Blue sky, green scenery, calm sea, and surrounding vibrant semi-urban setting has always been the best place for relaxation and comfort to me. These are the features of our beloved family sacred place for daily gathering especially during warm days. This is our sweet balcony.
As a resident of a traditional Arabic-Lebanese city, I have always appreciated and enjoyed the afternoon time we managed to have with family, where we share our day experiences and/or negotiate important or completely silly topics.
As I grew up, each child in our family became busy with their own lives and started to miss out on our ritual gatherings. Some of us had to move as well outside of the city to pursue the best opportunities for our education or career. Therefore, this place remained a sad space that missed some family members, and became only visited by our parents.
Luckily, the 2020 lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreak gave me the chance to go back and spend the two and half months of lockdown at my home. As much as I was kind of feeling trapped and locked down between 4 walls, with no outdoor space to go out and spend fun time with my friends and beloved ones, the more I realized the presence of our balcony and started to remember my pleasant childhood memories with family in it. I did not think twice before deciding to spend not only the afternoon time of my day on this balcony, but also my morning and sometimes my evening. I appreciated every single element of this place. The floor that represented my special outdoor space, the chair that became my cozy seating, and the balcony handrail the interface between the reality of my home and the lockdown and the outdoor free space. I had the chance to re-enjoy this place and catch up with my family and recall my childhood memories. But I also took it as my refuge place during this unique quarantine.
It is magical how this place transforms itself throughout the different times of the day. In the morning, it brings you the cocktail of the morning coffee mixed with beautiful birds’ symphonies and our neighbor’s cock. In the afternoon, it becomes a calming place for reading, that takes you to the outdoor nature so you can enjoy contemplating the sea view disturbed with vast agricultural lands, a mosque, green trees, and other buildings. At night, everything fades away, all of the elements of the balcony and the outdoor space seem to disappear, and you can only see the shining stars in the sky. This is where I choose to spend my nights, looking at the stars, listening to my favorite music and reflecting on all the stress I am facing during the day and all of the crazy stuff happening out in the world.
As much as I succeeded in analyzing things, looking for solutions and calming myself out on this balcony, as much as I was surprised with the crazy ideas that came to my mind during my stay there. I could honestly say that this special place full of family memories and quality mom to daughter time became during this quarantine the only outdoor refuge in times of Covid-19 pandemic. Although the many stressing times and depressing ideas and environments we are facing due to the long period of lockdown, the Covid-19 outbreak revealed forgotten places for many people, or new places that could represent a quality place, a refuge, or a fun private space.
Cheers to similar re-appreciated Covid-19 refuge places.
Ghadir Ghamrawi, 26, Architect and Urban Designer, Lebanese, lives between Beirut and Tripoli-Baddawi