachers, myself included, were worried about how well we could make the transition. But with so much time on my hands, free Wifi, and the full reach of the Internet, I found websites that addressed most of the concerns I had.

The trick is to work smart. I often write lists at night of things I need to do the next day. When I wake up, I sit down at a table with my notebook and coffee. I write in longhand all the worries that will prevent me from accomplishing my tasks. These fears, once written down, are easily diminished. I’m able to see how to dealt with the issues I can control and consider how I can find help for the things I can’t.

I realize how grateful I am for a lot of things in my life. The supermarkets haven’t been wiped out of necessities like we have seen on the news. My wife and I have been able to work remotely from home. My daughter has also been able to keep up with her own studies online. Each person in my household has been given ¥100,000 and we have been able to find ways of getting by on a budget. I have made it my responsibility to wake everyone up each morning with breakfast and to tidy up the house so that everyone has their own work/play space.

If I’m afraid of anything, it’s that our vigilance will weaken when work and travel restrictions are lightened. Hopefully, these 50 days have made habits of all the things I must remember to do.

Namely, 1. Wash my hands

2. Don’t touch my face

3. Limit all arguments to the length of a TV sitcom

4. If I am going to yawn during a Zoom meeting, I should also mute myself too!

 

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Gry Lovald Stensland – Larvik, Norway

The biggest adjustment has been combining the home schooling of my kids with my home office, while my husband has still gone to work out of the house every day. Also the kids aren’t able to play with friends like they normally do, and having my grandma isolated after all homes for the elderly went on lock-down.

Right now I’m most afraid of being laid off and the economic consequences that might entail. I am also very worried about the general economic and societal impact of Covid-19. I am not worried about the virus, and here in Norway they are opening all schools for grades 1 – 4. What’s giving me hope is the belief that this too shall pass.

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Adam Wateman and Brittany Elliott – Cairo, Egypt

AW: The biggest adjustment we’ve been going through is learning to live in the same space … and so close to each other for an extremely long period of time. I have definitely read all of my comic books that I needed to catch up on, and insanely reading books.

The thing that I’m most afraid of right now is we’re scheduled to go back to the States and I worry about bringing something back or having something brought into my parents’ house. (At the same time), I’m looking forward to the time we can get out of here, hopefully in the next few months.

BE: I finished my second semester of my Master’s program, so it gave me some extra time to work on it. I’ve bought water colours. I’m going to start working on getting Google teacher certified. I definitely tried to use the time productively… But there are days where I’ve watched Netflix all day.

The uncertainty for me is not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s hard not being able to plan ahead. The news changes so quickly. It’s hard to sift through what’s real and what’s been dramatized. It’s nice spending time with Adam. It’s nice to take a breather (from the normal schedule) I guess.

Pandemic perspectives: Views from around the world

By Harry Hodge and Ariel Ian Clarito

The world is under varying degrees of lockdown owing to the threat posed by Covid-19. The pandemic is currently spreading across the planet, with some countries having been given early exposure and others in the early hours of the situation.

My counterpart at the Manila Times, Ariel Ian Clarito, and I have reached out to various connections around the world to understand how they’ve been affected. Clarito first compiled some of these in an online form dubbed Tales of Lockdown (TOLD) and some of those quoted have been added to this multi-part series. Here are some of the replies we received from across the globe.

The articulate, thoughtful replies that have been shared so far have been thoroughly gratifying and uplifting, in spite of the turmoil we’re all dealing with right now.

Photo by Splash of Rain on Pexels.com

Joel Mader – Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦

We have planned for the assumption that we could be home-schooling (our teenage son) for the next year. Enforcing the idea that your home is now also your school and a workplace requires a lot of adjustment and a conscious effort to be respectful to each other’s space while enforcing time management regarding classes.

There is a conscious effort to be more active, we are very lucky to have a backyard. There is a conscious effort to conserve more which has had me cutting firewood, growing vegetables, investing more for the the future and pivoting our life goals for a what-if scenario.

I don’t have any fears, I think if we are smart and adapt for the future we have very little to worry about. If I lose my job, then I’ll move to self -mployment. I am an at-risk individual who is overweight with high blood pressure, so I stay safe and plan around my family’s exposure while striving to be in the best shape of my life so that I am no longer an at-risk individual. I don’t rely on hope, I rely on action and accountability.

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Andy Marr – Cairns, Australia 🇦🇺

As a family we have definitely been more productive in the garden. We are lucky to be living in a house that is surrounded by grass, trees and all manner of tropical shrubs. Before lockdown we had a whole bunch of stones and rocks delivered, we have been landscaping ever since. A cactus rock garden. A new area for a future garden. We have even managed to grow grass from store bought seed. That would definitely not have happened if we had the usual things to occupy us.

Hope comes in the form of how, as humans, we have overcome many perils before (some of our own doing). As a species, this time will be no different. It’s just that there may not be members of our friendship group or family near or far that will be there to celebrate with us.

Photo by Mohamad on Pexels.com

Wira Pori – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪

I am online pretty much from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep, unless I go out for grocery runs.

I’m sure all sports junkies like me are going through some sort of withdrawal symptoms. I happen to miss seeing new clips, reading up on features and dramas, and taking a social media pitchfork to debate with some random keyboard warrior. I can withstand not being able to play (basketball). I just dribble the basketball with my left hand as I type away on my notebook. Got to have that dribbling sound echoing to sate my innate desire to run free.

Thanks to YouTube, I have learned to cook more advanced, sophisticated recipes. My wife has taken a backseat from kitchen chores now that I am the one wearing the apron.

When all this is over, I hope to see a world changed for the better. We have learned how essential personal hygiene is. I have also realized that I do not need junk food nor incessant retail splurges to survive. With that said, I cannot wait to see how world governments will move forward from this pandemic unless there is a global amnesia that will also afflict everyone after.

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Josh Lee, Singapore 🇸🇬

My wife and I have been working from home for a month now, so it’s been pretty interesting times. I guess on a positive note, it’s nice to spend so much family time together. Singapore is on restrictions until June 1 – so no open restaurants, gyms or parks. Cabin fever is a worry. But at least the government is getting on top of new cases.

Being emotionally honest about Covid-19

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By Harry Hodge

This is the moment where I pull back the curtain. And admit: I don’t know what the future holds.

I’m a generally positive person. I have dealt with various obstacles, personally and professionally, for decades. I’m not easily beaten down. 

But like the rest of you, I wake up, turn on my phone, and check the Covid-19 numbers. China. Italy. The US. My homeland, Canada.

After that, I go through Facebook feeds. Which buildings have been locked down? What are parents around the world doing to keep their children occupied? I have two little ones myself.

I check the account for my school. I check who has booked me to teach online.

I’ll be frank: I’ve never dealt with a situation like this before.
I’ve been in Vietnam since 2010, and I feel like I’m a fairly resourceful individual. I can make something out of nothing. I can make lemonade out of lemons. But in order to do these things, I need there to be some sort of activity, or commerce, or movement. I’ve never seen Ho Chi Minh City slow to the point that it has.

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Not all is lost

And then, I reflect. I still hear motorbikes. I have friends still going in to work, or at least doing it from home. No one is unaware of what’s happening in the world at this point. Except, maybe, my kids. Today, they saw me running on the treadmill (lucky we have that!) and decided to throw me a surprise birthday party. Four months early!

For any of you self-quarantining, or in a government-sanctioned isolation unit, I feel for you. I have a wife and two kids with me 24/7. Before this outbreak, it would have been beyond my view of reality that we’d be together for this long, mostly uninterrupted, with no obvious end in sight. I know, for their well-being, I can’t get down. I need to be smart about it, of course. Do we leave the building to go for a bicycle ride? The streets have never been emptier. Where do we get food from? Do we cook every meal? Is it safe to get broken rice and pork chops up the street?

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Foreigners under scrutiny

I’m going to be brutally honest here; it hasn’t been a good month for foreigners in Vietnam. When bars were closing, a party was held and someone who attended it has had a positive Covid-19 test. The ensuing search for people who went there has rippled through Saigon’s expat community, and a lot of negativity has come from it. The fact that the official case count in Vietnam has been low before the last couple of weeks has prompted intensified scrutiny of cases and returnees from abroad, whether they’re locals or expats.

Now is not the time to crack under pressure. Pointing fingers and laying blame aren’t going to improve the state of things.

I’m not sentimental, or overemotional. I attack situations with a measured, practical line of thinking. This may surprise friends who read this, who may find my normally jovial nature out-of-sync with this statement. But I care for my family and friends, my homeland and my adopted country.

I rarely wear my heart on my sleeve. I have no idea how this will all pan out. I am a husband, and a father, and a son, and all of these roles impose different degrees of stress or pressure. I’m not alone in this scenario.

When I see someone hasn’t worked for two months, I feel for them. Or see their visa expires and they worry they are forced to leave, it saddens me. Or a bar owner has to shutter their windows. All of these things are moments in a historic time that will define what we do now and in the future. 

I refuse to wallow in despair, or take what trolls post online at face value, or allow myself to give into anger or fear. Because my son Payton and my daughter Cherry and my wife My give me light and hope. Today I was given a surprise party for my birthday, four months early no less, because my children are so young that this whole situation has felt like an extended summer holiday. We’ve been through everything together for two months, and they may take a while to get going in the morning, but they paint and laugh and ride their bicycles. For them I have to maintain a brave face and prepare for every day like this whole thing will be over with.

I am unsure how many of you can draw something from this, whether you are self-isolating in your apartment or going about your daily business or in a government lockdown. Reach out to those who care about you, even if it can only be over the phone or the Internet for now. We’ll get through this thing, if we believe we can.

A teacher’s life during Corona time in Saigon

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By Harry Hodge

For some, Corona signifies a beachside holiday, with a slice of lime wedged into the mouth of a frosty beer bottle. In Saigon, the current meaning is quite different.

Now, it’s a virus that’s shutting down schools, cancelling holidays, forcing parents to find child care, a major disruption all around. Nothing to say of the health implications, which have drawn debate from various groups as to the actual seriousness of the outbreak.

As a teacher with my children attending the school that I work at, I’m in a unique situation. However, the constantly changing timeline for when schools will reopen makes this whole process virtually impossible to plan around. Other families are in different scenarios, where grandparents must be recruited to watch the children, time must be taken off from work when those relatives are unable, and other headaches adding to the stress of the situation.

Compounding all this is the fact that… You’re unsure where to take the children. The pool? Some are closed. The mall? Crowds – virus breeding ground! School? Closed. More and more limitations seem to spring up the longer this all continues. Is there any way to cope?

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Light at the end of the tunnel

Hey, no one likes to read a column that’s all negativity with nothing to suggest as a possible alternative to the present situation. An obvious option is teaching online, with many companies likely on a hiring blitz since many of their students are in lockdown in China, with parents looking to make up the shortfall somewhere.

While the above is something I’m actively looking into, I am also obviously using my time to write (in this case, columns for Saigon Times) and reconnect with some of my contacts doing voicework. My wife will soon have more free time available to watch our children and I can use that time to my benefit while I continue to work remotely for my current employer.

For many others? Travel. My Facebook feed is scenes from Hoi An, Laos, the United Kingdom, Australia… You name it. It can be a time to take advantage of reduced airfares and vacancies, in the wake of travellers cancelling holidays and making it an unexpected boon for those on a budget. We expect to visit family in the north of Vietnam…. But had already booked our flights before the current situation had become an issue.

To take it one step further: Nothing lasts forever. You. Me. Your job. Our companies. This life. Corona virus. All things, good or bad, eventually come to an end. This too shall pass, although when that will be is the ultimate question.