April 7, 2020 – With as many Croatians living abroad as in the Homeland, what are the diaspora experiences of self-isolation? In the fifth of a new series, Corona Voices in the Croatian Diaspora, here is Alida Paljevic in Florida and originally from Jelsa on Hvar.
Last week TCN started a feature series called Foreigner Self-Isolation In Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? I can honestly say we have never had such a response or so many incredible contributions. The countries of origin of these expats in Croatia literally from all over the world. So far we have had submissions from expats from Romania, USA, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Singapore, Holland, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Latvia, China, Honduras, Hungary, Moldova, New Zealand, Japan and Germany. You can see all their stories here.
Given the success of the series (still going strong) and large interest, it made sense to expand it to look at this from another angle – how Croatians abroad are coping where they are. If you would like to contribute your story to Corona Voices in the Croatian Diaspora, please find the submission guidelines below. And now, the view from Florida through the eyes of Alida Paljevic, who went to school with my wife in Jelsa all those years ago.
My name is Alida Paljevic, and my family of 3 lives in Florida, in a town called Dania Beach right between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Originally, I am from the most beautiful island in Europe, the island of Hvar, but for 20 years I lived in Zagreb, before moving to the US 4 years ago for an amazing job offer.
I work in the travel industry that has been hit very hard by this Coronavirus crisis, it was the first to take the hit and it will be the last to recover. But it will recover! And Americans will travel to Croatia and Europe again.
If we put aside the current situation, my career in the travel industry was really fulfilling and exciting. I truly love what I do and I can’t wait for this all to pass so that I can continue to send travelers from North America to Croatia and Europe.
Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.
We are OK, we are a bit bored to be at home all the time, and we have been at home for the past 4 weeks with the exception of a few trips to the store for food. Lately, we stopped even going out for food and we are using grocery delivery services instead. I work from home, my son is going to school online and doing some work through 2 school apps, one for math and one for English. It is stressful a bit… My husband works as a private fitness trainer and of course his gym is closed too now. Luckily, we live in a townhouse that has a bit of a backyard with a nice view and access to a pond, so the scenery is nice, and we have the opportunity to spend time outside. We also go for walks around the neighborhood sometimes. I must say it’s not that bad for us.
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?
I was hoping for the best, and honestly didn’t see it coming, at least not escalating this much worldwide… But Florida is a very desirable tourist destination that attracts tourists from all over the world, and also home to many retirees, so it has a large number of elderly people, so at a certain point, I started to expect that it could get serious… Also, Fort Lauderdale is a major cruise point and besides that many New Yorkers have their holiday houses and condos here, and many of them came down when things started to get serious in New York. (not blaming them though! I would do the same).
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue in Florida in particular?
When the numbers started to go up fast, multiplying on a daily basis, I would say about a month ago, somewhere in the first week of March we started to hunker down, get more groceries at once, and schools closed on March 15th.
Give us a timeline on when and how life changed.
The first days of February I was in Zagreb, for business. At that time the virus was still mainly in China, there were a couple of cases in Germany and Italy if I recall correctly. Croatia was still Corona-free, and so was Florida. I came back and a few weeks after everything started to escalate first in Europe, and while Croatia already had a couple of reported cases, Florida was still with not a single reported case. But when it started, the numbers went up really fast, and in the past 3 weeks, Since March 16, there are almost 13000 confirmed cases in Florida.
Tell us about your day. Do you/can you leave your apartment?
We are on a ‘mandatory stay at home’ in the whole state of Florida. But we are allowed to go out for essential needs. We are allowed to go for walks, just us as a family.
The days actually go by pretty quickly, I work, my son does his school classes, we cook lunch, cook dinner, take a walk, play games, watch tv… And, of course, we spend time talking on the phone to our family in Croatia and our friends both here and Croatia.
How are the authorities doing at handling the situation?
I thought they waited too long to close everything… Spring break was happening, with all the students on the beaches… I must say I would personally prefer it if their reaction was a bit more aggressive in the beginning.
You obviously keep an eye on your homeland. What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis?
Reading various articles almost every day, and talking to folks in Croatia, I would say they did a pretty good job.
Compare and contrast the responses of Croatia and USA. Who is doing what better?
It is really hard to compare, I think, the US is a much larger country and I think it would be probably impossible for all the States in the US to be unified in a way a small country like Croatia can… I think in terms of possibilities, both countries are trying to do the best they can.
What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?
Honestly, I don’t watch the news much… I get affected by it in a bad way, so no, no news for me! I read about the situation in both countries and also globally, but I try to keep myself informed, let’s say just enough. I follow “the numbers”, and of course read the guidelines that affect us here in Florida through a few websites, and that’s about it. I find the info I need online, but skip the news on TV.
What’s the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation?
I would say we have everything we need, if I could make something appear in our house, it would be some of our family members and some friends, so that we could hang out and spend time together during this self-isolating times… That is what we miss! We have some Croatian families that live close to us and became our friends. Before this whole crisis, we would get together on the weekends, to have barbeques, and we talk, laugh, sing, dance, we have a lot of fun together and relax. I think this is a sort of ‘therapy’ for us Croatians living abroad. We are very social and like to hand out with our friends, so I am pretty sure we’ll have a barbeque the day after this whole thing is over!
One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.
I have been working from home for the past year and a half, so I would say the change is not huge for me personally. But the challenge of working from home is real, to be able to put boundaries in place, between your personal and work life, to me that one is tough… I tend to prefer my laptop over laundry and dishes (LOL)
What I learned about myself in this crisis is that I have the ability and freedom to decide if I am focusing on the bad stuff or on the good stuff. I choose to focus on the good stuff. All my family members and friends are thankfully safe and healthy. And regarding my job, just focusing on the “day after”, preparing programs and itineraries for 2021. My work keeps me sane. It gives me hope that everything will go back to normal, and the strength to stay positive and think positive through these tough times!
About others, well, I knew this from before, but everyone has their own “coping system” and we should all respect each other. I always try to spread good vibes, but I learned not everyone wants to hear them! Even though I feel the majority of people I contact with, and besides Croatia, I have friends in Italy and Spain, as well as some associates in New York, all facing really hard times. All of them are hopeful and positive. Also, I have a group on Facebook that gathers around 700 Croatian women that live abroad, the group is called “Hrvatice u Inozemstvu”. There I talk to Croatian women really all over the world, we have members in Turkey, Island, Panama, Australia, Spain, Italy, the US, Canada… I can’t even remember all the countries are represented in this group, and more or less all countries are going through similar things. We support each other, share some important info, positive thoughts and inspiration. I feel my fellow Croatians abroad are staying at home, staying safe and most importantly, staying positive.
If you could be self-isolating in Croatia, where would it be, and why?
Definitely Hvar! My parents are there, we have a big house in Vrbanj, my dad has a boat, we have vineyards… It is Sparoge (wild asparagus) season… What an idyllic way to self-isolate!
Thanks, Alida. Stay safe and see you on the other side. You can see all the stories in both this diaspora series, and the one on expats in Croatia on this link.
TCN is starting a new feature series on Croatian diaspora experiences of sitting out COVID-19 abroad and comparing your experiences to the situation in Croatia. If you would like to contribute, the questions are below. Please also include a para about yourself and where you are from, and a link to your website if you would like. Please also send 3-4 photos minimum to [email protected] Subject Corona Diaspora
If you would be interested to record a video version for our partners www.rplus.video please let us know in the email. Thanks and stay safe.
Self-Isolation Voices from the Diaspora
Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue in New York in particular?
Give us a timeline on when and how life changed.
Tell us about your day. Do you/can you leave your apartment?
How are the authorities doing at handling the situation?
You obviously keep an eye on your homeland. What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis?
Compare and contrast the responses of Croatia and USA. Who is doing what better?
What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?
What’s the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation?
One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.
If you could be self-isolating in Croatia, where would it be, and why?
TCN has recently become a partner in Robert Tomic Zuber’s new R+ video channel, initially telling stories about corona experiences. You can see the first TCN contribution from this morning, my video from Jelsa talking about the realities of running a news portal in the corona era below. If you would like to also submit a video interview, please find Robert’s guidelines below
VIDEO RECORDING GUIDE
The video footage should be recorded so that the cell phone is turned horizontally (landscape mode).
There are several rules for television and video news:- length is not a virtue- a picture speaks more than a thousand words
In short, this would mean that your story should not last more than 90 seconds and that everything you say in the report should be shown by video (for example, if you talk about empty streets, we should see those empty streets, etc.).
How to do it with your cell phone? First, use a selfie camera to record yourself telling your story for about a minute and a half. Ideally, it would be taken in the exterior, except in situations where you are reporting on things in the interior (quarantine, hospital, self-isolation, etc.). Also, when shooting, move freely, make sure everything is not static.
After you have recorded your report, you should capture footage that will tell your story with a picture, such as an earlier example with empty streets.
One of the basic rules of TV journalism is that the story is told in the same way as a journalist with his text. Therefore, we ask you for additional effort. Because we work in a very specific situation, sometimes you may not be able to capture footage for each sentence of the report. In this case, record the details on the streets: people walking, the main features of the city where you live, inscriptions on the windows related to the virus, etc.
The same rules apply if you are shooting a story from your apartment, self-isolation, quarantine. We also need you to capture footage that describes your story.
When shooting frames to cover your reports, it is important that you change the angle of the shot (in other words, shoot that empty street from several angles). Also, when shooting a detail, count at least five seconds before removing the camera to another detail.
The material should be about 5 minutes long (90 seconds of your report + frames to cover your story).
After recording everything, send us to Zagreb, preferably via WeTransfer to [email protected]
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Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? Mirela from Romania
Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? Jason from Ireland/USA
Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? Steve from UK in Vinkovci
Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? Gaby from Mexico
