Corona Craziness

(So now this post will focus more on craziness the coronavirus has caused in our lives here in Saudi!)

Obviously, in January I started hearing "coronavirus" chatter but I didn't really start to pay attention until early February when the outbreak spread to Italy. Bc I was planning on leading a group of 100 people on a youth t*mple trip to Rome I started following the news religiously (pun fully intended)! At the same time, I had a few friends planning on traveling to Barcelona in mid-Feb to run a marathon and I was considering joining them and running the race too (I was training for a 50K in Malta so it would be a good training run). But alas, the Barcelona marathon was cancelled so my trip there didn't get to happen. Trip #1 is no longer! By end of Feb, I knew Rome wasn't going to happen either. Cases were exploding in Italy and spreading further south into Rome. Luckily, everyone got their flights refunded. We made the right decision too bc a week later the Rome t*mple was closed. Our family was pretty bummed about this trip bc we had decided to extend this trip a few days longer and make it our spring break. We were going to road trip to San Marino, Florence, and Pisa. Trip #2 down the drain!

Early March was when our daily routines started to change. Schools were closed and all the kids started virtual school. Our teachers at the elementary and middle school are amazing. We're so lucky that it's not just packets and worksheets. Emi & Mina are still on a schedule- they check in for homeroom, go to "class"- they meet virtually on google meet, watch pre-recorded lectures. They still have homework and submit assignments. They record themselves playing their band instruments and submit it to the band teacher. Mei has a daily schedule too- she is required to start school at 8 am. She does reading, writing, math, science, social studies, wellness, PE, art, music...even library (the library teacher records a video of herself reading a book). Kaiya's school was already prepared and knowledgeable about how to do virtual school bc they always have a couple virtual days built into their yearly calendar. The high school just announced last week that they're going to a pass/fail grading system for this semester...and likely won't be doing final exams. Overall, the kids are doing well with school...but they miss seeing their friends. And Kaiya says virtual school is actually more difficult (more work). It's already been announced that school will be virtual the rest of the school year- and while the Saudi schools will close at the end of April (for elementary) and mid-May (middle/high school), our schools will go until the originally schedule end date in mid-June. We're starting the 8th week of going virtual...7 more weeks to go! Meh.

Our daily routine became even more restricted as the days went on. By mid-March all of our recreational areas were closed off (no playgrounds or pools). Saudi also announced closing its borders in mid-March...no international flights! No domestic travel either. As of now, there is no end in sight to the travel ban. Social distancing was definitely in place too. I was still running with friends but staying a safe distance away. We also had to start wearing gloves at the commissary...and had our temperature taken before being allowed admittance. (Now we have to wear masks too.) By Mar 23, a curfew was imposed- no being outside the home between 7 pm-6 am. I am an early riser and usually was out the door by 5 am to run or cycle...but made do with 6 am. While we couldn't be with friends, we could at least go for a walk with the family or exercise or go grocery shopping. But April 6, we were required to be on 24 hr curfew...full lockdown. Only allowed to leave the house for groceries or medical...and even then, just 1 person per household and no kids allowed to leave the house whatsoever. Not being able to go for a walk, bike ride, etc has been really tough. I've been running in my yard, which is super boring (but I have finished 4 audiobooks whilst running solo so that's a plus)! Ironically, with the start of Ramadan, Saudi has decided to lift the curfew between 9-5pm. Part of me wants to jump for joy bc hooray, I can run somewhere else besides my yard! Then again, it was like 100 degrees by 9 am yesterday...do I really want to be outside?!

So what else has been cancelled?! Here's a list:
1) Mei and I had planned to visit my parents in Japan in early April. Trip #3 cancelled. Thanks corona. Oddly enough, the day we were supposed to leave was the same day my parents ended up leaving their mission early and headed home.
2) My 50K trail race in Malta. I'm so disappointed about this bc I trained so hard! Trip #4 cancelled. I ended up running a 50K around our compound but it definitely wasn't the same. I'm undecided about whether or not I'll try to go in October, when the race is rescheduled for. At this point, who knows that the world will look like in Oct!
3) All the kids activities- sports, etc...even therapy for Mei.
4) All ch*rch meetings- we've been doing sac mtg at home since mid-March. We've done a few virtual youth activities and will continue to do those occasionally.
5) EFY- Emi was going to Nauvoo for EFY with her friends this summer...but that's no longer.
6) Dibb family reunion in St. George
7) Eid trip end of May- for Eid we had decided to road trip through Europe! Starting in Amsterdam...then Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. We also had Kennedy flying out to join us. I was really looking forward to Europe in the spring. Trip #5 called off. This seems to be our new normal.
8) Kaiya's ACT test.
9) I'm most disappointed about this- our flights to the US have been cancelled. I was heading straight to the US with the 3 youngest from Amsterdam after the Eid break and flying to DC. After exploring DC for a couple days I was going to drive to WV to see my sister and her family...then land in Utah for the rest of the summer (with Kaiya and Brian joining later). Now we have no idea when/if we can get to Utah. We are stuck! Trip #6 called off. I really dislike you, corona...!