2020: Retro
As we sunset 2020 and I’m to write this retrospective, the first question in my head was “Where do we start?”. Unless you were in Mars or somewhere faraway in deep space, it’s no news that 2020 was a year we wouldn’t forget so quickly and the history books will have a lot to say about it. I’m going to attempt to share how the year was for me in the best possible way I can.
Like every other New Year’s Eve, I was home with my parents and siblings talking about how I’m relocating to the United States before the end of the first quarter of 2020. It was a great opportunity to pray, talk and get some much needed TLC before the hustle and bustle of the New Year. All of this was happening with COVID-19 in the backdrop with a lot of us feeling great (myself included) about the prospect of the New Year.
Relocation
As part of the process of getting all the required documents needed to relocate to the United States, the first two months of the year was filled with a lot of traveling for me. I had to go to my alma mater to get my university degree certificate and attend my visa interview at the Embassy in Abuja. It was a really interesting experience ’cause my journey to Abuja will be the first time I ever left the southern part of Nigeria and was so excited that as part of the trip I checked on my cousin that lives in a nearby town in Nassarawa. I got the opportunity to reconnect with my old friend from the university (Noble) whom was so generous he let me stay with him and provided me with one of the best office space you can dream of in Maitama, Abuja for which I’m eternally grateful.
New City Who This?
With all the paperwork I needed for my travel sorted, I arrived in NYC on the 29th of February, 2020. It was a surreal experience not because I hadn’t being in the city before but because I was going to start living and working here (internal scream of joy). I was aware of the COVID situation but I had no idea NYC was about to become the epicenter of the virus in the US.
The first workday of march wasn’t like any other for most newbies at work and if I was to describe it in one word, I’d say “Food” and if I was to use a sentence, I’d say “Best first day ever!”. Like for every newbie in the NY office, the Everplans team had a fun day planned for me, from double lunches at restaurants in Midtown, Manhattan to a trip to Party City and the LEGO store in flatiron.
Avalanche
I had spent just about two weeks working from the office before coronavirus cases got to a point where the Department of Health in NYC put out a guideline urging non-essential workers to work from home and reduce commute as much as possible (the faraway virus had finally got here 🤦🏾♂️). So we decided to start working from home and it wasn’t so bad at first since I was sorta used to being at home since when I was in Lagos but this was going to prove different as with most businesses affected during the lockdown, my organization had to let a size-able amount of the team go as a result of the new budgetary realities of the new normal. I wasn’t affected but like everyone who had just crossed the ocean to start life in a new city in less than a month, I was mortified and felt like my place in the organization was at risk (luckily it wasn’t).
New Normal
Since the lockdown in March which we’d hoped was going to be for just a few weeks, I’ve been working from home and I’ve to adjust to that new reality. It wasn’t a shock ’cause it has some of it’s pros which are:
- Shortest commute time to work
- Sleeping in a bit more
However I still had to learn some things around grooming and keeping my brain occupied to prevent fixating on the coronavirus numbers.
- Started cutting my own hair
- Started learning french with Duolingo (Salut a tous!)
- Built a smart socket for my room. you can read about it here
To say that this year was all I had hoped it would be, would mean that I’m being insincere to myself as it was a year like nothing we had experienced but I’m grateful that I, my family and friends have been safe from the virus and also the privilege to be able to continue working from home. I’m hopeful for 2021 especially with the record-breaking vaccines rollout we’ve had and I pray that it is a year better than we have ever hoped it would be. Adios 2020!
Thanks for taking some time to read this. Happy New Year!
