Dear newsletter friends,

We had all hoped for a Christmas without Covid. Far from it. We are quite tired of the whole situation, but I guess everyone feels the same way. Our year was marked by some personal losses. We are hoping for a better 2022. This year, there is again a Christmas newsletter with a collage. The collage even has a title: "As Time Goes By." Surely, you also have one or two things that you could add to my list. Write diligently what belongs on your list.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2022.

Angelika and Michael

Ten things we would gladly do without when Covid is finally over:

1. Wearing a mask for hours: Although masks have helped us well through the pandemic so far, it's not exactly fun to wear them for 6 hours at school, especially if you're wearing glasses like me and have to deal with fogging up. A clever engineer could invent something for that. Not to mention an 11-hour international flight with a mask.

2. Distance learning: There is probably nothing that my students and I despise more than teaching via video conference.

3. Panicking at every little cough and sniffle: Those were the days when a cold was just a cold, which one endured stoically.

4. Mask acne from wearing a mask for hours: Those who suffer from it know what I'm talking about.

5. Meeting with someone without having to ask about their vaccination status. This can certainly lead to awkward moments. Currently, we are once again in the new questioning mode: "Have you already received the booster?

6. Traveling without test and vaccination certificates as well as registration forms. Even for people who know how to fill out forms, it's a challenge because the regulations change every five minutes.

7. Finding a table outside at a restaurant because the weather is nice and not because you are afraid of getting infected indoors. Although we live in warmer regions, I have sat outside in a restaurant with ice-cold legs countless times because the heaters only warmed from above and not from below. Most recently at the Christmas party at work.

8. Not having to get vaccinated every few months because a new variant is circulating again and the vaccine is waning. It's getting hard to keep up with the vaccinations.

9. Sneezing or coughing in public without getting dirty looks. It's also funny when someone coughs or sneezes and immediately apologizes, saying: "I don't have Covid, it's just allergies.

10. Spontaneously hugging someone without first having to ask if it's okay. Or how about a little kiss on the cheek?

Ten things that could remain the same for us even after Corona:

1. Less traffic: Unfortunately, that has already changed, and I'm often stuck in traffic again when I drive to work.

2. Working from home: I can't work from home, but for Michael, it's paradise. If it were up to him, it could go on like this forever.

3. Daily walks: Our walks kept us from going crazy during the various lockdowns.

4. Michael's bread-baking skills: There's nothing better than a warm, freshly baked bread baked by Michael.

5. People who stay home when they are sick. A great advantage of Covid is that people were forced to recover from their illnesses. Before Covid, it was common in schools for students to show up with the worst coughs and become patient zero germ spreaders.

6. Slow Street: The designated traffic-calmed streets for pedestrians in San Francisco are simply a hit.

7. Video conferences with loved ones far away. Especially for us, who are so far away, these have been and continue to be a balm for the soul amidst all the contact restrictions.

8. Increased handwashing: I've been doing this for years because if you work with children and don't do it, you constantly get sick.

9. Cook together more. We have always enjoyed cooking, but we have never tried so many new things before.

10. To enjoy simply being together. There is nothing better.