LIVING in a high-rise apartment in a foreign city that was riddled with COVID-19 and plagued by increasing gun violence, riots and protests.
That's what Jessie Ray and her husband Jeff - who have three children Alec, 4, Evelyn, 2 and Charlotte, seven months - remember most about 2020.
Originally from a mixed cropping and livestock farm at Hyden and now based in Perth, the couple thought a move overseas was going to be a great big adventure, a life highlight.
While the first few years were great, the dream became a nightmare.
In 2014 they moved to London, in the United Kingdom, for Mr Coate's work as an engineer for BP.
Then in 2016 they relocated to Chicago, in the United States.
Ms Ray loved their life in Chicago, which is the third largest city in the US.
But when the conservative and controversial Republican government came into office, led by president Donald Trump, she witnessed the city change.
Large protests on the news and in her own city became a regular occurrence and violence and crime increased.
Then add a global health and economic crisis into the mix and the chaos escalated.
The young family was blissfully unaware of the anarchy that was about to unfold as it spent the 2019 Christmas with family and friends in Australia and returned to the US at the end of February 2020.
"When we boarded the plane back to Chicago we had no idea what was about to unfold," Ms Ray said.
"As we settled back into life in Chicago, over the next month we watched as (COVID) cases grew globally.
"Firstly Trump was advising that the virus did not exist in the US, then that the virus was not a big deal and that America had it under control.
"America definitely did not have it under control.
"While Australia saw panic buying start in early March, the Americans were going about their daily lives."
For some comparison, Chicago went into its first lockdown on March 22 after recording 1049 cases, which ended up lasting 13 weeks, while Australia first locked down on March 28 after having just 120 cases.
To make matters even more stressful, Ms Ray was pregnant during this time.
"For the next 91 days my husband ran part of a large oil refinery from our bedroom and I entertained our two and one-year-olds while managing severe morning sickness in our small apartment," she said.
"Having grown up on a farm in the Wheatbelt, spending most of my time outdoors it felt very unnatural for the kids to be stuck inside an apartment all day, every day, for such an extended period of time.
"I certainly had to dig deep to find as much patience as I could."
Aware that people living in her apartment building were infected with COVID, tasks as simple as buying groceries were laborious.
"Every time we walked out of the front door we had to sanitise the buttons on the elevators, the doors to get in and out of the building, the mailbox and packages and even groceries," Ms Ray said.
"It was even more fun with toddlers who touch everything."
A breaking point during the lockdown came when Evelyn cut five teeth and had a febrile seizure due to an ear infection and was in a lot of pain for a month.
"Living close to many other people, our neighbours did not appreciate Evelyn being upset and threatened to call the police and warned us that as were living in the US, subsequently child services would be involved," Ms Ray said.
"This had me wanting to book the first flight out of Chicago with the kids and bring them home, but due to the Australian border being closed, that was not possible."
Watching the bustling city of Chicago turn into a ghost town was "eerie", but it wasn't long until crime started to increase in their rather affluent inner-city suburb.
"When much of the US went into lockdown, 50 million people lost their jobs and also their healthcare in the midst of a health crisis," she said.
"While we had felt safe over the first four years, we no longer did as armed robberies, carjackings and shootings increased by 130 per cent just around our area."
As COVID infections and related deaths climbed, the authorities had to resort to storing corpses in refrigerated trucks.
The country's chaos intensified on May 25 when George Floyd was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which led to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
Ms Ray described Chicagoans as "passionate" who have a long history of protesting and rioting and the BLM movement was no different.
She recalled that while the city was still in a hard lockdown, the streets went from being deserted to flooded with hundreds of thousands of people protesting.
"During the first day of the protests, we watched from our bedroom window the large crowds started to become hostile and the city, much like others in the US, erupted into violent riots," Ms Ray said.
"Police cars were flipped and burned, shots were fired, 80pc of businesses downtown were smashed and looted.
"We watched the police use tear gas, flash bangs and the riot police were brought in.
"They lifted all bar two of the bridges separating the city and mayhem continued until 6am the next morning.
"Throughout the night and for many more nights until we eventually left Chicago, we heard gunshots being fired, on occasion as many as 30 automatic rounds.
"At 5.30am the next morning we were still watching people looting the local liquor store, pharmacy and Target, even though it was by then daylight.
"Once it was eventually safe to go outside it felt like we were standing in the middle of a warzone.
"One time I even got followed in broad daylight walking out of my building to the obstetrician."
In the midst of the chaos outside their safe apartment, the family decided to come home within the first few weeks of lockdown, but it wasn't going to be as easy as they had hoped.
"It was very confronting when Australia closed its international borders - while it was understandable, it was not a position that we had expected to find ourselves in," Ms Ray said.
"While living away, we had never actually considered that we wouldn't be able to come home.
"As time went on, we knew it was the right choice for us, with our third child on the way and the safety and freedom of our kids, that we could not place a value on."
But packing up a family of four (soon to be five) and arranging flights became "incredibly stressful".
They had to break the lease on the home, sell their car and make arrangements with Mr Coate's work.
"Jeff thought he would lose his job, but we were prepared to have that happen to get us home, but he didn't," Ms Ray said.
In fact his employer was very supportive of the family, even paying for their four business class, one-way tickets, which cost $33,500, along with $5500 to quarantine.
"The hardest part was waiting and watching along with 40,000 other Australians overseas as flight after flight was cancelled, the caps into Australia and Perth continued to reduce, the cost of tickets skyrocketed and airlines started not flying to Australia at all," she said.
"The only reason we were able to get back was because we flew business class, as the majority of people in economy were bumped off flights due to the caps."
Once they landed they were required to do 14 days of hotel quarantine.
Having previously lived in an apartment, the family was used to calling a small space home but this was another level.
With no fresh air, no kitchen or laundry facilities, the rules were strict and the only items allowed to leave the room was rubbish, not even laundry.
"We did all of our dishes and clothes washing in the bathroom and Jeff also turned the bathroom into his office at night," Ms Ray said.
While entertaining two toddlers constantly in a small area for the second time wasn't ideal, the family was grateful to finally be on home soil.
"While quarantine isn't on anyone's bucket list, we had an overwhelming sense of safety and were incredibly grateful to be home," she said.
After quarantine, the family went to Ms Ray's family farm and relished in the wide, open space and fresh air they have longed for.
"The kids finally had so much space, because they didn't know anything different than apartment life and lockdown all seemed normal to them," she said.
"They could play on the grass, with water - they finally had the childhood that we grew up with.
"And finally seeing both of our families again was such a special moment.
"Our parents felt helpless seeing us go through that tough time, but they are so grateful that we are safe now.
"This whole experience has made me so grateful to live in Australia and for the childhood I had in the Wheatbelt."
