April 7, 2020 – Do foreigners in Croatia feel more or less safe sitting out COVID-19 here than in their home country, and what are their experiences? A new series on TCN, with Daniela Rogulj from California in Split as our 29th contributor.
Oxford University recently published some research on government responses to coronavirus which showed that Croatia currently has the strictest measures in the world. While inconvenient, this is a good thing in terms of reducing the spread of the virus, and I am certainly not alone in my admiration of the official Croatian handling of this crisis in recent weeks, both in terms of action and communication.
But what do other expats here think? And how does it compare with the response in their home country? Would they rather sit this one out here or there? In the first of a new series on TCN, we will be featuring expats from all over the world to see what their views are on life in corona Croatia rather than back home. So far we have heard from expats in Croatia from Romania, USA, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Singapore, Holland, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Latvia, China, Honduras, Hungary, Moldova, South Korea and Germany. Next up, TCN’s Daniela Rogulj from California in Split.
If you would like to contribute to this series, full details are below. Now, over to Split.
Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.
I’m at home, in Split, with my mother, father, and grandmother, all of whom are high risk. My grandmother is 87 and, as you’d expect, has a lot of underlying health conditions at her age. My father is no spring chicken at 66, while my 59-year-old mother just finished breast cancer treatment.
Our spirits are as good as they can be at the moment. Grandma is (mostly) blissfully unaware, and I would like to keep it that way, since she doesn’t leave her ‘bunker’ of an apartment below us anyway. She’ll ask once or twice a week about the latest news with a troubled expression stretched across her face. I tell her not to let any strangers in and to keep washing her hands. Her daily routine improved, in a way, since we can’t beg her to come out to dinner with us once a month. Any excuse to stay at home.
As any good Balkan mother would, my mother is often seen disinfecting the house multiple times a day with bleach, in between bouts of CNN and N1, while my recently-furloughed travel agent father now has the time to work through his immense music collection, composed of thousands of records, CDs, and box sets. I’m sure the whole Firule neighborhood could hear the speakers blast from our balconies – ‘Tata Quarantino tunes of the day’, I call it.
My life has changed a lot and not at all. Being a freelancer in Split for almost five years, I’m used to working from home and already have a routine in place. My mornings still begin with warm lemon water and articles for Total Croatia News, though with all of the corona news we have been covering, I’d say those days roll into the evenings fairly quickly – and the TCN team is easily working upwards of 14 hours/day on average. Since I have no reason to leave the house other than grocery shopping, I’ve converted my bedroom and balcony into my home gym and force myself to get 30 minutes of exercise every day. Fresh air and Vitamin D seem to be doing wonders for my mental health. The warm weather in Dalmatia lately is also a huge bonus – and a foolproof way to bypass burnout. And I couldn’t imagine quarantining without my cats.
Keeping in touch with friends has been key, and Zoom chats are increasingly on my agenda – especially with my boyfriend, a water polo player for Jadran Split, who had to jet back to Australia 24 hours before Croatia went on lockdown… to prepare with the Aussie national team for the Olympics Games, which have been postponed for next summer. I’m not sure when I’ll see him again, but have hope his career will continue in Europe once all is said and done. Going through the corona crisis without your partner has certainly has its ups (I’m too busy for anyone else) and downs (for obvious reasons).
All things considered, my sanity levels are steady, though the bags under my eyes are growing darker.
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?
About a week before my trip to London at the beginning of March. My boyfriend and I had a quick weekender planned March 5-8 as he had no water polo games scheduled at the time (the national teams of Croatia and Montenegro were using the month to prepare for the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Rotterdam). Croatia only had one case at the time, though the outbreak was spreading around Italy – and fast. Paul Bradbury (my lovely TCN boss) seemed to know before everyone that the coronavirus would take off here. I remember him telling me to rethink my London trip as he had a feeling borders would close soon. My mother begged us not to go, either, as she’d been in the middle of the corona buzz since day one, but I often shrugged her off as I thought she was panicking (in those early times, she was).
We got to London on a half-empty plane and took an Uber to our hotel to avoid public transportation, as that was the one promise I made to my mother, who packed us with gloves and face masks to wear while we were there. Life had not stopped in London, then. While there was a lot of talk, no one really seemed to be taking things too seriously and blamed the media for hype. We went to packed pubs, busy dinner spots, museums and markets, and even a Chelsea game.
It wasn’t until our flight back that things grew eerie. Heathrow was slower than ever, and our plane empty. When we arrived in Zagreb, the passport control woman asked if we’d been to China or Italy in the last two weeks. We got back to Split late that night and I was convinced that my sore throat was a symptom of COVID-19 – and not due to the fact that I was still nursing a hangover from two days before.
Things escalated in the following two days. Airlines began announcing cancellations in Europe, the Croatian Ministry of Tourism put all marketing activities to a halt, and Croatia went from 1 to eight cases in a matter of days. My mother begged me not to leave the house, and I didn’t. I have been self-isolating since March 11.
What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis? How safe do you feel?
Croatia is very lucky that former Health Minister Milan Kujundžić was dismissed just days before the coronavirus hit here, or else we’d be in big trouble.
Overall, I’m very pleased with how Croatia has dealt with the crisis. The National Civil Protection Headquarters is a team of superheroes and our shining light during this crisis, and they’ve done a brilliant job introducing measures early to keep the infection at bay and the numbers low.
I feel safer than ever as the chances of getting hit by a bus or car are slimmer than ever (we all know how Croatian drivers can be). The streets are empty. The shops are taking proper hygiene measures and only allowing a certain number of shoppers in at once. They are also fully stocked, so IF things got really bad, at least I’d have enough toilet paper to get me through it. It’s rare to see anyone without a mask, and the two-meter rule is mostly taken seriously.
Is there anywhere better than Croatia to self-isolate, anyway?
Now compare that to your home country and how they are handling it. What is Croatia doing better/worse?
Yikes, where do I begin? The United States, as a whole, is a nightmare. They have a president who wanted the churches to be full on Easter, only to retract and say that 100,000 deaths is ‘very good’. The death toll has already topped 10,000. New York is scrambling to obtain ventilators and is already over 130,000 cases – and that’s just one state! I have to tip my hat to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is doing the best he can given the circumstances.
I am from California, where Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a mandatory ‘shelter in place’ to all 40 million residents in the state early on. Only grocery stores and essential retail are open, while restaurants and bars are delivery only, large gatherings are banned, and social distance learning is in place for schools. California currently has over 15,000 cases and is 4th in the US.
Croatia wins on taking measures earlier than the US as a whole, though it’s hard to compare a country of 4 million and 327 million.
What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?
Are we basing this off of the daily White House briefings? Enough said.
What the Fauci?
Dr. Anthony Fauci curbs his Trump enthusiasm. pic.twitter.com/HRFKKVmuW8
— Lauren Werner ? (@LaurenWern) March 20, 2020
Also, thank you, Paul, for putting me on the live corona updates, so I always know what’s going on in Croatia at any second of the day.
What’s the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation.
My trainers, who have been amazing and publishing all workouts online (thank you F & T). I also wish I brought my will to drink with me, since I haven’t had an alcoholic beverage since March 8, and feel like a chilled gin & tonic would spice up the corona updates nicely during happy hour.
Maybe another sweatshirt to add to my rotation weekly rotation would have been smart, too.
I am grateful, however, that I am a relatively low-maintenance woman who will not suffer too severely from her beauty salon closure, though I do wish I learned how to do my eyebrows properly before all this hit.
One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.
As I mentioned above, I’ve been more or less self-isolating since March 11, which is nearly a month, and not once have I felt restless or anxious, which is a bit out of character. Maybe I’m numb to it all by now, or maybe I’ve grown into the homebody I always knew I was. But I feel good; a bit tired and nostalgic here and there, but good. It’s important to go with the flow, because we can only live one day at a time right now, and I think that is a massive lesson I’ve learned through this.
This crisis also made me a bit more generous. While my bank account certainly isn’t growing, I’ve been donating to various animal shelters across Croatia since I am essentially ‘saving’ money on taxis, coffee dates, and nights out. It’s a win-win, isn’t it?
There is a lot of uncertainty in the world at the moment and I feel like I am wrapped up in a lot of my own worries at home, but it is comforting to know that we’re all in this together – and there is a light, somewhere. I want to believe that this is the shift we needed to check ourselves and everything around us. While I never imagined it’d take a global pandemic to get us back to square one, let’s hope that the grass is greener on the other side and we make the most of hitting rock bottom. It can only go up from here (I think).
Thanks, Dani, stay safe and see you on the other side. And thanks for all you do for us at TCN – you have a lot of fans.Thanks, Dani, stay safe and see you on the other side. And thanks for all you do for us at TCN – you have a lot of fans.
TCN is starting a new feature series on foreign experiences of sitting out COVID-19 here in Croatia compared to their home country. 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 Foreigner
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.
Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer Than in Your Home Country?
Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.
What do you think about the economic measures the government is taking, are they helping your business? (PLEASE IGNORE IF THIS DOES NOT AFFECT YOU)
When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?
What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis? How safe do you feel?
Now compare that to your home country and how they are handling it. What is Croatia doing better/worse?
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.
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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