Springtime is Covidtime
we got it
This is the Kos newsletter: warm email notes from your friend in Seoul. Finding the simple joy in parenthood, bodies, spirituality, creativity, beauty, and living abroad. Sound like your jam? Subscribe below for weekly notes.
Hello from Cummings Covid Town, population 6.
1 in 5 Koreans has Covid right now, the highest (tracked) rate in the world. We are some of the (non-Koreans) among them. We knew it was a matter of time, with our kids in school and no vaccinations for kids <12 here in Seoul, but I still wish I’d taken a picture of my face when I saw that first positive. I remember whispering, It finally got us, and then stood in the kitchen staring out the window for five minutes, allowing myself to outer-body float before the logistical spinning and mental spiral began. It was two years of waiting, worrying, preparing, sacrificing, and distancing. In a way it felt like a tremendous relief; then a flood of worry. My kids, ages 3, 6, 8, and 10 aren’t vaccinated. They haven’t had the chance to be.
Over the course of three days, we all went down. But now, three days later, my kids are fine. They’re not totally well but they’re fine. Definitely, too much energy to be indoors for our mandatory 7 day isolation. My vaccinated husband and I are sick with symptoms similar to a cold out of hell. I go through a box of Kleenex a day. But we’re totally fine.
The boys have built six lego sets. I’ve watched two Korean dramas (The Business Proposal and Thirty-Nine, both on Netflix). We’ve cuddled on the couch watching eccentric pet owners on BBC Earth talk about how their own cuddly pet vipers bit them. And a lot of old (bad) Property Brothers episodes. I’ve baked, bathed, Wordled, read, slept, and comforted.
This afternoon I fell asleep and then woke to my kids playing Pokemon Unite and Splatoon. I wandered out to the balcony, my body heavy and achy. The sun was bright and warm until a breeze blew past. I rolled up my three-day-old sweatshirt and frumpy sweatpants and faced the sun, yelling into the house for my kids to come out and to at least get some vitamin D while they played video games. Nobody came.
I stretched, then watched people walking by below. I smelled meat grilling next door at the Japanese place we’ve never tried. A baby cried far away as a stylish couple walked past, arm in arm. I sneezed twelve times in rapid succession and retreated inside.
I hear those sounds and smell those smells and see people every day but it’s funny how as soon as it’s taken away, we want it more than anything else. All I want is to wander into our grungey 7/11 and buy some aloe vera drinks or go get soup dumplings with pickled onion and kimchi or walk past an acquaintance on my way to pick-up. But. I just keep thinking about all the people who didn’t get this lucky, to stay home and cuddle their kids and bake random stuff. Who had it much worse…and the people they had to leave behind. I’m grateful we’re okay. The world will still be there when we re-emerge with the Spring blossoms later this week.
Sniffly and snuffly yours,
Koseli
P.S. Apologies for no newsletters the last few weeks. I plan to keep writing weekly on Kos Newsletter but have paused my podcast.
If you liked this newsletter, there are three things you can do to support me: 1) Follow me on @toasty_kos, 2) Subscribe to my Little Things podcast, and 3) Share this newsletter by clicking below. I see and appreciate every like, comment, share, and good vibe. xo Koseli