When Will I See You Again? Coronavirus Keeps Couples Apart

 

Andrea Chabant Sanchez is a 29-year-old publicist who lives in Madrid. He usually travels to Paris once a month to see his girlfriend Emma Besancon. In January, he planned all his trips through July.

Now, those trips are cancelled. Travel restrictions¹ have stopped him and many other people around the world from visiting their loved ones.

"I honestly don't know when I'm going to see the person I love again," said Sanchez. He and Besancon, who is 24, have not been together since before Spain declared a state of emergency on March 14.

"I always had a date: one for this month, next month..." said Sanchez.

Lola Gomez is a 22-year-old acting² student from Malaga, Spain. She also feels the pain of separation.

"It's only been eleven days, but it feels like I haven't seen her in a month," she said of her girlfriend Sara Lozano, also 22.

Lozano left Madrid to join her family in Pamplona the day before the quarantine was ordered.

Neither knows when they will next meet.

"We've been separated before, but this isn't like Christmas or summertime, when it's long but you're doing a million other things," said Gomez.

"This quarantine means a lot of time alone, thinking, asking yourself questions - a lot of time shut in too. You miss your partner so much more," she said.

Sharing a drink... remotely

Etienne Berges is a 26-year-old humanitarian³ policy adviser⁴ working in Myanmar. He will not see his girlfriend, Amber⁵ Medland, next month.

On March 16, Myanmar ordered quarantine for anyone arriving from countries where COVID-19 is spreading. So, Medland, a 29-year-old writer based in London, cancelled her plans to travel.

Still, the couple is finding⁶ ways to be together from thousands of miles apart. They visit on video calls while watching the same television show or having a drink.

Gomez and Lozano share mealtimes over video calls. And they always video-call one another just before they go to sleep.

"That way, you give and get tenderness⁷ before sleeping," Gomez said.

It is not quite the same as the real thing, however.

"The person you love should be the one person you can break confinement⁸ with, completely - because you lay beside them at night. And I can't," said Sanchez. He stayed alone in Madrid while Besancon went to be with her family in Normandy, France.

As the coronavirus spreads, separated couples are facing the fact that days apart turn into weeks, and now possibly months.

Words in This Story

quarantine – n. to separate someone who has an illness

tenderness – n. gentle, loving behavior

confinement – n. to be held separately from others

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

6 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

7 tenderness   

n.柔软；温和；亲切；心软难处理

参考例句：

• He felt a brief wave of tenderness towards his old teacher. 他对他年迈的老师湧起了一股爱怜之情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was tenderness in his face as he looked at her. 他看着她的时候满脸温柔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。