Coronavirus Stories - Week 11 - Part 2, Perth and Istanbul

Edited BY

G P Kennedy

Wish You Were Here?

 Hi – I hope you are staying safe and well. Week 11 marks a shift in the way we are doing things here at Global Village 2020.

 

 We are going to start focusing more on individual and pairs of stories. To do this we will publish one or two Stories each day, starting each Monday. I hope you had the opportunity to read Peace’s moving Story Monday.

 

 There will still be the occasional weeks when we decide to focus on a topic or single issue. Look out next week for our contribution to the current global conversation about equality and justice.

 

 Our brave New Week continues with contributions from Simon and Espe in Australia, and a very differently appointed Gul, in Turkey.

 

 

Simon and Espe – Perth, Australia

 Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and traveling ok.

 

 So its week…something…of the pandemic and it looks like its showing no signs of slowing down globally.

 

 I am well and so is my family. Our son has started soccer training back up again and our daughter has started going to Girl Guides so their social lives are slowly returning to normal. It is winter here now and even though we are in Australia, we live up in the hills and it does get cold! So it’s on with the wood fire and as ever I find myself in the kitchen, although now I start thinking roasts and comfort food.

 

 Australia continues to have most of its internal borders closed although I think that will change by the end of the week. Western Australia now has 2 cases of COVID-19 I think and there is only a handful in the rest of the country.

 

 I used to check the domestic and international facts and figures everyday but as the weeks roll on that becomes less frequent. It sometimes feels like the whole thing has been a dream and we are slowly waking up from it.

 

 Although the social/physical distancing measures are still in place, people seem to be on autopilot now and seem to maintain the appropriate distance subconsciously. It has become the new norm and won’t change for a while.

 

 The news continues to be dominated by events in the US with the BLM movement and Perth had a rally at the weekend with 10,000 people attending. It really seems like this year is proving to be a massive shake up in more ways than one.

 

 With so many deaths from this disease globally and so much poverty and injustice in the world I hope lessons are learned this year and systems and opinions are changed forever.

 

 If 2021 turns out to be the same as any other year I will be bitterly disappointed. There is a real need for change and equality in the world and we see to be on the edge of a tipping point in time. Will we change forever or go back to the same unfair world we had six months ago? I suppose we will know in another six months.

 

We have a chance for change

 My highlight of the week was simply hanging out with my family at the weekend. Good food and a toasty fire work wonders and I even managed a 30 minute nap which was great.

 

 The lowlight is that I am off up North again for work tomorrow for a week or so. I can’t grumble too much as I am still working but its still hard being away from home.

 

 Once again I feel very lucky to live where I do and that my family are healthy and safe. When this started they were talking of 150,000 deaths here but we have had only 105 I think and that looks like about it. It’s sometimes difficult to think that this disease is still out there when things look so normal here.

 

 Stay safe everyone and look after each other.

Gul – Istanbul, Turkey

 New way of life at the Aegean Coast.

 

Life's a beach after escaping Istanbul

 We’re now away Istanbul’s hostile environment and life goes on as our new normal. Finally, my sister & brother in law and us came here, to the Aegean Coast last week. We’ll probably be here until mid October or later if the weather is still okay. There’s still fear in the air however deserted nature of this place - little oasis of stillness - seems to provide a barrier against our fear. Spending some time outdoors is really helping with our physical and mental wellbeing. Luckily, everyone seems very careful here, mask wearing and social distancing are being followed. 

 

 From the beginning of June, Turkey has introduced a controlled social new life. Parks, beaches, restaurants and cafes reopened and travel restrictions are lifted. There are new regulations and safety practices that have been put into place during this period. People are still required to wear masks in all public places, even at the beach.

Giving my mask a wash

 

 My sister made a good quality cotton masks for us that we take them to our walk, if we see someone we pull our masks up. People get angry if someone don’t wear a mask and not to care others on their walk. How strange that mask wearing has become a kind of greeting gesture. I still can’t  figure out how masks will work at the beach.

 We see some restaurants and cafes are checking people for a fever before they enter. 

 Sunbeds are spread out at the beach. Our shared swimming pool won’t be opening this summer and the beach looks abondoned for now. We will start swimming from next week (this week the weather was a bit windy) as doctors says swimming in the sea should be fine. We just need to choose quiet times and make sure not many people around.

 

 In parks, circles have been drawn out to allow proper social distances in the cities. But I heard this hasn’t worked so far in Istanbul.  I don’t think people will follow all the regulations and rules. For example, I saw some funny photos from a Turkish bath, a naked guy is getting a traditional massage and scrub with his mask.

 

 In terms of case numbers; as a result of normalization, the case numbers are going up right now but still there are around 1500 new cases and less than 20 deaths daily. I hope it will stays like this as we still have good plans for this summer.

 

Eating out for the first time in three months

 We were able to go to our first dining out in 3 months to celebrate Mike’s birthday. We went to a fish restaurant in a garden nearby to us. Tables were at least 5 meters apart to each other and, the most important thing, we brought our own cutlery and napkins. Wipes and hand gels were also at the table instead of balloons. It felt strange but we’re getting used to it.