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A year ago today, Ana and I were in Basel, Switzerland. We had flown there after putting in our application to be the house sitters for these lovely people and to take care of their two pups. In return, we got to stay in their amazing place in a little village just outside of Basel. We had house sitters come to our place to be with our two pups and to experience Berlin.

We had heard a little bit about this virus that seemed to be elsewhere but it didn’t really effect our plans yet. We still flew, mask-less, into Basel and took the public transit to Biel-Benken to hang out in the village. There were trails all over and trees to wander through. It was an excellent trip.

On this day last year we went into Basel to experience the city and we were truly bummed that on that particular day the city of Basel had just announced the cancellation of their Karneval plans. It was one of the reasons we were excited to be near this city at this time. The celebrations sounded awesome but it was cancelled just as we were making plans. The city had announced it was too risky and that some people were getting sick in the city. I remember turning to Ana and asking her if she thought we should be more alarmed. Should we worry about this? We both shrugged. We had such little information and it seemed inconvenient but extremely temporary. We didn’t spend too much time worrying about it and travelled home on our flight at the end of the week. We had no idea it would be the last time we would take a trip similar to that in the past year. We have done a little local travel when it seemed as though the numbers went down but no flying around Europe.

I write this from the beginning of week 18 of strict lockdown here although there are glimmers of something here or there easing. Hairdressers got to open back up yesterday with lots of rules and regulations. We are all waiting to watch the numbers to see what the next steps of easing lockdown might be although seeing numbers rise and variants present make it hard to believe that there will be any easing anytime soon. There is finally a recognition that its not acceptable to have so few vaccinations and for even those vaccinations to roll out so slowly. The German government has now said they aim to get most people vaccinated by September. I am slightly hopeful but not trying to be too exceedingly hopeful. Ana and I have agreed that realistically it seems like September for a visit to Oregon seems like a good goal to hope for. I haven’t been home to Oregon for 15 months, way too long in my book.

This week my nieces had the phone in a rocking chair with them, I was on the screen. They get extremely creative in how I get to still be in their lives. They were both talking about how they can’t wait for me to be in the chair with them in real life. The eldest niece asked, “Do you think it will be soon? I can’t wait to hug you in real life.” I can’t wait either.

This week I am actually nannying more than usual due to closed kitas and hard schedules for parents. Luckily I nanny with two families that are part of our bubble and one is a 10 minute walk away. I tend to go on public transit once a week maybe for the other family and only if they can’t pick me up and drop me off due to crazy schedules. Amazing how in a year my life has changed so drastically.

How is your week going?