It is March, 2020. If you told me Christmas was last week, I would have believed you! Where did January and February go? A lot of big things happened and that’s probably why these last 2 months went by sooo fast! The big news worldwide right now is the Corona virus. And in our small world the big news is: WE SOLD OUR OLD HOUSE AND BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE! Both closed in one day! Sooo happy….but so sad at the same time with all the good memories we had in the old house….and the COVID pandemic. Now what? Which activities are we going to do at our NEW home during this pandemic?
COVID-19 pandemic in different parts of the world
A few days ago, I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook and I saw a few Dutch people sharing articles in Dutch about the COVID virus and a few American people talking about the same subject, but in a total different way.
Why is it that we all receive different news and interpret it differently as well? News spreads super fast these days because of social media, but it is not always from reliable sources. That’s why, I think, there is a lot of fear among people. Especially here in the US. I’m not saying that ALL the Americans think this way or ALL the Dutch people think that way. It was just the different perspective shown articles or posts from the US and the Netherlands in one day.
The Netherlands
Someone shared this article from the Netherlands (January 2020) . It claims the sources they’re getting their information from, are reliable. In short, after the SARS virus, Swine flu and Zika virus, this virus seems to be a new pandemic. Every day we see on the news how many victims there are all over the world, but they won’t tell you that more than 50,000 people recovered from the corona virus.
Is it a sponsored pandemic sponsored by the World Health Organization (Bill Gates Foundation as one of their biggest sponsors)? During the Swine Flu in 2010, the Dutch government bought 34 million vaccines, which were totally unnecessary in the end. This is a big problem: Which news and information is real, which is fake.
Most Dutch people take normal flu pre-cautions, like washing hands often, cough and sneeze in your sleeve (elbow) and use paper tissues. Eat healthy and drink plenty of (warm) liquids.
Note: As I’m getting ready to publish this blog post, the Netherlands closed all schools and restaurants. A lot of companies make it happen that their employees can work from home. Child care will be organized for people who work in health care or emergency jobs. Slowly the Dutch are taking this more seriously, but with some arrogance. This article is in Dutch, how the Dutch down-to-earth approached changed into an arrogance during a crisis like the Corona virus.
In the USA
Meanwhile in the USA, it seems the fear is becoming more and more. A mother asked me the other day if I had food at home which can last us more than 2 weeks. The COVID virus is spreading. It is not a matter IF it comes, but more WHEN.
An email from school yesterday reassured us that no case of the virus has been found in our state of Iowa. The school takes precautions to wipe down surfaces, letting kids wash their hands more often and no hugging (in M’s class, kids are best friends and very affectionate;). In case we need to be in quarantine, the school has the possibility to have classes with the students online.
It is amazing for me to see how different these approaches are. The Dutch don’t take anything for granted, they’re very practical. The Americans are guessing what news is real and what is not. Better take the worst case scenario.
In general I think it is never bad to think about yourself and your family to stay healthy. A friendly reminder.
Update: It is March 16 and the state of Iowa decided to close all the schools and work from home as much as possible. If you go out, keep your distance with people (6-10 feet). It is weird to see, that in one way, people are emptying shelves in a hurry, but on the other hand, not wiping hands before and after entering and exiting a store. Or even going to crowded restaurants and pubs.
What is the first priority?
Following the news from all over the world, the main thing we did last week was talking as a family about the different options we need to do in our town, in our house, as our family.
That would be number 1.
- Keep talking to the kids. Sometimes you think they got it, but then they want something or go somewhere and it takes again a conversation to explain. For example why they need to wash their hands again and eat that extra piece of fruit, or cannot hangout with people in a big group.
Over the last few days, I’ve been buying more food and supplies, without freaking out. My husband came back earlier from work last Friday and he was clear, but firm about the articles he read, or the news he had heard. The kids were freaking out at some point and didn’t want to listen anymore. I guess that was not a good thing to do. Too overwhelming…for me too!
- This point belongs a little to number 1 as well, if your kids have the age to communicate with you, about solving problems in the family, integrate them in your game plan. They might come up with amazing solutions. Ask questions, like “What if….what would you do?”
As of yesterday evening, the schools in Iowa closed. We’ll check our emails regularly for updates. We already made our own decision to self-quarantine yesterday afternoon. Not only for our own safety, but also to block the spreading, even though they haven’t confirmed a case in our town, you don’t know who has it without having symptoms.
School closing, now what?
We are still waiting if our older kids can get to school to get school books and other supplies. Hope they’ll find a way how to do that.
Meanwhile our 6-year old is really up for homeschooling. I think many of us, as parents, haven’t really thought about it, and we might be overwhelmed, with other things to take care of. I guess we’re in a fight-or-flight situation. And everyone does this differently!
For now we start in the morning with a to-do-list we make together. From breakfast, math, reading games, to washing hands and connecting to grand parents or other friends through Skype.
I hope that’ll work, because don’t forget the time that she can work by herself, YOU can do the things you need or want to do. Otherwise I’ll go CRAZY!!!
Here are some fun links for online education I’ve found so far. Please share more links in the comments below. Let’s help each other!
ABC Mouse (1 month free, hope that’ll do it:)
Other activities you can do during this pandemic
Chores
I’m coming back to the chores. I’ll wait a few days to come back at doing chores. It’ll be a little different than usual of course. The house will be messier, because we’re at home most of the time. A few weeks ago I made a list with all the chores for the house, then I made a column behind the list with “WHO?” and a column with “DONE”. We start every Sunday. Everyone will sign their name behind the chore they want to do, including the parents. All the chores need to be assigned. Everyone has a whole week to do them. Otherwise the weekend will be the last chance to do them. We’ll see how that goes in the next few weeks.
Outside activities during the pandemic
There are tons of scavenger hunts online you can print off. These indoor treasure hunts are fun. Or try these outdoor ones? If the weather is nice, the kids can play outside or go to a park. My husband and I just went for a short walk (during his “lunch break”, while working from home). We’ll probably go for a bike ride later too. Coming out of the winter (and with a little snow yesterday) it is not easy to get these kids outside, but we will try! We’re planning on making a tree house with a sand box underneath and getting the garden ready for spring (clean up and planting seeds). A lot of projects we can do outside!
Cooking and baking
And…I’ve been baking too! I let my 2 older kids make their own breakfast and lunch, so they can hopefully learn with some supervision to make something healthy themselves. Our little one loves baking and cooking with mom, so I let her measure ingredients, crack eggs, whisk batter etc.
Here are some recipes we made:
- Dahl Soup: To stay healthy and fight this virus, we made this soup which has full proteins, vegetables and spices like cinnamon and turmeric which are known for reducing inflammation and anti-viral.
- Minestrone Soup: A quick, but delicious soup, so you can use non-perishable items, like pasta sauce, beans and noodles.
- Sauerkraut Oven Dish: One of our favorites and I made it tonight.
- Mexican Rice: Use a wok or Dutch Oven to mix 1 cup of rice with 4 cups of stock. Add a can of beans (black, kidney or pinto), a can of diced tomatoes, frozen corn, dash of cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Keep stirring till the rice is done. Add more stock if needed. Serve with shredded cheese, guacamole and tortilla chips.
- And now some recipes to stay sane during this time:
- Puffed Pastry: The puffed pastry letter “S” with marzipan is so popular here. If people know I’m going to Pella, Iowa to get my “Dutch Fix”, I have to bring them these pastries. The “bokkepootjes” are also made with puffed pastry here, but in the Netherlands they’re not. I have to figure out how to make these. But most of all I miss the “appelflap”! I cannot find good puffed pastry sheets at the store. Or it is filo dough. So I made it myself. It is not hard to make, but it is time consuming.
- Appelflap: Or Apple Turnover. With the homemade puffed pastry, I finally made “Appelflappen”. Our youngest cut the apples and mixed the little pieces with the spices. Our older kids ate them, ugh! Not much help from them!
- Dutch Letter “S”: With the rest of the puffed pastry, we made this marzipan letter. Normally we eat this in December around “Sinterklaas”, but I was so happy to have found this recipe, so I made it!
- “Ski-vlaai”: I almost forgot this pie, but it is so good and time consuming. I have time now, so I made it over the weekend. It has 7 layers (including the crust) and according to our little one: “It was fun to make.”
If I find something more for you to make, I’ll post it here, so come back soon.
Something I almost forgot about, stay in contact with grandparents, neighbors and friends. In these times, they can get isolated. Our local grocery store and several restaurant deliver food, but a lot of times people just like to talk. Our youngest even played games (like Charades) with grandma over Skype.
And talking about that:
I’m thinking to have our monthly Pinterest group meet or Craft Party over Skype or whatever app is convenient for everyone. We might use a project with normal household items or everyone just does a project, they were doing or always wanted to do at home….glass of wine, cheese and crackers! No problem:)
Come back for more updates and for now:
Stay Healthy, Safe and be Creative!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.