Thursday, May 7, 2009

Back to (almost) normal

The life here in Mexico City is getting slowly back to normal after almost two weeks of influenza epidemic. The primary schools are still closed 'till next Monday, but the highschools and the universities opened again today. Also the restaurants and movie theatres could open up today, but with some restrictions to garantee enough space between each person.

So, everything is almost as normal again, and there are lot less people on the streets with surgical masks. There are other signs remind about the influenza though. The subway, for example, was quite empty compared to normal days (which is nice, but that might chance when all the schools start again). At the university they gave everybody antibacterial gel at the faculty doors. There's supposed to be also at least one or two metres between every student in the class, but that's simply impossible in the small classrooms.
It seems the influenza hasn't been as dangerous as it first was thought, but it might get worse again later. Many seem to think that as the authorities let the schools open again, the influenza is magically gone and you can forget all about it. I was personally never really scared about this, but still prefer to take some precautions, like washing my hands all the time. The influenza might be unlikely to kill you, but it doesn't seem like a nice desease to get anyway. And it would be nice if we didn't have a new epidemic later on.

Well, lets hope this really is time to get back to normality. Meanwhile, please don't discriminate against the Mexicans, if you live somewhere else. The actions for example China has taken, are just absurd. You don't get a flu by just seeing a perfectly healthy person, even if he/she is from Mexico.

And now something different: just wanted to show you the second swap package I got from the grad school swap!


Wool yarn in lovely blue tone, lots of cool pens and highlighters, chocolate and a lovely note pad that has a magnet behind. It will be greatly needed. I always write lists (especially to do lists) on little pieces of paper that I later lose (and might or might not find even later), so having the notebook on my fridge will be very helpful.

No comments: