Ready for A Very COVID Summer in the USA

By Isabel

Greetings from Vermont.

This week I made $2.38 from the story For The Love of Bananas about my experience in a 1980s children’s hospital in Sofia. I don’t remember when I first received money for playing the piano and how much that was, but for some reason getting an email that I will be receiving payment for writing honestly made me happy. Thanks, Medium, I really enjoyed writing this story and look forward to publishing more. I am currently working on a guide to Bulgaria, which will include some of my observations from recent travels, practical information, and social commentary. I also plan to share my grandmother Alexandra’s story. She was born in the 1920s in Istanbul, at the time the cultural and commercial center of the Balkans. She was educated at the American college there, before moving to the small. Koprivshtitsa during World War Two with her Greek mother and Bulgarian father.

Yesterday was July 4, and we celebrated the holiday with a few Bulgarian friends from New York. We rented a house in the woods, far away from everything, and spent the weekend cooking, talking, eating, and solving the world’s problems. I made a delicious dessert. We were all cautious during the last few months, and this is our first trip out of town. Our group gets along well, and being around my friends again made me realize how much I missed real human contact.

Vermont is probably the safest place in the USA right now. Everyone here is wearing a mask, people are not densely populated, and they are very disciplined about following social distancing rules. We visited a farmer’s market and a coffee shop, keeping our distance.

During the past few weeks, many bars and restaurants have been opening up for outdoor dining, and people have started going back to work. Many shops are beginning to reopen as well. New Yorkers are, for the most part, disciplined, and during the three months, quarantine respected the rules for social distancing. Most people either left town or worked remotely, and even though the “Stay at home” orders were not implemented with the same rigidity as in Europe, people were generally well informed and respectful of the rules. It feels right now as if we really pulled together to bring the infections down. Thousands of people died, and many jobs were lost. Numerous industries are suffering and will continue to suffer for a long time. But when it comes to life and death, overwhelming hospitals with sick and dying people, people in the city were united to help combat the infection rates.

Now that the city has started reopening, I am worried that the numbers will start going up again. We see alarming rates of infection in other parts of the country, and there appears to be no end to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, I have moved all of my creative activities online. There is simply no choice at the moment, and one must adapt to the current situation.

Last week we started preparing a virtual concert for our festival in Bulgaria. Mariana Karpatova and I went to a studio in Brooklyn and recorded a few absolutely gorgeous songs: three by Rachmaninov and two by Dobrinka Tabakova. Next week we will work on the editing and preparing them to premiere next month. Meanwhile, Georgy and I were planning another online concert and started working on an entirely new repertoire for that. Also, we are preparing the summer and fall season for Salon de Virtuosi as well as several outreach concerts for hospital workers and other activities.

Of course, there is nothing like a live concert experience online, but there are a lot of positive things too: for example, now is the time for one to tackle new repertoire and to make some sound recordings. I plan to do more solo work this fall as well, the more, the better.

Online teaching is going okay, but I was hoping to be able to start seeing my students in person again this fall. Just a few months ago, we all thought that the virus would be under control by now, but sadly things are looking bleak at the moment, and the sooner we embrace the new online reality, the better.

Work has always been my salvation from despair, and this is precisely what I plan to do for the foreseeable future: work, work, work. Somehow I hope to be able to embrace the new normal: wearing a mask, staying a good distance from people and constantly disinfecting my hands when outside.

Cheers to that and let’s work together to beat this virus!