Every morning, noon, and night I peruse the Nytimes, Oregonlive, and the Moscow Times to try to keep up with what is going on in this crazy world, here and at home where my friends and families are hunkering down. The headlines in the US are quite alarming, at times taking my breath away-a few nights ago, in bold, large font I read that all Americans overseas are urged to come home or stay put. If we could even find and afford a route home, upon our return we’d be unemployed and without health insurance. So, we are planning to stay put. It is challenging to make informed decisions here because of the language barrier- when I Google the local news, the headlines read like the title of this post. Apparently some benefits to Coronavirus in Kazan are short lines at the clinics (grandmas are too tired from buckwheat shopping sprees) and reduced traffic congestion.

Our school has now transitioned to online learning. Last Wednesday was our last day of school with students, followed by two days to figure out a plan for distance learning. Not sure how we will juggle teaching, getting the kids connected with their own classes online, and completing their assignments. I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually, but it’s feeling a bit overwhelming right now.

Today was supposed to be the Spring Ball for Mila (a rite of passage at ISK for Grade 1 and Grade 8 students). She didn’t seem too disappointed about it being postponed, but here is a picture of her in her gown. Next week was supposed to be our Spring Break trip to Ireland and Riga. We are sad to miss it and bummed for our friends who had to postpone their wedding in Ireland, but better than getting stranded abroad.

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Things have felt more calm here than what I’m seeing reported elsewhere. Actually probably too calm. I’ve seen a few people donning face masks, but mostly locals seem unfazed. I think people are in denial here about what is coming.

Simon has made three trips in the past two weeks to the Costco-like store Metro to make sure we have ample chips, chocolate, wine, and other staples. On the first trip, the only things we couldn’t find on our list was hand-sanitizer. You may have seen this picture that Simon sent to taunt our American friends:

On the second trip, a few shelves were a little less-stocked than usual (those buckwheat hoarding grannies),. but we were still able to get everything we needed. Today, Simon said shelves were still stocked but announcements were being broadcast to tell shoppers to stay 2 meters away from other customers.

There have been no official recommendations to quarantine, but we have definitely cut back on our social lives. With the kids gone, the school campus is pretty empty and we can still use the facilities- the pool, library, playground, fields, pool tables, etc. Today the kids dragged me to the school auditorium as they are working on some musical production. They could use the stage lighting and the mics to enhance their show. At one point they discovered a fog machine to use for special effects. I wasn’t supposed to pay attention to what they were doing, as it was a surprise, but here’s a blurry picture that I was able to capture.

We’ve upped our digital socializing, Skyping almost daily with my parents and Simon’s parents and trying to connect with other friends and family. This morning at 6:30 am, we woke up to celebrate Seymour’s 75th birthday with a Zoom party of all the relatives and friends.

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Missing all you friends and family who are so far away. Stay healthy and safe and we hope (fingers crossed) that we will manage to get back to see many of you this summer! XXOO