The restrictions continue to tighten here - which is all to the good, since Poland's infection rate continues to be fairly low compared to other parts of the world. All home improvement stores are now to be closed on weekends; there are only three customers per register allowed in any store; hair dressers and beauty salons are closed full stop, ( Read more... )

 I am happy to say that we somehow managed to get through the last two weeks on the epic grocery shop I did two weeks ago. Well, mostly - a neighbor kindly gave me eggs and baking powder to tide me over. Today, I headed out again for grocery shopping, and woke up very excited by the prospect. Which was weird, because it wasn't like I was heading ( Read more... )

 Oh, I forgot about the other thing that's been itching lately.

I was finally able to confirm with the company that manages the house we own in Virginia, that even if our tenants have trouble paying the rent over the next couple of months, they will not be evicted. That's the last thing I want - frankly, if push comes to shove, I'd be good with ( Read more... )

 Bill is having a Weekend. His quarantine was officially up today - but in truth, he went back to work on Wednesday, because he was scheduled to carry the embassy duty phone for the next week. (Basically, when someone calls the embassy after hours because they're an American in trouble or they know of an American in trouble, the duty phone rings ( Read more... )

 Well, Poland is now on lockdown.  It's not quite as absolute as Italy's, but it's pretty tight. We're not allowed to be in public in groups of more than 2, we're not allowed to leave our houses except for work, medical volunteering, or shopping for necessities. (And necessities better be medicine and/or food, because every other type of store is ( Read more... )

 The first week of quarantine is over, and I'm happy to say that we are not completely terrible at it. I'll also admit that at some point, everyone cheated, which is probably not exactly something I should admit or that anyone wants to hear.

The kids cheated by going outside to play almost every day on the street in front of the house with some of ( Read more... )

 There's a rumor that schools will be closed into April here - not terribly surprising, given that there are school districts in the States that are already calling it for the remainder of the school year. Our first three days of virtual school were tough, but the only reason they weren't impossible was because Bill's home, too. If I'd been trying ( Read more... )

 There was an email this morning from the embassy's health unit, basically advising us that anyone with underlying health issues is now on Authorized Departure. Basically, it's a voluntary evacuation - if you want to leave a post, you can.

Compare that email to the article I read in the Washington Post today as well, talking about how American ( Read more... )

 And in other news, Bill was in a meeting yesterday with someone who has since tested positive for Covid-19. So he's under a two-week quarantine to see if he develops symptoms, though the kids and I are technically not. (Which just doesn't seem quite right. If Bill was exposed, therefore we may also have been exposed by association, no?)

The crappy ( Read more... )

I am having a somewhat otherworldly experience of the coronavirus at the moment. There are several reasons for this, mainly because the disease only officially reached Poland within the last week, and the Polish reaction has been very different from the American one. (Namely: as of this morning, there were only 26 confirmed cases in Poland, but the ( Read more... )