Noelia Cifuentes, originally from Spain, says her roommate (a German Erasmus student) had to leave the country on short notice. “It’s turning into a claustrophobic situation for me,” she admits. She recently started training for a new job at an airline, and must now wait two months before it can resume. “I guess one day this will be an interesting story to tell,” she says. “It’s made me think a lot about which kind of society we are living in. Empathy, solidarity and a sense of humour, I guess those are the keys.” In the meantime, she says, she’s browsing memes to keep her spirits up.
Markéta Kabelik, a Czech native who lives near Budapest in a village called Délegyháza, goes for a run each morning at 7am with her husband. “We try to stay active and not go crazy,” she says. There are approximately 40 lakes around the village, so they spend a lot of time in nature with their five year old. Markéta was just in the Czech Republic last week, before the border closed, and says the situation is much more serious there. “So quarantine makes a lot of sense,” she concludes.
Another expat, Andrea Breitling, is an avid blogger on healthy living in the city. She began this week by hosting daily, live-broadcasted morning work-out routines. The videos will continue as part of a 14-day challenge.
“I also post about healthy food prep,” says Andrea, “which I will continue. We’ve gotten our meals down to costing 400 forints”. Anyone stuck in the house looking for a way to stay healthy during the virus period is invited to tune in.
If you’re panicking about ways to keep yourself fed during self-quarantine, check out our quarantine kitchen article.
As elderly residents may struggle to shop safely, several members of the community have expressed a desire to help buy groceries for older neighbours. “I made a campaign with my friends to leave a note offering to help elderly neighbours with their shopping,” says Leysa Batista. She’s written the text in Hungarian as well:
Kell segítség a bevásárlásban, vagy valami másban? Ha igen, írjatok lakcímet és hogy mi kell.
Or:
Ha szüksége van segítségre a bevásárlásban vagy valami másban, írja le lakcímét, és hogy mire van szüksége.
Little gestures of goodwill help keep the spirits up – both for those receiving the help and those giving it.
And as for me? My flatmates and I are all working from home now, and we greet each other in the morning with a cheeky, “Hello, co-worker!” We make tea and coffee for each other, and take breaks throughout the day to do some cooking and chat about what we’ve seen in the news. “Did you hear about the Venice canals?” “Did you see that dolphins are returning to the coasts of Italy?” “In France, I heard...”
In the evenings, after work is done, we play card games together and stick on a little music. I’m getting around to projects I’ve had in mind but never executed, like making some new pillowcases out of fabric I bought ages ago, and pulling out my art supplies to finally make those drawings I had in my head last summer. Life flies by in our modern, fast-paced world, and these moments of sudden lull are begging to be filled by abandoned projects.
If you'd like to share your own stories during these times, head to our Facebook page and send us a message. We'd love to hear from you!
