Living the Spanish dream – stuck in coronavirus quarantine

Who would have thought? Living my dream – already one and a half months in quarantine in Spain. Many people have asked me if I had rather spent the quarantine in Estonia. The truth is that what is happening in Estonia is nothing compared to the quarantine here in Spain. We can’t go outside, it is forbidden, you are only allowed to go to the nearest shop (which in our case is 200m away) for groceries or to a pharmacy if you need to buy medications. Police is driving around the city, they stop people and ask what they are doing on the street, where their home is etc. There is also an undercover police, some are walking around in normal clothes, some are driving around in a normal car to catch people, and they do it all the time, day and night. It has come to a point where we fight over taking out trash or who can do the shopping, just to get some air, even if it is just for 5 minutes. At the doors of the shop there is always a security guy who checks the amount of people inside and you are obligated to wear gloves and use the disinfectant to clean your hands. Wearing a mask is not mandatory, but recommended and almost everyone is wearing one.

However, I am incredibly happy that when all this started, we were not sent back to our countries and our school decided to continue with the project. I definitely wouldn’t have been ready to go straight back to Estonia, mentally unprepared, without any warning. I guess I would have had post-travel depression for months. Too many things still undone, too many students without my goodbye (I even have 2 packages of Estonian candies hidden for them) and not to mention, still too many places I didn’t see, too many restaurants I didn’t visit… If I had been already in Estonia before the quarantine started, of course, I wouldn’t have minded staying there, I mean, at least you can go out for a walk, hike, it is nothing like sitting at home, ALL THE TIME. But as I was already here, completely used to Spanish way of life, I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to leave. At least now, there is hope, that when all this is over, we can still enjoy this most amazing country. ♥️

I can’t even put into words how much I have started to love Spain. I mean, I loved it before, otherwise I would not be here, but now in quarantine my love for Spain burst into flames all over again. I put together a video of my time here from September until now and I think I cried a couple of times when seeing all these wonderful pieces of moments we have experienced, getting lost in these beautiful places again, thinking if it is all over, if we can still go out there and create more memories… And at the same time I am stuck at home, can’t even go outside for a walk. Yes, it makes me sad!

Spain is so big and diverse. You can go from north to south and find yourself on a totally different planet. It has everything, it has thousands of restaurants (one bar for every 132 inhabitants), every region has its own typical food, it has picturesque beaches, mountains, forests, beautiful language, friendly people and lovely small villages. Your friend can go skiing in Sierra Nevada and you can go sunbathing on the beach in Málaga at the same time. Spain is something truly special! I am just not ready for this to be over yet, not YET! I need more time to gasp in its magic, to save it in my bones for the rest of my life. ♥️

Enough of praising! Now let me tell you how life has been during our “wonderful” quarantine.

I think that in the very beginning I was happy that we can sleep longer and have more free time, you know all this stuff you dream about when you work. But never in my life I could have imagined that this would get so serious and dreadful. I mean, now I can’t wait for the quarantine to be over, go back to school, play with my students, just freely go anywhere I want.

I can’t imagine people living alone in one-bedroom apartment, just by themselves, unable to go anywhere, only conversations they have are online. I don’t know, I would go crazy. On the other hand, I am also going insane with my roomies. I mean, they are nice people and I am so happy that we all get along, but now, in this situation to spend every minute of the day together, well, let’s just say that there is some tension in the air.

What I am the most stressed about is the hygiene. As this disease is really serious and so many people are sick and dying, it is not something that is far away and for sure won’t happen to us. There are people sick in our town, there are people sick I personally know. Thus, when the scientists and doctors say that you should wash your hands with soap and disinfect your groceries, then I think, this is the least we can do, it is not too much to ask. This is what makes me upset to always have to worry about if everyone washed their hands, if they washed them properly, not just for 2 seconds under cold water without soap. I just don’t understand how can you still forget something so simple as washing your hands. If I see that someone comes home, goes to their room, already touching everything, of course I ask DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS??? And then they call me “mommy”, well, excuse me, but I need to be your mommy if you act like a CHILD! Usually, I would never in my life even care if you washed your hands or took a shower, do whatever you want, but this is my health as well and I definitely don’t want to get sick because someone was too lazy to wash their hands or clean their groceries. I don’t even understand how someone could behave so irresponsibly! You can always think, it will not happen to me, but in this case, it is too big of a risk to take!

Another thing, which I guess, always comes up when you live with strangers, is the cleaning topic. Long story short, for me there are two kinds of people – clean and dirty. Clean people think that dirty people can’t clean, they are dirty and dirty people think that clean people are perfectionists, obsessed with cleaning. For me “clean” is when it is really clean, there is no dirt, no stains, no bread crumbs, nothing, just clean and clear. It’s just that, when I see bread crumbs on my kitchen countertop, it is not clean, because it is not, there are crumbs. I mean, it is not a big mess, but still, also not clean, it is dirty. Therefore, I think there is nothing in between, either you fall in the dirty or clean category when it comes to cleaning standards.

Other than that, we spend our days doing abdominal workout, watching series, cooking a lot, having online lessons with students, talking to our friends and family, doing spontaneous photoshoots. We have also done a bunch of different videos for our students to learn English online. These are mostly uploaded to Salesianos Puertollano Youtube and Facebook pages.

Starting from tomorrow the 26th, people who have children younger than 14 years, can take them for a one-hour walk, one parent with one child at a time. Children in Spain have been locked inside since the 14th of March, so this is a nice change for them. For us it makes no difference at all, we can still just go to the shop or take out trash.

What summer holds for me – I have no idea! If we can start travelling again in June, July, I would definitely like to take at least a month just to drive around Spain and then visit my best friends in Austria. If you want to ask me what are my plans for autumn, please don’t ask! I don’t know, nobody knows… All I can say is that I don’t miss Estonia the way I missed it before Christmas. I mean, I would like to see my people, stay there for a month and then… Do I want to stay in Spain, leave Estonia for good? Do I want to continue with my flower business or find a new job?

I DON’T KNOW!

Just watch this beautiful video of school bullying by Coldplay. ♥️
A band which I love as much as I love Spain. ♥️