The life of a self-isolating AndroidPIT writer: part two

Eric Ferrari-Herrmann

As parents of a two-year-old, my wife and I have hit the jackpot. Because thanks to daycare closing, we juggle our two jobs and the child all day long; from 07:30 to 23:00. After all, we only have to work a total of 13 hours a day - she seven and I six. But we were both very lucky with our jobs because they...

• Still exist
• Allows for the flexible division of working time over the weekdays
• Are completely feasible online

My wife is happy, because she can now teach our child Italian in a hurry. She already knows German from the Kita and me, but Italian was always a bit behind. This makes the Ferrari relatives in the crisis region of Emilia-Romagna all the more excited about seeing each other again soon. Ci mancate!

Apart from playing games, cooking and filling the gaps that arise with work, not much happens. We try to keep the weekends free for leisure time together. Walks are possible. My daughter is entering the world with new eyes and asking questions. She is so fearless. That inspires us both.

She gets that fearlessness from my wife. She's not afraid because she's always preparing for the worst-case scenario. We didn't have to panic buy because we always have pasta, rice and beans, and two weeks' worth of frozen vegetables. We make milk from soybeans ourselves. We always buy wholefoods in large quantities from silos and shops that do not pack anything in plastic. You casually become a prepper when you live this way. For the record: we still have seven rolls of toilet paper and no disinfectant.

As far as working from home is concerned, I agree with my colleague David: I miss the nonchalance of the old days. With a bit of luck, the restrictions will be relaxed hopefully before the summer we can at least work together again in the office, perhaps every few days at first. As much as I enjoy the time with my daughter... home office stinks.

Julia Froolyks

I must admit that I am one of those people who laughed heartily at various memes that say something like "when you realize that your whole lifestyle is quarantined". I like to stay indoors, in my creative chaos. I am also the only one in the team who can handle the home office situation well, as I am lucky to work from my adopted home in Bonn. The crisis has made sure that I am closer to the team than ever, now that everyone is sitting in at home. Like Eric, I am happy that I still have a job that I can do from home. But I really miss the trips to various events and fairs. Even a planned trip to see my colleagues in Berlin fell through. That always kept me going.

Definitely I only have one luxury problem these days: what should I play? At the moment I'm very fond of Sims 4 on Mac, Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch and the Lord of the Rings addon for Minecraft, although the many possibilities in the games mentioned above are a bit too much for me at the moment. I prefer something more linear. That's why I started the 'The Room' series on my iPhone again. In addition to this, Disney+ streaming is now available in Europe. My treadmill is looking forward to it, because I spend a lot of time here - not only since the self-imposed house arrest - and walk a few meters while streaming various series. Recently, I was very excited about the new 'Unbelievable Stories' shows on Apple TV+.

With Disney+, I will probably treat myself to nostalgic trips to the Gummi Bears or Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers. All seasons of the Simpsons are also on there. By the way, I have to read two new crime novels that are waiting for me next to my bed. Thanks to meditation I also try to come down a little every day and deal with this crazy situation. At the moment I use the App Mesmerize for this too.

I hope you're doing well under the circumstances and at most you'll have to deal with some luxury problems, even if that's naive wishful thinking. Stay healthy and stay at home. 

Kirsten Holst

I am certainly not a so-called Lone Wolf, but in contrast to many other people, I get along incredibly well with quite little human contact. In this respect, working from home has never been a problem for me before. Give me music, a platform on which I can exchange with friends and enough space to work on my own lyrics and I am, normally, a satisfied person. So basically these weeks would be a dream for me - wouldn't they? Unfortunately not.

One week into coronavirus quarantine is over now. Already at the beginning, it was clear to me that I would go to my parents' house. Just in case the ceiling fell in on my head. A friend wrote to me: "you are with your family, the fridge is always full and you have a dog to play with. You've done everything right." I love my family and the dog, but when you haven't lived at home for a long time, it's a real challenge to deal with so much - well - family. We all talk about being alone and, of course, I understand that too. But it's only during this time that I really notice the closeness.

It's a day's work and an art not to get on each other's nerves, but I think we do it quite well. If I really need a break from everything, I just walk my dog Gassie - not only to get some distance, but also to take a breath and clear my head. Or I use our stepping machine to do some exercise.  And if I don't feel like doing any of those things, I just mow down opponents on my Nintendo Switch in Dragon Quest - or, rather, they do it to me at the moment. Or I search my way through the worlds of books my mother has built up over the years (thank God we both like thrillers and crime novels).

Distraction helps when you are safe and secure, and while I can chat with my friends on social platforms, we still have our video conferencing for our office conversations. Funnily enough, Daniel asked me yesterday if I miss Berlin and my people. A clear "yes and no" is my answer. As I already wrote, I'm not someone who needs someone around 24/7 and social platforms are very useful for me. But in the end, I realized in the last week that I really like being in the office. Talking directly to people is so much more pleasant than via webcam. Especially since my laptop is also on the blink and I was forced to switch to the smartphone. Apart from that, I am very curious what they will say after bringing them chocolate cake three times, to a homemade buttermilk cake.

If you'd like to see this mini-series continue, drop us a comment below the line and we'll see what we can do. Any questions about our lives under house arrest? Let us know!