Living in lockdown - day 74

So, it's been a while since I've written but then again, we haven't been up to much as we're still in lockdown in Auckland. We're currently at level 3 lockdown which equates to lockdown with takeaways and click and collect (both much appreciated!) 

 Jonathan started his new job back in August and is still getting used to the altered pace of life here. Nothing is as busy as we're used to and what a New Zealander calls a heavy workload seems light to us. We're slowly getting used to the idea of a work life balance although this is obviously restricted by our current lockdown. At least the new job for him is a pleasant place to work and certainly varied. 

 For me, work has been crazily buzy running a course for the first time (well, 4 courses in 3 locations, but laterly on zoom.) However, the weirdness of antipodean university life means that I'm coming to the end of the year and I've only got a couple more online days of zoom exams to go. I teach clinical assessment so this is quite a challenge on zoom (imagine trying to teach someone how to "feel" a patient's abdomen - via zoom!) It's worse for the students though who ended up having to interview an actor patient and then describe "how" they would do the assessment. They have mostly surprised me with how well they have done, which is nice. 

 In addition to teaching for the university, we both presented at a respiratory conference (how to manage patients with Covid) at the end of September. This was meant to be in Rotorua and we were really looking forward to the break. Understandably, it got moved to a virtual conference so we had the odd experience of having to film ourselves in advance then attend live for a panel discussion.Even weirder - we were in separate rooms at home!

I also finally got to be a part of the vaccination programme here when the university set up a pop up centre for students (& everyone else!) so, over the initial 4 days then 5 weeks later, a weekend (including "Super Saturday") I got work in the recovery area. This is where you go to wait for 15 minutes after your vaccination (and where people sometimes faint.) We had a few people faint due to needle phobia but nothing serious. What was lovely was a couple of those with needle phobia at the first dose, came back and had their second whilst I held their hand! We could also reward them with donuts as Super Saturday was supported by lots of initiatives to boost the numbers. 

The current numbers in the country for vaccination are 86.9% first dose, 71.7% fully vaccinated (they haven't started booster doses here yet as our vaccination programme started later.) Once each region hits 90% fully vaccinated we move onto a different lockdown so hopefully this won't be too long now. It's hard to understand vaccine hesitancy but the population here really don't understand the gravity of the disease. As with elsewhere in the world, the few cases that have ended up in hospital so far are almost all unvaccinated. It's a small country, with a small population, but the numbers of those who have died is minute in comparison (currently 28.)

Lockdown has given us opportunities to sample some of the finer things in New Zealand. We get a fortnightly delivery of avocadoes grown 2 hours away in the Bay of Plenty which feels decadent but is actually quite economical. As they tend to ripen at the same time, we've worked out that smashing them, adding lemon juice then freezing spare works well. The colour of this avocado mash/guacamole is truly spectacular.

My colleague Anna introduced me to Little Island ice creamery - ice cream and lollies made with non-dairy ice cream. I ended up filling up our freezer with jokes that we could use it once lockdown was over for a reunion barbecue, but at this rate, there won't be any left! 74 days is quite a long time!

I was a bit rubbish initially at getting out of the house for enough walks and exercise but am definitely improving. In addition to the walks and bike rides, I've started doing zoom gym classes which have been great. Our walks in the local area continue to be a delightful way of finding hidden gems like artwork, coffee and views.

We're obviously not far from water anywhere here but there are also lots of parks and many extinct volcanoes which make for interesting walks. Yesterday we did the "Coast to Coast" walk from Onehunga which took in several high points (literally) including Mount Eden and One Tree hill. It rained the whole time but was still a lovely walk. Our local park, the Domain is the oldest park in Auckland and has the museum at the top. It has some wonderful old trees which I love.

We've also been out on our e-bikes and have a regular circuit of about 45k.

Being in lockdown has meant I've had more time to sew than ever before and have pretty much got a whole new wardrobe as a result! I've had a few disasters but mostly successes so here's a taster.

The garden here needs constantly weeding, which I'm behind with as ever but I have got quite a few herbs and tomato seedlings on the go now. Hopefully they will have grown a bit more but not yet producing tomatoes by the time I get around to writing again!

In the meantime, I'm planning to get out and about more with the weather being so much nicer and to make the most of this!

As ever, please keep in touch whether by social media, emails, zoom or WhatsApp. It's always lovely to hear from you!