22 March
I always loved keeping a journal. When I was a kid, I had this super cute pink diary with a lock where I would write in every single day. I also wanted to keep a journal when I went to Vanuatu with total strangers, but that didn't work as I barely had time to sleep over there.
I miss travelling and my trip to Egypt at the end of next week got cancelled due to the pandemic..
So here we are, day 5 of lockdown, living in a world that I always had nightmares about, what ones might see as the beginning of the end. But I won't dramatise it until that point. Let's just call it what it is - a pandemic that's affecting the whole Globe right now. Conspiracy theory or not, we are all affected one way or the other. In a way, I was mentally prepared for this moment ever since I was a kid. Why? Because each generation has to pass through something similar and I'm actually happy (in a way) that it's not a war !
They say this quarantine would end on April 5th, but I'm quite sceptical on the date... in my opinion, seing how things are evolving, I would say it will prolong far beyond that date. And I'm not saying it with an easy heart... I normally had to move this coming month and all of that seems not likely right now...
This week was challenging for me.. I went through all the stages: rage, sadness, worry, panic... even maybe a bit of paranoia. Today I asked my friend from Italy, Milan, an epicentre of the outbreak, if she actually knows someone who has the virus. I find it odd that she doesn't know anyone or someone who knows someone who is infected... I mean this is a country where allegedly there are tens of thousands of confirmed cases with the virus, and she doesn't know anyone...super weird.
Other than that, you probably know how it is here ... like it is everywhere: endless queues of people standing in line to go into the stores ( and if this virus is real, for me, the supermarkets are 'the best way' to get infected), empty shelves ( although apparently there is enough for everyone?), people either panicking or going outside like there is nothing to worry about...
The opinions are divided and so are the theories.
My thoughts? I'd rather stay safe at home just in case and respect the confinement.
With over 3400 declared cases this Sunday, it is said that we are in the peak period of this outbreak.
I'll check in tomorrow and update this page with personal thoughts and experiences during the quarantine.
Stay safe !
23 & 24 March
Since nothing out of the ordinary happened yesterday ( and even today for that matter), I'm doing a 'two in one' post about life in isolation here...
Friday was the last day I got out of the house. I would like to go for a run or at least a walk, but honestly, the fear of getting the darn virus is too high! And it's not exactly for me, it's more for my mom.. I check on her daily as we live in the same builinding to see if there is anything she wants or needs. I think the whole confinement has really affected her mentally. Today she was quite depressed.
We now have about 2469 confirmed cases here in Belgium ( and God knows the ones that are not confirmed), and with a total of 122 deaths, I could imagine someone her age get depressed. In our neighbour countries the situation is of course, 10x worse.
Remarkably, Romania is handling everything quite well. They ordered the schools to be closed ever since they had like 14 confirmed cases. Too bad that the economic part of the situation is yet to be solved. A lot of people are staying at home without any aid from the state.
And how about me? Well, tbh, I'm viewing this situation from another point: staying at home and having some time for myself. It's like being on vacation - I caught up with sleep, with my family ... I'm packing, taking my time to solve some administrative problems and working on my blog in the days to come !
I would also like to distance myself from screens and take care of my eyes and health.
Other than that, I wish you a good week and let's survive this xo
Until 6th of April
Hi everyone,
Again, nothing in particular happened and honestly, in my case, I just wanted to stay away from everything and just rest. It's what I did all of last week. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to do this. It has been awhile since I actually rested. In my line of work there isn't much rest because this is our life actually. You stop, you loose track ! But now that everything has stopped for a moment, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to just take it easy and either sleep or take care of my personal life. Sometimes I'm so fed up with the people in my domain, brands and other "influencers" ( I never liked the term influencer.. I'm like, who are you? Naomi Campbell or even Chiara Ferragni ? Chiara is a blogger ! Ok, she influences people, but she still refers to herself as a blogger. And she's a very good one ). But all these "influencers" who just rose overnight on Instagram by doing fake giveaways... I'm like.. no, sorry, you don't have that right. And then you have brands and agencies who look at these so called "influencers" cuz overall, the numbers are the ones that count... And yes, I didn't want to be a part of all this fakeness just to grow my following .. I care more about not scamming people rather than having millions of followers. Anyhow, I won't get more into the issue cause I can feel the rage coming in and I want to focus more on creating content and moving on with everything. :)
Plus, the weather is fantastic now. I cleaned the terrace, I'm ready to share some cute looks and whatnot.
I hope you are all safe and please stay home so we can surpass this confinement faster.
Take care !
18 April
Wow, I didn't quite stick to writing here that often. The thing is that I didn't had any unfortunate events to write about, so I was like " why write about boring things?"
The quarantine has been delayed until 3th of Mai. Apparently that's the date when they'll be starting unblocking everything...I'm very resilient of that date. Why? It took 3 cases (at first) of coronavirus patients to grow into a 34000 outbreak, who do they think they'll handle what's gonna come after this isolation is over? Already people I know are sick and have been tested positive and I'm not even from around here. Plus the WHO organisation is definitely advising against. But I get it, people are on the edge and they want to go back to work. Most of them are declared as half time workers so with the aid that they're getting now from the state is barely enough to survive and that's crazy. I think the government needs to re-evaluate the situation and take a step into cutting off people that have been in social aid for 10 years or never worked a day in their lives; and I'm not talking about really sick people, no, I'm talking about healthy people in their 30s that are taking advantage of the system and staying home, receiving social aid from the state basically equal to what they would have earned if they would work. And I understand the concept, I wouldn't be motivated either to work if I were them because the alternative is way too taxed and complicated. I know. I lived the alternative and am living it for almost 11 years now. My advice? Lower the freaking taxes and get people motivated to go and work. In Romania, if your company runs out of business and you're in the unemployed sector, you only receive social aid from the state one year, afterwards it's your problem. You HAVE TO WORK ! The state does not encourage staying at home and doing nothing. They should try a similar model here and trust me, it's gonna work even better. Those who don't want to work, they'll have to eventually otherwise they'll starve.
Well, enough with the lecture now. I'm sure a lot of lazy people will not agree with my point of view :D
Stay safe xo