With the World Health Organisation declaring that coronavirus has caused more than 5.6million deaths, along with 376million confirmed cases and counting (and infections still increasing in 60 countries), there’s no doubt that the world has changed irrevocably since a cluster of covid cases were first reported in Wuhan in December 2019.
Here in the UK alone, we have witnessed 156,875 deaths, with infections now thankfully falling.
No matter which country we live in, most of us have been isolated, locked down or restricted, while also experiencing loss, drastic change and an impact on our mental wellbeing.
Some of us, however, have also seen unexpected positives emerge from an otherwise tragic time.
Here, 11 people from across the globe give a snapshot of what life during the pandemic has been like for them.
Mexico: ‘The pandemic is very much still here’
Deaths: 306,920*
Infections: 4,985,689
Vaccination rate: 65% of the population
Jason Platt, 52, a therapist from Mexico City lost his father David to Covid last year. The last time he saw him, it was through a hospital window.
‘In the first few months of the pandemic, we went into a pretty serious lockdown and I worried about my eight-month old son Atticus. As a single father, I stopped having my nanny come in March 2020.
I continued to pay her and hoped we could start up again after a few months, never imagining that it would still be going on more than two years later. I learned in June that she started a new full-time job soon after I stopped having her come. I felt a little used, but I also understood.
Poverty in Mexico has reached record levels in recent years, with 44.5% of its population living below the nation’s poverty line, which means they cannot afford a basket of food sufficient to meet the basic caloric need of a household.
I had to recognise the economic reasons why people in Mexico approached the pandemic in different ways. I was able to switch much of my work online, but for many people here in Mexico, if those in poverty did not continue to go out into the world to work, they would not eat.
When I think about how Covid has affected Mexico, I think about the earthquake in 2017. Each day on my way to work I would say hello to a woman who sold flowers on the corner of my block. When the earthquake hit, she, with everyone else, ran into the centre of the street for safety. The earth stopped shaking and then she went back to gather up her flowers. That is when the building fell and killed her.
Ever since I have searched for how many people died in that building and in the earthquake in general. I hear rumours that 200+ people to thousands died. It is the same with Covid. There is no accurate information or objective facts to be found.
At the end of March, my father, who lives in America, was admitted to hospital with coronavirus. I flew from Mexico to the United States and saw him once through a window. I always thought he would get better. Even after he was put on a ventilator, I believed a miracle would occur. I did not fully believe the medical team when they said that there was no hope for him to improve.
My dad pleaded for my family to get vaccinated. He was healthy and strong, still climbing trees and ladders daily in his backyard as he built a waterwheel and other various construction works of art.
My grandparents all lived until their late nineties, so I was confident that my newborn son would have 20 years of fun memories with his loving and hilarious grandpa.
Even a year later I still have to re-remember that he is gone.
The pandemic has muted Mexico. Its glorious technicolour vibrancy has shifted to a muted grey. Everyone still wears masks and looks at you weirdly if you don’t. The new variant seems to be moving through the community faster. The pandemic is very much still here. It does not feel clear when it will end.’
India: ‘People would talk about drinking cow urine as a cure for Covid’
Deaths: 497,975
Infections: 41,630,885
Vaccination rate: 61.2% of the population
Asmita Sarkar, 30, and her new husband Vivek were treated like pariahs by their neighbours when they had to quarantine in 2020.
‘When the pandemic struck, my husband Vivek and I were on honeymoon in Malaysia – but were both were fearful of a lockdown, so we returned to India early.
Looking back now, we are grateful to have got married when we did.
When I returned to my home in the southern city of Bengaluru in March, local government officials and a police officer came to our home to stamp our hands with the date our isolation would be over.
It was really discomforting. The police can be difficult in India, especially if you don’t know their language – and there are a lot of languages in my country. There was also the fear of being issued a fine, and having to deal with a lengthy process with the courts.
We were just happy to comply and get them on their way as soon as possible. Funnily, the constable and the official weren’t wearing the mask correctly. It didn’t cover their noses.
It was expected that the admin of the apartment complex would keep a watch on us and report us if we stepped out of the house. The rules were pretty strict back then when everything was new. Our neighbours saw the stamps on our hands, and decided to treat us as pariahs by forcing us to keep our windows closed during the hot month.
Towards the end of the quarantine, some residents threatened to call the police on us for keeping a window open or hanging our clothes out to dry.
It was truly a strange time since misinformation was more prevalent than real facts, and there was a lot of it in India at the beginning of the pandemic. People on WhatsApp would talk about drinking cow urine in the belief that it could cure coronavirus, while others believed that clapping together would produce enough sound waves to kill the virus.
In March last year, both my husband and I tested positive for Covid, and decided to self-isolate. At that point, we hadn’t received the vaccine and were hit quite hard with fatigue, fever and a loss of smell and taste.
The after-effects stayed for weeks and it took up to six weeks to go back to normal. However, we were lucky that we were infected before the second wave in India when there was an acute shortage of oxygen in hospitals. I lost two distant relatives, who were immunocompromised, during that period.
By December last year, my parents, my husband’s parents, my grandparents, and my cousin, who live in the states Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Gujarat, respectively, were all Covid positive.
The third wave has hit the country hard again but they are better prepared. Thankfully, they have all recovered and are waiting for their turn for the booster now. The rate of infection is still quite high in India. I am hopeful that more and more people will get vaccinated here and life will return to almost normal. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.’
New Zealand: ‘Repeat border closures and lockdowns have been emotionally exhausting’
Deaths: 53
Infections: 16,817
Vaccination rate: 95% of the population
Christina Hyde, 52, owner of the Waiheke Island Motel and Onetangi Beach Apartments, has seen Covid kill international tourism in her part of the world.
‘New Zealand has certainly been one of the most sheltered countries in the world during the pandemic. With a total population of just over 5million, only 0.3% of our population has had coronavirus.
Prior to the pandemic, tourism was New Zealand’s number one export industry. Although there’s news the international border will slowly reopen in February, closures have been in place since March 2020 which has has killed international tourism.
After we came out of the first five-week lockdown in March 2020, Kiwis emerged in large numbers to support local businesses, and there was a strong boost in domestic tourism in many areas. But 18 months of repeated lockdowns, including a recent three-and-a-half-month lockdown for Auckland, have really hurt hospitality.
Lockdowns on Waiheke Island are a little surreal. We’ve had beautiful weather for most of them, and at a time when the area would normally be humming with tourists, sometimes you can be the only person on a beautiful long white sandy beach. The birdlife also seems louder and the fish more plentiful.
However, these repeat border closures and lockdowns have been emotionally exhausting. We build up hope that borders may open and we can return to welcoming guests, but then when lockdowns are extended those hopes come crashing down.
New Zealand is highly vaccinated, as 94% of the population have had two or more doses and boosters are underway. But as most New Zealanders don’t yet know anyone in the country that’s had Covid, there is a great fear of the unknown, and many Kiwis, particularly the older generation, are afraid.
Vaccinations have just been opened up to the under 12s, and my nine-year-old is very excited that she can finally get a jab. So we’re planning a family outing where she’ll get her first shot and the rest of us will get our boosters. How life has changed.
Worryingly, Omicron has arrived here and we now have just over new 100 Covid cases a day. Although the government has put us into level Red, life is pretty much the same as usual for fully-vaccinated people. With vaccine passports, we can travel, go to restaurants, and enjoy social events so long as there are no more than 100 people. Unvaccinated people can access essential services such as food, medical, education and public transport services, but that’s about it.
We’re looking forward to borders opening up again. As soon as they do, with sensible protocols for testing and isolation, international tourists will come back in droves to this little haven we’ve protected.’
Ethiopia: ‘We’ve only been able to eat once or twice a day’
Deaths: 7,346
Infections: 466,000
Vaccination rate: 1.4% fully vaccinated**
Mahlet Gulilat, 15, is from West Haraghe. She is the leader of a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) which was set up with support from CARE International, to train adolescent girls on sexual reproductive health, business skills and how to save.
‘My parents work in agriculture, earning a living through ox fattening and growing and selling vegetables, but they have struggled through the pandemic.
Since the start of Covid-19, our income has significantly reduced as the prices have fallen, the market runs less regularly, people are travelling less and their purchasing capacity has reduced. People also believe that if they eat vegetables corona will spread.
As a result we’ve only been able to eat once or twice a day.
They borrowed from relatives and neighbours to keep food on the table. The only time I remember my father borrowing money is during this pandemic.
School closed and my parents had limited capacity to tutor me and my siblings – and there were no alternative ways of home schooling. I also couldn’t meet my friends to study together. Being at home all the time made my life boring. Our dreams were stuck for a while.
There’s about 25 girls in my VSLA group but during the pandemic we have not been able to meet often, which means the amount we’ve saved each weeks has reduced. Even so, the social fund of the group, which in normal times is used for social events and activities, has been a lifeline for many group members during the pandemic, helping them to buy food and hygiene products.
We’ve also worked hard to to spread Covid prevention messaging amongst the community, developing hand washing practices and improved the cleaning of our environments. As a result of this, I think there is less diarrhoea and common colds than before the pandemic.
Sadly I have seen some girls in the village, outside of my VSLA group, getting married young, as their parents thought that school would never open again.
But the schools have opened again and I’m happy to be back. We’re getting used to the ‘new normal’ at school where there is more social distancing, less social interaction and a continued fear of Covid-19. But I still have big dreams and hope to become an engineer one day.
What we need now is masks, sanitizers and detergents, which are prohibitively expensive, and support in the form of chickens and goats so my group can to restart their income-generating activities and get back on track.
We will get back to business and we shall meet with friends as we did before. I want to restore our confidence and ambition so that we can finish our education, fight early marriage and become self-sufficient.’
Italy: ‘Schools are messed up because so many kids are at home with Covid’
Deaths: 146,925
Infections: 11,116,422
Vaccination rate: 106.8% of the population
Marina Nasi, 48, a writer, translator and English teacher from Bologna says Italy is being divided by conspiracy theorists.
‘The spring of 2020 was a period of worry and general anxiety, but also cohesion and trust in the Government. There were some conflicting voices, but they were a minority.
As new waves of Covid emerged, there were more and more protests on the streets and on social media about the restrictions.The age range of the conflicting voices of the protests, the anti-Government and the anti-vaxxers were people in their 40s and 50s.
People in their 20s were not worried because Covid would be quite light on them. They had a natural desire to have fun. But were also quite respectful of others, restrictions, green passes and masks. But I am seeing a real polarisation and radicalisation in the older age group. There is a lot of division on social media and there have been many many protests in the street.
It is unsettling. You can feel a certain tension – an aggressive and judgement attitude both from and towards anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists. Having a healthy dialogue seems to be very difficult.
I feel worried by the amount of misinformation being churned out by so-called alternative media and the random charlatans.
We had one ridiculous case where a doctor, who was against vaccinations, turned up at a hub for his injection with a fake arm. That was his way of protesting. Of course he was widely ridiculed. But he was also given publicity and was hosted on a talk show.
I don’t think this division is necessary or healthy, and it doesn’t help to describe all the anti-vaxxers as ignorant, silly simpletons, like many do. It just reinforces their beliefs and promotes radicalisation. On the other hand, I do not see how to construct a healthy debate.
Today, Omicron is still very much alive and kicking. But it is quite light. Schools are very messed up because so many children are at home with Covid. We have masks outside, and you need a green pass to work and shop. Some people are pretty upset about that.
Even though I am a strong supporter of measures for the prevention of Covid. I have personally been stopped by the police and harshly sanctioned for not wearing a mask in public over the Christmas holidays – a time when no-one was wearing them in my town. Now I have to pay a 400 euro fine. Which is not nice at all. But I understand why it was done.’
Kenya: ‘I asked my wife not to tell our children that I had contracted Covid’
Deaths: 5,587
Infections: 321,552
Vaccination rate: 11.8% of the population
Galgalo Bocha, 40, from Mombasa, spent 35 days in hospital shortly after the pandemic hit. He was haunted after seeing young men die alongside him in the wards
‘When coronavirus hit Kenya, I was really careful and did everything I could to keep me and my family safe. I forbade my family members from making contact with outsiders and my children from playing with their friends. I even taught them how to wash their hands to World Health Organisation standards. I started wearing face masks whenever I stepped outside and I observed the 1.5-metre social distance.
As a freelance journalist I was able to work from home as much as possible. However, after three months my savings were running out, so when I was called for a field assignment, I gladly took it up with a sanitiser and face-mask in hand.
A month later, I had headaches, joint pains and fever. I sought treatment at Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa, where blood tests for viral and bacterial illnesses returned negative. I was sent home with a strong painkiller and another drug.
Two days later, with no reprieve, I went for a voluntary Covid test at the Lancet Kenya laboratory. I was told the virus was acute. I asked my wife not to tell our children that I had contracted Covid. I did not want them to worry or be the subject of stigma.
My symptoms began to subside after I was put on strong painkillers and other medication. Luckily, unlike other patients in the isolation ward, I did not have breathing problems.
I would lie on my back on my hospital bed and watch outside activities through the window; arrival of ambulances and health teams coming in and out. Other than reading, watching videos and chatting online, it was the most ideal way of fighting depression. The hospital’s psychologist told me several patients suffer mental stress a few days into their admission and encouraged me to remain positive. She asked me to employ different tactics to stay strong.
On one ward, I was with men in their late 30s or early 40s. One was gasping for air while the other one kept turning his head right and left. They both died. I had nightmares of them fighting for their lives.
I remember one afternoon, being woken by cries from the families of the deceased. Through the window I saw an elderly woman wailing.
After 35 days, I was free to go home as I had tested negative. My wife was pregnant at the time and I had four children at home. The first thing I did when I returned was hug my family tightly. I made a full recovery and am fine now.
Since then, our country has emerged from lockdown and I am happy to finally be going about my life normally again.’
USA: ‘The pandemic brought my mental health conditions to the surface‘
Deaths: 893,682
Infections: 75,292,043
Vaccination rate: 82.2% of the population
Jason Wood, 36, from Denver, experienced upsetting mental health struggles early on during the pandemic. But time away from society has also given him space to recover.
‘As with much of the world, Colorado has experienced several waves of coronavirus. The fortunate thing about living here is we have plenty of outdoor activities like hiking, rafting and snowboarding to keep us busy and relatively safe. Overall, we have definitely weathered the pandemic better than other regions of the country.
When the pandemic first hit, my husband and I were living in an apartment complex, which increased my anxiety. We had to come in contact with individuals on the elevator and in the hallways several times a day to take our dogs outside. While our building set occupancy rules for common spaces, they were rarely enforced.
The pandemic poured gasoline on my unhealthy relationship with myself and food. As an office coordinator, I saw my duties at work reduced when the office closed. This left me feeling unproductive, so I doubled down on being as healthy as possible. Plus, I battled health anxiety so I was in a constant state of fear of catching the virus and was more committed than ever to eat as ‘clean’ as I could.
With the world seemingly spinning out of control, I sought control in my diet. This caused my orthorexia (an eating disorder involving an unhealthy addiction to eating health food} to worsen and eventually take me to rock bottom mentally, emotionally, and physically.
In July 2020 my husband voiced his concerns about me and a few days later I spoke with my doctor, who diagnosed me with an unspecified eating disorder, anxiety, and OCD.
While these conditions had haunted me for years, it was the pandemic that brought them to the surface. In a way, the pandemic has given me a bubble to recover in. While still working from home and not going out as much, or on vacation, I am able to focus on my recovery in a way that I don’t think I would be able to in a pre-pandemic world.
Although it feels like we are slowly returning to normal now, this has led to some new frets and worries, which I’ve spoken with my therapist about several times. What will it be like when I start seeing friends again on a regular basis? Am I ready for it? What about vacations and eating out? Or when I’m back in the office and can’t make lunch every day?
These are questions that pop up in my mind as restrictions begin to ease. I’ve essentially recovered in a vacuum, but know it won’t be like this for much longer. The return to normal presents a new obstacle to overcome in my recovery journey, but it’s also an opportunity to see how far I’ve truly come in the last 18 months.’
Falkland Islands: ‘I felt guilty we weren’t suffering while elsewhere it was hell’
Deaths: None
Infections: 84
Vaccination: No data
Social Media Marketing Strategist Roxy King-Clark, 35, Stanley, has enjoyed the deserted beaches of the Falklands, making most of the lockdowns with her husband and two young sons.
‘We have a small population and 750 Islands – a huge amount of space for not many people. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Government prepared for the worst and put together a temporary morgue for 50 people. That was terrifying. Any death is felt by the whole community.
Fortunately we haven’t had any Covid deaths. The pandemic here has been surreal because life has been relatively normal. I have lots of family in the UK and it was difficult to imagine what they were going through when we weren’t experiencing it. I felt a guilt that we weren’t suffering while elsewhere in the world it was hell.
Although we’re used to things running out in the shops and waiting for the monthly supply ship to arrive, it definitely increased during the pandemic and people would panic buy. Milk would often run out. There isn’t a dairy here anymore and so apart from farms supplying a small amount of unpasteurised milk which would often run out – we have to use UHT.
We also faced some shortages of groceries, as most of our supplies come from the UK (or Uruguay), so when you’re at the bottom of the world at the end of a long supply chain it can make you feel vulnerable.
I remember listening to a press conference from the Falkland Islands Government on our local radio station when they had a suspected infection in the community (it turned out it wasn’t Covid) and that’s when we went into lockdown. That was a really scary time. Our borders were closed to visitors and anyone coming quarantined for 10 days, then it felt safer.
Some people came to live and work in the Falklands from the UK to have an adventure or escape what was happening back home and not have to live in lockdowns. They would often comment on the feeling of freedom and the relaxed way of life.
Falkland Islanders are hard-working and resilient, lots of people will have a second job connected to tourism. Before the pandemic, there were days when we would have 9,000 tourists ashore, so it’s been very strange and quiet without them. It’s been a huge financial loss for individuals and the country as a whole. But then, some days you will have a huge white sandy beach all to yourself.
The vast majority of everyone here who can be vaccinated has been now, down to 18 year olds. And our borders have recently reopened to small cruise ships, but they must have been at sea for a certain amount of time before visiting. Some of the tourists wear masks, which is the first time we’ve seen people going about with masks on.
We’ve never had to wear them here. I’m heading to the UK later this year so I have just purchased my first one and I must admit that travelling from somewhere very safe to the UK is very nerve-wracking.’
Indonesia: ‘I had to live off my savings‘
Deaths: 144,373
Infections: 4,387,286
Vaccination rate: 57.8% of the population
Former dive instructor Jenny Karmy, 40, has seen the island of Bali hit hard as Covid brought international tourism to a standstill.
‘Before Covid, I was working full time as a dive instructor and centre manager in Sanur, a beautiful old fishing village on the south east of the island.
In February 2020, I had accepted an exciting new role in the company, focusing on the environmental education projects we had set up the year before, but with Covid looming, things were put on hold.
Then, all the tourism markets disappeared in quick succession. We were hopeful things would be alright by the high season in July, but instead everything went crazy. Tourism stopped altogether; immigration stopped issuing new visas, and in March 2020, Bali’s airport closed to international arrivals and hasn’t opened since.
About 80% of jobs in Bali come from tourism, so the island has been hit really hard. Lots of businesses have closed, restaurants and shops are shuttered and people are struggling to keep themselves afloat. It’s really sad, and Bali is still suffering from all the travel restrictions.
For a while I lived off my savings, eventually able to accept a position teaching English online. Later, I found a local charity called, Scholars of Sustenance Indonesia (SOS Indonesia), a food rescue charity.
Before the pandemic, their main focus was to collect the vast amounts of good food from hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and manufacturers, that would otherwise go to waste, preventing it going to landfill, and instead redistributing it to impoverished and vulnerable communities. Since Covid hit, they lost 70% of their partners and had to reinvent themselves, raising funds and finding new partners, to feed the ever-increasing number of communities falling into poverty.
I feel grateful to be involved with them now, raising funds and food, developing programmes, and helping to support struggling communities. It feels particularly good to distribute to the diving communities where I know many of the boat captains, porters, dive instructors and business owners who are all now in very hard times, and so far with no real end in sight.
After two years, people are continuing to do what they can to get by, make a living and have a life. I hope that travel restrictions will continue to be loosened, and tourists will be able to arrive back to Bali directly, easily and soon.’
UK: ‘Long Covid has left me so angry – at the medical profession, my situation and the pandemic’
Deaths: 156,875
Infections: 17,428,345
Vaccination rate: 103% of the population
Dr Kerry Smith, 49, contracted the infection from her GP practice in the South Coast of England. She now has long Covid, which has left her disabled and unable to work.
At the beginning of the pandemic I had been seeing people with dry coughs and a fever, and we didn’t have any PPE. The most protection we got was someone wiping the door handle to my consulting room.
I would watch what was happening in Wuhan and Italy, and I knew it was going to be scary – it was something serious. But I also thought: “I am fit and healthy. I am used to coming in touch with people with infections illness – I’ll probably be okay.” I was worried more for the wider world, than my own health.
Then I fell ill in March 2020. I was too scared to go into hospital, because everyone was dying. I wanted to manage it at home. In the early days, I couldn’t get out of bed. Four weeks later, when I was still ill, I went into A&E and had tests and X-rays. But the Covid diagnosis didn’t come until six months later, when I went to see a cardiologist.
Six weeks after I was first ill, I knew something was very wrong. I had no energy, was dizzy on standing and my heart would race. I was also incredibly short of breath when climbing the stairs and had burning chest pains.
At some points I wondered when I went to sleep if I would ever wake up again.
I found it difficult to even come downstairs and it took me months to be able to walk to my front gate. After a year, I had to give up my practice. I am now claiming employment ESA and living off my savings.
Today I am disabled and I cannot work. I’ve been left with cognitive impairment that hasn’t got better in the last six months. I have been left with heart conditions and an underactive thyroid. I have a constant brain fog – sometimes I will completely lose my train of thought. I have to have lists by the door to remind me of what I need if I go outside.
Even doing housework or cooking a meal is too difficult right now. I have do to everything by dividing it up into short tasks as I still get dizzy, short of breath, and get chest pain just from standing up. I went from being a really healthy, fit woman – I worked three days a week, took care of my two teenage daughters, and was a keen runner, racing half marathons in my spare time – to being completely debilitated.
On top of all this, I have had to confront medical gaslighting – which is when the medical profession refuses to recognise your symptoms. Some say they are all in my head, or they can’t possibly be true. Instead it’s put down to down to stress and anxiety.
One doctor told me when I was suffering with severe chest pains, that I couldn’t possibly be in pain because there was nothing wrong with my lungs. Other medical professionals have been derisive. I will be low on blood oxygen – it will be 80, when it should be 94 or above. But when I seek advice about it, you wouldn’t believe how many doctors asked me if have used the probe properly. I worked at Great Ormond Street, had a GP practice and have been a doctor since 1996 – of course I know how to use this piece of kit.
I thought that if this is happening to me, what the hell is happening to people out there who have no medical knowledge? So I started my blog for sufferers of long Covid. If I can’t do anything about it, then at least I can do the research for myself and hopefully help other people that are going through the same thing.
Some days I feel so angry – at the medical profession, my situation, the pandemic. I’ve just felt so unsupported. It’s really lonely.
I’ve been really unhappy watching everything go back to normal. A lot of people think we are out of this now, but we really aren’t. It is terrible, I feel despairing watching the world go on and I am worried about children being unvaccinated. I just don’t want other people to experience what I’ve been through.’
Japan: ‘On our first date we had to wear masks’
Deaths: 18,967
Infections: 2,921,177
Vaccination rate: 81.6% of the population
Ayaka Akimoto Wade, 24, now in Zengyo, Fujisawa, left her boyfriend and her Tokyo home in the early days of the pandemic. She since found love at first sight and was married within a month.
‘When corona first started, I was working at H&M in Shinjuku, Japan. The country was plunged in to a State of Emergency and we were all asked to stay at home. The shop had to close and I didn’t know if I was still employed or if I was going to be paid while it was shut.
In Tokyo, most commercial facilities were closed and you were free to leave the house because it wasn’t full lockdown, but many people stayed at home. There were no mandatory rules but those who were out during this time were strongly criticised.
It is very Japanese that many people stayed at home for fear of infection – even without penalties. I was one of them. I spent most of my time at home during the pandemic. Even now, two years on, everyone wears masks even though it is not mandatory, as they are worried about social criticism.
I was living with my boyfriend in Shinjuku. He started to work from home in our small apartment. Spending all day and night in an unfamiliar situation with him was very stressful as we couldn’t meet friends or family. It was a heavy burden on my mind.
Work resumed six weeks later, but a promotion I was offered didn’t happen as no-one was going into the store. The big changes to my work and social life were difficult, and I began to feel extremely depressed.
Six months after the breakout, I left my boyfriend. I spent time at my parents’ house, reading a lot and working to feel motivated and happy again.
I didn’t want to find a new boyfriend, but I decided I was ready to date again and I went on Tinder where I met Jordan. On our first date we had to wear masks. But it was love at first sight. He was really handsome and kind and the relationship went really well.
I’d never really thought about marriage, but something happened the moment I met Jordan. I made a big decision as I had witnessed a huge change in the world in 2020. Until then, life was very flat and nothing much happened. In experiencing the pandemic, we became part of history. No one can predict what will happen tomorrow, and that is why we must cherish the present and live for the moment.
Marrying someone I had only known for a month was unexpected, but why should we live according to the rules in which we are told? I’m really proud of myself and would like to praise myself for making that decision.
It seems that a lot of things have been lost due to the pandemic but I think there are many things that it has produced. There are always good and bad things but no doubt we are very lucky and we have most definitely gained a new life and a very exciting future from it.
Life in Japan is now very different to what it was. Many of our cultural events have been cancelled like fireworks, music festivals and matsuri (Japanese festivals). Some of these are very old traditions and this I feel will have an effect on future generations. Lots of people who lived in Tokyo have moved out to the surrounding areas and don’t want to be in the cities. Everyone is still wearing masks, but I feel like the pandemic is over.’
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