Our New Normal

Hey y’all! So, it’s been over a month since my last blog post which was on March 9th, and I am writing this on April 14th. While not much of anything has happened since, our lives have definitely changed.

Even a month ago, I was fizzling out my blog posts because the ville was shut down and we weren’t allowed to go anywhere. I don’t think y’all would get much excitement out of reading what I’m baking every week or watching on Hulu and Netflix. Camp Humphreys is almost at a stand still as our health protection level is charlie plus, and it has been that for about 3 weeks now. Normally, we would be at HPCON alpha. I’m really not sure what all I’m allowed to tell y’all, so just know that we have been staying home for about 3 weeks but things are slowly reopening which is a good sign. We are both healthy, as is everyone we know. The commissary has started to limit the amount of people inside to about 100 which makes for some long lines outside plus social distancing, but a lot of people here have remained calm and we haven’t run out of toilet paper. Truth be told, Buddy and I have both agreed that we are glad we’re here and not in the states during all this craziness.

We were supposed to have flown home on April 7th to spend Easter with our families, but we had to cancel because of this virus. Us, as well as our families, were upset but we’re living in an unreal time right now where certain decisions have to be made. I’m thankful that we are still allowed to go on base for groceries, and I’m even more grateful for the food delivery app, Shuttle. It is just like UberEats or Doordash back in the states. Even though there’s a coffee shop basically right downstairs next to our apartment, there’s a coffee shop on Shuttle that will deliver coffee to your door, and I feel like Buddy and I have personally kept them in business the past 2 weeks by ordering hot and iced caramel macchiatos. And if y’all remember from past posts, we love going to the ville and eating at Braai Republic, the South African BBQ restaurant. Because of the shut down in the ville, they finally got put on Shuttle two weeks ago! The last time we had it was on Valentine’s Day, so we were happy to be able to order it again finally. I’ve done my fair share of cooking at home though, plus baking! I tend to bake whenever I get stressed, and the past 3 weeks have been very stressful for us (at least me, Buddy will tell you he was never stressed) so I have made pecan pie bars and oreo cheesecake cookies.

I’m glad that Buddy is my best friend though, because these three weeks he’s been at the apartment with me, we only had one argument and it was so stupid. We each did our own thing every day. Even though I love him and consider him my best friend, we do not like a lot of the same things. So he would watch his stuff while I watched my stuff. He played his computer games while I played my ps4 games. At night though, we would usually watch a movie together. One day last week, we watched 4 movies on netflix in one day! It started with Mamma Mia 2 (which we also saw in the theater together), Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour Concert movie, Life as We Know It, and Into the Woods. He was a good husband letting me pick all the movies! All of that to say, today was his first day back at work and I truly miss being able to look over at him during the day. I also have not missed the early wake ups, 4:30am came way too early. I am glad to start getting back into a schedule though.

There are a few things we have realized in the past couple of weeks with having a lot of time to think. We have missed sweet tea dearly over here. The water over here is not the best, so we haven’t made any at home. BUT.. there is a Popeye’s Fried Chicken drive thru on base, the only drive thru in this entire area. They sell sweet tea by the gallon y’all!!! So we have finally found our sweet tea fix, it only took us 6 months to realize that. Also, West TN is having a lot of storms lately. It’s spring season so that’s nothing new, but we realized that we have not even heard thunder since moving here. We have plenty of rain, but it has not stormed once here. For those that know me, my biggest fear is storms, especially the kind with tornadic activity which TN seems to be having a lot of lately. But I am even missing thunderstorms at the moment. It will be weird to be back home and hear thunder and see lightning again.

One of the sad things about all this though is that we have been advised to not go to any parks at the moment, but it’s Cherry Blossom season here! We can see them on the way to base and outside our apartment building, but I wish I could go see them in a park or near the river. Even though cherry blossom trees are pretty much everywhere now, they are originally from the East Asia area, which is where we are, and yet we really can’t experience them right now!

Thank you to everyone who has messaged me asking how we are doing or asked my parents! They do make sure to let me know if someone said hi or asked about us, it means a lot to us that people want to make sure we are okay. I hope everyone is okay as well in these uncertain times we’re living in. I know we are both ready to be home in West Tennessee for vacation. Buddy has been here for 7 months, and I have been here for almost 6 months. We are ready to see family, especially our little niece Everleigh! I’m not sure when my next blog post will be, more than likely it will not be next week, but hopefully soon!