Formal Friday
April 5, 2020
Yesterday we decreed Formal Friday (More Formal Friday here). Well- every Friday is Formal Friday in lockdown from here on out. But I wrote it in our daily work standup notes and I was pleasantly surprised that people put on blazers and hats for our morning call. The little things mean a lot right now.
Can I even remember about the wine we've been drinking since the last blog? Actually had a Syrah, from Elephant Hill. Kimberly liked it quite a bit, Jacqueline said she had been enjoying all the fruity Pinot Noirs we'd been drinking. She found the Syrah oaky. But the next day she liked the Syrah more than the day before. We've been finding that. See the green in the plate on the right? That's kale. Kale reminds Kimberly of her old life and has now been eating it every day.
The first day out of self isolation, Jacqueline and Kimberly go to the grocery store. Kimberly has been telling Jacqueline we should go to the grocery store way less frequently and get more things because if we are going to catch covid it'll be at the grocery store. All the getup was incredibly hot and it was very exhausting to get all the groceries and we decide we don't want to go again. But of course it happens again. There are 8 of us in our "pod"/"bubble"/house so it is harder to shop for longer term.
Kimberly is from New Mexico, it is Tuesday and she makes tacos. First time cooking after getting out of self isolation (well- she made grilled cheese and burnt it on Monday). Jacqueline points out it is also the first time Kimberly has ever cooked for the full host family. Kimberly also orders ingredients from a Mexican grocery store and will cook other things on another day with more authentic ingredients.
Our stockpile of wine. We are going to be good for a while.
Something a friend said: that we may appreciate having a record of things as they happen during this time. For a short while Kimberly was keeping track of the numbers each day, what was happening each day. But after a while it started to feel like each day was a week: so much was happening in each day. In the news at least.
Anyway... a timeline....
March 6: Kimberly sees on Facebook that her workplace (Google) has issued a recommended work from home for all the Bay Area. She takes a 50 mg zinc. Over November-mid January Kimberly was sick with a couple of colds. For two full months. And now she's paranoid about getting sick again. She went to see her parents in New Mexico and spent many hours in airports after several delays, gets the second cold on the way there before the first one is even over. She is paranoid she's going to kill her parents with her cold, as they are both over 80. She goes to urgent care, is told to take 50 mg three times a day, wear a face mask when near her parents, have them take 50 mg zinc three times a day too. Kimberly tries to sit across the table, stay away from her parents but her mother puts her right next to them. Kimberly is after them every day to take their zinc. And they get sick anyway. But not as badly or as long as Kimberly.
Anyway- back to March 6: Kimberly takes the zinc after eating some strawberries. She knows zinc is hard on her stomach but she had a latte and strawberries so it isn't an empty stomach. She checks her email in the car before leaving, sees the email about voluntary work from home and that her manager's manager and his manager has forwarded the email. And the email was sent at 8pm the night before. She drives to work, anxiety rising. She thinks about turning around. Somehow she gets to the parking lot at work, parks next to some bushes and throws up all the strawberries onto the ground. And throws up again. And again. Someone asks if she's ok and she says no. A little after security comes by, asks for her badge, if she needs medical help, etc. She says no- just water. And she goes to work. Her manager says her voice sounds funny, joking about coughing, etc. After lunch she admits the reason it sounds funny is that she's been throwing up in the parking lot.
March 7th: Kimberly's super bestie's birthday and she goes to stay with him in Salinas. She brings her kitty, Lacey, along as she is deemed the adventure kitty. Kevin and Kimberly work from his home on Monday. And then again on Tuesday. We have a bottle of Murrieta's Well, which we both like quite a lot. Kevin has a island-themed birthday.
Here are the kitties attempting to be friends. And Lacey modelling how good she looks against white. The ginger kitty wasn't so sure he wanted to be friends with Lacey.
March 10th: Tuesday mid day work announces more than voluntary work from home- from now until the end of Kimberly's upcoming planned vacation to New Zealand. Kimberly immediately thinks of moving up the leaving date, messages friends who she is going with to say if they get a similar thing we should all go early. Then Kimberly decides she wants to go early regardless. She sees visions of riots, many deaths and maybe an end of life as we know it in the US. She had been having visions of retirement in New Zealand for months and had wondered when she'd move onto that life- 5 years? 10? 15? Kimberly talks to her manager about working from New Zealand and the time difference. Kimberly moves her flight to March 14th, all the time worrying that it might not be early enough and the borders may close. New Zealand only had 5 cases at the time and appeared to be taking this all more seriously than the US. Who knows how long term this will affect her job and life but in her head she keeps hearing, "Got to get the hell out of Dodge."March 13: New Zealand announces that anyone coming into the country must self isolate. Kimberly contacts Jacqueline and asks if it is still doable. Jacqueline says yes, Kimberly decides to still go. At the time Kimberly is trying to convince her "chosen family" to come with her to New Zealand and is annoyingly laying it on thick. But she sees the end of the world coming. Her super bestie and his wife can't come but they have a lovely house far away and can isolate well. Kimberly's parents live remotely too and can easily isolate for months.
March 14th: Kimberly leaves for New Zealand, knowing that the future is completely unknown, that she may get stuck there. She could possibly lose her job. Who knows. The restrictions to come into New Zealand change while she's waiting to board her flight, so her flight is delayed. She's worried that she hasn't left early enough.The new announcement; people might have to go into quarantine in a government facility upon arriving. She asks Jacqueline if they'd have internet there. Jacqueline says yes and that she'd bring wine. Good enough for Kimberly: she can work from there, that's fine.
March 16th/15th: (NZ date/ US date) Kimberly arrives in New Zealand. She is in the first group to have to self isolate having entered the country. And with all her getup is interviewed for local news.
March 18/17th: Bay area announces stay in place order. Kimberly has two other friends who leave the bay area for New Zealand. Work announces an official way to apply to work out of the country during this time, so Kimberly does.
March 20/19th: California announces stay in place order.
March 20/19th: California announces stay in place order.
March 21/20th: US recommends do not travel.
March 23/22nd: NZ announces "Level 3" and going to "Level 4" in two days when there are 103 cases reported.
March 25/24th: NZ in "level 4" (aka lockdown) for 4 weeks. The number of cases are just over 200 at this point.
March 29/28th: US has more cases of covid-19 than any other country.
March 29/28th: US has more cases of covid-19 than any other country.
April 4/3rd: New Zealand has just under a thousand cases of Covid-19. New Zealand has had a steady growth of about 60-80 per day since the lockdown began.
Somewhere in these first few days Jacqueline sees in online posts that the town has seen that Kimberly is there (having seen the news article) and have convinced themselves that she must have covid-19. (Some people traveling have covid-19. All people who travel have to go into self isolation. All those that have covid-19 go into self isolation. Kimberly has traveled and is in self-isolation. She must have covid-19.) Kimberly and Jacqueline decide it is best Kimberly doesn't go on walks until after the self isolation period. Life isn't terribly different as now the country is in lockdown but still getting to play cards, cook and be in the living room is exciting.
Somewhere in these first few days Jacqueline sees in online posts that the town has seen that Kimberly is there (having seen the news article) and have convinced themselves that she must have covid-19. (Some people traveling have covid-19. All people who travel have to go into self isolation. All those that have covid-19 go into self isolation. Kimberly has traveled and is in self-isolation. She must have covid-19.) Kimberly and Jacqueline decide it is best Kimberly doesn't go on walks until after the self isolation period. Life isn't terribly different as now the country is in lockdown but still getting to play cards, cook and be in the living room is exciting.
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