Anyone else impacted by COVID?

[SoapFTW]

Hi everyone, I just got back on this platform again recently after a bit of a hiatus. I'm wondering if anyone else has some stories about how COVID has messed things up for them?

I'll share first...(yes, I'm having a bit of a whinge, but fuck, I kind of need to at this point).

I got told back in January I had to relocate myself and my family to the company's office in Sydney, Australia. Totally out of the blue, with no timeline other than "ASAP" given. My wife freaked out, spiraled into full blown clinical depression, needing medicine to function and everthing. On top of that my boss, the co-owner of the company, who USED TO be my mate, dropped my salary about $25kAUD, citing the most bullshit excuses you've ever heard. Anyway, I took it, as they were paying for the move, and it was a chance to take my kids home to live in AUS for at least a while, although I envision us going back to Japan as some point in the future.

Anyway, COVID fucked me and I had 2 cancelled flights, and now 8 months after those cancelled flights I'm still waiting for the refund for one of them. I finally managed to get all the citizenship application paperwork together for my 2 kids, got that sorted, then had to get their passports. Got them, ok great, next I had to get my wife's visa. Oh and by the way, she wouldn't go to Tokyo to a specialist centre to check out her thyroid condition that the mental doc discovered because she was scared of COVID, so I had to wait for that shit to get sorted too.

So, I applied for her visa, and was told it would be a 1-2 month processing time. After submitting, I was told it'd be a 5-6 month processing time. Multiple calls to the immigration department, bunch of fucktards who can't help with anything. Then ANA cancelled their flight that would have got them here and out of quarantine in time for Christmas, so I had to rebook with JAL for another $7000 while waiting 4 months for the $6500 refund from ANA.

Dept of Immigration were useless, so I got in touch with my local Member of Parliament to help me out, his team did great, and they found out in their reply from the Dept that I needed to apply for a travel exemption first for my wife before they'd prioritise her application. I was like "Why didn't these fuckwits tell me that 2 months ago?!" I'd been freaking out about having to delay her and the kids' flight another few months due to no visa.

Anyway, finally all the ducks seems to have lined up in a row - kids' AUS citizenships and passports OK, wife's visa OK, now I just have to wait and hope that JAL doesn't cancel their Dec 19th flight.

All that shit went on while also getting evicted illegally by my landlord here in Sydney because she's a control freak (i rented a room in her house that she lived in too - she kicked me out because I didn't close my curtains while I watched TV, and I put the ironing board back in the wrong place - 4 inches to the left of where it should have gone).

Mentally it's been pretty tough not getting to see my kids for 6 months. I've missed a third of my daughter's life (she's only 1 and a half), and my son's English ability and behaviour have gone down the toilet since I've been gone because his mother and grandparents are useless and too random with their discipline, so the poor boy doesn't know when they're serious about saying "no" or not, then he gets exploded at for what he thinks is no reason. I've got a lot of work to do to get him secure again in his boundaries and to create a proper routine for him again.

Anyway guys, that's my rant and story for this fucked up year. I know there are WAY worse stories out there than me, obviously including the people who've actually contracted the disease, or their loved ones have, and they've died from it. But it hasn't been easy for me, that I know, and I thought maybe I could have a rant and also give others a place to do it on this forum too. It's always seemed a pretty welcoming place to me.

Peace, everyone.

 

[Lukes]

I'm sorry to hear all of that. It sounds pretty damn terrible. Your wife sounds a bit like mine - prone to bouts of serious depression and just more of a hindrance than a help at times. It can be tough.

My life was a high speed train wreck long before COVID hit so for me it's just business as usual but now everyone else's world is on fire too. Hang in there.

 

[TAG Manager]

I'll share first...(yes, I'm having a bit of a whinge, but fuck, I kind of need to at this point).

All of that sounds insane, I can't believe you had to deal with all of that... From a personal level, your story is probably the worst one I've heard of.

I've been extremely luck and relatively untouched by COVID-19 situation. We were told to remote work for the foreseeable future which has been a blessing and curse, but definitely more on the blessing side of things.
I don't know anyone personally that has tested positive for the virus, but plenty people around me got tested.

Adding in immediate family, still no positive tests nor deaths. But friends of the family have either tested positive or lost family members due to COVID-19.

I didn't bother trying to travel and won't even try until things are more normalized, which god knows when that'll be. Hoping for a Summer trip in 2021 though....

getting evicted illegally by my landlord here in Sydney because she's a control freak (i rented a room in her house that she lived in too - she kicked me out because I didn't close my curtains while I watched TV, and I put the ironing board back in the wrong place - 4 inches to the left of where it should have gone).

What a bitch....

All that said, Japan is a good place to be in all of this nonsense. Life on the street feels pretty normal and most everyone is wearing a mask but social distance is out the window when looking at the trains and nightlife around Shinjuku. All that and still the numbers are lower than expected. (Sure, someone will come along and say they aren't testing enough... but honestly, what does that accomplish? Nothing.)

They just announced a plan for a reservation system for getting the vaccine distributed. Also heard Korea is trying to play nice with Japan to get some COVID-19 vaccine aid...

Let's hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel we've been in for nearly a year......

 

[Jenkins55]

I've been at worst unimpacted and at best dare I say slightly positively impacted by the virus. I was 75kg before pandemic hit now a year later I'm almost 90kg. I see it as a positive because I think for my height it's a healthy weight. Some of it is muscle mass though. I was able to go to gym consistently because I wasn't on a train for 3 hours a day.

Only downside is I don't get to play as much. I'm working from home so I'm just not in the vicinity of any fun places and I don't feel like travelling for the sole purpose of play. Because I'm WFH I'm less stressed about people looking over and consequently have less need for stress relief.

Maybe another downside is places that used to accept foreigners are not very accepting anymore. Or at least they want to seem hesitant.

 

[hundreddollarman]

I’m really sorry to hear that. This year’s really fucked up everything

 

[SoapFTW]

I'm sorry to hear all of that. It sounds pretty damn terrible. Your wife sounds a bit like mine - prone to bouts of serious depression and just more of a hindrance than a help at times. It can be tough.

My life was a high speed train wreck long before COVID hit so for me it's just business as usual but now everyone else's world is on fire too. Hang in there.

Yeah thanks heaps mate. The one good thing is that by going over the edge, it actually exposed to her family what she’s actually been suffering for a long time, and shows them what I’ve been dealing with. Now she’s gotten a bit of help, I think it’s been better. She just went to the doctor to stock up on her meds before flying over here, so hopefully the meds will help her anxiety during the transition to life here.

 

[SoapFTW]

I’m really sorry to hear that. This year’s really fucked up everything

I've been at worst unimpacted and at best dare I say slightly positively impacted by the virus. I was 75kg before pandemic hit now a year later I'm almost 90kg. I see it as a positive because I think for my height it's a healthy weight. Some of it is muscle mass though. I was able to go to gym consistently because I wasn't on a train for 3 hours a day.

Only downside is I don't get to play as much. I'm working from home so I'm just not in the vicinity of any fun places and I don't feel like travelling for the sole purpose of play. Because I'm WFH I'm less stressed about people looking over and consequently have less need for stress relief.

Maybe another downside is places that used to accept foreigners are not very accepting anymore. Or at least they want to seem hesitant.

Good on you for turning the situation into your favour. Do you think you’ll be able to do more WFH even after the pandemic passes?

 

[SoapFTW]

All of that sounds insane, I can't believe you had to deal with all of that... From a personal level, your story is probably the worst one I've heard of.

I've been extremely luck and relatively untouched by COVID-19 situation. We were told to remote work for the foreseeable future which has been a blessing and curse, but definitely more on the blessing side of things.
I don't know anyone personally that has tested positive for the virus, but plenty people around me got tested.

Adding in immediate family, still no positive tests nor deaths. But friends of the family have either tested positive or lost family members due to COVID-19.

I didn't bother trying to travel and won't even try until things are more normalized, which god knows when that'll be. Hoping for a Summer trip in 2021 though....


What a bitch....

All that said, Japan is a good place to be in all of this nonsense. Life on the street feels pretty normal and most everyone is wearing a mask but social distance is out the window when looking at the trains and nightlife around Shinjuku. All that and still the numbers are lower than expected. (Sure, someone will come along and say they aren't testing enough... but honestly, what does that accomplish? Nothing.)

They just announced a plan for a reservation system for getting the vaccine distributed. Also heard Korea is trying to play nice with Japan to get some COVID-19 vaccine aid...

Let's hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel we've been in for nearly a year......

Yeah she really was a bitch. She just totally started flipping out about the tiniest things. I was really lucky that I had some uncles in the area I could go and stay with up in the Blue Mountains until I could move into the house I found for my family. Very, very fortunate.

I agree with you about the testing. Here they’re always saying more people need to get tested because they’re not finding as many positive cases. I’m like, did they consider the possibility that they’re either not finding cases because they aren’t there, or that asymptomatic people won’t get tested because they’re not actually sick?

Here in Sydney, and most other parts of Australia, life is basically “normal”. There are still restrictions in place, but for day to day living, you can still basically go where you want and do what you want. I missed the heavy lockdowns, which I was thankful for. I think most people are just over it, and want to get on with living their lives without the government and media telling them what to do all the time.

 

[split]

Just want to make sure I'm understanding this - you are currently in Australia? If so, continue reading or correct me. I thought that family members could return to Japan even prior to Nov under the emergency exemption. I believe since Nov they have amended it to allow travel to/from around 11 countries without a covid test as long as they sign a pledge, thus no quarantine as long as you stay home. I've actually seen the pledge application that you must sign. Are you sure you have all recent updates on this?

 

[split]

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/17/national/social-issues/japan-travel-restrictions-entry/
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/cp/page25e_000338.html
https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/page22e_000929.html

I don't have time to read all this so I may be misinterpreting it.

 

[Majestyk]

So, which vaccine did they try on you?

 

[SoapFTW]

Just want to make sure I'm understanding this - you are currently in Australia? If so, continue reading or correct me. I thought that family members could return to Japan even prior to Nov under the emergency exemption. I believe since Nov they have amended it to allow travel to/from around 11 countries without a covid test as long as they sign a pledge, thus no quarantine as long as you stay home. I've actually seen the pledge application that you must sign. Are you sure you have all recent updates on this?

My understanding was that I couldn’t go back to see the family because my spouse visa got cancelled when I left Japan as I let them know it was a permanent / semi-permanent move. I also couldn’t take enough time off work to cover all the quarantine on both ends plus be able to see my family, plus the cost of quarantine and the expensive flights these days. I guess I don’t have to pay for quarantine in Japan anymore, but Australia is not letting up.

JAL looks like they haven’t cancelled any flights on their Tokyo-Sydney route recently, so fingers crossed it goes smoothly and they’re able to fly over this weekend.