Life Update: COVID-19 and California Fire Evacuations

Hi, friends! I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve done a life update. Honestly, I don’t really know how time flows these days. Every day just feels very mundane and repetitive, time passing by slowly, but somehow it’s nearly September. We’re in the last quarter of 2020, and I’m trying to reflect on my highlights and achievements for the year, but nothing is really coming to mind. I mean, my highlights of the year even without the quarantine would have been reuniting with my study abroad friends early in the year, but ever since then, it’s been pretty lackluster. Just trying to recall what I did this year and how COVID-19 has affected and is still affecting my life plans has got me feeling a bit down.

As you may know, I was accepted into the JET Program as an assistant language teacher. If it weren’t for the current global pandemic, I would be leaving in about a week for Tokyo, Japan to begin orientation. I completely understand why things are being delayed and that it is probably for the best, but I can’t deny that it’s a little saddening that something I’ve been working toward for nearly a decade of my life and expecting to finally begin this year is being pushed back. I’ve gone through a roller coaster of emotions including frustration, hope, anger, sadness, and acceptance. As of now, I’ve come to terms with it and expect to leave September 2021 to not give myself false hope.

I have to say, though, I am feeling pretty lucky that even during a global pandemic and another recession scare in the United States of America, I somehow managed to get a full-time job. I’m currently working from home for a travel healthcare agency as a compliance specialist, and having a source of income as well as building work experience has been helping me feel a little more at ease with the JET Program being delayed. My main inner turmoil with choosing to do the JET Program was that it would have left me with a year and a half of no full-time work experience after graduating from university and now another year on top of that with the deferral. Having this full-time job (currently as a temp for 90 days with potential for full-time position after) makes me feel a little more at ease with the situation as I am now building my resume and have a source of income after losing my job as a waitress in March due the coronavirus.

Oh, another thing that’s been especially scary has been the lightning fires across the Bay Area and evacuation warnings. You may have heard the news on Big Basin National Park completely burning down. One of the fires is near my home, and we have a really big evacuation scare a few days ago. Surrounding neighborhoods were ordered to evacuate, so my family and I rushed packed the car with some clothes, food for the dog, childhood photo albums, and any other things of importance that we could think of in our frazzled state. Our neighborhood never went past the evacuation warning, though, so we didn’t end up evacuating, but it was really scary for a few days and especially that night. We really didn’t know what was going to happen to our home and family, if we had to leave or stay. Just two days ago, we got the evacuation warning lifted and are now in the green zone, so we are super thankful to be safe. So far, the fires have been 40% extinguished, which is a lot compared to the 8% the night of the evacuation scare. The air quality is still really bad, so I haven’t been able to open the windows and breathe in fresh air, but overall, I am just thankful my family and I are safe.

I do feel a bit sad with the original JET Program departure date coming up, but I’m also in a state of acceptance with the situation at hand. It is what it is, and I’m very thankful for being able to find a full-time job in this economy and that my family is safe with me. While there’s been a lot of curve balls thrown my way these past several months, I still feel lucky and am doing my best to find the little blessings underneath it all.

Follow Tsukibori on WordPress.com