Covid and a disappointment

We have Covid.  It's not fun.  Aside from the fact that we feel terrible, we are stuck in this apartment for a long time.  We had a kid from our school staying with us for nine days.  His sister came to Japan from America and tested positive for Covid.  She had jet lag and was sick so he didn't ever see her and his family shipped him and his brother off to other houses to avoid getting it.  He tested negative three times before coming so we figured it would be fine if he came.  He's a pretty busy kid, active at school and church events and after the ninth day, he came home sick and tested positive for Covid.  The school declared us close contacts and we had to stay in the apartment for five days.  On the fourth day, some of us started to feel a little off but Eli was really stuffy and had a fever and tested positive.  Our close contact time started over and we made Will and Isaac isolate in separate rooms because they each had big tests coming up.  One by one we got it.  Isaac got it even though he was isolated.  So far Will is the lone man standing.  He was able to go back to school after being a close contact yesterday and took his AP test.  Hopefully he will continue to stay healthy so he can take his SAT this weekend and go on the date that he had to reschedule.  Covid has hit us with sore throats (it feels like swallowing glass), fevers, achy bodies (even clothes touching our skin was painful), coughing, headaches, sinus junk...Japan requires a ten day quarantine so adding that to our close contact time, we might go a little nuts before we can leave this apartment.  I was terribly sick on my birthday so 42 started out on bad terms.  Laila's birthday was about the same but Steve and Carol drove all the way up from Yokoska to bring us ice cream and cake and some other groceries.  

The other sad news, for me, is that Mike didn't get the job he applied for.  He was qualified, though not competitive.  We knew it was a long shot but we prayed for a miracle.  The job would have provided us with some much craved stability, a pay increase, a position Mike would have enjoyed and been good at, and the chance to go back home.  We decided that we would be sad with either outcome.  I was finally feeling more settled and we thought that letting go of this experience already would be really sad for us.  That said, the job brought us enough positives that I was really hoping he would somehow get the job.  The last few weeks my mind had really been finding all the reasons getting the job would be the prefered outcome and getting covid just put me even more in the mindset of going back home.  I was really sad yesterday when we got the news.  

The idea of hopping in the van and running to Target or having something mailed, that will reach me in less than two weeks, or actually getting to try on clothes to see if they fit sounds so nice.  Not getting lost on a subway or bus, being able to speak to the person checking me out at the register, finding familiar foods, even getting braces on my kids, all seem so appealing.  I was looking forward to shorter school days without a two hour long bus ride for the kids.  I envisioned play dates where I didn't have to stress about how to get my child there.  Anyway,  my list of reasons for going home doesn't matter because we aren't going home yet.  I know that this all sounds terribly ungrateful because I'm here in Japan where the majority of people I know will never have this experience, and I am thankful for it, I just feel really stretched at this point and I don't want to be stretched any more.  

I am sure that when we are finally able to feel better and leave the apartment, it won't feel so disappointing but I think this one might hurt for a little bit.  I just have to readjust my mind again to this lifestyle and this experience and find all the joy I can in it.  I am not unhappy here.  I have not been counting down the days to going home.  I have thrown myself into this experience in the best way I know how and I am giving Japan all of my attention but doing all of that doesn't mean it hasn't been very hard for me and that I don't feel homesick or feel ready to throw the towel in some days.

With all that said, here are photos from the day I bravely took Felicity to Odiaba and got us lost.  We eventually found our way and I made the best of the day by filling it with things Felicity loved and we got home safely after flagging down a taxi and spending way too much money for said taxi to get us back so that I didn't have to get us lost on the subway on the way home.