Getting back to work

I’ve been a little quiet on this blog, and I apologize for that.

I have a couple of valid excuses – at least, semi-valid.

First of all, I’ve been busy working. We’ve been in the apartment for just under four months, and not only have I got the studio completely set up, but I’ve also actually already written and recorded three courses for LinkedIn Learning. Granted, they were revisions of existing courses, but they still required time and effort.

I’ve also done a few small video projects for another client and made some interesting connections that may turn into more work in the future.

And I’ve been making music – if you follow my Soundcloud stream, you’ve seen six new songs, some of which are in an entirely different direction that most of my earlier stuff (and not all of which has gotten the most positive feedback, admittedly, but I’m proud of them).

And, I’ve been working on a new website for my new Portuguese company, although I had some assistance on that. I’m only waiting on one thing right now – I imagine www.CriativoDourado.com will be live within the next 48 hours.

Plus, we’re still settling in. We finally got pictures hung on the walls, and the last piece of furniture (a buffet in the living room) is now in place. The flat really feels like it’s ours now – at least for the next eight months! I will admit we’re already talking about what we need in the next place, though.

So, I have excuses and can honestly say it’s not completely sloth and inertia that’s kept me offline.

That being said, it’s time to take up the challenge again! I’m going to commit to one article a week until the end of the year, so I’ll be able to give you a little picture of what Portugal looks like through the Christmas and New Year’s season.

Of course, these are strange days … even here, where the COVID count is a fraction of what it is in the US, society has been impacted and the situation is anything but normal.

Over the summer, the case count was low and steady – averaging around 200 cases a day for the entire country, even while our neighbor Spain was having tens of thousands.

However, at the beginning of the Autumn, people from the UK started being able to travel to Portugal without quarantining. This was great for the shops and restaurants that had been suffering from the lack of tourists, but it only lasted a few weeks before they clamped down again.

People started going back to work after the August holidays, too. And schools started reopening, and so on and so on. Guess what? Cases started going up. At its worst, we were up to 7,000 cases in one day.

Once again, the news isn’t all bleak. Portugal has some advantages that the US doesn’t when it comes to reacting to emergencies like this. Even though there are a multitude of political parties, they all pulled together to battle coronavirus. Basically, the leader of the opposition said, “We’re not going to make problems for the ruling party for political reasons when the well-being of citizens is at stake.”

This seems to be a very Portuguese way of looking at things. There is still a sense of civic responsibility here that has been disappearing in the US. No, people don’t like wearing masks – but they wear ‘em anyways, because it’s the responsible thing to do.

Contact tracing is also happening well here, which has enabled the health authorities to pinpoint the infection vectors and target those places aggressively. Right now, there’s a curfew from 11:00 PM until 5:00 AM on weekdays, and from 1:00 PM on weekends.

The good news? Cases have dropped by 50% in two weeks. Last weekend, every test in Porto for COVID came back negative, although the Northern region is still the worst off in the country.

Restaurants are open for inside dining, although they have some stiff rules to follow about cleanliness and occupancy, plus they have to close at 10:30 PM. But even on weekends, they’re doing take-away (Uber Eats and Glovo are doing tremendous business).

We’re trying to support our favorite places, but they’re suffering right now. Everybody is making huge sacrifices to stay open, because they’re worried if they close it will be for good. Luckily, the end seems to be in sight, since the plan is to start vaccinating people by Christmas – the government has 18 million doses of vaccine ready to go, and there are only 10 million people in the country.

There are restrictions on travel this week and next – these are holiday four-day weekends, and they want to prevent the disease spreading, so you’re not supposed to leave your municipality from Friday 11:00 PM until Wednesday 5:00 AM. We’re all hoping the weekend curfew ends after next week, but it will depend on the progress made.

This isn’t too bad for us, and we’re still getting lots of opportunity to get out for nice walks almost every day. The weather has been mostly beautiful, too! Today, we took Keiko over to the Parque da Cidade (City Park), which is the biggest urban park in Portugal at over 200 acres.

So, that’s my story for now – I promise to keep up better!