The Phases

I haven’t posted much lately mostly because I simply don’t have much to say. We ran out of cute new ways to spend time in the apartment a while ago, although we have continued to enjoy playing ping pong, making music, etc. I have been reading a lot more than watching TV recently. I read Uncanny Valley by Anna Weiner, which was an enjoyable and well-written memoir of a non-tech person’s early career at a couple of tech start-ups in Silicon Valley. I am now working my way through a biography of the author Shirley Jackson by Ruth Franklin. I read Shirley Jackson’s most-famous story, The Lottery, in English class in middle school I think. I didn’t like it and didn’t think much about Shirley Jackson after that. But Matt knows I like biographies and he heard about this one and gave it to me as a Kindle book and it is fantastic. It’s slow-moving and detailed, which I like in a biography because it lets me get to know the subject better.

We’ve also been doing a lot of schoolwork with the kids. We slowed down for a bit toward the beginning of the lockdown when we were getting used to it and trying to figure out what was going on and how to act. But the last couple of weeks we buckled down, especially in math. Ryan finished his math curriculum this past week and Will will finish his probably this next week. We’ve been doing some reading and writing as well. You can also expect a guest blog post from Ryan coming soon!

Okay, on to the real subject of this post, the phases. The Spanish government, like a number of European countries, announced last week their plan to re-open society gradually and eventually land on what they are calling “Nueva Normalidad,” or “New Normality.” Now, I’ll be up front with you—I can’t stand the phrase “the new normal.” I mean, I get what it means. Yes, life won’t go back to exactly the way it was before the pandemic. And we’ll have to get used to whatever it is. So at some point, sure, it will be both new and normal. But people started throwing around the expression “the new normal” way too early and way too often for my ears. Worse, it is not usefully descriptive and, let’s face it, it’s grammatical nonsense. So I was disappointed when the Spanish government adopted this trendy phrase for its official plan. I don’t like it, but at least the Spaniards have the sense to use a noun form of “normal.” I’m just saying.

Okay, okay, that’s still not the point. The point is that the government has laid out four phases to guide Spain toward this nueva normalidad. They are, interestingly, numbered 0-3, which I believe is how a computer scientist would do it and I kind of like it. We are in pre-phase 0 (my description, not theirs). For the last week children under 14 have been allowed to go outside for up to 1 hour within 1 km of home with 1 parent or guardian. We have enjoyed this opportunity and have forced the kids outside every day. Will hasn’t been an issue, but Ryan prefers to run around and play over a boring old walk through the neighborhood, so the continuing restrictions have been an issue for him. Parks are closed and you can’t gather anywhere or touch anything and we don’t have bikes or scooters. So going for a walk is really our only option. He’s more or less fine with it once we’re outside and he’s experiencing the fresh air, but he grumbles enough in advance of the outing that it sours the experience for me. But starting this weekend, yesterday, adults were allowed outside to exercise or go for a walk, also for 1 hour and also within 1 km of home. Also, within specific time windows. The kids can be out now between noon and 7, while adults have 6-10 a.m. and 8-11 p.m. So yesterday I took Ryan for a walk between 6:15 and 7 and then Matt and I went out again from 8:15-9:15 and it was glorious. I chose an especially social and vibrant neighborhood near ours for our walk and it was a good plan. People were being fairly respectful of the social-distancing requirements, but there was more activity and energy and happy sounds than I had experienced in almost two months. There was also an undercurrent of people’s suffering. Catalan words were spray painted all over the place (on the sides of these beautiful buildings!) referencing the economic hardship people are facing. I was not able to translate a lot of it, but I got the gist. People want rent freezes and the like. It was an important reminder that while it was great to be outside and in society with others, not everyone will make it through this crisis with all of their friends and families alive and their income intact and housing secure.

“When the system fails, we always pay.” Or something like that.

Phase 0 starts tomorrow. This means a few things but what I remember is that small stores can open and allow 1 person at a time inside, as long as the purchase was made in advance over the phone and the customer has an appointment. I don’t see myself taking advantage of that opportunity. Restaurants can also open for takeout. This has been an interesting difference between our experience in Spain versus what friends and family tell me in the U.S. We have been able to order food to be delivered to our apartment by services like Uber Eats, but we have not been allowed to order directly from a restaurant and go pick it up ourselves. So most of the small local restaurants (the best ones!) have been closed. We are hoping to be able to start picking up food from some of these great places within a block or two of our apartment, but first we have to do some reconnaissance work. The idea is you’re supposed to call and place an order in advance and then go pick it up, but we are telephonically challenged. We have Spanish cell numbers, but I think they can only be used to call other numbers in the same system and neither of us has ever successfully placed a call. Plus, our Spanish skills are still burgeoning and our knowledge of Catalan is close to nothing. So we’re hoping we can order in person, where we do much better with the language, and then come back to pick it up. There are some other features of phase 0 that don’t mean anything to us because they have to do with getting together with friends or family and we have none of that here. So mostly it will be about the takeout and the nightly walks for us. This phase (actually, all the phases) will last for at least 2 weeks, and its length will depend on whether the virus continues to die down or if it increases again. Assuming all goes well, two weeks later comes phase 1. I think this is when bars and restaurants can open their outside seating areas at 50% capacity. Nobody can sit and eat inside. I believe cultural centers like museums can open during phase 1 but at 30% capacity, or something like that. Then two weeks later comes phase 2. Don’t hold me to this, but I believe then inside eating spaces can open at reduced capacity and probably some other things too. Then comes phase 3, which has fewer restrictions and I think allows travel within one’s province, or something like that. I’m pretty focused on phase 0 because all we have is the present moment, right?

Despite this progress, it all comes kind of late for us. It looks unlikely that we will be able to do any of the trips that we had planned for, even within Spain. We took our first month here slowly to get used to the city and the culture. We did a lot of walking around and looking, but we did very little “doing.” I enjoyed the walking around and looking quite a lot, but the lockdown began just as we were feeling comfortable and ready to start doing things and now I don’t think we’ll get the chance. Travel outside of the province will not be allowed until almost July at the earliest. We might be able to squeeze a trip in before we depart for the U.S. on July 15, but the condition of the world is too uncertain now for us to plan for it. We’ll see what happens. What I know for sure, right now, is that I am sitting in front of an open window in a beautiful, lively city. It is an idyllic spring day. The breeze blows over my arm and it is lovely. At this moment, that is what matters. I hope you enjoy your Sunday as well.