Our version of Covid Craziness

            Where are the Spanogles, and what are they doing during this Covid craziness?  Well, we are currently hunkered down in our home just outside of Jakarta. After tumultuous weeks at the beginning of the crisis’ impact hitting Indonesia and the rest of the world, I think I can report that we’ve settled into a new swing, a new rhythm that we could (almost) see ourselves living with for however long we need to.

            I remember the last normal day; Tuesday, March 10^th.  I had biked to my Bahasa lessons.  We’d just learned the week before that Indonesia had 2 confirmed cases of covid-19.  (Many of us had suspected there were cases in the country much before that).  My tutor and I discussed the implications and what precautions we were taking as a result.  On my way home I learned that our international school, SPH, was closing the next day.  The following Monday, all classes would be moved online.  Titus was sick those first couple of days that the kids were home, so we didn’t go out much anyway, and we tried to figure out what kinds of boundaries we would have in our family.  I taught my last class in person at ITC on Friday, and Elias attended a small birthday party in our neighborhood.

            The next week, things got really crazy.  All ITC classes were moved online, and in the end, students were told to go home if they were able to.  Jeff moved his office home to our bedroom where he continues to teach online and do admin work.  We realized we’d possibly been exposed to the virus, so we self-quarantined for a couple of weeks.  Elias got scratched by our cat and his neck swelled up.  We had to find a clinic to take him to, (our usual pediatrician works at the hospital near us, and we were told to avoid hospitals for the next few months), and in the process of tracking down doctors, realized that our cat didn’t have his rabies booster.  Elias started an antibiotic as well as a series of 5 rabies vaccines that lasted over a month.  We learned our lesson and took our cat to get his booster. 

            Later in the week, SPH told teachers and students that classes would be online for the rest of the year.  They (and the US embassy and the whole world) were saying, go home to your country of origin while you still can—before the borders are locked down and there is no way out.  There were rumors of potential unrest in Indonesia, and we were told to be sure to have a months worth of food stocked in our house.  Our friends started to leave, and we questioned our decision to stay.  Were we being wise or foolish? But how could we leave when most of the ITC students were stuck on campus? And was it really safe to travel home?

            And then, to top it all off, we found out that weekend that I was pregnant. That knowledge made us extra cautious and made the decision to stay or go a little heavier.  We continually weighed the options, it seems like every day we looked at the factors again.  But in the end, we felt that it was not safe to travel.  We didn’t want to run the risk of being exposed to the virus, or exposing others.  We weren’t ready to commit to life away from our home in Indonesia for an undetermined amount of time, and we didn’t really have the resources in the states for that option to be sustainable. 

            Because of the community where we live, one of the strangest parts of this time has been watching people leave without being able to say goodbye, and not knowing if or when we’ll ever see them again.  Usually the goodbyes come at the end of the year, and there are final events and goodbye parties.  Instead, people have had to trickle off with maybe only a drive-by wave, or we’d hear that so and so went home.  People would leave suddenly, within a couple of days, as soon as flights came available.  Our support system got smaller, and spread around the world, and felt fractured.

            We told our helper (a kind of maid) who traveled back and forth to our home everyday, to go home and wait to work at our house again until the danger had passed.  It’s been six weeks now, and I doubt she’ll be able to come back and work for us. 

            The new reality began, and for me it felt like most of my day was spent in the kitchen: prepare food, eat, clean dishes, repeat.  Try to fit in Lydia’s school work between snacks and doing laundry.  Watching for the usual afternoon rain in case I needed to move the drying laundry inside the house.  Trying to find time to record the last of my classes as well as grade the students online feedback, projects, and exams.  Figure out where to buy groceries online, and then watch for deliveries and be sure to sterilize everything or wait to unpack it for at least 3 days.  Try to remember when each bag of groceries was delivered and count up how many days it’s been. Oh, and of course, wash our hands relentlessly between activities. I’m sure most of that sounds similar to what you are doing as well. 

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks!

            In these ways, the days at first crept by, and now are moving at a faster pace as we’ve all adjusted.  There have been definite blessings to this time.  The kids are learning to play together well (despite the unavoidable fights) and our living room and whole downstairs is usually turned into some kind of fort several times a day.  I serve as referee and snack supervisor most of the time.  We have a rhythm and pattern for when we have snacks (finally) instead of asking for one every 30 minutes.  We can have slow and relaxed mornings instead of getting to school by 7 AM.  Since Jeff is home, he is able to come down and join us for lunch every day, and he usually finishes a little earlier than before.  We play in our yard and go for rides on our bikes along the main road, wearing masks.  We are now occasionally going over to the school to rollerblade in the big parking lot or play in their soccer field. 

            At this point, we don’t know if we will be returning to the states this summer. Our original flight out of Jakarta on May 22 is no longer available, and although there are other flights, we are still weighing the potential risks of leaving, high among them not knowing whether or not we’ll be able to get back into Indonesia if we leave.  At this point, Indonesia is not allowing any visitors; no one can get in with a tourist visa.  We have a more permanent visa, but it will expire at the end of July, and it is unclear whether or not that could be renewed if we were out of the country when it expired. 

            When the time comes, I’m sure we will grieve the loss of being able to visit our family and friends in the states this year, but it is a loss that we know many people are grieving right now.  For now, we are thankful for the opportunity and privilege of being able to stay at home together safely, and for the ability to stock food in our pantry, as well as for nice weather that enables us to get outside, even if it is hot or humid.  We see God’s protection and care for us, and for our family who is far away, and for that we are thankful.  We know that we are in his hands wherever we are, and we trust that he called us to Indonesia and will keep us safely here for as long as he wants us here.  We are thankful for the community and friends who are still here with us who encourage us along these lines.

            Even if we can’t visit with you this summer, we hope that we will get the chance to catch up and hear from you at some point, and we are praying for you all!

           

Top 10 challenges

1.     We really don’t know anything.  We don’t know how bad it truly is in Indonesia, and due to lack of testing, we will never know.  Keeping its citizens in the dark is actually one of the Indonesian government’s strategies.

2.     Wondering when we will get to see our family in the states again.

3.     Decision making—at the beginning there were so many important big decisions to make that affected us as well as those we were responsible for.  Now, most of the window for those big decisions have passed, but Jeff especially is dealing with decisions about what to do in the future as the school tries to determine what next year could look like. 

4.     Losing our community without being able to say goodbye.  Because of the nature of our international community, many people had to return home when the crisis first hit.  Some of those people will not be returning to Indonesia, and we don’t know when or if we will be able to see them again.  It is hard not to have closure with important relationships, and have to say goodbye from a distance.

5.     The uncertainties of how Indonesia will treat us if we leave the country and try to get back in.  Will they even allow it?

6.     The household work load.  Although we’ve all taken on new household tasks, and it’s not entirely a bad thing, (I enjoy feeling true ownership over my home) the thought of doing this indefinitely and welcoming a new baby overwhelms me. Thankfully, the weight of it has diminished over the weeks.  We bought a dryer, and that has really helped.

7.     Sleep at night.  Maybe because there is always so much to do, and Jeff’s new office is in our bedroom, it has been difficult to get a good night of sleep.

8.     Lack of places to go.  By this I mean outdoor parks or hiking or biking trails, places that you can go to without worrying about coming into contact with other people. 

9.     At first, piecing together where to find food for delivery was a lot of work.  Now, I know the place to get my eggs, my milk, my produce, and my meat. 

10.  Figuring out medical care. Thankfully, we have found a trustworthy small clinic nearby for the kids, and a small mom and child clinic for me.  I am thankful that we are able to avoid the hospital, and praying that we won’t need an emergency room visit in the next few months!

Thankfully this accident didn't land us in the emergency room!

Top 10 Joys

1.     Seeing the kid’s friendship with each other grow.  They are playing together better than they were before (they only have each other, so they don’t really have a choice!)

King and Queen

2.     Having Jeff home more.

Homedone haircuts

3.     Getting to spend more time with Lydia now that she’s doing school at home, and seeing how she’s growing, maturing, and becoming more helpful. 

Sending a card digitally

4.     The relentless demands of children—even though it’s exhausting, it’s a great distraction and roots us in the present.

Gymnastics in the living room, a regular occurance.

5.     Seeing God’s little and big provisions in the midst of the isolation.  Our community still looks out for each other, even if it’s mostly through texts, socially distanced conversations, or items dropped off at the door. 

Masked deliveries.

6.     Those later mornings.  I am loving not having to rush everyone out the door by 6:45 am everyday. 

7.     Getting an up close look at what Lydia and Elias are learning at school. 

Art time. I am not a crafty person so all guidance and ideas from the teachers are helpful.

8.     Eliminating the busy back and forth out of our lives.  Life has definitely become simpler.

Swinging in the front yard.  Our swingset has never had so much use!

9.     Weekly virtual reading times with the grandparents for Lydia and Elias.

Titus has a new found love of "reading" books.  Mostly carrying them around and manipulating them.

10.  After the initial instability and uncertainty at the beginning, I feel like there is a lot of stability for the kids right now, since our lives are so simplified and our family is together ALL the time. I feel like this has been really helpful, especially for Elias.

A dinosaur that hatched in water!

You made it through a super long post!