ALEXANDRA and her handmade sign on her balcony to say thank you.

Alexandra was an American teacher assistant in Tirso de Molina some years ago. Now she is in a different school. If you have older brothers they might have met her. Last week she was on a front page news on Malasaña newspaper. She has hung up a handmade sign on her balcony. She embroidered some letters on a towel to say thanks to her neighbours.  Read the article to get inspired for your journal entrance. Notice she says “neighbor” instead of “neigbour” because she is American, but remember both options are correct. Although her name is Alexandra, the journalist wrote it wrong.

Coronavirus Stories: Alexandria and Her Perpetual “Thank you for everything”

 

There are simple gestures, like making and putting up a sign with “Thank you” 24 hours on a balcony, that helps and encourages the other neighbors to cope with the Malasaña quarantine

Alexandria is from the United States and has been living on Calle Espiritu Santo practically since she arrived eight and a half years ago. She gives English classes at a school in Arguelles to children from four to eighteen years old and now, from her confinement, says that her favorite moment of the day is when everyone goes to their balcony at eight o’clock to unite the neighbors to give a daily thank you to all the people working and carrying the responsibility in the fight to slow the curve of the Coronavirus from spreading that keeps us at home.

Since yesterday, from her balcony a sign has been hanging day and night with the sewn-on letters “Thank you for everything.” “I wanted to put ‘Thank you everyone for everything,’ but I didn’t have enough material in my apartment to make it. I love arts and crafts, so I made these letters and put them on an old towel,” she told us by phone from her flat.

Alexandria says that the hour of applause “and making noise and encouraging each other” is allowing her to get to know new neighbors from her balcony, which thanks to her sign is getting more looks. “I don’t talk much with anyone in particular, but we look at each other, we smile at each other, and I feel like I know them. It’s a feeling that I hope continues when all of this is over. It comforts me to know that we are neighbors and that we are fighting this together.”

Alexandria’s parents live and work in the United States and this neighbor, who surely is like many others, says that she is especially worried about their health. She remarks that the US healthcare system is very different from the Spanish and that, because many people are without medical insurance, they will continue to work even when they show Coronavirus symptoms. “Although the illness is arriving there later and they have had more time to prepare and take precautions, I think the European and Spanish systems are better prepared to take care of the public during this crisis.”

Meanwhile she continues to work on educating students from home, for as she is a teacher it is possible to continue teaching students online, this neighbor assures that she will stick to going to the balcony every day at eight o’clock to give thanks and encourage the world, while her sign will be there 24 hours a day for whoever can see it.

Check a link to the Spanish article here:

SPANISH ARTICLE