There are so many things that this past year has changed. Kids were homeschooled for a lot of it, we worked mostly from home, we stopped being able to freely travel, we stopped being able to have lots of people over for fun dinners, we stopped being able to go to eat in a restaurant. It’s hard to comprehend it’s been a whole year.
But let’s take it back to the beginning, because as much as I think I will never ever forget this time in my life, you never know. Ten years from now I may forget what it was like to live through a Pandemic (please, please, please let that be true and this not be just the first of many…)
Right before our world entirely turned upside down we were lucky enough to sneak in a few more activities. Ah, those early March days when we could naively believe that Covid was a thing that was happening far away in China and Italy….
Over Christmas break we had planned a girls weekend to Lviv, a beautiful city in Western Ukraine. I could never have imagined it would be the last carefree, mask less vacation that I would take for a very long time. We stayed at a super cute hotel and it was such a lovely girly weekend full of chatting and wine and shopping. Looking back, had I known what was coming I would have savored every second of talking with my friends in person over wine, trying on clothes in a store or having dinner at a restaurant.
Apparently Lviv was the birthplace of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch who is known for being the father of the concept of masochism in literature. So here is his bronze statue with a surprise in the pocket….(use your imagination).
Awesome antique market! Thrifting in person, maskless. I mean how does this guy smoke his cigarettes handsfree with a mask??
Then it was back home for more activities that seem completely outrageous right now. A dentist visit! Mouths open, no masks, people hands in your mouths! Thank goodness we snuck that one in….all the kids needed a cleaning.
Silver lining, I was told at this visit that Adam needed an expander…I told them I would take a day or two to think about it and then Covid lockdown began. So I guess I had a lot of time to think about it and I don’t think he needs it anymore!
We even snuck in some sushi after the dentist. Imagine being hungry and just going to eat in a restaurant!
And then this…This was taken the last day of in person school for the school year, except we didn’t know it yet. Adam had a basketball tournament and thankfully it happened. Imagine! Kids on a court, touching and pushing and playing. His team came in last place, but I would say he won getting the opportunity to even have this tournament.
The tournament even had spectators! Sitting next to each other, maskless! Super cute spectators at that.
And then the next day, with no warning, Ukraine went into complete lockdown March 18. Everything shut down except for supermarkets, everything was closed- schools, parks, malls, stores, flights in and out of the country and flights in the country, you were not allowed to leave the city you were in.
It happened all of a sudden with three cases in the country. It was very forward leaning and after the shock wore off I was very impressed with their posture (spoiler alert- they have since opened everything and gone the complete other direction with super high Covid numbers but that is for a later day). The kids school closed and just as Randy and I were trying to figure out how to homeschool three kids, the embassy effectively shut down. All visas were stopped, hardly anyone was in the office, the entire embassy was shut down and split into yellow and blue to never be crossed. Friends from the Embassy decided to leave on authorized departure back to the US on what would be the last international flight for a while.
For many different reasons we decided to stay put. I also decided that there was enough scary things in the world at this particular moment, with a lot of unknowns. We didn’t know what would happen in Ukraine with the spread of Covid, if there would be flights out of Ukraine, how the medical system would cope. So I decided to make the best of it. I told the kids that we were on Covid vacation. Benefits being lots of together time, no school in person, no work in person. A real vacation. Just in our house. To make it seem fun we did lots of baking, lots of movies and lots of activities. Thankfully my work was nearly nonexistent at the time since no one was getting a visa and besides assisting Americans leave the country work was very slow. I set up the dining room that we never use as a schoolroom and away we went.
Thinking back to those times I can’t believe we spent months just us in the house. We had one friend that we would meet outside daily and go for walks, or meet at the embassy when the parks had shut down. But it was a time of all Alis, all the time. And we were ok! Scared and unsure of what was going to happen, but ok!
Remember the days when you had no idea where to get a mask? I had no idea how to order on the Russian amazon equivalent that meant three phone calls in Russian to confirm your order. So at first we only had these underwear masks from the embassy…rumor is Hanes made them and that is why they look like underwear….but I have to say the Alis look cute in masks. I have no pics of Randy in masks. He was mostly holed up on his office all day actually working remotely from home. He had calls ALL day and would eventually come down for dinner. Thank goodness we have an office!!
First day of homeschooling, which maybe went well because of the social distancing….Let me tell you going from all school all the time to mommy school was rough on us all. Figuring out schedules of calls, logging into a lot of systems, scrounging up art supplies. BUT I will say we were insanely lucky. The boys were at PSI, a great private school that got online schooling together very fast!
I spent time in between zoom calls finding spots in the house to have some alone time…aka hiding from my kids 🙂
We made a deal that we would go outside at least once a day, no matter how cold it was. It was pretty cold still in March but we managed to motivate and go out and meet out one friend outside for a walk or sometimes even some soccer every day of Corona vacation.
I kept running and this kept me sane. Getting outside for an hour and seeing this view every day was amazing for my sanity over the long weeks of lockdown.
Fish tank cleanings were an exciting time for all.
I continued my quest to find a quiet spot in the house.
We backed ALOT!
We became playdough experts.
Some school zooms calls were so exciting that we all joined.
More runs
Comfy movie nights on Friday were started
More zoom calls and learning (next time we have four moths of lockdown pandemic schooling I am buying all the construction paper and art supplies in advance…)
More baking
Lots of Puzzles
More runs
A lost tooth mid pandemic meant this lucky duck got 500 griven (20 bucks) because the tooth fairy didn’t have any smaller bills!
Even when the parks were closed we managed to find some green space. Thankfully Kyiv is full of green spots!
Lego Challenges filled a good couple of hours.
More runs (see a pattern growing here)? Routine was really helpful for all of us over this time. The kids had a routine and so did I.
This is one of Kyiv’s busiest streets that I run by. It blows my mind how empty it was over these first few months of lockdown when everything was closed.
The best part about Corona vacation was that we could all sleep on. Usually to get the kids to the bus on time and for me to fit in a run before work we are all up at 6 and in the winter is it soooo dark. I even started having coffee in bed most mornings. Heaven!
More playdough expert creating.
Adam’s little bean plant grew into this beast! He grew this from a bean!
This little one had a short zoom call with her class every day but mostly spent a lot time painting.
We even made our own dough and tried to make Easter eggs….pinterest fail, but we had fun!
This little triangle took me 45 minutes to glue together for Adam’s math project…I was pretty proud of myself when I did it!
Playdough balls
Hazy morning runs
I don’t think I will ever have a prettier run.
Outdoor time
At least someone was still getting dressed up.
Watching the snow, which was still coming in March.
Fort building combined trying to find a quiet place.
Science experiments
What was amazing about all of a sudden home schooling was I was able to see Malcolm start to read. These few months it all started to click and he just keeps getting better and better at reading.
Another amazing thing about Corona vacation was that I learned to cook! I have always been afraid to cook and left it to Randy. Even when he was in Pakistan, I was working full time and rarely cooked. Well, all of a sudden I had all the time in the world. So I started to cook and cook and cook. Turns out, it’s not that scary and with no restaurants option and limited delivery it was the only option to get us all fed all the time with good food. Luckily there was still wine delivery during lockdown.
Origami flowers making
Chicken soup success
We tried to grow mold on bread but our hands must not have been dirty enough.
Miral always wanted to be in the classroom so she often ‘helped’ me with my work.
I run by this guy every day. He has a spot in his mouth to drop coins.
Whoever thought I would be running with a mask but here we are.
Outdoor playdates with thankfully warmer weather.
Crosswords
More and more zoom calls
Covid Art, using what we have.
Zoom playdates with scavenger hunts
More runs
More cooking
More zoom calls
With all the parks closed we started going go to the Embassy with two other families on our blue days. This is the beginning of the creation of our bubble that started in May. More on that in another riveting Covid post 🙂
Such cool learning projects at school.
I couldn’t keep Adam in books during Corona vacation. This boy is a reader! With the library closed Adam was rereading books and eventually we decided that we had to find a kindle on the local market for him. Thankfully we found one locally that delivered and he has been reading nonstop since.
Outdoor time in warmer weather meant we could spend longer outside.
Menu planning fun
Math games
Science present- making ice-cream!
Working hard
There were moments when I questioned whether all this alone time would have a lasting effect on our sanity…or maybe just contribute to my greys….
My happy spot, organizing school supplies..
If you have to be stuck inside it helps to have this view!
And this one when running
And this one when running back.
This tomato soup is the best tomato soup I have ever had. I may be a tiny bit obsessed with it!
reading, reading, always reading
Oh did I mention that Miral chose lockdown to potty train. She woke up one day and refused to wear diapers anymore. Normally we have to stay home for a few days for potty training so lockdown made that part easy. Miral basically potty trained herself and just like that we no longer have any babies in diapers. Bittersweet, like the end of any era and especially with our last baby, but with diapers it was mostly just sweet 🙂
This might only be exciting to me but a few months into lockdown I found the most amazing delivery for fruits and vegetables! LIFE changing.
And slowly, slowly spring started to come to Kyiv! We started opening our windows, using the balcony and enjoying the beautiful weather. After a long winter at home it was exactly what we all needed!
We made frogs to celebrate spring!
We broke out our spring dresses!
Our vests and our scooters!
In spring there are dandelions EVERYWHERE in Kyiv.
Skateboarding!
Another exciting development, I figured out how to make wings! Fridays became wings, pizza and movie night.
Thinking back to this time with spring came it brought with it that things would get better. That we could spend time outside, that we could stay healthy, that we could survive anything that came our way.
The best part about Corona vacation was having extra time to slow down and be with the kids. I am not saying there weren’t moments when I hid in a quiet spot or upped my running to have some time to myself, but the last few years, joining the foreign service, learning Ukrainian, moving to Kyiv have been hectic. Full and wonderful but hectic. Corona vacation forced me all to slow way way down and find news ways to live and interact, to have no distractions, to have no place else to be but exactly where I am, something that is hard for me and a work in progress.
As painful as this year as been for the world I am going to remember the positives from this year, like this moment right here and all the other ones above.
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