اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية
Here we are in the second month of home quarantine, which is necessary to avoid the risk of infection with Coronavirus/COVID-19. This pandemic is threatening the safety and health of the entire world.
Most of the activities that we used to do, before the quarantine, were completely different. So our lifestyle has changed. However, we are trying to adapt to this new lifestyle to protect ourselves and others.
I live with my family, and we are spending a long time with each other these days. Meanwhile, each one of us is spending his time on his way. So we all have different lifestyles.
The quarantine has affected social relations. Now, I wake up early in the morning and drink coffee with my mother at home. Whereas before, I used to go with my friends early in the morning to the corniche where we used to do sports and drink coffee together.
Communication with friends and relatives has become different. So we communicate now via phone only. All of us are staying at home because we are afraid of this disease. The disease has made our life a nightmare.
During the daytime, I try to spend time at home and learn to cook and prepare sweets that we use to buy it ready from stores. But currently, we cannot do this because we are afraid of the virus that can be transmitted to us through ready-made food.
My brothers and I take turns in going to the market and bringing food. I consider going out of the house to bring food as a kind of entertainment during these days. When we buy anything from outside, we have to sterilize it.
Currently, the city is completely different. Most of the shops are closed except for food stores and pharmacies. Few people are on the streets, and most of them have been committed to protective measures, especially at the beginning of the quarantine. But after more than a month of lockdown, many people are no longer fully committed to the instructions and quarantine. Some of them are going to work and others were unable to stay at home.
When any of us has an online session, we must not use the internet during this time. So when I have an online session, I go to my brothers and ask them to stop using the internet because we are suffering from a slow internet connection. After having long discussions with them, we finally reach a consensus.
We have all become dependent on the internet, especially the students since they are learning through the internet as an alternative plan for learning. However, I do not find it useful for students due to several reasons, including psychological pressures that students go through and poor ways of communicating with teachers.
In the evening, my family and I spend time watching series and movies. We spend a lot of time on TV. We also became more active on social media and are spending so much time on phones.
Finally, I would like to say that quarantine has a positive influence on my relationship with my family. Moreover, we have time to learn new things that we could not learn before because we were busy with other things. We also have become more concerned with our health and eating foods that strengthen our immunity.
In the end, I would like to say that I think it is a long break. For me, it was a nice period to rest, yet I do not wish to last longer. I hope that this period will end and we are all fine and with good health; because I missed the past days and normal lifestyle that we used to have.
Heba El Haji, 25, architect, Syrian living in Tripoli North Lebanon
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash