COVID-19 stories #4: ‘I have been in quarantine for 15 days, 6 of them in my bedroom’

During these scary COVID-19 times we have to stay strong, however difficult it may be. Some of us are dealing with homesickness, some feel scared and others try to make the best out of the situation. We are all dealing with this situation in a different way, but we want to let you know that you are NOT (!) alone. We will share COVID-19 stories from au pairs to show you that you are not the only one who is dealing with this.

Au pair from The Netherlands

I was positive about this whole COVID-19 situation when it started. Maybe it’s because I’m Dutch and we don’t get scared that easy. ‘This will blow over’ I thought when I heard about it. Then my host family decided that we should go in self-quarantine. My host mom, two kids and me were not allowed to go anywhere. My host dad was still commuting to his work in NYC.

I had to start working a lot more since spring break had started and my school-age kids would be home. My host family decided not to go on vacation anymore. Then a day later my friend told me that she had to cancel our trip to New Orleans too, which would’ve been my vacation week. A little bit later that same day I had to tell my parents – who would’ve visited me in April – that they couldn’t visit me anymore. Within a few hours all my plans for April were gone. That was a hard hit for me. I was upset and felt down for two days. Thats when it hit me how bad this situation actually is. Borders are closing and we have no clue when this will end. But I am staying positive that it will be over before the end of June. That is when my two years in America are over and when I was planning to visit my first host family.

I didn’t plan to do a big travel month because I thought I would’ve had enough time to visit everything during my year. Now because I am not able to go anywhere and I saved up a lot of money, I decided to go to Hawaii when all of this is over. That’s the one thing that’s keeping me sane in this situation: the thought that I will be laying on the beach in my bikini with a cocktail in my hand.

If you think being stuck in your house is already bad, then you haven’t heard about my situation. I have been in quarantine for (as I’m writing this) 15 days. 6 of them only in my room. On Saturday I started to feel sick and since then I have been in my room. My host mom doesn’t want to take the chance that I get someone else sick. We have looked up the symptoms and it could be a cold or the corona virus. But we are not going to take a test so we’ll never find out for sure. At this point I don’t have any human contact, I have to text my host mom to ask for food (which she will put on the stairs and then I’ll get it), and I have binge-watched all the fun things on Netflix. I feel good at the moment but I am still coughing a bit and sneezing, so I am not allowed to leave. I hope that I will be leaving this room at the end of this week.

So people, remember that we will get through this. It might suck at this moment but if everyone listens to their government and just stays in their house for a few weeks, then we will be able to go back to our normal life again.

Do you feel inspired and want to share your story with us? Send an email to theaupairblog@gmail.com and tell us about your situation.