Running in Place

When we last wrote, we were in the middle of week 8 of our confinement, and now we are starting week 12 -- not necessarily confined, but there is an ongoing "state of emergency." While things have changed a lot over the past 3 weeks here, they have not changed that much for us overall. We are in the second week of Phase 2 of the de-escalation process, and we should enter Phase 3 next week. All that really means is that we can go out whenever we want, can go wherever we want within the city (and province), and that we are required to wear a mask indoors in any public place, and outside if we cannot maintain the required distance from others. People here do not seem to mind the mask requirement.

Still, our day-to-day lives and routines have not changed hardly at all. Yes, we can go outside, but there aren’t that many more compelling reasons to venture too far from home than there were 3 weeks ago. Our main destinations remain the grocery markets and newspaper stand. We are enjoying the freedom to go for walks, and so far, our greatest pleasure has been eating an ice cream cone while walking through the city. The weather has been beautiful, and we love being able to re-experience the beauty of San Sebastian. Included in these photos is a sign of the times – face masks hanging out to be dried.

This week we will finally go out to eat at a restaurant – to celebrate our 24^th wedding anniversary. It will be nice to visit with our friends, the owners of the restaurant, and have our first meal since March 14 not prepared in our kitchen. My yoga studio is re-opening as well, with a limited offering of classes at about 50% capacity. That will be interesting. We have run a few errands here and there and will continue to do so. But, on the whole, we feel like we’re running in place. Our gym has not reopened yet, and whenever it does, we won’t be the first in line to get in. Surprisingly, our home workouts have met most of our fitness needs. Starting this week, we will try to go out once a week to restaurants to support our favorite places. Yet we are still spending most of our time at home and maintaining a low profile. We don’t want to make any new travel plans yet because things remain so uncertain. So, like all of you, we continue to take it one day at a time.

That’s it for now. We’ll see what June brings to our corner of the world.

Take care,

Shana & Jeff

Coronavirus Update Part 3

Well, here we are in the middle of week 8 of our “Coronovirus Confinement” and there is not much to report because every day is pretty much like all the others. It gives new meaning to “lather, rinse, and repeat.” Still, things are starting to change slowly as we enter the desescalation phases.

As you may know, Spain has had one of the stricter stay-at-home regimes. Up until this week, we could not even go outside to exercise. Also, there have been extensive efforts to enforce the lockdown rules, with citations being issued and roadblocks set up to monitor travel in and out of the city. They really mean business here. And, it has worked. The number of cases have gone down, and they have increased testing efforts significantly.

Overall, our existence has not been that different from yours. Other than the fact that the decisions here appear to be being made based on the accumulated statistics and the recommendations of experts. The loosening of the confinement did not start until the curve had truly flattened, and before Phase 1 starts on Monday, May 11, each province and autonomous community must establish they meet four criteria regarding healthcare and containment of the virus. So, as of now, it appears that Madrid and Barcelona will not enter that phase with most of the rest of the county.

Although small hair salons are now open, by appointment only and with sanitation measures in place, we are not in a huge hurry to get our hair cut. We are, however, looking forward to eating out again, but that is also a couple of weeks away, assuming we can get a table in the limited capacity patio of restaurants that choose to reopen. Having cooked and eaten every meal at home since March 15, we are ready for some takeout and to eat out. Takeout is not as prevalent here as it is in the US, so we have not even done that yet!

What has probably been hardest for us is the impact this has had on our ability to travel. We should have been in Seattle this week and next, with a stop in Dublin on the way back. Because our lives here are so focused on travel, not knowing when our next trip will be is frustrating. And we have/had so many plans for the latter part of 2020 and into 2021, many of which will likely change. But we have our health and are fortunate to have many other blessings in our lives.

This morning we were up early and walked farther from home than we are allowed to see the beach and the La Concha Bay. We are supposed to stay within a 1 km radius of our home, and the beach is just a bit farther than that, but how are they going to enforce that within the city itself? Some risks are just worth taking.

That’s it for now, and perhaps for a while as there is not much to tell. Stay safe and healthy!

Shana & Jeff