Enjoy Living Abroad
  • Start Here
  • My Blog
  • My Travel Books
    • LOOK INSIDE NEW BOOK
    • ENJOY MOVING ABROAD
    • MOVING TO SEVILLE
    • EASTERN EUROPE
    • PACKING GUIDE
    • 101 EXPAT TIPS
  • Quarantine Cuisine
    • Aunt Bev's Pie Recipe
    • Patrick's Shepherd's Pie
  • Comfort Recipes
  • Med Comfort Food Tour
  • Dive Bars
  • Travel Tips
    • Packing
    • The Expat Lifestyle
    • Enjoy the Best of Seville
  • About
  • Contact

NAVIGATING the PANDEMIC journey TOGETHER

The Happiness Course: Rich Tells All

2/24/2021

28 Comments

 
Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Rich and I shared this happiness moment with our friend Pete and our flamingos in 2019.

​“Imagine that scientists have created a happiness machine. A machine that could make you as happy as you like with the push of a button. Would you use it? Would you push the button?” asks Dacher Keltner, director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. “I’ve asked that question of my students for years, and most of them say no. Most of them want to find true happiness on their own, in a genuine way. But how do you do that?”
 
Great minds have been debating that one for the entire 200,000 years Homo Sapiens has had the power of speech. And today, my husband, Rich, is going to put in his two cents worth on the subject, having just completed the Science of Happiness course presented by Keltner and Emiliana Simon-Thomas, science director of the GGSC.
 
“I consider myself to be a happy person,” Rich told me in an exclusive interview at our kitchen table. “I became interested in the question of why. I wanted to know what it takes to be a happy person. Also, my wife encouraged me to do it.”
 
“She sounds like a very wise woman,” I replied. “What did you learn?”

Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com

​“Probably the biggest surprise was that 50% of your happiness is inherited, 10% is your life situation, such as your profession and how comfortable you are economically, and 40% is what you do with your life and how you view your life.”
 
“How can you inherit happiness? Is it built into your DNA?”
 
“A surprising amount is physiological,” he said. “For instance, the vagus nerve runs from the brain throughout the body. Some are born with more of it. It’s the thing that responds physically when you see a beautiful sky that takes your breath away.” Simon-Thomas has said that “Physically speaking, our vagus nerve represents our sense of connection and closeness.” Rich added, “There’s a dopamine stimulator in the brain called Oxytocin (not to be confused with the opioid OxyContin). The more it’s stimulated, the more caring people are. Again, some of us are just born with more of it.”

Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
“My joyful moments are spontaneous conversations with strangers about something that makes me feel connected with them,” says Emiliana Simon-Thomas. “I have a bigger trust in humanity. It makes me feel safe in the world.”

​​Obviously there's not much we can do about our DNA, but we can work with the 40% of happiness that is under our control.
 
“Being happy takes a lot of work,” Rich said. For a start, you can't go after it directly. “If you’re seeking happiness all the time, you are going to fail. Life doesn’t work like that. Happiness is really a byproduct. The ancient Greeks called it eudaimonia, human flourishing and blessedness, achieved by a life of virtue and ethical wisdom. Contrary to what it says in the Declaration of Independence, you can’t pursue happiness; you pursue something else and receive happiness.”
 
“Like what?” I asked. “What can you pursue in life that will lead to flourishing, blessedness, and happiness?”
 
“Help others and show gratitude,” he replied promptly. “It’s all about kindness. Kindness leads to compassion. Compassion leads to altruism. Compassion makes you want to do something for others; altruism is actually doing it. All that is totally different from empathy, pity, or sympathy, which don’t call you to action.  'I feel your pain' isn’t action and doesn’t lead to happiness.”
​
Chuck Collins / Born on Third Base / Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Altruist Chuck Collins, great grandson of meatpacker Oscar Mayer, chose to give away his inheritance at the age of 26. His book Born on Third Base describes his lifelong effort to reduce inequality and contribute to the common good.

“How do we start?” I asked.
 
“The Buddhists tell us to stay present to what’s going on. And listen. One of the skills they encourage in this course is listening. Humans go mind-wandering 45% of the time; instead of focusing on the present, the mind is drifting into the past or future.”
 
Paying attention, he said, lets us notice opportunities to help others. “It’s the little things. Like the time you helped that old lady up the steps of the café in Greece. Or the other day, when we passed those two beggars and one said, ‘Spare any chocolate?’ and you had some in your purse so you gave it to them.” I had to laugh, remembering the surprise and delight on the beggars’ faces; they’d been kidding around with the request, and now they were each holding a foil-wrapped square of high-end dark chocolate with sea salt caramel — something I know from personal experience will brighten anyone’s day. The four of us laughed together and parted on a little buzz of joy.

Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
February 22 to 26 is Random Acts of Kindness Week. Dacher Keltner suggests we've survived as a species because cooperation and helpfulness aren't rare or random, but rather are built into our everyday lives. Photo by Getty

​“I get how helping others makes you happy,” I said. “Where does gratitude fit in?”
 
“Expressing gratitude is underrated; we rarely do it except in eulogies. The presenters suggested writing a letter to someone who did something you appreciate, and then calling them up and reading them the letter. They also recommended keeping a gratitude journal, or developing a nightly habit of climbing into bed and thinking of three things you’re thankful for from your day.”
 
I heard lots about this a few weeks ago, when Rich was going through the gratitude section of the course. That Sunday, I suggested we each bring to lunch three objects representing things we were thankful for. I showed up with three small boxes. One held the heart-shaped locket Rich gave me for our 30th wedding anniversary. The second held pieces of wisdom I’d scribbled down on Post-It notes and pasted above my work desk, such as “Never chase a missed train … get a pastry and wait for the next one.” The third box held the keys to this house, our safe haven during quarantine.

Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
My three boxes of gratitude

“Taking this course during pandemic gave me the opportunity to reflect more deeply,” Rich said. “When everything is ‘normal’ you tend to accept things as they are. Now, faced with a  life-changing situation, you can view it as an opportunity to learn or an impediment. The pandemic allowed me to learn about myself in a difficult situation. When daily stuff gets me aggravated — yes, I’m thinking of our struggles with the Spanish bank — I try to see it in the context of all the small, good things happening to me, and ask myself if it’s really that important.”
 
He thought for a bit, and then he added, “Even in these challenging times, you can find small blessings that make you grateful. And those blessings make it possible to remember that every day is sacred.”


Has anyone done something kind for you lately? What are you grateful for these days? Have moments of joy helped you survive the pandemic? If there was a happiness button, would you press it? Please let me know in the comments section below.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS COURSE DETAILS
Chuck Collins / Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
WHY COLLINS GAVE AWAY ALL HIS MONEY
Science of Happiness Course, UC Berkeley's Center for the Common Good / 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
SIMON-THOMAS ON WELL-BEING DURING COVID-19
This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic, if possible with some remnants of our sanity and good humor. Each week I provide tips, strategies, and reasons for hope.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share this post link ​with family and friends.
https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/the-happiness-course-rich-tells-all​
28 Comments

How (and Why) to Have Great Date Nights at Home

2/17/2021

4 Comments

 
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
White Wine Spritzers with Fruit are a lovely way to start off a date night. You can find the recipe on my Quarantine Cuisine page.

It’s been one of those weeks — the kind that makes you think your head’s going to explode.
 
For a start, Rich and I were enmeshed in a ghastly tangle with our Spanish bank involving a new pin number they’d sent out of the blue, texting it to our Seville phone number — which isn’t operational. No pin, no online banking. Not good. Multiple emails and phone conversations later, the bank grudgingly texted a new pin to our US phone. It didn’t work. Over Skype, the woman at the bank explained protocol now required sending the next pin by snail mail to our Seville apartment. At this point, the screen went dark and silent.
 
“We’ve been cut off,” I said.
 
Rich and I then proceeded to vent our feelings about the bank and its pin protocols, expressing ourselves with a good deal vigor for about five heated minutes. When we finally began to wind down, we heard the woman at the bank say brightly (in Spanish), “So, is there anything else I can help you with today?”
 
Ooops! Apparently we were still on the line with her. Abashed, I mumbled “No, gracias,” and hung up.

Then came good news from the county: my age group (65+) was now eligible for the Covid vaccine.

Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com

In the stampede for appointments, every time I logged on, it was already too late to get on the list with my provider, the county health department, or a pharmacy. Rich, determined to find an open time slot, took it on as a personal vendetta.

Meanwhile, a friend in Seville retrieved the bank’s letter and emailed us the new pin. Surprise! That didn’t work either.

“It’s like one of those ransom movies,” I said. “Where the kidnappers make the guy with the money race to a phone booth only to be sent on to another and yet another.”

“Yeah, except this time, they’re holding the money hostage.”
​
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
This scene from the Spanish TV series Money Heist reflects how I envision our bankers celebrating every time they get to put off reuniting us with our money.

​I realized we needed something to take our minds off all the bother and frustration.
 
“Date night on Saturday?” I said.
 
Date nights have become one of our key pandemic strategies. We rely on them to break up the routine and refresh our minds, hearts, and spirits. If you’ve never done a date night at home, it’s really quite simple: all you need is food and some form of entertainment that sparks a conversation that isn’t about the pandemic, politics, or Spanish banking. It helps to find a fresh location to eat; we often use a folding table, the coffee table, even the floor in places like the living room or foyer. The point is to make the night feel different from the hundreds that have gone before. If it feels different, so do you.


Saturday was pub night. The food was the sort of casual stuff you’d nibble in a bar: smoked salmon, bread sticks wrapped in prosciutto, goat cheese with rosemary, olives, artichoke hearts, and of course, wine. (Yes, I was inspired by Carlotta’s aperitivo in last week’s post.) I’d sprung for some high-end shrimp too, but when I opened the fridge, worrying smells emanated from the deli drawer. Recalling with a shudder the time Rich ate dubious shellfish in Mexico (you do not want to know the details), I wasted no time in flinging the shrimp into the outside trash bin.
 
No matter, we had plenty to munch on. I arranged the food on "the bar," a big wooden cutting board set in the pass-through between the kitchen and dining area, then dragged over a couple of tall stools. To set the mood, I played a YouTube video of a pub with music and background chatter. I turned down the lights, added candles, and suddenly this everyday space was transformed into a cozy, intimate tavern.

Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Turning out the lights let us ignore the kitchen and imagine we were elsewhere.

​Once everything was in place, I went upstairs to collect Rich. For both of us, one of the most delightful parts of date night is the anticipation. When it’s Rich’s turn to arrange things, I sit upstairs listening to the bustle below, sniffing whatever delectable scents are wafting out of the kitchen, trying to guess what he’s got planned. I’ve written about some of these evenings: 1950s sci fi (The Virus That Saved Humanity), dive bars (Bar Hopping, Quarantine-Style), and winter wonderland (Relax: Nobody's Cancelling the Holidays). Others include a drive-in movie (on the couch), picnics (indoors and out), sunbathing (hot lights and beach towels), and themed film nights (Hitchcock classics).
 
Scrolling for ideas, I’ve read plenty of articles about date nights written by people who have obviously never experienced one. “Read your favorite novel aloud” to your partner? That would take an average of eight to thirteen hours. Are we supposed to stay up till dawn? “Tackle a DIY project like painting a room together.” Yes, that wouldn’t be at all stressful at the end of a tense week. The most bonehead idea I heard (and I am not making this up) was “Clean out your closets.” Seriously? Clean out your closets as a way to reconnect with your soul mate? If Rich ever suggested that one, we’d be spending our next date night having a Zoom conference with a marriage counselor.

Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Honestly, does this say "date night" to you? Clearing out clutter can be satisfying, but not in that way.

And then there’s “Just talk.” As you may have guessed, Rich and I are both champion chatterers, but after approximately a billion hours of one-on-one this year, even we need some fresh material. Sources such as 36 Questions: How to Fall in Love or 350 Good Questions to Ask have sparked hours of stimulating discussion. Here’s a sampling:

  • Which is more useful: wisdom or intelligence?
  • What is the best way to attain happiness?
  • What makes you roll your eyes every time you hear it?
  • Who was your craziest/most interesting teacher?
  • Are there movie quotes you use on a regular basis?
  • What was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now?
  • When did you last watch something that made you laugh?
 
For many of us, the answer to that last one would be the video of the lawyer whose Zoom filter made him appear to be a talking cat.


​How did this happen? According to a 12-year-old in a YouTube video (and I think we can all agree that’s as expert as you get), you simply install Snap Camera and choose a filter, showing up for online dates as a cat, a pirate, or a talking potato with a halo of hearts.
 
For now, I’m keeping my dates real and low tech. And Saturday night certainly needed no enhancing; we were celebrating Rich’s triumph in securing my first vaccine appointment. One of the lesser pharmacy chains had such a convoluted sign-up form that anyone with any sense soon abandoned hope and went elsewhere. But to Rich, a hardened veteran of the Spanish banking system, it was child’s play. I’ll be getting my inoculation this week, most likely just about the time you read this. Hallelujah! It’s almost enough to give me hope of someday getting back into our Spanish bank account.


Have you ever done an at-home date night? What else is helping you stay sane in these crazy times? Let me know in the comments below.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
THE 1950s SCI FI DATE NIGHT
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
RICH'S FAVORITE DATE NIGHT RECIPES
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
DIVE BAR HOPPING AT HOME ON DATE NIGHT
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
KAREN'S EASY COMFORT FOOD RECIPES
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
WINTER WONDERLAND DATE NIGHT
Date nights during the pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
MEDITERRANEAN COMFORT FOOD
​
​This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic, if possible with some of our sanity and sense of humor intact. Each week I provide tips, strategies, and reasons for hope.

​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share this post link ​with family and friends.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/how-and-why-to-have-great-date-nights-at-home​
4 Comments

Europe's Creative Ways of Adapting to the New Abnormal

2/12/2021

6 Comments

 
Monks Coffee Roasters, Amsterdam / Patrick Abbott /Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Patrick Abbott's popular Amsterdam coffee house, Monks, is still open for takeout, which he provides to home workers who come down from their apartments for coffee, fresh air, and a little human contact.
 
​​I was both charmed and staggered to learn, when Spain first went into lockdown last year, that hairdressers were deemed essential workers. “Otherwise, how are old ladies supposed to manage if they can no longer wash their own hair?” said officials, no doubt breaking into an icy sweat at the idea of having to justify salon closure to their feisty abuelas. In France, recurring quarantines require closing all shops except those selling bare necessities. “Thankfully,’ remarked my friend Maer, “the French consider wine, pastries, and chocolates to be necessities!” Les Européens are so civilized, n'est-ce pas?
 
I began wondering: Are Europeans finding ways to turn lockdown into a viable lifestyle? Are they learning how to adjust in ways that we haven't considered here in the US?
 
When I reached out to friends in France, Italy, and the Netherlands, they poured out tales of much tighter restrictions on commerce, socializing, and mobility than anything we've seen in the States. And then — human nature being what it is — they explained how some people are circumventing them.

​“We are currently in our third lockdown with a nightly curfew. Be indoors by 9:00 pm and you can be back on the streets by 4:30 am,” says my friend Patrick, the Irish owner of the popular Amsterdam coffee house Monks Coffee Roasters. Lockdown requires non-essential shops to close. “This is being flouted like a badly run speakeasy with unmarked bags and bizarre hand signals. The basic rule of law is, if you sell food or medicine, you can open your doors. ‘You want fries with those new pants/washing machine/garden chairs?’”

Torino Discovery / Carlotta, Paolo, Luna / Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
In Turin, Italy, Paolo and Carlotta credit Luna's sweet personality with helping them get through lockdown.

​Naturally I asked how everybody was staying (relatively) sane. “Good question!” says Carlotta, an Italian tour guide and chef living in Turin, Italy with her boyfriend Paolo. “I would love to answer that I made the most of all this free time by doing a lot of exercise and eating well; the reality is I've been eating more comfort food than ever! What kept us sane during the toughest times was our dog, Luna; we adopted her in early March 2020, by chance just before the first lockdown started. She is our furry princess, she's the funniest and most sociable dog ever, and she gave us a legal reason to get out for a walk when it was forbidden!”

“People are renting dogs on leash time,” reports Patrick. “I’ve also heard of cat walking taking hold, but can’t confirm.” It gets crazier than that; in March the Spanish news showed locals walking plastic dogs, chickens, even goldfish; the police were not amused and soon put a stop to it.


​“If I could avoid doom-scrolling, I would be saner,” observes Maer, an American living in Montpellier, France, with her husband, Mark. “We’re retired from the film industry and I think that has ruined TV and most films for us.  We can no longer manage that wonderful suspension of disbelief they require. We get bored and wander off to read.” They also take online classes, including Yale’s Science of Well-being (similar to Rich’s UC Berkeley happiness course).

Americans in Paris / Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Maer and Mark in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Patrick and his Dutch fiancé, Margreit, amuse themselves with AI. “We got one of those ‘Hey Google’ speaker things," he says, "and although it was slightly creepy at first, we enjoy the randomness of asking her questions, teasing her, challenging her, and making her play obscure music. I know, it’s a machine, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers; she’s the only stranger you're allowed to have in your house at the moment.”
 
Carlotta says she and Paolo “do an aperitivo on Fridays to cheer ourselves up. Every week I put together something different: olives, a good salami, some mortadella cubes, a selection of cheeses, croutons with butter and anchovies, salmon, ham, savory pie... you name it! We open a good bottle and do a little ‘party,’ just the two of us.” Her favorite comfort recipe: spinach squares.
 
[Carlotta’s Spinach Square Recipe]
​
Carlotta, Torino Discovery, EatWith / Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Rich and I met Carlotta and Paolo in 2019 when they hosted an EatWith dinner in their home. We started with a delicious aparativo much like this, accompanied by glasses of Rocca dei Forti, a gorgeous, dry, sparkling white wine accented with a dash of vermouth.

​Patrick just moved and will be kitchenless until March. “We live with a loan microwave oven and takeaway food. Not great but we’re still alive … just. Once the kitchen arrives, the first thing I will prepare is my sensational Shepherd’s Pie. It’s a secret recipe handed down through generations of my family.” Oh yes, I talked him into sharing it with us!
 
[Patrick’s Shepherd’s Pie Recipe]
 
Everyone struggles. “I work in tourism," says Carlotta, "and the biggest challenge is figuring out when I'll be able to work again and how tourism habits will change. The second biggest challenge is fitting in clothes after all that comfort food!”

For Maer, staying put is hard. “My main jam is going places, walking around and looking at things; having to cool my heels has been tough. But then I realize that the only thing wrong with my present moment is my idea of how the future will be. If I manage to turn that off, all is well. We’re warm, dry, well-fed, and well-befriended, and that’s enough.”

Maer in Paris / Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Maer enjoys a quiet moment at the Petit Palais, home to the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. When in Paris, she and Mark live in a tiny 220-square foot apartment.

​At the coffee house, Patrick deals with maskless conspiracy theorists and other tests to his patience and diplomacy. On a personal level? “The biggest challenge I faced was grief. We lost two family members back in Ireland to Covid, and being unable to be at funerals due to travel restrictions was difficult. My aunty was a particularly close person to me and watching on a computer screen my mum, that I haven’t hugged for over a year, at the coffin of her sister was heartbreaking.”
 
None of them expects to be vaccinated any time soon. Carlotta and Maer are hoping for fall; Patrick says, “By Christmas.”
 
All three feel they’ve learned a lot during lockdown. “I had the illusion to be in control my future; well, that was a big fat lie!” says Carlotta. “I'm learning to enjoy the simple things that I have always taken for granted.” The pandemic, observes Patrick, “made me realize how entitled and indulged we are as a species. Personally I took stock of what I had and how much I actually need.” Maer echoes this sentiment. “It’s a superpower to be comfortable with very little.”

Monks Coffee Roasters, Amsterdam / Patrick Abbott /Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Patrick enjoying a lighthearted moment at Monks.

​When I asked Patrick if he thought the world would ever return to normal, he said, “There is never really a ‘normal.' We are always evolving. Now there is a shift in mentality and behavior, and I think it’s a good one. I’m hopeful for humanity as a whole. Fighting a pandemic as opposed to a war has made the planet smaller and made us realize how very vulnerable we are.”
 
“Holy smokes are we all interconnected,” says Maer. “The butterfly effect is very real.”
 
This has been a rough time for everyone. As one gastroenterologist put it, using the terminology of her field, “If 2020 was a drink, it would be a colonoscopy prep.” While 2021 offers reasons for cautious optimism, the pandemic is far from over, the outcome still uncertain. “At the beginning I thought we would return to a better normal,” says Carlotta. “Now I just hope it won’t be worse. But I can’t hide a sparkle of hope for us to learn a lesson and be a better society.” Amen to that!


How's your pandemic going? Any tips for adapting gracefully to the new abnormal while we wait for our vaccines?
​
Pandemic in Europe / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
In other news, people are starting to dress up their cats for Zoom work meetings. Mr. Fluffy looks worried he will now be expected to pitch in and help write the reports.

​This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic, if possible with some of our sanity and sense of humor intact. Each week I provide tips, strategies, and reasons for hope.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share this post link ​with family and friends.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/europes-creative-ways-of-adapting-to-the-new-abnormal​​

​YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
PATRICK'S SHEPHERD'S PIE RECIPE
MY DINNER WITH CARLOTTA & PAOLO (WITH RECIPES)
CARLOTTA'S SPINACH SQUARES RECIPE
MAER'S BLOG "THE LET'S GET LOST GAME"
MY MOVE TO SEVILLE
MY RAILWAY ADVENTURES IN EUROPE
6 Comments

Is Roaring 20s-style Debauchery Just Around the Corner?

2/3/2021

10 Comments

 
Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Crazy dances added to the roar of the 1920s. Here Norwegian pole vault champion, Charles Hoff, and Tempest Stevens are shown in a Charleston contest. Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images

​“Debauchery!” said my sister-in-law Deb in our last Zoom call. “I just read that things won’t get back to normal until 2024 and then we’ll have a wild period of debauchery!”
 
These days everybody’s got a theory about how things will look “when all this is over.” Some financial types say this decade will mark the end of the world economy — “driving the last nail into the coffin of the globalists,” as one put it. Psychologists fear many of us will never hug, shake hands, or even leave our homes again. Inspired by predictions that das volk will continue avoiding bars, a German publication announced “the end of the night.” Some sociologists suggest young people will no longer engage in casual sex.
 
Malarkey, applesauce, and horsefeathers, say I. Clearly these prognosticators have forgotten about a little thing I like to call “human nature.” People always have — and always will — strive to make a buck, seek congenial places to raise a glass, and find opportunities to fool around. That’s why the debauchery prediction actually made sense to me. I tracked down the author, who turned out to be Dr. Nicholas Christakis, an esteemed Harvard-educated social scientist and physician who is running Yale’s Human Nature Lab. One of his areas of expertise is how our behaviors influence contagion in society. As you can imagine, his thoughts are in hot demand these days.

Nicholas Christakis / Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
“Many people seem to think it’s the actions of our government that are causing the economy to slow – that’s false,” says Dr. Nicholas Christakis. “It’s the virus that’s causing the economy to slow, because economies collapsed even in ancient times when plagues happened, even when there was no government saying close the schools and close the restaurants.”

​​“Plagues are not new to our species — they’re just new to us,” observes Christakis. “During epidemics you get increases in religiosity, people become more abstentious, they save money, they get risk averse, and we’re seeing all of that now — just as we have for hundreds of years during epidemics.” The biggest difference this time around? “We’re the first generation of humans alive who has ever faced this threat that [can] respond in real-time with efficacious medicines. It’s miraculous.” He suggests vaccination will take all of 2021, and we’ll need the next two years to recover from the socioeconomic devastation left in the pandemic’s wake.
 
And then? Look out, world! Christakis predicts “another Roaring Twenties” like the one that followed the 1918 flu pandemic.
​When it comes to eras, the original Roaring Twenties was, as they said back then, the “gnat’s eyebrows.” Having survived the twin traumas of World War I and the flu pandemic, our nation enjoyed a booming economy and was ready to release its pent-up desire to make whoopee. Women, energized by winning the right to vote, were busy breaking taboos: bobbing their hair, smoking cigarettes, wearing dresses that (gasp!) bared the knee, and getting fitted for (I blush to mention it) diaphragms for birth control. African Americans introduced the world to thrilling new music that gave the era its other name: the Jazz Age. Prohibition tried to put a lid on things, so public-spirited members of the underworld quickly set up speakeasies to provide enough giggle water to keep everyone zozzled.
 
The economy doubled in just nine years, and with so much extra voot jingling in their pockets, people bought radios — creating mass communication, the advertising industry, and modern consumerism. Egged on by radio sponsors, everyone spent as never before on stuff they’d never heard of and often didn’t need. And we’ve never stopped. One of the hottest controversies in the “when all this is over” debate is whether or not we’ll revert to the cycle of compulsive consumption that Madison Avenue has spent a century programming us to believe is not just normal but our patriotic duty and one of life’s great pleasures.
​
Black Friday / Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Black Friday. Enough said.

“The mutation of shopping from buying necessary stuff to being a leisure activity — “retail therapy” — has been one of the most miserable cons of modern life,” writes Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore. “If anything good has come out of this awful time, it is this … a pause in mindless consumption. ‘When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping,’ they used to say. Well, it’s no longer true, if it ever was.”
 
“If all this consumption was making us deliriously happy that would be one thing,” points out Harvard economist Juliet B. Schor. “But in fact what we find is after intense desires to acquire goods, Americans are discarding them at record rates.” How much stuff are we throwing away? Pre-pandemic it was about 300 million tons a year — 4.5 pounds per person per day. Top discards included food (30.63 million tons), plastic (26.82 million tons) and a little further down the list, textiles including clothing (11.5 million tons). I was aghast to learn that while sheltering in place we’ve been generating 25% more trash.
​
Sustainable fashion / Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Designer Marina Hamm is proud that her company, Volcom, makes swimsuits out of old fishing nets and used carpets. It's a step in the right direction, but that swimsuit is still likely to end up in a landfill soon.

All this raises a moral dilemma. I’ve spent decades trying to be a responsible steward of the planet and doing my share of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Back in Ohio I organized our town’s curbside recycling program and Earth Day activities, and nowadays I write a weekly column on climate change for a Seville-based publication. But I live in the real world with conflicting priorities and tough choices. While I flinch at the thought of the amount of Amazon packaging flowing in and out of my house, my pandemic survival strategy involves doing as little in-person shopping as possible. I am well aware that 80% of the people who have died of Covid-19 are in my 65+ age group. Rich, who is 76, has a mortality risk factor 220 times higher than that of young people. I am doing everything I can to keep us both safe.
 
On that front, I have some exciting news: Rich received his first dose of the vaccine. Last Friday he went to the Marin County Fairgrounds, and after a lengthy, chilly wait to get into the main hall, he breezed through the vaccination in twenty minutes. The shot was so painless the nurse had to tell him it was over and he should 23 skidoo. When will I be inoculated? Theoretically soon, but shortages mean they’re delaying my age group a bit longer. Fingers crossed they have enough around for Rich’s second shot in a few weeks. The uncertainty is frustrating, but we feel lucky compared to our European friends, who don’t expect to be vaccinated until September, or possibly December.

Vaccinated! Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Rich shows off his vaccination card and sticker.

​Christakis may be right that the pandemic and its aftermath won’t subside until 2024. Or it could be pure banana oil. Who knows? As humorist James Thurber wrote,  “The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess.” But here’s hoping that by 2024 the world is safe enough for us all to indulge in a bit of fun — if not outright debauchery, then a little lighthearted, distance-free socializing, when it’s finally safe to don our glad rags, fire up the flivver, and round up congenial pals for a night of putting on the Ritz.

Karen and Rich McCann / Post-Pandemic New Roaring 20s / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
I still have this dress, which I wore in 1991 to this 1920s theme murder mystery party. Before that it was my wedding dress. I'm looking forward to wearing it again in 2024.

​​This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic, if possible with some of our sanity and sense of humor intact. Each week I provide tips, strategies, and reasons for hope.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share this post link ​with family and friends.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/is-roaring-20s-style-debauchery-just-around-the-corner​

​YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
VISIONARIES? LUNATICS? YOU DECIDE
AMERICAN TABOOS
AN OPTIMIST'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING CLIMATE CHANGE
10 Comments

Three Ways Travel Prepares Us for Pandemic Survival

1/28/2021

14 Comments

 
Bridge in Thailand / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase," said Martin Luther King, Jr. The same goes for rickety bridges, like this one I crossed in Thailand in 1992.

​“The best thing I learned from our travels,” Rich remarked over Sunday lunch, “was how to live with uncertainty.”
 
Even the most carefully planned journey holds some suspense, if only about the weather and the sheer happenstance of daily living. One January in our corporate days, Rich and I took the chairman of the board and his wife on a business trip to a luxury hotel, certain they’d love it. The heating system in their room went on the fritz, so they passed the night in shivering misery and, no doubt, cursing our names.
 
It was even chillier in the hostel where Rich and I stayed during our visit to Veliko Tarnovo, high in the Bulgarian mountains, in the autumn of 2013. But we loved every minute of it. When you pay $28 a night, you don’t expect much. And yes, our private room had a notable lack of scattered rose petals, chocolates on the pillow, hand towels folded to look like swans — or, for that matter, heat. But the dining hall was toasty warm all day, and the communal breakfasts and dinners offered riveting conversations that Rich and I still talk about to this day.

Hostel Mostel, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Our private room in the Hostel Mostel, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria came with five thick wool blankets. We piled them on, and they were so heavy I could hardly turn over in the night.

My point is that expectations shape how we view all experiences. As Americans, we’re brought up with the unspoken but pervasive belief that if we do everything right we can plant our feet on solid ground and count on a life that’s perfectly secure, permanently comfortable, and filled with our fair share of pleasures. That’s always been a pipe dream. “Our lives are written in disappearing ink,” said author Michelle Cliff. The pandemic has made that obvious in ways we can’t ignore. Never have so many been so uncertain about so much for so long.
 
If we’ve got any hope of maintaining our sanity through all this, we need to find a way to embrace uncertainty. And the best way to do that, the Buddhists suggest, is to think less about the past and future, and focus on the present moment.
 
Now, you may be thinking: “But the present moment is so boring!” Which brings us to the second thing travel can teach us: how to cope with boredom.

Dijon, France vegetable seller / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Our understanding of boredom is largely cultural. To the Frenchwoman above, it’s ennui, a sort of languid, jaded world-weariness. The Germans identify it straightforwardly as langeweile, a long time. Russians call it skuka after the sound of clucking chickens. In Nigeria young men speak of zaman kashin wando, sitting so long you wear out your pants.

​The concept of boredom is a modern invention, arising when the Industrial Revolution and train schedules suddenly required everyone to live by the clock. Identifying work hours created the idea of spare time — and pressure to maximize it before the next shift started. Australian anthropologist Yasmine Musharbash, who studies boredom in indigenous populations, says, “Traditionally, and by that, I mean pre-colonization, there would not have been such a thing as boredom. Boredom is when you rub up against time. That just would not have happened before. Because of colonization and how the day is structured — school bells, work times — time becomes a straitjacket.” In Western society, she says, it starts when we’re babies. “Bedtime trains us for work and makes us good workers. We learn that certain things need to be done at certain times. It is a pretty brutal lesson, but it is a way of accepting that time is the boss of you.”
 
One of the hardest adjustments of the pandemic is losing the structure that has ruled our daily lives since infancy. For some, time seems to stretch out in a seamless eternity of sameness. Others are caught up in the frenzy of working from home while overseeing the kids’ online studies and doing the astonishing amount of cooking required to put three meals on the table seven days a week. Circumstances vary, but we’ve all lost the familiar routines that once governed our days. Much as we do when we travel.

Miami beach / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Routine goes out the window when we begin to travel. After a while, our days take on new patterns.

​While relaxing the timetable can bring a sense of freedom, I’ve learned completely unstructured days leave me feeling adrift. On the road and at home, Rich and I establish routines that give rhythm to our day. We set aside hours for working online: doing research, keeping up with emails, and (in my case) writing my blog posts. During this time, we give each other plenty of psychological space. Even when working elbow-to-elbow at the kitchen table of a tiny Airbnb, we rarely interrupt each other, knowing that having some private headspace is vital to our sanity.
 
It takes a lot for one of us to violate this code. One of the few times it’s happened, during a long-ago emergency in Ohio, I didn’t respond well. I should have known Rich would have a good reason for bursting into my office, but I didn’t even look up from the screen as I snapped, “I don’t care if the house is on fire. I have to finish this.”
 
“Okay,” he said. “I just thought you might want to know there’s a six-foot snake on our bed.”

Capturing the snake / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Rich removing the snake from the pillowcase before releasing it into the wild.

​In the pandemonium that followed, the snake slithered into a heating vent, and eventually a policeman helped Rich grab the wily reptile and stuff it into a pillow case. As Rich and I drove off to release it into the wild, the pillow case started to move. I thought Rich was jiggling it in jest. Then the snake’s head shot up out of the opening, and it began biting him on the hand — so hard its fangs snapped off. Luckily it was just a harmless black rat snake. We kept the fangs in a glass jar for years to impress the neighborhood kids.
 
OK, I know I must have had some reason for telling the snake story . . . Oh yes, coping strategies. Living in the present moment helps, as does establishing some kind of routine. My third suggestion is about acceptance. Take shortages, for instance. My supermarket is often completely out of toilet paper, no longer carries my favorite crackers, and sells only canned artichoke hearts too fibrous to chew. Small annoyances, I agree, but still.

Shortages of paper products / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
No matter how often it happens, I always find it disconcerting to arrive at the paper products aisle of a major supermarket and see empty shelves.

​Big chain stores and online shopping have trained us to expect a vast array of options at low prices with a money-back guarantee. Traveling abroad, I’ve learned to choose from among a few off-brand products that are only very approximately what I want. The silver lining? Having fewer choices actually makes us happier, according to research by psychologist Barry Schwartz. Constantly seeking maximum satisfaction can turn people into discontented perfectionists, while those who accept the first available option that meets their criteria tend to be happier with their purchase. As disconcerting as it is to see near-empty shelves, snapping up one of three remaining rolls of paper towels is positively thrilling.  
 
We’re all struggling to reconstruct our disrupted lives while wondering about the future. Whenever I contemplate the long term effects of the pandemic, I remember a Buddhist lecturer who said that when the Dalai Lama was asked about the legacy of the French Revolution. he replied, “Oh, it’s much too soon to say.” Yes, we live in an age of profound uncertainty with unknown consequences. But then, doesn’t everyone?
​

​This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic, if possible with some of our sanity and sense of humor intact. Each week I provide tips, strategies, and reasons for hope.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share Three Ways Travel Prepares Us for Pandemic Survival with family and friends.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/three-ways-travel-prepares-us-for-pandemic-suvival​

​YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Capturing the snake / Dancing in the Fountain / Seville, Spain / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
THE FULL SNAKE STORY IN MY BOOK DANCING IN THE FOUNTAIN
Hostel Mostel, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
FLESHPOTS & FLOPHOUSES OF BULGARIA
Dijon, France vegetable seller / Travel as preparation for pandemic / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
DAZED & CONFUSED IN DIJON, FRANCE
14 Comments

Working Remotely? Why Not Do It Overseas with One of the New "Digital Nomad Visas"?

1/20/2021

11 Comments

 
Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
My digital nomad friends Lindsay and Ross have held online jobs and lived all over the world since 2008.

After the earthquake last Saturday night, as soon as the couch stopped shaking, I turned to Rich and said, “So it’s true. Mother Earth really is trying to kill us.”
 
It wasn’t Her best effort; a mere 4.2 on the Richter scale, just enough to startle. By the time I realized it might be wise to dive under the furniture, it was all over. The previous quake, which struck on December 31st — a little parting gift from our old pal, 2020 — was even weaker, but with the epicenter just a few miles away, that one bounced me like a trampoline. Ah, the joys of living in California.

Earthquake preparedness / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
Like all California kids, I grew up preparing for earthquakes.

It’s been pretty wild around here lately, but with the state’s Covid numbers (finally!) dropping a bit and vaccines on the way (yes, they are!), there’s room for optimism. For months, those vaccines were like Bigfoot — the stuff of legend without any reliable sightings. Now a few people I know have received their shots, including someone who joined a high-priced concierge medical service to get one, and a veteran who's flying to a military base that's doing inoculations.
 
“Do we have to up our game?” I say to Rich whenever we hear such stories. “Bribe or hustle our way into line?” I don’t mind waiting behind nursing home residents and essential workers but hate to be outdone by the rich and crafty.

Vaccine availability / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
Pharmacies are inundated with requests for information, tests, and vaccines they don't have.

“I think things are about to get better,” Rich said yesterday, and sent me the NY Times story, “Biden’s Covid-19 Plan Is Maddeningly Obvious.”
 
The real shocker, says the article, is that these no-brainer solutions weren’t in place months ago: “Loosen the restrictions on who can get vaccinated (and when). Set up many more sites where vaccinations can take place. Mobilize more medical personnel to deliver the vaccinations. And use the might of the federal government to increase the vaccine supply by manufacturing whatever is needed, whenever it is needed, to accelerate the effort.” Amen to all that! The plan calls for FEMA to set up vaccination sites in gyms, sports stadiums, community centers, and mobile units. “They’re evaluating how to eke out more doses from the existing supply — there is, for instance, a particular syringe that will get you six doses out of a given quantity of Pfizer’s vaccine rather than five, and they are looking at whether the Defense Production Act could accelerate production of that particular syringe and other, similarly useful goods.”
 
Reading those plans gave me a first flicker of hope that we might actually be on the verge of moving past this phase of our lives into a — dare I say it? — post-pandemic world.

Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
What will it be like the day we finally put away our masks for good? Photo by Getty

​Naturally everyone’s speculating madly about what the future will look like, and the only thing they all agree on is that we won't return to pre-Covid normal. For a start, many of the 100 million Americans now working from home will keep doing so in 2021, possibly forever. 

​And that, my friends, is the sound of opportunity knocking.

As many of my expat pals have learned, working remotely means you can live anywhere, moving on whenever you’re ready for a change of scenery. For those fed up with staring at the same four walls and the same old view out the window, that’s a heady idea. Just think about becoming a digital nomad, working remotely in another part of the US. Or even more excitingly, doing your job from abroad, which just got a lot easier thanks to new digital nomad visas designed to attract working visitors as soon as travel restrictions are lifted.
 
“Portugal, as of February 1st, 2021 will take the most significant leap yet, with the islands of Madeira embracing nomads with their very own village,” observes travel writer Gilbert Ott. “Ponta Do Sol will become the first pilot project village aiming to create a symbiotic relationship between locals and digital nomads, who are actively being encouraged to visit.”


Before you start downloading Portuguese language tapes, take a moment to consider some of the other places waiting with open arms. I’ve compiled a list (you’ll find it below), but before we get to that, let me fill you in on how it works. 
 
The digital nomad idea became practical around 2008, when advances in internet and cell phone services made it possible to interact seamlessly with clients and employers thousands of miles away. That’s when my friends Lindsay and Ross, Americans working in Seville, found online jobs through Craigslist and decided to make their home in the larger world.
 
“We threw all the chips in and bet everything on this decision,” Ross told me.
 
They reduced their entire worldly goods to two suitcases, a small roll-aboard, a backpack, Ross’s guitar, and their dog, Rocky. Strict travel protocols were developed; if one of them bought a t-shirt, they had to get rid of t-shirt; no extras allowed. Like most young couples, they lived in modest rented apartments and worked hard five days a week. But when they walked outside after hours, they were always someplace new and exciting.
 
“It’s really not a question of why we do it,” said Lindsay. “It’s more a question of why doesn’t everyone do it?”    
 
This year we’re seeing another giant leap forward in the digital nomad lifestyle. Until now, most traveled under tourist visas, which usually limit the stay to 90 days and prohibit working. But now (drumroll, please!) more than a dozen countries are offering some version of digital nomad visas, which allow you to stay a year or more while you continue doing your job from, say, an apartment in Greece or beach house Costa Rica.
 
The amount of paperwork varies considerably, as does the application fee, which can be a modest $100 or run as high as $2000 for an individual, $3000 for a family. In some cases, you may be asked to demonstrate you’re actually employed or a business owner, not just a vacationer looking for excellent wifi and other perks— such as the access to healthcare, telecom, utilities, and all the other benefits offered by Dubai.
 
So what countries offer some version of the digital nomad visa? 

Barbados
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Dubai
Estonia
Germany
Greece
Mexico
Norway
Portugal
Republic of Georgia

Rich and I have visited most of these countries, and there's no question they can be a lot of fun.

​Sensibly, most countries won’t allow Americans to enter until we get our pandemic numbers under control. But hey, that just means you have sufficient time to consider whether the digital nomad lifestyle is for you. Not up for living abroad? If you’re working remotely, retired, or otherwise untethered to a specific geographic area, this may be the year to explore new horizons nearer home.
 
A recent study showed that when you’re on the fence about a major life decision, choosing to make a change is overwhelming more satisfying than clinging to the status quo. Actress Goldie Hawn said, “We have to embrace obstacles to reach the next stage of joy.” I think we’ve all embraced more than our fair share of obstacles lately. Is it finally time to think about getting out there — whenever it's safe — and embracing a little joy?

Estonia / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
Erge and Martin, our Airbnb hosts in Tallinn, Estonia, filled our time there with joy and laughter.

​YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Estonia / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
ESTONIA'S BRIGHT FUTURE
Greece / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
THE GREEK ISLAND OF LONGEVITY
Czech Republic / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
THE LOONINESS OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
MY BEST TIPS FOR MOVING ABROAD
Lisbon, Portugal / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE LISBON
Eastern Europe / Digital Nomad Visas / Enjoy Living Abroad / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
EASTERN EUROPE BY RAIL
​
This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic and (if we're lucky) beginning the transition to a post-Covid world. Each week I provide tips, strategies, comfort food recipes, and reasons for hope.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

Feel free to share this Digital Nomad Visas post with family and friends.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/working-remotely-why-not-do-it-overseas-with-one-of-the-new-digital-nomad-visas

​
11 Comments

Let's Not Give Up on 2021 Just Yet

1/14/2021

6 Comments

 
Chef Lenny the Lizard / 2021: it just gets goofier / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Lenny was just a house pet until, like so many of us, he got into cooking during quarantine.

OK, 2021, the hour of reckoning has come. Yes, already! You can't deny we performed all the proper rituals — red underwear, grapes, buckets of water out the door, 360 million glasses of champaign in the US alone. Frankly, we gave you the most enthusiastic welcome of any year in the history of time. What did we ask in return? Just a little relief from the chaos and madness of past twelve months. But no, you couldn’t resist the opportunity to outdo 2020. You just had to start off the very first week with an insurrection designed to derail American democracy. What’s next? No, don’t tell me. I’m not sure my nerves can take it.
 
So much for my foolish notion that 2021 would be better than its predecessor.
 
I was preparing to write this year off as a total washout (why wait until the last minute?) but then I paused to reflect on some inspiring stories that have already come out of it. Stories of those who are finding ways to stay engaged in the world in spite of everything. For instance, I’m still basking in the sheer delight of my latest discovery: a lizard (specifically a bearded dragon) who has published his own cookbook, Chef Lenny: Cooking for Humans. True story; I couldn’t make this stuff up.


“It was my quarantine project,” says Valerie Musser, Lenny’s owner, ghost writer, and publicist. When her catering business was derailed by the pandemic, she began writing a long-postponed cookbook and amused herself posting Instagram photos of Lenny in a miniature chef’s hat she found on Etsy. “He actually loves wearing hats and posing for photos, so I started making miniature food for him to show off with.” Moreover, Lenny has a classic chef’s temperament. “He is very pretentious. His body language is kind of crazy, he wants what he wants, he’s very demanding and he’s kind of a snob about food, very fussy, so this project fits him very well.”
 
Lenny isn’t the only unexpected new celebrity. Fans of fungi will be pleased to know the once-humble mushroom has had series of makeovers and is now popping up everywhere. Adidas’ line of “vegan footwear” includes sneakers made of “mushroom-based leather” derived from the fast-growing roots known as mycelium. A Stanford designer is growing mushrooms on a diet of sawdust and using their mycelium to make bricks that are said to be “stronger than concrete.” And never worry that demand will outstrip the supply, because a Dutch inventor has created a coffin that turns bodies into mushrooms.  It takes just a single week to create a “living cocoon” by growing mycelium around a box-shaped frame with an open bottom. When the time comes, you just lay your loved one to rest inside, and he or she will spend the next few years decomposing gracefully back into the earth, adding nutrients to the soil. Not surprisingly, getting this product to market will require overcoming some serious legal hurdles and the creepiness factor. If only Tales from the Crypt was still around to serve as the sponsor.


​In the constellation of new superstars, perhaps the most astounding virtuoso is Secret, a young Australian shepherd who’s become an adept practitioner of doga, or dog yoga. When not mastering complex asanas (yoga poses), Secret enjoys spending time with his human, Mary Peters, painting, doing housework, and learning CPR.


​Another creature-human relationship that’s taken the quarantined world by storm is the heartwarming platonic romance between Craig Foster and a female octopus living in the kelp forest of South Africa’s Cape of Storms. “What Charlotte’s Web did in the popular imagination for the humble, much-maligned barn spider, My Octopus Teacher sets out to achieve for the eight-limbed mollusc of its title,” says Variety in a review titled “An Eight-Legged Freak Becomes a Friend in Netflix’s Gorgeous Hit Nature Doc.”

The film is sensitive, intelligent, and mind-expanding, so naturally somebody had to do a goofy parody. Filmmakers rose to the challenge with My Kreepy Teacher, the story of a man bonding with his Kreepy Krauly-brand pool cleaner.

My Octopus Teacher / My Kreepy Teacher  / 2021: it just gets goofier / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Can you tell which is the real octopus and which is the pool cleaner?

With the possible exception of the dog Secret, relationships with members of other species (let alone inanimate objects like the Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner) are severely limited by physical, verbal, and social differences. Despite all its complications, we are hard wired to need human companionship.
 
During a recent Zoom call, my sister Kate remarked that on top of everything else, we hardly ever get to meet new people these days. She’s right. Except for brief encounters with neighbors and sales clerks, I rarely speak to anyone who isn’t a relative or long-time friend. That got me thinking: How can we connect up — safely, online — with new people, preferably in a lively interactive format?
 
One of the best ways is via Meetup, an online organizer started by New Yorkers in the wake of 9/11, when encounters with neighbors gave them a fresh appreciation of the value of human connection in dark times. It costs nothing to join; you just sign up with any group that looks interesting (like the drive-in movie group I belong to) and they send you notices of events. Nowadays everything is tailored to helping us through the pandemic, with categories such as Learn New Skills, Live Mindfully, Deepen Your Tech Knowledge, and Make Lasting Connections. There are also 3,700 board game groups and 2,500 card game groups where you can play with locals or people around the world.

But what really caught my eye was Meetup’s 5,382 book clubs. 

Meetup Book Clubs / Mushroom sneakers / 2021: it just gets goofier / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
If none of these book clubs appeals, you can always check the website of your public library and local book stores, many of which host monthly online book discussions.

It’s fun to think about joining one of the giants, such as the London Philosophy Club or Dharma Drink: the Hangout for Buddhists (& like minded) in New York, each of which has about 10,000 members. No doubt they break out into smaller discussion subgroups, but even so, I’d feel lost in a crowd that large. You can find smaller book clubs on Meetup or through your local public library or book store. Before joining any group, be sure to find out if they read the kind of stuff you actually like. Years ago I was flattered by an invitation to join a highbrow literary book club, where I floundered through pedantic discussions of classics I admired but didn’t enjoy one bit. As you can imagine, I hightailed it out of there as soon as possible and joined a different book club.

​We humans are social creatures. Our survival as individuals and as a species has always depended upon connection and cooperation. These days few of us are called upon to help the neighbors hunt a mastodon or raise a barn, but even when we’re simply partnering in a game of online Monopoly, we’re making a vital contribution to the community. Everyone needs a sense of support, the warmth of laughter, and some reassurance that we are not alone in this time of crisis. “Love and compassion,” says the Dalai Lama, “are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” That’s never been truer than in 2021.


DEAR READERS
I write these posts to contribute a little cheeriness to the general conversation, in hopes it will help us all get through these troubling times with a bit more grace and comfort.  Please feel free to pass on the link to your family, friends, Zoom acquaintances, and book clubs. All are welcome here.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/lets-not-give-up-on-2021-just-yet

And before I close, I can't resist including one more small delight to brighten these dark days: an astonishing 3D animation from Le Petit Chef, a small country restaurant northeast of Paris. They project it onto your table while you’re waiting for dessert. Bon appétit! 

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Healing with Chocolate / 2021: it just gets goofier / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
THE HEALING POWER OF CHOCOLATE
Yoga for Insomnia / 2021: it just gets goofier / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
YOGA & OTHER CURES FOR INSOMNIA
NEW COMFORT RECIPES
​
​
This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic while holding on to some shreds of our sanity and sense of humor, however weird things get.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.
6 Comments

What I Promise Not to Watch, Buy, or Eat in 2021

1/5/2021

18 Comments

 
New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Sheltering in place, many of us are finding solace in old-fashioned pastimes we have around the house. Photo by the Saint Paul Winter Carnival Puzzle Contest

​I no longer make New Year’s resolutions — which only 8% of people keep anyway — but this time around I’m making an exception. And I’m serious. No matter how desperate I am for something new to watch, I will not stream the movie Songbird. Haven’t heard of it? Here’s the premise: It’s the 213th week of pandemic lockdown from Covid-23. I know, right? It’s beginning to feel like that already. But wait, there’s more. A hundred and ten million people are dead, officials can test you remotely, and if you resist going to one of the squalid quarantine camps, they shoot you on sight. Being an optimist, I watched the trailer and said to Rich, “See? We don’t have it so bad!”


Rotten Tomatoes gave Songbird a single star and called it “an appalling melange of insipid disaster drama and implausible romance with a bit of dystopian satire thrown in. This is a crass cash-in meant to prey on our pandemic anxieties, not grapple with them.” Yikes!
 
So I’ve already found one thing to make me happier in 2021: avoiding Songbird. Whew! I feel I’m making progress already and we’re only a week into the year.
 
I’m also determined to avoid impulse-buying unnecessary stuff — a pastime that gave 2020 yet another nickname: The Year of Buyer’s Remorse. Apparently panic-stockpiling toilet paper was merely the warm up; many people are now stuck with clothes they can’t wear, electronics they don’t need, even houses they can’t stand.

New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
At a time when thousands of businesses are cutting back and going under, Amazon expanded its work force to more than 1 million people to meet the demand for online shopping.

Paula Gillespie, for instance, was aghast when her husband surprised her with a camper. “The thing is too big for his truck and dangerous, and I absolutely refuse to go anywhere with it due to the dangers of it,” she said. The camper now sits idle near the fishing boat her husband bought, despite the fact they live nowhere near a boat-worthy body of water.
 
Maureen Rashidifard’s pandemic splurges include a resistance-training apparatus, a sewing machine, a TV with a DVD player, roller skates, and a program designed to teach her kids every language on the planet. So far, nobody in the family has buffed up or learned Mandarin. As for the skates, “I fell so hard that my hat flew off my head,” she said. “I had to walk home in my socks carrying my skates, and I haven’t touched them since.”

New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Shopping releases dopamine, the neurotransmitter which controls pleasure inside the human brain. The pleasure is stronger during the anticipation phase than it is when you actually receive your purchase.

​One of the hottest commodities? Puppies, especially the easy-care, ultra-adorable breeds that make you want to spend the rest of the pandemic snuggling on the couch with your new best friend. Sales of goldendoodles — a mix of good-natured golden retriever and low-shedding poodle — are reportedly up 700%, despite the fact that top breeders charge $4000 a pup. City folks reluctant to hit the streets on a schedule suitable for a puppy’s bladder have generated a 200% rise in the demand for doggie diapers.
 
Rich and I have resisted impulse-buying any pets, as we know it’s impractical given our plans to return to Spain when all the stars finally align. But I have to admit feeling puppy envy when I talk to my sister Kate, who recently adopted a miniature Australian shepherd. It’s her second of the breed, and while the first was a mild-mannered Clark Kent-type, this one’s a superdog called Bear who’s bursting with energy and creative ideas for enlivening lockdown.
​
Pandemic puppies / New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
“Why no, Dad, I haven’t seen your avocado toast. Why do you ask?” Photo by Kate Harding

​Speaking of food, another thing I’ll be avoiding is restaurant dining. Luckily I love to cook, especially on Sundays. In Spain, that's when families gather for late, long, leisurely lunches, and early in the pandemic, Rich and I decided to maintain this satisfying European tradition. We devote Sundays to rest and relaxation (no writing posts, jumping on the stair stepper, or even taking long hikes) so we have plenty of time to experiment with new dishes. I find I do my best work to Dean Martin singing “That’s Amore,” “Volare,” and “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” (which I’ve nominated for the pandemic’s theme song).
 
Thanks to Dean, I was inspired to kick off 2021 with an Italian dish: Potato and White Bean Puttanesca Soup.

New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com

​This easy, heartwarming dish ​[see recipe here] is enlivened by a topping of capers, Kalamata olives, and fresh parsley. The recipe, now enshrined in our permanent collection, is the first — and apparently last — to be clipped from an actual copy of the NY Times. A month ago we subscribed to the Sunday edition, seeking a pastime that had the novelty of not including a screen. Week after week we received a flurry of apologies instead of the paper. Only once did a copy materialize at the end of our driveway; I can only assume there was a substitute delivery person who didn’t get the memo about the circulation department's mysterious vendetta against us. We're now resigned to the fact that subscribing to the Times is yet another activity we are destined to forego this year.
 
Fortunately, we found an alternative pastime in the latest craze: jigsaw puzzles. Sales are booming during lockdown. “The surge in demand,” CNBC reported,  “is comparable to demand during the Great Depression, according to one puzzle historian.” So puzzle historians are a thing now? Who knew?
 
Most of the time, I find puzzles soothing and absorbing. Only rarely do I fling up my hands, exclaiming, “This one’s incomplete! Defective! There is no corner piece with a dog’s — oh wait, here it is.” Afterwards, disassembly requires the kind of spiritual strength Buddhist monks display in destroying their sand mandalas immediately upon completion.

“You know the cabin puzzle we just completed?” Rich remarked at breakfast this morning. “I just saw it on Etsy, assembled and framed, for $400.”

​“Seriously? People buy one and — what? Pretend they did it themselves?” Hmmm, I thought. This could be a great little cottage industry for us.
 
But then I recalled the article “How to be Happier in 2021: Toss Out Your Usual List of New Year’s Resolutions, Says Study.” Scientists pointed out that most resolutions are essentially selfish (get skinnier, richer, more productive); their research showed happiness most often arrives as a byproduct of helping others.
 
Evidently Rich was thinking along the same lines. “I know!” he said. “When we finish, we’ll disassemble the puzzles and send them to friends as a surprise gift. Everyone’s looking for cheerful pastimes these days.” Genius!
 
So in addition to not watching Songbird, buying skates, adopting a puppy, or reading the NY Times in hard copy, we’re won’t be hoarding puzzles. Instead, we’ll set them free to entertain other families who need a break from screen time, politics, and pandemic headlines. The payoff will be a feel-good moment each time we drop one off at the post office. We’ll know that what we’re sending forth is not just a puzzle, but a message of comfort and fellowship in dark times. Now that’s a New Year’s resolution I can get behind.


What are you hoping to avoid in 2021? What new pastimes are you embracing? Please let me know in the comments section below.

[See Potato and White Bean Puttanesca Soup recipe here]

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Pandemic impulse buying & buyer's remorse / New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
A MINIMALIST'S SHOPPING & PACKING GUIDE
Rich McCann on Life, Love & Good Times / New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
RICH TALKS ABOUT LIFE, LOVE & GOOD TIMES
Healthier eating with five meals a day / New Year's Resolutions 2021 / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
EAT FIVE MEALS A DAY TO STAY HEALTHY
​
​This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic while holding on to some shreds of our sanity and sense of humor, however weird things get.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.
18 Comments

How to Get Lucky (or at Least, Luckier) in 2021

12/29/2020

9 Comments

 
Karen and Rich McCann / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
Who could have predicted we'd be spending our 34th wedding anniversary sheltering in place during a pandemic? We dressed up, drank champagne, danced, and talked about happiness.

In a non-pandemic year (remember those?), I often skip New Year’s Eve. By the time I’ve partied my way through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and our wedding anniversary (December 27th, 34 years ago), I’m usually longing for a night in with my feet up. But not this year. I am staying vigilant until the very last second of 2020. If this year has some sneaky surprise horror ending planned, at least it won’t catch me unawares. And even if 2020 meekly lies down in its coffin, I want to bear witness as the universe drives a stake through its heart and slams the lid on it forever. Then I intend to dance on its grave singing “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.”

​​Satisfying as all that may be, the main purpose of New Year’s Eve is to arrange for better luck in the year ahead. It’s the time to lay down some ground rules and let 2021 know, right from the start, that we expect better treatment than we had from its predecessor. Fortunately, public spirited citizens have spent thousands of years working out ways to make the future rosier — and passed their wisdom on to us. For years I’ve followed three luck-enhancing strategies and am researching others to see if I can up my game.

Red underwear Seville, Spain / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
In Spain and Italy, wearing red undergarments on New Year's Eve is said to bring good luck, especially in your love life. Naturally everybody wants to get in on that!

When Rich and I moved to Spain, we soon learned that absolutely everyone wears their lucky bragas rojas (red undergarments) on New Year’s Eve. In the excitement of last year’s celebrations I forgot to put mine on and have worried ever since that 2020 was entirely my fault. If so, sorry about that, folks! I’ve certainly learned my lesson.
​

I’m hoping you, my readers, will help balance the cosmic scales by donning your own bragas rojas on December 31st. Don’t worry, you’re not expected to reveal the jolly undies to anybody. Unless you happen to live in the tiny town of La Font de la Figuera near Valencia, where it’s customary to strip down to your scarlets and run through streets lined with cheering neighbors. I was considering introducing this custom here in San Anselmo, California, but Rich — who is usually game for any lark — pointed out that spending New Year’s Eve in jail for indecent exposure would hardly start the year off on the right foot.

Red underwear run / La Font de la Figuera / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
Kids, don't try this unless you happen to live in La Font de la Figuera, Spain.

​Another Spanish custom I love is las doce uvas de la buena suerte, the twelve grapes of good luck. As the clock strikes midnight, you pop a grape into your mouth at each chime of the clock. Insider tip: grapes are remarkably hard to swallow that fast, so peel them, buy very small ones, or get the canned variety soaked in juice. And whatever you do, swallow all twelve. “I was in England one year,” a Spanish friend told me. “And dropped one of the grapes in a public square. It rolled away and I raced after it, grabbed it, and ate it, to the horror of my friends. But hey, who cares about hygiene when your luck is at stake?” I was aghast when I first heard this story, but after 2020, I see her point.

Good luck grapes, Seville Spain / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
The store-bought grapes are a lot easier to swallow in time with the clock chiming midnight. Washing them down with champagne helps, too.

​As soon as I finish my grapes, I’ll be tossing a bucket of water out the front door. This satisfying custom, which originated in Mexico, Cuba, or Puerto Rico (depending on whose account you believe), evicts any negative energy that might be lingering about the house. Ideally you carry the bucket from room to room to collect all the bad juju, then you pitch the water out a window or the front door. For extra good luck avoid dumping it on any passing pets or pedestrians.

Bucket of water for good luck / Montevideo, Uruguay / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
New Year's in Montevideo, Uruguay. Photo by El Mundo

​Lately I’ve been on the lookout for other good-luck rituals. But like running down San Anselmo Avenue in my underwear, few seem really practical. For instance, there’s “first footer,” popular in Great Britain and elsewhere, which claims it’s auspicious to have a dark-haired male as your first visitor in the new year. Now that I’m sheltering in place, who am I going to get — the UPS guy? The Danes banish evil spirits by smashing old plates against the front doors of friends and relatives; the bigger your pile of crockery shards, the more fortune will smile on you. But somehow I don’t feel my neighbors would take this in the warm-hearted, fun-loving spirit intended. Nor would they (or the hyper-vigilant fire department two blocks away) appreciate me torching effigies of my enemies in the back yard, as is common in Ecuador and Panama. A friend of mine came up with a good alternative: he bought a piñata of a politician who will soon be leaving office, cut off its head, beat it with a stick, and drove his car over it. Twice. Will that bring him luck? Who knows? But he said it felt terrific at the time.
 
Every country and culture has its own traditions, and while we can scoff at them as superstition and tomfoolery, I believe it’s fun (and wise) to do our bit to entice Lady Luck back into our lives. We’ve certainly missed her this past year.


What will 2021 look like? Speculation ranges from more of the same (which will certainly be true for a while) or a return to life as we once knew it (a lovely fantasy). The truth is, the world has changed too much to bounce back to the old normal, and so have we. And that’s not all bad; some parts of 2020 are worth carrying forward. (Yes, they are!) For instance, many of us have found inner strength, resilience, and creativity we never knew we had. Just look at all the people who have learned how to bake sourdough bread (yes, I’m thinking of you, Phil), play the ukulele (I know at least three), or master the intricacies of Zoom (too many of you to count).
 
Rich is taking an online course called The Science of Happiness offered by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley; it’s free if you don’t want a diploma. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it when he finishes the course, but asked what he’s learned so far he said, “Happiness isn’t about you; it’s much larger than that. It’s about social connections, kindness, and community. You can’t pursue happiness, but when you pursue opportunities to serve others, happiness is often a by-product.” As one recent study discovered, “Helping others can help you feel better during the pandemic.”

This video gives an idea what the happiness course is about.

​Even if we pull out all the stops with grapes, buckets of water, and red undies, the year ahead is filled with uncertainties. Have we learned the survival lessons that will enable us to make good decisions (and good sourdough) next year? Can the vaccines vanquish this nasty virus? Will the happiness course make Rich happier? I can’t answer those questions, but I can tell you one thing for sure. It is going to feel wonderful to say, “Adios 2020!”
Picture

This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic while holding on to some shreds of our sanity and sense of humor, however weird things get.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Mood-altering food / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
CAN CERTAIN FOODS HELP US STAY SANE AND CHIPPER?
Getting along with partner / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
GETTING ALONG WITH YOUR PARTNER IN CHALLENGING TIMES
Shopping for Apocalypse Chow / New Year's Eve 2020 / Get Luckier in 2021 / Karen McCann / enjoylivingabroad.com
SHOPPING FOR THE APOCALYPSE
9 Comments

Relax: Nobody's Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Any Other Holiday

12/17/2020

20 Comments

 
Cozy snowflakes / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
On a recent White Christmas-themed date night, Rich and I added snowflakes to the windows, drank eggnog, and constructed tin foil hats for an upcoming Festivus Zoom gathering. Yes, even in 2020 we're still party animals.

​When Ernest Hemmingway was writing A Farewell to Arms, he asked F. Scott Fitzgerald to critique the manuscript. Fitzgerald’s thoughtful, nuanced analysis ran for ten pages and suggested changing the ending. Hemingway’s reply? A succinct, “Kiss my ass.” This story appeared in my horoscope this week, followed by, “I suggest a different approach for you, Libra. In my view, now is a good time to solicit feedback and mirroring from trusted allies. What do they think about the current state of your life and work?”
 
So now’s your chance, trusted allies. If there’s anything you’d like me to write more about in this blog (comfort food recipes, pandemic survival tips, Rich wielding power tools and duct tape) or discuss less (see previous list), please let me know in the comments section below. Unlike Hemingway, I actually like suggestions. Sometimes I even follow them.

Hemingway and his cat at Christmas / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Hemingway loved cats for their "absolute emotional honesty" and always shared with his felines the sugar mouse from his Christmas stocking. Apparently this one liked wine with her mouse.

OK, now that I’ve dealt with my astrological karma, let me ask you another question: Have you seen the headlines announcing that due to Covid-19 “Christmas is Cancelled”? The fringe media even calls Dr. Fauci “the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” To these scurrilous statements I say, “Poppycock, hogwash, and codswallop!”
 
The fact is, nobody can steal or cancel a holiday. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, pagan Yule, Hogmanay, and every other red-letter day on the calendar will roll around precisely on schedule, just as surely as the shortest day of the year will show up on December 21st, no matter what. The only thing changing is how we celebrate our holidays. But then, doesn’t it always?
​

In prehistoric times, the shortest, darkest, coldest days of the year found our ancestors huddling together around a flame to keep alive the hope of surviving to see another spring. By Roman times, they’d figured out that when the night was dark and full of terrors, alcohol helped, and lo! the drunken revels known as Bacchanalia were born. “Morality and restraint were politely shown the back door, schools were closed, no criminals were punished,” reports the Independent. “Slaves were allowed to swap places with their masters, and one was elected king for the duration of the festival. The wealthy distributed gifts to the poor.” If you’ve ever attended an office holiday party, you can probably relate to the vibe.
​
Ancient Romans knew how to party / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Nobody parties like the ancient Romans.

In the old Norse tradition, a massive Yule log was dragged into the fireplace, often with one end sticking out into the room; as it burned, you kept shoving it further in. You had to light it using a scrap of last year's log, and if it didn't catch on the first try or went out during the next twelve days, bad luck was sure to follow. Anyone whose fire-lit shadow appeared to be headless knew they had a date with the grim reaper.

Many restless ghosts roamed the earth during the longest nights of the year, giving rise to Dickens’ famous story, A Christmas Carol, and the legend of Santa Claus. The fat man in the red suit was originally Saint Nicholas, who wanted to help three impoverished girls at risk of being forced into prostitution. He dropped three gold coins down the chimney, where they landed in the girls’ stockings drying on the hearth.
​
The Real St. Nicholas / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
St. Nicholas was a 4th century bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church and a man of color; his sidekick was an African Muslim. By the 1870s he was depicted as a white guy, and American cartoonist Thomas Nast gave him the red suit (long before he became a mascot for the Coca-Cola company in the 1920s). Photo: The Temple Gallery

​My point is: the holidays we celebrate, and the shape those celebrations take, are constantly evolving. If you have any doubt about that, just look at the carols we're singing this year.


​Some of the language and images in that song hark back more to the Bacchanalian revels than to the sanitized version of the holidays familiar to us from Hallmark cards and Hollywood movies. And that’s appropriate; we live in edgier times. But one thing hasn’t changed: the need to reach out to family and friends, sharing comfort and joy, if only through the magic of Zoom.
​
Rich and I spend a lot of time Zooming these days. Last night we gathered online with Rich’s old Navy buddies to celebrate Festivus. I always thought this holiday was invented by the staff of Seinfeld, but I’ve now learned it was Readers Digest editor Daniel O’Keefe who dreamed it up in 1966 to commemorate his first date with his wife. Thirty years later his son, a writer on Sinefeld, gave the world “Festivus for the rest of us.” In addition to the traditional aluminum pole, feats of strength, and airing of grievances, our celebration included donning festive hats. 



My Festivus grievances were ready, too. A few days ago, we Zoomed with American friends in New Zealand, who told us how the Kiwis approached the pandemic. Within a month of the first reported Covid case in the country, all borders, ports, and airports were closed, and by March 25 there was a strict nationwide lockdown. Cases dwindled, restrictions were eased, and by June 8 life returned to normal except for border controls. That’s right, the pandemic has been over for six months in New Zealand. “We live normally,” our pals explained. “And except for the tourist sector, the economy has completely rebounded.” In that nation of 4,822,233 people, there have been 2096 cases of Covid and 25 deaths.
​

At first I was in awe, and then the outrage hit me. Stopping Covid in its tracks was no pipe dream; New Zealand accomplished it six months ago. Here in America, we had the same scientific data, and far greater resources at our disposal; what we lacked was the political will. By May 27 we’d lost 100,000 people to the virus; just this Monday the death toll passed 300,000, and still there’s no coherent national plan. We’ve suffered 200,000 needless, preventable coronavirus deaths, and another American dies of the virus every 36 seconds, when we could — should! — all be living in a post-pandemic society with a healthy economy.

Covid-free New Zealanders / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
Remember when we could do this? If we were New Zealanders, we'd have spent the last six months living a normal, Covid-free life. Photo by New Zealand Trails.

​“You might want to tone down your grievance a bit during the Festivus Zoom call,” Rich warned me, after I’d ranted on about this for days. “Don’t want to frighten the horses.”

He was right. I put on my tin foil Santa hat, took a few deep breaths, and counted my blessings. Like the debt of gratitude we owe past generations. Our primitive ancestors taught us to keep the flame of hope burning through the longest nights. The Romans showed us how to raise a glass instead of cursing the darkness. And Santa may have stopped dropping gold coins in our stockings, but he does stuff them with chocolate, which helps enormously.

One of my favorite blessings? The community of my readers. You guys make me laugh, cry, think, and find strength to go on. Your thoughtful comments help me shape the direction of this blog (so send feedback below). You’ll no doubt be too busy with Bacchanalian revels to do much reading, so I won't be posting next week. Rich joins me in wishing you all a splendiferous [insert name of holiday here] as we stagger to the end (yay!) of 2020 (whew!).

Kissing in gas masks under mistletoe / Cancelling Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other Holidays / Karen McCann / EnjoyLivingAbroad.com
OK, this may be taking PPE a bit too far. Photo by Getty Images

ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS, MY FRIENDS!
​STAY SAFE, BE MERRY, AND HOPE 2021 IS A BETTER YEAR (ADMITTEDLY, A LOW BAR).


This post is part of my ongoing series of articles on surviving the pandemic while holding on to some shreds of our sanity and sense of humor, however weird things get.
​

Sign up HERE to get free stories in your inbox each week.
20 Comments
<<Previous
    PictureKaren McCann
    Welcome! 
    I'm an American travel writer based in Spain and currently living in California.

    As we journey through the pandemic together, my blog provides a regular supply of survival tips, comfort food recipes, and the wry humor we all need to lighten our hearts on dark days.  ​

    I think of my blog as an ongoing conversation, so please join in and leave comments at the end of my posts. 

    Sign up below to get updates when I publish anything new.

    GET UPDATES
    See all my books
    See my videos
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    BLOG ARCHIVES 

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011

    CATEGORIES

    All
    100 Days On The Road
    1950s Sci-Fi
    2020
    2021 Puzzle Craze
    2024
    32 Years Together
    3 Food Tribes
    7 Best Travel Tips
    Acupuncture
    Address To A Haggis
    Adriatic Sea
    AirBnB
    Air Travel
    Air Travel Myths
    Albania
    Albanian Farm Food
    Alicia Bay Laurel
    Ali Kali
    Amazon
    American Resistance France
    American Taboos
    A Month Of Italy
    Amsterdam
    Anthony Hopkins
    Anxious Traveler
    Apocalypse Chow
    Apps
    Arizona
    Armadillos
    Artichokes
    Artwalk
    Atomic Bunker Museum
    Attention Test
    Austria
    Authentic Travel
    Automation = Apocalypse?
    A Year Of Travel
    Bagpipe Music
    Balsamic Vinegar
    Baltasar
    Banana Bread
    Bari
    Barletta
    Barrio Abierto
    Bathroom
    Batman
    Beastly Spasm
    Becherovka
    Bed Bugs
    Beer
    Belgrade
    Best Apps 2016
    Best Foodie City
    Best & Worst
    Bet
    Better Homes And Gardens Cook Book
    Betty Soskin
    Betty White
    Bev's Peach Pie
    Bey's Soup
    Bhutan
    Bigfoot Museum
    Big Rail Trip 2016
    Biohazard Bag
    Biosphere 2
    Bird
    Black Angels
    Blogs & Websites
    Book Club
    Book Cover
    Books
    Bookstores
    Bosnia
    Botiza
    Brain-enhanced Chimps
    Brains Of The Pig
    Breakfast In Seville
    Bucharest
    Budapest
    Budget
    Bulgaria
    Bulgarian Festivals
    Bulgarian Folklore
    Bull's Head
    Burns Supper
    Buzzworthy Words
    CA
    Cabalgata
    CA Cheese Trail
    Ca ‘de Anime
    Caganer
    Cagliari
    Calvin Trillin
    Camels
    Carbon-Conscious Rail Travel
    Cars Vs. Trains
    Castle Houska
    České Budějovice
    České Budějovice
    Chained Wallet
    Chakra Stone
    Chef Lenny The Lizard
    Chickens
    Chocolate Nativity Scene
    Chocolatour
    Chris Brady
    Christmas
    Christmas In Seville
    Christmas Traditions
    Chulalongkorn University
    Clara Bensen
    Climate Change
    Coca-Cola
    Coffee
    Comfort Food
    Communism Museum
    Coping With Pandemic
    Coronavirus
    Coronavirus & Travel
    Costa Women
    Covid Weddings
    Cows Come Home
    Crete
    Croatia
    Cruz De Mayo In Seville
    Cuba: 10 Tips
    Cuba: Legendary Snafu
    Czech Please
    Czech Republic
    Dan Brown's Inspiration
    Dance
    Dancing In The Fountain
    Dancing In The Foutnain
    Dancing On Bars
    Dark Tourism
    Date Nights
    Debunking Travel Myths
    Detours & Delays
    Devil's Museum
    Digital Nomad Visas
    Diners
    Disappointing Destinations
    Disaster Survival Tips
    Dive Bars
    Dive Bars Of Italy
    Dive Bars Of Seville
    Doga (Dog Yoga)
    Dogs
    Doing Good
    Doing It
    Donna Red Wing
    Dragon
    Dragonpit
    Drink-Ease
    Driverless Cars
    Duck Plaza
    Duquesa De Alba
    Earthquakes
    EatWith
    Emergency Measures
    Emergency Preparedness
    Endangered
    Enjoy Moving Abroad
    Entrails Soup
    Epiphany
    E-readers
    Erratic Boulder
    Estonia
    Eurail
    European Dinner Plate
    European Food
    European Pandemic
    Evernote
    Exercise On The Road
    Expat In Dark Times
    Expats In America2.0
    Expect Delays
    Eye-popping Landmarks
    Fake Wallet
    Family
    Farruquito
    Fellini
    Finland
    First Aid Kit
    Five Meals A Day
    Flat-Earthers
    Flea Market
    Flophouses
    Folklore
    Fondu
    Food Photo Secrets
    Food Tours
    Foreign
    Foreigners
    Fork In The Road
    Fountain
    Free Wi-Fi Finder
    French Bistro
    French Women Don't Get Fat
    Fried Flies
    Full Catastrophe Living
    Galileo Offline
    Game Of Thrones
    Gates Of Hell
    Gazpacho Recipe
    Genoa
    Genova
    George Floyd Protests
    George Takei
    Georgia
    Georgian Grey Bear
    Germany
    Ghost
    Gin Joints
    Glass Wall Of Tourism
    Gluten-free Italian Recipes
    Going Spiral
    Good News
    Google-glass
    Google Translate
    ​Gourounopoula
    Gps
    Grandma Cooper
    Granola Recipe
    Grapes
    Greece
    Greek Coffee
    Greek Coffee Culture
    Greek Wines
    Group Tours
    Guest Blog
    Guest Etiquette
    Guests
    Haggis
    Halloween
    Handyman's Guide
    Hannibal Lecter
    Happiness Course
    Helsinki
    Heraklion
    Herzeg Novi
    Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy291cb11256
    Holiday Lights
    Holiday Shopping
    Holidays In Seville
    Holiday Survival Guide
    Hollidays
    Holy Grail
    Home For The Holidays
    Horse
    Hospitals
    Houseguest
    House Hunting
    House Of The Spirits
    Houska Castle
    How To Meet People
    Hrad Houska
    Hungary
    Hydration
    Iberian Lynx
    Ibrik
    Icloud
    Ikaria
    Immigrants
    India
    Indiana Jones
    In Search Of America Tour
    Ipad
    IPhone Photos
    Irail
    Italy
    Jacket
    Jan The Beachcomber
    Japan
    Jet Lag
    Jet Lag Apps
    John The Baptist
    Jo Maeder
    Joseph Campbell
    Joya Shoes
    July 4th In USA
    Kalamata
    Katka Lapelosa
    Kavarma
    Keep Going!
    Kgb
    Kgb Muzeum
    Kindle
    King Wenceslas
    Kitchen For The Mind
    Korçë
    Kotor
    Koyono Jacket
    Krakow
    Krakow's Dragon
    Ladies Room
    Lady And The Tramp
    La Font De La Figuera
    Laptop Ban
    Larissa Olenicoff
    Latvia
    Laughter Project
    Lederhosen
    Legal
    Legend
    Lesbos Refugees
    LGBT Rights
    Library
    Lindsay Lake
    Lithuania
    Little White Lie
    Little Women
    Live To 100
    Lockdown Survival Tips
    Longevity
    Lord Peter Wimsey
    Low-Tech Travel Tips
    Lübeck
    Lucky Grapes
    Lucky Red Underwear
    Luggage
    Luggage-free Travel
    Luggage-Free Travel? Try It
    Lviv
    Lynne And Tim Martin
    Magellan
    Maps
    Marijuana
    Mars One
    Mask War
    Matrimony
    Mbt Shoes
    Meal Schedules
    Meal Sharing
    Meaning Of Home
    Mediterranean Dive Bars
    Menlo Park Library
    Mentally Unpack Your Bags
    Mermaids
    Metropol Parasol Building
    Me Worry?
    Miracle Tile Of Vilnius
    Mobilize America
    Money
    Money Handling
    Monster Of Milpitas
    Montenegro
    Mood Food
    Most Dangerous Woman In America
    Moussaka
    Museum Of Communism
    My Octopus Teacher
    Mystery Spot
    Naples
    Napoli
    National Lampoon's European Vacation
    Nativity Scene
    Nepal
    New
    Newark Of Italy
    New Orleans
    New Roaring 20s
    New Year's Eve
    New Year's Eve Abroad
    New Year's In Seville
    New York Times
    No Cancelling The Holidays
    No-Jet-Lag
    Nomad Eating
    Obatzda
    Offbeat Roadside Attractions
    Olive Oil
    Optimism & Survival
    Orichiette Pasta
    Outhouse
    Pack For 4 Months
    Packing
    Packing Demonstration
    Packing For 161 Days
    Packing Tips
    Paella
    Painting
    Palacio De Las Dueñas
    Palermo
    Pandemic Humor
    Pandemic Infodemic
    Pandemic Makes Us Better
    Pandemic Solutions
    Pandemic Travel Story
    Parlor Games On The Road
    Parma
    Parma Ham
    Parmigiano-Reggiano
    Passport Issue
    Pasta
    Pasta Recipe
    Patriotism. US
    Peaceful Resistance
    Pécs
    Peruvian Pavilion
    Pesto Sauce
    Photography
    Picking Tapas Bars
    PIzza
    Platter Of Salome
    Plaza De España
    Plaza De Pato
    Plumbing Nightmare
    Podgorica
    Poltergeist
    Pop-culture Museum
    Pope Benedict
    Pop-up Restaurants
    Prague
    Predictions
    Print On Demand
    Propaganda Museum
    Pub Culture
    Public Library
    Purgatory
    Purpose-driven Travel
    Pussyhats
    Quarantine
    Quarantine Bar Hopping
    Quarantine Mini-Vacation
    Quarantine Nostalgia?
    Quarantine Thanksgiving
    Queen's Gambit
    Quirky Travel Pix
    Ramona Langley
    Reading Group
    Ready To Move Abroad?
    Recipe
    Recombobulation
    Recycling
    Red Underwear
    Rennes-le-Chateau
    Reptilians
    Republic Of Užupis
    Rescue Dogs
    Residency Visas
    Resistance School
    Resistance Summer 2017
    Retire Abroad
    Revisited
    Reyes Magos In Seville
    Rfidblocking Rogue Money Clipb4d0c62eac
    Rich Interview 2020
    Rich-on-packing
    Riga
    Risotto
    Roadrunner
    Roadside Attractions
    Robert Mugabe
    Rocket Scientists
    Rolling Stones
    Romania
    Romería Del Rocío In Seville
    Romesco Sauce Recipe
    Rooster Recipe
    Rosie The Riveter
    Ross Williams
    Rural Romania
    Ruse
    Russian Mafia
    Sacramento
    San Anselmo Flooding
    San Ildefonso Church
    Sarajevo
    Sardinia
    Sassari
    Science Museum
    Scottevest
    Scottevest 8-pocket Pants
    Secret Supper Clubs
    Security On The Road
    Seinfeld Episode
    Semana Santa
    Senior Gypsies
    Senior Nomads
    Serbia
    Setas
    Seville
    Seville Holidays
    Seville In Pandemic
    Seville In Winter
    Seville's Tapas Bars
    Sex Shops
    Shackleton Ad A Myth
    Shared Dining
    Shoe Bomb
    Shoes
    Shoestring Travel
    Shopska Salad
    Šiauliai
    Sicilian Grandmothers
    Silicon Valley
    Six-word Stories
    Skype Wifi7994daf88f
    Sleep/Insomnia
    Slovakia
    Snack Foods
    Snail
    Snail Museum
    Snail On The Rails
    Snail Slime Skin Cream
    Snakes
    Snowed In
    Social Distancing
    Sofia
    Sophia Loren
    SOS File
    Spaghetti
    Spain
    Spain Savvy
    Spain's Cold Soups
    Spam
    Spicy Shrimp In Mango Salsa Recipe
    Spiritual Path To Resistance
    Spiritual Weightlifter
    Springtime For Hitler
    Stanford Prison Experiment
    Staycation
    Stephen King
    Still Expecting Delays
    Stockholm Disaster
    Stone Lifter
    Strange
    Strawberries
    Suitcase
    Survival Food
    Survive October 2020
    Surviving Catastrophes
    Surviving Pandemic Holidays
    Switzerland
    Symbolic Thinking
    Tapas
    Tapenade Recipe
    Tapeo
    Taxi
    Tblisi
    Temple
    Thanksgiving Games
    The Balkans
    The Blonde Gypsy
    The Exorcist
    The Joy Of Eating
    The Mothership
    The Next Big Thing
    The Other Turkey
    The Power Of Myth
    The Producers
    Thessaloniki
    The Wave
    Three Kings
    Time Travel
    Track My Tour
    Train Lag
    Train Travel
    Transylvania
    Travel
    Travel As Political Act
    Travel Boosts Your Brain
    Travel Clothes
    Travel Companions
    Travel Destinations
    Travel Experiments
    Travel Fashion
    Travel Photography Tricks
    Travel Photos
    Travel Prep For Pandemic
    Travel Vest
    Travel With
    Triposo
    True Cross
    Tsa
    Twelve Days Of Christmas
    Tyrolian Alps
    Uber
    Uc Berkeley
    UFOs & Ghosts 2020
    Ukraine
    Ultra-Light Luggage
    Underrated Extras
    Upotonek
    Valencia
    Vampires
    Veliko Tarnovo
    Verona
    Vest
    Victoria Twead
    Vilnius
    Virgin Of The Napkin
    Virtual Tax March
    Visitors
    Vodka
    Vodka & Pickles
    Wall Street Journal
    Wandering Earl
    Warsaw
    Washington
    Water
    Watermelon Gazpacho
    Weasel Coffee
    Weird At The Holidays
    Weird Gifts
    Wenceslas Square
    What
    Whiskey Every Day
    Wild Goat Recipe
    Winchester Mystery House
    Winner
    Winter In Seville
    Wireless Generation
    Wolf's Lair
    Working Abroad
    World Chocolate
    Worst
    Worst Travel Moment
    Wow Finish To Long Trip
    Writing
    Xe Currency
    Yodeling
    Yoga
    Zagreb
    Zigzag Fountain953a67c066
    Zimbabwe
    Zurich

  • Start Here
  • My Blog
  • My Travel Books
    • LOOK INSIDE NEW BOOK
    • ENJOY MOVING ABROAD
    • MOVING TO SEVILLE
    • EASTERN EUROPE
    • PACKING GUIDE
    • 101 EXPAT TIPS
  • Quarantine Cuisine
    • Aunt Bev's Pie Recipe
    • Patrick's Shepherd's Pie
  • Comfort Recipes
  • Med Comfort Food Tour
  • Dive Bars
  • Travel Tips
    • Packing
    • The Expat Lifestyle
    • Enjoy the Best of Seville
  • About
  • Contact