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8. Etappe: New Mexico bis San Diego, 02. - 20. März 2020

My thoughts play catch-up with me – I can hardly keep up.

My last post is already a few days old. I formulate my contributions more or less in my head and then just sit down and type them down. Two contributions were already finished, one about the ingredients for the optimal place to be easy now and the other one about how we treat nature.  On the day I wanted to write them, we came out of the desert and for the first time after three days we had internet again and thus access to the news. In those three days Corona was declared a pandemic, Donald Trump declared a state of emergency and in the home country the measures I had been longing for for a long time, such as school closures etc., were finally implemented. When I saw all this news at the same time, the tears started to flow. A huge thirst for knowledge followed. I had a lot of catching up to do. 

The Coronavirus LiveTicker ticking day and night

My worries, fears and anxieties are best dealt with by dealing with things. I need a degree of control to be able to look ahead for myself and plan the next steps. So for six days now I have been sitting in every free minute, trying to penetrate something that cannot be penetrated, to control something that is beyond my control. My thoughts run in all directions, I can hardly keep up with them… Like a sponge, I absorb all the information from the most diverse media and try to grasp and understand it all and draw the right conclusions from it.

A new reality…

For almost ten days we have been living in quarantine, avoiding contact as much as possible, cooking exclusively by ourselves, only going on bike tours or walks. The only outside contact is shopping in the supermarket. But what is the best plan for the next months? Do we leave, stay here and find a place where we can sit out Corona? For days we’ve been weighing all the pros and cons.  No one can see the future. But the development of the last days shows that what I would have wished for weeks ago is not enough anymore. My fantasies of the last few weeks about what will happen are daily overshadowed by reality. In Italy and Spain, doctors have to decide who to treat and who not to treat for lack of medical equipment. Manfred already read two weeks ago in his accessible information sources that this is how it will happen. But it still sounded so far away. That is pure horror. As if all the doctors and people in nursing professions are not demanded enough. I am so grateful to them.
Life is crazy. Everything is so unreal, like in a dream or a movie. There are everyday things that are the same as always and there is a part that changes everything. This parallelism is difficult for me to grasp.

How about now?

I would describe myself as an optimistic realist. So what do I think the next few weeks will bring when I look through these, my glasses?
I believe that there will be increasing restrictions and that the situation will calm down from late summer at the earliest. Until then, the measures taken will keep changing. Forward planning is therefore no longer possible. There will be major health, social and economic problems and consequences in all countries of the world. I sincerely hope that the unrest and attacks that some people in the USA, for example, want to protect themselves against by buying weapons will not occur.

Self-determination versus heteronomy – who decides over my life?

We follow the German media and the steps taken by the Chancellor and the Minister Presidents of the German states very closely. In this context I like Markus Söder best at the moment. He is clear in his statements, provides the necessary support in a timely manner, restricts when he considers it necessary, takes uncomfortable paths and doesn’t beat about the bush. Some of his colleagues respond to questions not asked, evade or seem to be in election campaign mode. I never thought I would have the chance to comment on this, but I do care who guides me through such crises. That is why I am also grateful that there were no new elections recently and that we have someone in the Chancellery who is still very new in office. In these times experience, network and crisis management are what count for me.

In the land of unlimited possibilities!

Here in the USA, the state and national parks are gradually closing down, and bars and restaurants have already closed for the most part. In California, where we’re staying, there’s a lockdown starting tonight. The situation is similar to that in Europe, the measures are similar. Just as in our countries, the states all react differently, depending on how the virus is spread.  Travel, as we once planned, is no longer conceivable and is no longer fun at the moment.

We finish our journey and hopefully return in April

In order to remain capable of acting and not to be confronted with a fait accompli at some point, we have decided today to start our journey home. This means for us that we will drive back the approximately 5000 km to the east coast within the next two weeks and ship our Amigo to Hamburg in mid-April. For this he has to be in the port of Baltimore on April 06th. Passengers are unfortunately not carried on cargo ships at the moment. So we will fly back to Germany. As soon as we have the booking confirmation from the shipping company, we will book the flight. At the moment there are still flights available, but who knows how it will look like in two weeks?! Before we start the long tour tomorrow, I will do a machine wash first. Tonight we will have another barbecue. Who knows where we’ll be the next few nights…   Where do your thoughts take you these days? What goes through your mind? 

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Dieser Beitrag hat 3 Kommentare

  1. Winnie Ng

    Hi Sabine, hi Manfred,
    You made the right decision to go home. I feel a little disappointed that we will not see you inVancouver this year. But things are too crazy now and no one knows how much longer and how much worse will this crisis be. I wish you a safe trip home and look forward to seeing you two some day. Stay well! Fondly.

    1. saradevi

      Dear Winnie,
      thank you for your lines. Yeah, it’s a real pity we won’t be visiting you. We hope that this horror will soon be over. The current situation in Canada is not reported very much in the German media. Are you still going to work or can you do home office?
      Anyway, we hope that you are doing well and would be happy to see you again one day.
      Stay healthy and take good care of yourself.
      All the best
      sama

      1. Winnie Ng

        In Canada, a total of 1,371 cases have been reported and 21 have died. The confined cases are mostly in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. I have been working from home and diligently practicing social distancing. It’s very sad to see all these businesses and workers struggling to survive and maintain their sanity. These days, I do a lot of cooking and baking, reading, Chinese calligraphy, walking and biking. There’s not a lot of work due to the travel ban. I don’t see any immediate improvement on the horizon. Anyway, you two hang in there and get home safe