One of the main reasons I came to USA is to see whether my prejudices regarding Americans where right or just imagination.
I hardly could imagine that I would be stuck outside the New York city for months with my family and a city that is completely empty.

It started quite easily. Reminding me of the start of the news from Bosnia where in the beginning everything was a little chaotic, but people where still positive about how happenings will end good.

It feels like the same thing happened here. When talking to people in the school we were a little bit arrogant about the Americans stashing up loads of toilet papers, pasta, cans and so on. We were laughing them more or less out…

My son was sick or rather had the cold the last week before the lock down. The school didn’t want to take him despite having been by the doctor and being confirmed negative for “corona”.
The two of us went to the supermarket and everything was gone. Empty! Then I realized that things are getting serious. Even if you had the money there was nothing to buy in the stores.
The next three days we were zigzagging between supermarkets trying to buy as many things as possible. The shelves were all empty and a feeling of apocalypse was spreading. Ordering masks or sanitizers was impossible. The delivery times where 3 months or longer.

Then the school and the offices closed and we stayed at home. In the beginning it was a disaster with the classes. The first 2 weeks Ada didn’t have any classes. We thought kids will stay at home a week or two. Then the school closed until May. I remember I was so tired of having no time alone. I was 24/7 with my kids. I had to cook and to clean and force the children to do their home work. It is so exhausting because it takes a terrawatt to activate the children.

Then the message came that the school was completely transferred to online learning. I wanted to cry when I heard the school is closing. I was so fed up with everything and I needed some new positive energy. After some time I adjusted to the situation. Somehow when it is feeling tough it is important to focus on the good things and make it day by day.
Even if things are tough one has to find something that can give you new positive energy. One day I will look back at this time and say it was the most precious time with my kids ever…

My daughter loves to do experiments so we started planting and it became a great project for the whole family. As a result we also had a lot of tomatoes, which was fantastic, because it was mostly the tomatoes that we couldn’t stash and we had to go to the stores to get some fresh tomatoes 🙂
The kids loved to get out and pick the tomatoes and it became an adventure to follow how the things grow. It was simply magical for the kids.

Now it has been almost a year of the corona virus around and my family and I have been lucky to stay healthy. I wish everyone stays safe and healthy and wish you a happy and safe new year !

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Jedan od razloga što sam ja došla u Ameriku je da vidim da li su moje predrasude ustvari samo predrasude. Nije mi bilo ni na kraj pameti da ću doživjeti “lock down” gdje ću mjesecima samo sjediti kod kuće sa djecom i gdje će najveći doživljaj biti taj kad odeš u kupovinu.

Nisam ni pomislila da ću zaglaviti u jednoj državi da ne mogu putovati. Da će djeca mjesecima biti kod kuće. Da će gradovi biti pusti.

Ispočetka je sve počelo mirno i onako poneke vijesti su izvještavali o koroni. Ameri su počeli da kupuje zalihe. Sjećam se kad sam vodila djecu u školi da su se roditelji (većinom evropljani) smijali se tom američkom “ekstremizmu” gdje kupuju 3 godišnja pakovanja toaletpapira itd.

Sedmicu prije nego što će zatvoriti čitavo društvo, otišla sam u prodavnicu i doživjela sam šok. Bukvalno ničega više nije bilo i skontala sam odnio vuk magarca. Slijedeća 3 dana sam bukvalno po čitave dane išla i tražila zalihe od brašna, flaširane vode do konzervi. Prvi dan kad sam kupila stvari skontala sam da mi koliko jedemo od naših “zaliha” možemo neka 3 dana živjeti. Sjetila sam se moje majke koja je vreće po 50kg brašna držala u podrumu 🙂 Brašna nije bilo skoro nigdje kupiti. Bukvalno sam išla od prodavnice do prodavnice da po kilu brašna kupim. Sjetila sam se naručiti brašno preko interneta. Došlo je nakon 3 mjeseca…

Sad su škole zatvorile mislila sam da će to biti na par dana , maksimalno 2 sedmice. Pa produžiše još sedmicu. Pa mjesec. Kad su u maju rekli da će škola zatvoriti do kraja školske godine htjela sam da plaćem od muke.

Onaj osjećaj, 24h na dan biti sa djecom bez ikakve mogućnost da ih igdje ostaviš jer je bukvalno sve bilo zatvoreno ,me psihički ubijao.

Čitav grad je zatvorio. Ostali samo supermarketi i apoteke otvorene. Kad kreneš u prodavnicu trebalo je 2.5h da završiš kupovinom jer se sat vremena trebalo čekati u redu. Doduše to je bilo malo mog vremena bez djece pa se nisam previše bunila.

Kupovine hrane mi je postala doživljaj svake druge sedmice 😀 Da smanjimo rizik izlaganju mi smo uspijeli da se uhodamo da imamo sve namirnice 2 sedmice i poslije toga smo morali ponovo u prodavnicu po zalihe.

U čitavoj ovoj situaciji mi je bio najgori osjećaj da nigdje ne možeš. Ne smiješ se ni sa kim družiti (i nismo). Ne smiješ nigdje jer je sve zatvoreno i onaj osjećaj da nikad absolutno nisi sam je bio frustrirajući osjećaj. I nismo mogli u Evropu da vidimo familiju. Užas. Samo je bilo nas četvero… Srećom pa smo u funkcionirajućem braku, inače razumijem da su veze pucale.

U svemu ovome bitno je bilo dan za danom prelaziti dan. Bilo je dana gdje bih najradije pobjegla na mjesec, a bilo je dana gdje sam pomislila da je ovo vrijeme za djecu nezaboravno kad su im i mama i tata po čitave dane kod kuće. Isto tako neću zaboraviti da je djeci najveći strah reći da ne smiju ići u školu ako ne slušaju jer su se poželili sresti ostalu djecu 😀
Ove sedmice je škola opet počela i nadam se da će nam ova godina biti koliko toliko bolje nego prošla. Puno sreće i zdravlja vam želim u ovoj novoj godini…