Tsunami, 10. Tired.

It seems we have reached the cusp of contagion. Fewer people are being reported as sick. However, the death curve is climbing. Very possibly, one of the explanations could be that so many hospitals are so saturated, that the stretched out personnel can't fight as hard and as well with so many patients. I don't know.

In our township, with a population of just over 11,000, today's number is 34 infected. We hit a plateau in the past week, where the number always fluctuated in the 40's, and since Monday, the number has been going down. The surrounding townships are also slowly reducing their numbers of contagion, so, hopefully, restrictions will be lifted soon, and we can travel from here to there, and vice versa. Even if I can't get to Santiago for a while, yet, I would love to resume my regular weekly shopping routine.

In the meantime, I hope with all my soul that on the 17th of this month, we are allowed to meet up with people other than those who live with us. That would mean that I can resume my normal classes in my study at home. I can't deal with online teaching very well, especially because everyone has to send me photos of what they have written, and not everyone can. Nor can I simply take chalk and explain on my rudimentary blackboard what I am trying to explain. 

For that, I would need a really good camera, either stand-alone, or on the computer, not my phone camera. As it is, I need to buy my computer another hard drive. Mine must be around ten years old, still has Windows 7, and I had to buy a hard drive to plug into it because the 300 gigas of memory has grown too small. I even had to buy a USB port extender because I didn't have enough ports to plug in the different things I've had to replace over the years.  

Having my students sitting around the study table also means I can control if they do work, or are writing messages on the Whatsapp page they have open on their computers, like a couple of the teenage girls I had last night were doing. They're not disrespectful, they just like having fun, and studying English is not fun.

One of them, a thirteen year old, was depressed. She was so tired of all the restrictions. She could only see her best friend at school or online, and she missed getting together with her, having her sleep over, sleeping over at her house, and getting together after school with her and with others. The girl explained that she felt like the best years of her life were passing by without being able to live them like she would like. 

I explained to her that she wasn't alone, and that we were missing out on good years of our lives, too. I had had plans last year to go places and do things, within our straitened budget, and we couldn't. This year is going in the same direction. Young people aren't the only ones missing out on living life; everyone is. Yet, vaccination is lagging; only just over two percent of the total population of Spain has received at least the first jab. Now, with the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, they want to prioritize police, military, pharmacists, teachers, and other frontline workers under 55. My husband and I probably won't receive the vaccine, at this rate, until the fall. Our daughter, maybe not until next winter or even next year. This will still be a year with rising and falling waves, growing lesser in intensity as the vaccines roll out, but still not normal.

So, pandemic fatigue is real. Yet, it's not quite the same as living in a war zone. There are still things to be grateful for. We may be sick and tired of restrictions because of an illness we may or may not get. And, if we do get sick, most of us will simply suffer the symptoms similar to the flu. Therefore, to some, the restrictions seem far-fetched and useless. Whatever one's expectations and beliefs, this situation has become exhausting.

Life continues.