Dear Corona virus,
If you think you are tough, well then you have clearly not met us. We saw what you were doing there in China and acted accordingly. Before you enrolled your “masterplan”, the global lockdown, we went to Yangambi. Outsmarting you. This gave us the opportunity to return to Belgium with a cartload of samples, ensuring ourselves of so much work we did not actually notice your bad influence. Of course, we must admit that most of it was done at home, but we were not cracking. And before we even knew it, the sun was shining high in the sky on a lovely summer day. We took some time off to meet our families and friends, and grasped the opportunity to see a bit of our lovely tiny Belgium during a small staycation. Getting back with a huge amount of new energy, as though we were reborn, we continued carrying out our research. In autumn, Jonas planned a second mission, secretly trying to escape the miserable Belgian weather. Ha, joke was on him, because it was the rainy season in Congo. During his stay, he sampled some more, checked some methods, and fraternised with our fantastic colleagues (SO to Bienfait, Justin and Tshimi). Lauren on the other hand, stayed at home to accompany Julie, her thesis student, who is lending her a second pair of hands in the lab. Thanks to her, all the lab work is finished before the Christmas holidays.
And to end the year perfectly, we have presented our project on our very first congress. Again, we have tackled a new experience together, making us a perfect team. So, dear little Corona virus, we are proud to say you did not manage to ruin our year. We stayed save, had each other’s back when things were getting hard and kept a positive attitude at times it seemed impossible. We sincerely hope that this is the only letter we have to address to you, but if not, and you are still lurking around the corner by the end of next year, be warned because we have a very particular set of skills. Skills we have acquired during our research. We will not look for you, we will not pursue you, but if you don’t, we will look for you, we will find you and we will survive you.
Loves and kisses,
Your two crazy motivated coffee scientists L&J
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