Katy. The expat.
Katy, a Chicago area native, has lived abroad in a Caribbean island nation for the last nearly 10 years. She first moved there after receiving a fellowship to conduct research for her PhD dissertation in community psychology. She continued that research over the years, earned her PhD, and in the process fell in love with the country as well as her now husband. While her family is experiencing the impact of the Coronavirus back in Illinois, she is on lockdown on an island many would call paradise but seems very far from it during a pandemic.
Weeks ago, when the Coronavirus crept across the Caribbean and reached Katy’s island, the government took swift action. On March 26, the country’s prime minister declared a public health emergency and residents were told the local economy would essentially shut down in 48 hours. All private sector businesses would close and a public curfew would be put into place, greatly restricting movement on the island. That caused widespread panic — masses of people fled to buy food and other supplies, leading to lines that spanned for blocks outside of stores.
“It was a public nightmare,” Katy explained. “It was terrifying. I felt like I didn't even recognize this country.”
EMERGENCY PASSES FOR ESSENTIAL ERRANDS
Unlike in the U.S., where many states have kept essential businesses such as pharmacies and grocery stores open during shelter-in-place orders, Katy’s country did not. At least, initially. Weeks into public lockdown, the country has recognized people will need supplies as they stay at home. Now, Katy said, citizens are permitted to run essential errands twice a week with a pass during a specific three-hour window dictated by the first letter of your last name.
The day I spoke with Katy, her friend tried to go to a grocery store during her “slot.” When she arrived at the store, the line to get inside was so long that by the time she arrived at the front door, her three-hour window had closed and she was not allowed to enter.
“So they are still working that stuff out,” Katy said.
The consequences of disobeying lockdown orders are serious, as well. Katy and her husband were told they could be fined or be arrested if they are found outside their property without an emergency pass. She and her husband are confined to the apartment complex they live in. They are not allowed to take their dog to the beach or even go for a drive around the island. How exactly such harsh restrictions will be sustainable for the weeks and months ahead, is yet to be seen.
“It is still really confusing,” Katy said. “They have not done a great job in communicating all the rules.”
The timing of the Coronavirus also worries Katy. Hurricane season is right around the corner, with storms typically beginning in June or July. The mosquitos on her island are already out in full force, and she worries about mosquito borne illness spiking alongside cases of COVID19.
“I was and still am feeling very panicked and not as secure as you would want to feel,” Katy said. “I don’t necessarily think my feelings are very different than most people right now, but they are just caused by different things.”
A CULTURE SHOCK
The country Katy has called home for the past decade is extremely dependent on tourism — the industry accounts for half of its economy. An estimated 1 million people vacation there every year, and the industry employs roughly 10% of all residents on the island. As cases of COVID-19 began increasing across the world, Katy knew it was only a matter of time before the virus landed on the island’s shore. She was scared to see how the small island would be able to respond when hit with a global pandemic.
“There was just no way we were going to avoid it here,” she said. “So my initial thoughts were absolute panic.”
She knows everyone is doing their best, or at least trying to. She admits she does not envy the leaders who are having to make the difficult decisions that greatly impact peoples’ lives right now. A mandated lockdown is especially hard for a culture that thrives on being together, or “liming,” as it is called in the Caribbean. People are used to mingling and hanging out with one another, Katy said, so it has been hard for people in her country to suddenly adjust to being alone.
“On a regular basis we have dinner with other people, we are always liming, hanging out together, being together,” Katy said. “There is a lot of time spent with other people, and people were really resistant to give that up.”
Katy and her husband are still finding ways to see friends and neighbors during lockdown. They “gather” in their own yards for cocktails and communicate from safe distances apart. Katy is doing “socially distant” workouts with a friend of hers who lives in the same apartment complex and the two will discuss the podcasts they are simultaneously listening to. Like Katy, these friends have family who live abroad, “so there is a lot of mutual understanding with them regarding distance, family, travel, etc.,” she said.
FAR FROM HOME AND FURLOUGHED
On top of being thousands of miles from her immediate family in Illinois. (and recently recovering from having hand-foot-and-mouth disease), Katy has also been furloughed from her full-time, U.S.-based job that she has worked remotely for years. As companies and organizations everywhere have had to do, the nonprofit Katy works for had to make cuts to programs and staff. In early April, Katy was told she was among the employees who would be furloughed, and she was not given a guarantee of when, or even if, she would get her job back.
Being stuck at home 24/7 with no work, no meetings or deadlines as a distraction is a sort of nightmare scenario for Katy. She is not one to sit still. For the 25 years Katy has been my closest friend, I have never known her to not have a handful of things going on at once. The month of April marked the first time in decades she was not either in school full time, working full time, or both.
The forced headspace caused by a furlough and country-wide lockdown will give Katy time to publish her dissertation she finalized last fall to earn her PhD. She is thinking through her future career goals, finishing projects she has been working on for years, offering her expertise to organizations on the island and maybe even mapping out a future book she will write. Perhaps she will even enjoy some well-earned free time? Certainly, she will make sure she never feels a sliver of boredom.
“I want to spend some time working on those things, and also just take a minute, I guess,” she said. “When I say a ‘minute,’ it’s because it is probably not going to last longer than a single minute.”
And, before you think it, Katy doesn’t need to “relax.” She never has and is not interested in starting now.
“That is not in my wheelhouse, and I am quite ok with it,” she said. “The whole relaxing thing has never worked for me. And the fact that I don't relax has really served me well.”
Katy is also staying busy video chatting with family members in the U.S., and already planning summer trips to their cottage in Michigan and a girls’ weekend in Arizona. Even if travel restrictions prevent those trips from happening, it’s good for Katy to focus right now on the possibility of spending time with family.
“I am confident I will see them this summer, but I am sure part of that is maybe being in denial,” Katy said. “I don’t know if that is a reality but I am holding onto it.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT KATY…
WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION TO KEEP GOING?
“Honestly, right now my inspiration to keep going is the prospect of being on the back deck of my childhood home with my mom and dad and siblings and nieces and nephews, or all being together at our summer cottage. I miss my family in such a different way right now — that comfort and security.”
WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR AT THIS MOMENT?
“My husband. His perspective is usually very different from mine in terms of managing really challenging times. He is way more patient, optimistic and has much more grace. I am really grateful for his perspective of me being furloughed because he reflects back to me what my skills and strengths are and how I can be creative and hopeful during this time.”
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO WHEN THINGS “GET BACK TO NORMAL”?
“Being home and in Chicago with friends and family. I have a home and friends and family here, but I am experiencing a new sense of longing for those things. I can't wait to feel the way that air feels in Chicago in the summer, to have a cold drink on an outdoor patio, to smell the lake. The weight of the air in the midwestern summer is so specific and so different than what I feel here.”