Justin Parke

🦠 My Understanding of the "New Normal" 🚫🛃 An @Abundance.Tribe Question

The question posed by @Abundance.Tribe is - "What is Your "Understanding Of The New Normal?"

"How is it going to affect your life and what measures if any are you going to put in place to help you maintain the life that you want?"

What is Your "Understanding Of The New Normal"? How is it going to affect your life and what measures if any are you going to put in place to help you maintain the life that you want? by @abundance.tribe

🛂 It Wasn't Normal Before COVID-19 🦠

We landed in Suriname out of hardship long before Emperor 🦠👑 COVID-19 ruled the world, but shortly after our Ecuadorian immigration lawyer screwed us. Things haven't been "normal" for several years, basically since the day I lost my Cambodian residency visa and work permit.

Also, we were unable to legally marry in Cambodia due to a new law requiring prospective non-Cambodian fiances to earn $2,000 USD per month before being granted the right to marry a Cambodian citizen within Cambodia. This is a salary I am not even eligible to earn in the USA, where I have no formal education.

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so tired of living like this because of a consular man

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/aPEvpzjm-tired.JPG)

In short, we left Cambodia to look for a "new normal", wanting to have the same basic rights most families in the world have, specifically the right to remain together. Access to a country where we can simply remain a family seems to much to ask of this bureaucracy and border obsessed world.

👑 Welcome Emperor COVID-19 👑

With the dawn of COVID-19, what was a difficult situation became even worse, as we found ourselves stranded in Suriname weeks before attempting a relocation to Tbilisi in lieu of the economic collapse here.

Now all of our paperwork from Cambodia has expired, and we still weren't able to get married here or in Ecuador, so we still lack basic family rights.

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new homeschooling opportunities have arisen because of the "new normal"

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/xd95Gm5g-IMG_0542.JPG)

Now that COVID-19 runs the world, most governments' immigration systems have shuttered, and few are even allowing tourist visas of any kind. It was already difficult looking for a future home with Cambodian passports, and now we are simply stuck here by the powers that be.

The "new normal" means working extra hard to make life seem stable for the @KidSisters. Suriname has done absolutely nothing to help us with the education of our daughters during pandemic school closures, while Cambodian stepped up to the plate with E-School Cambodia, an awesome and free iOS app offering a Cambodian public school education.

👷 Creating Abundance In A Non-Abundant World ♻️

We've found ourselves more or less having to adapt on-the-fly due to the ever-changing world and its new laws we live under. I wouldn't say we have put any measures in place to maintain the life we want, as the life we want is not allowed by those in control of borders and land.

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semi-stolen noni fruit under fermentation

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/tRdHaEgc-IMG_0556.JPG)

Love is the one thing that is always in abundance in our home no matter the circumstances. Also, noni fruit shall be in abundance too, so long as we see you Surinamers not picking your trees day after day.

Yes, we have resorted to stealing fruit, but hardly the prized fruit of Surinamer, more of a waste product to be tossed in the ditch. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and we are not sorry for disrespecting western concepts of "private property."

Use it or lose it if you have aerable land with edible things going to waste. If Suriname is the one place in the world we can remain united under COVID-19, then we shall survive as we see ethically fit.

🐝 Hive Is The New Normal 🍯

I am reluctant to admit the dysfunctional Hive Blockchain is the most stable thing in our lives at the moment. Other than making awesome spicy food and homeschooling our kids, there is little more we have much control over at the moment.

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SreyYuu writing Khmer translations for Hive vocabulary words

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/SkMeNy73-IMG_0281.JPG)

@Sreypov and the @KidSisters have learned a massive amount of computer schools, and everyone's English has improved as a result of engagement on Hive. Between my online Khmer language classes and our Hive blogs, we are now breaking even per month, and just in time, because our life savings just ran out.

🧠 Survive And Wait 🥱

There aren't any better-than-Hive jobs here in Suriname for a foreigner who doesn't speak the language and has no formal education. I've already found out what the Venezuelans make working at the Chinese corner shops, and it's not as good as what we are making on Hive.

So, until the Suriname economy and/or the world economy begins to pick up again, and immigration laws return to a non-repressive state, we are living the same day again and again, waiting for news from higher powers.

There are many more folks in a much worse state than us as a result of COVID-19, so we give thanks for what we have, and can not express how blessed we are to be safely be a united family for another day. For now it's impossible to plan further ahead than the upcoming weekend.