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During the recent weeks and since the quarantine period has started, I routinely woke up a little late from the usual time before that. I got up from my bed and started my tour checking the house, and as usual everyone at home is asleep.
The work of my father and older brother have stopped because of the lockdown and my younger siblings’ school stopped as well, and my mother has been feeling irritated with the crowded house, so she took advantage of everyone's sleeping to rest and prepare for another long day.
As for me, I did my new daily routine in this difficult period where I sit in front of my window that overlooks the street, watching birds and cars, and unleash my thoughts and relate the past to the future. Sometimes I remember the days that have gone and what I used to do from visiting homes, mapping and following up on work implementation since I work as an architect in homes renovation projects. Other times, I think of some of the projects that I am planning to do in the future.
I stay with myself by the window until this recess is interrupted by screams coming from the next room. My two younger brothers woke up and started their series of daily fights and this is an alert by them to wake everyone in the house up.
In the meantime, I close my room’s door and open my laptop and start working on my thesis. I’m pursuing an online Master’s degree and there is a lot of work to do and I race against time given that I do not have enough experience in writing theses. I started working and cut off from everything going on around me at home for more than 4 hours straight. Nothing wakes me up except the feeling of exhaustion which suddenly sweeps me, so I know that my energy is over and needs to be renewed. I close my laptop and open the door of my room to join a new world outside the room which has the people whom I was always not able to have time to sit with before the quarantine.
Sometimes I talk to my sister whose flight was delayed due to the closure of the airports, preventing her from joining her husband abroad. Her flight was planned for this month. Other times, I help my mother in preparing food after I was clueless in the kitchen. Whereas now, I became an expert in some dishes. I had never imagined myself in the kitchen cooking and serving food but now I learnt how to cook. It is the blessings of home quarantine that have completely changed my lifestyle.
"The Positive You!" by Anita Papas, is the book which I began reading three days ago in the afternoon. It is a new habit that I acquired in this period. I always liked reading, but my time constraints and having a lot of work prevented me from doing it, thus deprived me of enjoying it. Now I am trying to restore myself by some books that I bought hoping to read them, but I did not.
Adam, my little brother, comes to me every day an hour before sunset. After he consumes all his energy playing in all the rooms in the house, he asks me to help him with the homework that his teacher has sent us over the Internet so that we can teach him to maintain his study routine. Here begins the new challenge.
In the evening, I help my mother and sister prepare the Iftar table “evening meal”. We are now meeting at the Iftar table. We are in the month of fasting - the holy month of Ramadan. We have gathered on a food table and I have always missed that. We catch up for sometime after the Iftar and talk about various matters and laugh. Then we sit to watch some series. Yes, I have the time now to catch up on the evening series. Yes, it is the free time that I have never had and thought it was a figment of the imagination.
I come back to my room, sit again with myself and pray to my Lord to end this pandemic so that we can return to our normal lives. Despite that, we are close to each other as a family, but our savings are almost over and we need to work to secure our basic needs.
I put myself in my bed and close my eyes as a declaration to end another day of home quarantine. My days which were full of surprises and fluctuations became monotonous. I dive into sleep hoping that tomorrow carries surprises and the good news which would keep us going and give us hope as our souls are exhausted.