Two perspectives on the pandemic abroad.

By Denise Assis, for the Journalists for Democracy 

Earlier today, this space was dedicated to two friends living abroad, sharing their experiences of the pandemic. Sonja lives in London, and Paula is from Galicia, Spain. She lived in Brazil but returned to Spain shortly after the 2016 coup.

She was a girl who, like me, loved the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Back then, we'd get together in the afternoons to listen to the latest Beatles LP that her friend had imported from the US. At night we'd go to the club's dance, already knowing the lyrics by heart. 

Sonja was the most fanatical. She translated every lyric and sang all the songs by heart. She dreamed of England. One day she announced she was leaving. She was going to meet the four horsemen of the apocalypse. She made everyone envious. But who dared? She took a picture with the boys, sent it by mail, and stayed. She stayed. Today she lives in London, has two daughters, and is retired as a librarian. At my request, she tells us a little about her experience with the pandemic in the land of the Queen.

"Hi Denise, 

I live in London and have been home since March 16th. I barely experienced the madness of the overcrowded supermarkets. The first week was a horror. Everyone was jostling to buy pasta and toilet paper. It felt like the world was going to end. They had to reduce prices and stipulate what each person could buy. 

Now you can only shop by waiting three weeks to submit your list online. Even then, accessing the website requires patience. Only after midnight. (This is the tip, because after this time is when the dates change and you can schedule for the last day of the third week.)

I don't go out for anything because I have diabetes and take insulin, but my neighbor goes out to a market nearby and says that nobody respects the two-meter distance. The line to get into the market is going around the block.

In short, many people are dying, and it looks like it's going to be the country with the most deaths. The government was slow to take action. A government that's a little better than yours, but terrible nonetheless.

And we don't know what tomorrow will bring. I have one daughter here, Cynthia, whom I only see through WhatsApp. The other one lives in Seville, Liv. She is also in quarantine.

Nature is angry, and rightfully so. It's a shame that those who need to die don't...”

Paula Sanmartin – actress and stage designer – 

Paula was my Spanish teacher. She arrived in Brazil after falling in love with a Brazilian man who convinced her to move to Rio. In the end, she discovered she had gotten herself into a mess. She changed loves and, this time, did the opposite. She convinced a talented and dedicated musician to do the reverse. She returned to Galicia, her family's homeland, where she had a daughter. A talented actress, she has participated in successful series and directs shows. She tells me about her daily life in quarantine.

"The state of emergency began in Spain on March 16th, but my family and I have been confined since the 13th. That's 40 days. A real quarantine. We are all healthy. The drama here is more concentrated in the city of Madrid, with overcrowded hospitals, a lack of ventilators, deaths without proper farewells..." 

In Galicia, which is my place (or historical nationality, as the Spanish constitution states), the virus has, for now, made little presence – which also obliges us to stay at home, for everyone's sake. Here we experienced another initial drama, which was the fact that "Madrid" (and this should be understood as the Spanish central government) did not close its "borders" when coronavirus cases began to increase within the city. 

This allowed many people with second homes for holidays elsewhere on the peninsula - such as Galicia - to leave the capital, enabling the spread of the virus throughout the state - and not throughout the entire peninsula, because the neighboring country, Portugal, closed its borders in time. 

Today (April 21st) it seems we have reached the "meseta" – (the plateau, in a free translation). Perhaps it refers to the decrease in the number of infections/deaths, and starting next Monday, April 27th, children will be able to leave home, in a controlled manner, accompanied by an adult. 

The Spanish government, currently "left-leaning," suffers daily attacks from the far right, which sees any opportunity as a good one to undermine political stability and yearns for a coup d'état. Nevertheless, with its successes and failures, the government is taking political and economic actions, maintaining a firm hand with the European Union, to guarantee a minimum level of support for the survival of the most disadvantaged. And this is going very well. The debate on a universal basic income is on the table, and this could be the positive aspect of this whole crisis.

My daughter arrived and I couldn't continue writing. 

Kisses, we'll talk more soon!