Then, for the lunch, it was the fisrt time that I have had time to cook at home. So I prepare something special, a pizza. In the afternoon I spent time to see one of the movie that I bought I didn’t remember when, Muriel’s wedding. When the movie finished it was just four o´clock pm. I decided to spend time taking care of my plants and when I finished it was just five o´clock pm. But I’m sure I will find activities to do to spend time and not thinking in that terrific and surrealistic situation.

I try to not see news about the Coronavirus all the time, but just some information selected to know the situation and the evolution of the problem. It is starting a difficult time but I trust that it won’t be very long.

 Each day I call my family that lives in Italy, to know about their situation and how they feel with it. It’s not easy but I’m convinced that the end of the quarantine is near.  

Hi. Yesterday officially finished the winter and started the springs. The days are longer and we have more light. Trees and plants are returning to the life and we are more energy. With this change the life in quarantine is more difficult. I need to go out and walk under the sun, but it’s impossible, it’s not responsible. We need to wait.

For this reason and because I don’t want to lose this favorable change, I have prepare my terrace to enjoy the sun and I’m trying to do the majority of my activities out. It’s not the same but it’s good for me and I can enjoy, in part, the spring. In my free time I am reading books and some of them are in English and watching movies that I bought during the winter and I still haven’t time to see. My favorite, until now, is a French movie, “Une belle fille comme moi” a François Truffaut  comedy: I highly recommend it.

Before the quarantine at my high school we used to meet with others teachers on Monday afternoon to talk about the student and their academic performance. One of the teachers, the school’s secretary, has proposed to us to use an application, Zoom to have the meeting. It’s just an application but it was an enriching and sensitive experience because I could see my colleagues and I had a conversation with them. 

For this weekend I want to propose to my student a meeting online to talk with them and to help them to do homework.

In these day when can see on TV how Barcelona is invaded by wild boars, Madrid by peacocks and how Venice’s canals appear clean without human activity.  In his letter the Italian boy says that the virus has given a break to the planet. I think we don’t have more excuses: after the coronavirus our life and our approach to our planet must change. 

This morning I have had a meeting with my students. It was very funny and sensitive at the same time. They are afraid about their academic situation and about the quarantine. They have enjoyed the meeting. We could exchange our opinions and wishes about the situation.  We have spent a part of the meeting to do class and explain ideas and topics useful to do homework. 

Tomorrow I will have more meeting with others groups of students. 

This is the first day that I could enjoy the sun. I have a little terrace and in one little angle of it you can enjoy the rays of light. My cat Antonia enjoys it too.

The confinement is not very bad as I thought. I thought I was doing things and activities all the time but not at all. I enjoy this confinement to learn to relax. For the first time I have free time and I have started to enjoy it.

I thought that confinement and the pandemic could help us to change our style of life and the relationship between country but it not. In a difficult and dangerous situation like this we need more solidarity between us but some countries of EU have shown their egoism and many politics take advantage from the occasion to critique their adversaries, like in Spain.

This is a critical moment and we could take advantage from it to learn more about our life and try to build a better world. Many people have shown us their courage and how there are involved to resolve and fight against this strong  situation, like health workers or farmer, but I think mine is just a dream and, finally, we take off this new opportunity.

The UK prime minister is simple and easy to understand. I think his message has been sending late. Boris Johnson’s attitude is the same that we can see in others politic leaders but, in my opinion, too simple and elemental. In their words I can’t see drama related to the world situation. Many countries have not been take seriously the problem. They decided to take action against the virus late, too late. China, Italy and Spain show to all the world how the virus could attack humans and how is necessary take action against it, but there are many politics not interested in humans, just in Capitalism. 

Is not time of protecting capitalism, but humans. There are leaders, like Macron, that compare this situation to a war, but I totally disagree. This is not a war, this is biology. Nature is showing us we are not indestructible and omnipotent animals; we are not the owner of the world. We are the only animal that just destroy for destroy. Nature teaches us that we are simple animals, and we need to take care of our environment, no destroy it. A virus is threatening the whole world. 

I hope Coronavirus teach us to be more generous, supportive. I hope we can learn to communicate with our inner self, to be able to reflect. 

Of course it was a mistake by Spain. Of Course the country should react more forcefully. But it is true that this is a new and difficult situation. We were not ready to face this situation and Spanish health system has been affected by social cuts promoted by the previous government. Spanish prime minister has reacted and has tried to repair his miscalculation. I think he is doing a good job and I disagree with the journalist because in this circumstance we don’t need criticism and negativity. Spanish government and population are showing force and solidarity, not like other countries in Europe, like Austria or Holland, that refuse to treat it as a real crisis and support the most affected countries; or reaction of countries such as UK or USA, that have been slow to take security measures after the Chinese and Mediterranean examples.

I love Greek mythology and I recommend this book to everyone because the point of way of the writer, the way she describes and introduces us the main character is stunning: 

For instance, I am an high school teacher and many of my students have learning problems so I have many difficulties to do an online class whit all my students at the same time. It is very difficult.

The most important idea is that this outbreak will also imply a change in the way companies have regarded Teleworking because many employers are realizing that Teleworking is more efficient and cheaper that face-to-face work. I’d hazard a guess that this confinement will mark a change. What a change. Many companies will switch to Teleworking to save additional and unnecessary costs.

I agree that teleworking is a cheaper and efficient way of work for many companies but, in my case, there are a lot od drawbacks. I’m a school teacher and my students are adolescents, so many of them aren’t self-sufficient, many of them are unable to study alone at home. With teleworking many of them lose the support of the class and additional help that they need.

If I Had to make a guess, I’d say that be a good teleworker is not easy. If is true that work from home have many advantages: you stay at your own home; it is a chill and comfortable place, more than the office; you can enjoy stay at home to do homework while you are working. But there are many disadvantages: staying at home is a trap: the comfortable and chill ambient could slow down your tasks; if the office is your home, you have a lot of distractions.

My finally thought is that teleworking cannot be applied to any kind of discipline. It is impossible for many jobs as bakers and all crafts that produce basic necessities or, in my case, school teachers have strong limitations with the teleworking: They cannot help and attend all kind of necessities of their students. 

Yesterday night I started to watch an American series, The Nanny, with Fran Dresher. I remember I saw this show when I was 17or 18 years old. It is a comedy show. When I was young I saw it in Italian. Yesterday I started to watch it in OV. In the American version the story is different. The nanny, Fran Fine, is Jewish and the series give us a satiric point of view about the traditions and habits of the Jewish community of New York.

Maybe The Nanny isn’t the better comic series that applications like Netflix, HBO or Prime video can give us, but I think it is very funny and interesting because it dares to offer us a satiric point of view of a Jewish community closely linked to its tradition and very useful to learn and improve English. In fact this series offer us a lot of examples of American English and British English, many examples of informal language and it permits us to improve our listening. I recommend it for these reasons.

Today I have discovered an ONG that safe animals from human exploitation or abandoned because they are not yet useful to product meat, milk or just entertainment. This is Fundación Santuario Gaia. I discovered them by Instagram. It is an association that can rescue and safe animals in all national territory with voluntary found.

I’m animalist and I collaborate with a lot of associations and, sometimes I do active voluntary with WWF. Discovering this kind of association is very grateful for me. In this surrealistic and negative clime there are people who fight against animal exploitation and not forget about them.

Today, 26^th of April 2020, Spanish government raise up some restrictions and leaves children go out for one hour between 9 am to 9pm. Children can go out to the street with one of their fathers or someone who is authorized to supervise them. This is one of the step that Spanish government adopt to moderate the quarantine to Spanish people.

It would be good news but, unfortunately, someone doesn’t respect the measure and endanger public safety. 40 days of quarantine it would be useless for the irresponsibility of someone.

26^th of April could be remembered ads the day of the irresponsibility. When the danger is less, when in Spain not has many death and less contagious, some people don’t respect security measures and critic the government for its actions. I think the government isn’t the only one to do that this quarantine could be useful in the fight against the virus. Each one is called to fight against the virus. This situation is really surrealistic but necessary to reduce the danger of contagious.

I hope people could reconsider it. 

This movie-documentary offers us the possibility to know properly the life of a typical nomad family of the desert of Mongolia. The movie invite us to live a week with them and know and appreciate her habits and traditions. Apparently, we live different lives, but it isn’t true. 

It was my last international trip and I enjoyed it a lot. It was my first trip to an Asian country and I recommend it to everyone. Maybe The Philippines isn’t the best country in the world; maybe it hasn’t touristic attractions like Thailand or China, but it offers a singular and unique attraction: a mix of paradisiacal places without tourists and pollution and amiability of people: I could meet extraordinary people in each island I could visit: they didn’t have our comforts or money, but they offer me all they had constantly and, of course, their smile.

It was impossible visiting all the country in a month. I hope I could return to the archipelago as soon as I can. 

Before this lock-down turn me in a lazy and overweight man, I have decided to do sport at home. I was looking for some video-class in internet and finally I found a Korean group of crossfitters that offer class for different levels to do exercises at home. It is very funny and useful. In each video there are a group of five/six boys and girls that show a series of exercises easy but effective.  

I have started this afternoon and I hope to do it with continuity.  

I doubt it very much but I still trust this nation that has offered me and continue to offer me many opportunities. I remember what Otto van Bismark said about Spain: “The most important nation of the world is, without a doubt, Spain. They have always tried to destroy themselves and have never succeeded. When they stop trying it, they will be at the forefront of the world again. 

First of all, Spain, like Italy has adopted extreme measures to fight against the virus, as a lockdown to control and safe people from the contagious. Countries like UK consider unnecessary this measure, extreme, until the virus cross their own border. Lockdown look likes an extreme and strong measure, but Spain was not prepared for the arrival of the virus and lockdown seemed the most effective strategy.  At the beginning all the parties of Spanish government seemed agree to approve the lockdown.

On the other hand, when the contagious was fallen and Spain was preparing to leave the lockdown, Spanish right party, PP, and Abascal and his far right party Vox  left their alliance with the government and it didn’t approve new measures to leave the emergency state gradually. They accused Sánchez to manipulate information and to use the emergency state to control the country. In addition to this, the pro-independence Catalan party Esquerra Republicana didn’t approve the new emergency plan of the Spanish government. They critiqued Spanish government measures suggesting that they had done better in a free Catalonia.

So, if in many countries government and opposition collaborate to fight against Covid, in Spain initial collaboration turned it into a war between parties. Right and nationalist parties seem to want to take advantage of the improving situation and they are trying to make politics of the pandemic.

To sum up, Spanish left government have to fight not just against Covid, but against an opposition that seems not understand the emergency situation, but seems to want to take advantage from this situation. Spain seems the only country with this problem, not like Portugal, where left government can count on the opposition.

This week I found an article on Facebook talking about translations and applications and it was very funny and shame at the same time. One journalist translate surname of Casado, a Spanish politic into English. The result has been ridiculous. This journalist has showed his lack of professional ethics and how dangerous these translation applications could be. Unfortunately, this attitude is not common just professional, but in students too: yesterday I discovered that one of my students translates her homework from Catalan to Spanish. I cannot understand these kind of translation from one language to another so different, but translation from Catalan to Spanish is unacceptable, especially from one native student.

It was unconventional because the director, to adapt the story to our days, change Denmark kingdom for Denmark corporation and the prince of the kingdom is a young and poignant student who discovers his father’s soul near the bar of his office. The entire movie is a reflection about human nature and how we could be repugnant. It was a thought-provoking and stylish movie that I recommend. 

To start with, the assassination of George Floyd shows us that humans think that some life is more important than another. We believe that we can decide who can die and who can lives with all kind of rights and all conformabilities. We decide who can climb the pedestal of power and who must continue to suffer. In addition to this, US was seen as the country of liberties, but it is so further from reality. In last years, US show us that there is a difference between white people and black or Hispanic people. For instance we can listen or reading any speech of Donald Trump, Us president.  We have appropriated the right to decide that we are superior to others, simply because of the color of our skin, for our sexual orientation or for the faith we believe in it.

At the same time, two days ago we have been astonished and horrified by the news of some young people who have fed explosive-filled pineapples to a pregnant elephant, causing her immediate death.  How can we pretend to live in a world in which there is mutual respect between all ethnic groups if we are not able to respect animals, if we are able to kill them for simple fun?

In conclusion, until we are able to understand that there are no human races, until we are able to understand that we are all of the same species, black, white, Hispanic, gay, Muslim, etc. we will continue to live in a continuous could war, facing each other us to be able to climb the pedestal of power.