Claudia Ballhause, 41, is a freelance journalist. She emigrated from Germany to Argentina eight years ago. Together with her husband William Soria, 38, and their two children Philipp, 6, and Bastian, 4, she lives in Córdoba, the country's second largest city. William works in controlling here.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the whole of Argentina was in an extremely strict lockdown. Since March, there have been no schools, theatres, cinemas, concerts, etc. anywhere in the country. Playgrounds and parks are closed. We were only allowed to take the children out of the house again in May, but only at weekends. Employees have been back in the office since around July, although many companies are still sticking to working from home. Family gatherings of up to ten people have only been allowed again for a few weeks. We haven't seen most of our friends since March.

Fortunately, the number of cases fell at the end of November, but there are still around 150 new infections in our city every day. At least tourism will be allowed within the country from January, so that most people can take a few days' holiday. Because it is very hot here in January and February and it is peak holiday season. At the moment, everyone is eagerly awaiting the start of the widely publicised vaccination campaign. But it is still very uncertain when it will start.

I am a freelancer and fortunately work from home. My husband also worked from home from March to July, then he had to go back to the office.

There was no childcare here at all, school and nursery are closed. The children have been at home since March. Because my husband works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., I've been looking after them. Luckily, Philipp was the only one who was given tasks for pre-school every day. Since December, children have been allowed to be looked after in small groups for a maximum of 3 hours again and the boys go to a summer camp with an outdoor pool in the mornings.

We are constantly hearing about cases, unfortunately also deaths, from acquaintances and friends. One uncle was in intensive care for a long time. Fortunately, we haven't been affected ourselves yet. But we have already been isolated twice because colleagues of William's tested positive. Those were anxious days.

We will be celebrating at home with my closest family, my parents-in-law and my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, my mum can't come from Germany. Argentina hasn't yet opened up to tourists from abroad and there are too many risks involved in flying in the current situation.

I think both are justified. I also enjoyed my time at home. In the past, we were always travelling and stressed about getting to the office, school and nursery on time. The past few months have been very relaxed. We've been able to enjoy the children and have planted a vegetable garden together. Since it's been possible again, we've been cycling and playing a lot. But of course it was also exhausting. Especially the first few months when we weren't allowed to leave the house at all. I don't know what we would have done without our garden. The children suffered a lot from the fact that they were completely deprived of their usual social environment and some of them still are. Not being able to see grandparents and friends for months, not going to school - that was very difficult for them. And the desire for virtual homework and Zoom meetings has also diminished more and more.

Normality. After the summer, Philipp will start primary school in March and Bastian will start pre-school. I would like them to be allowed to go to school and not have virtual lessons again. And we really want to fly to Germany in July. I hope that's possible.

Read about the situation in Spain in part 8 of our series Families in everyday coronavirus life around the world. You can read all the family portraits published so far here: Families and Corona worldwide.