It turned out to be a good thing I went up to Waitangi in early February, since traveling has been off the table during the pandemic. I feel very fortunate to be relatively safe in New Zealand - being an island nation certainly has its benefits - though I worry about those whose fates rest in the hands of less capable governments. New Zealand's approach was to go hard, go early, and it closed its borders and began quarantining all arrivals for two weeks, which helped stay on top of things, although it wasn't soon enough to prevent multiple clusters of outbreaks. It got into two rest homes, so most of the 21 deaths have been in these vulnerable populations.
It has been strange to have the rest of the world experience some of the isolation and working from home that I was already doing upon arrival to a new city. The lockdown has meant that I can't go to local libraries to work, but otherwise not much has changed except for the anxiety of everything going on around me. I have been reading the news more than usual, and watching the press briefings when they announce changes to the alert levels.
I have experienced a city with millions of people grind to a halt, and the empty roads and storefronts have been eerie. It's one thing to see it in the apocalypse movies; another entirely to have the silence of the usual hustle and bustle. More people have been experiencing their local parks and neighborhoods, though, and appreciating the natural world. Hopefully some of these bright sides continue.
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| Empty highway during Level 4 |
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| Some people had creative ways to brighten people's walks |
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| Love hearing the tui birds on neighborhood walks |
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| More cars start returning to the road at Level 3 |
We have seen how dependent people here are on restaurants making their food for them. Unlike in other countries, all restaurants including take-out were closed here for five weeks. There was panic-buying at grocery stores, and shelves have been clear of flour most of the time. People who didn't know how to cook and/or were reliant on Uber Eats hand-delivering their meals to them had to figure something out. I'm curious what they did. I suspect many women were relegated (even more) to traditional roles of cooking and cleaning for others. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't go out to eat all that much, and certainly didn't buy one or more coffees on a daily basis, so we don't need all of these restaurants and cafes for actual survival, but the convenience factor for those with money seems to have been too tempting. It is predicted that many restaurants will close permanently - some already have - because they can't pay staff and don't expect business to resume to previous levels. But they were already operating on very thin margins, so this isn't unexpected.
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| Rush on restaurants on March 25, the last day before the lockdown at Level 4 began |
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| People are happy that restaurants reopened for take-out/delivery at Level 3 |
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| We did get some American-style pizza after months without :) |
The country moves to alert level 2 in one day, which will allow most businesses to resume but with distancing and safety measures in place. Bars are going to be the last to open since they are high-risk areas and designed to bring strangers together. I am conflicted about the 'return to normality' - in one sense, it has been nice to feel no pressure to socialize or go outside of my bubble, no pressure to work on projects because everything this year has been thrown out the window. But in another sense, continuing to be isolated and watching people suffer because they didn't plan for a crisis (and many couldn't, especially migrants in precarious labor) isn't sustainable long term. The hope is that New Zealand doesn't have to move back up the levels into full lockdown if it can stamp out the virus and quarantine any new cases in Kiwis who return home (borders are still shut). Then domestic affairs can resume more normally, and hopefully we can all continue to participate in conversations about how to rebuild the country in a more sustainable and equitable way. It's refreshing to see these are the kinds of topics in the news here; it gives a sense of hope that is lacking elsewhere.
In house news, we have been experiencing ant infestations and crickets. These worsen when it rains. The ants were almost under control, but now there are single ants wandering around places they didn't used to go, like the couch and doors. It's not clear if they are part of other clusters. As for the crickets, they are bigger and darker than what I'm used to. They also really like to chirp. They have been sitting in the wall in the living room and starting up in the evening, or under the cabinets in the kitchen. Sometimes they crawl across the floor, but they are so fast sometimes we lose them and then hope that the cat points them out to us. We had almost no insect issues in Christchurch, so this is one downside of living in a milder climate. There have been a few tiny roaches, but nothing major yet thankfully.
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| one of my plants liked the fall weather and started flowering |
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| black field cricket |
