Normal Day in Hong Kong (August – January)
6:10 AM
Dragging myself away from my bed, I wake up, do my morning routine: brush my teeth, put on contact lenses and change into uniform.
6:20 AM
Breakfast with my siblings, usually it’s sunny side eggs and bacon with a side of toast. Sometimes we switch it to a Chinese breakfast consisting of steamed buns (饅頭) and boiled eggs (煮雞蛋). Everything is washed down by a glass of milk or a bowl of yogurt.
6:40 AM
I check my stuff for school, laptop, a thick folder of worksheets and assignments, two pencil cases and head off five minutes later to catch my school bus with my brother. Throughout the ride to school, I catch the usual sights of the IFC, the already bustling central harbour tunnel and Times Square.
7:20 AM
I arrive at school and quickly drop off my belongings in my locker and head to find my friends before class starts.
3:00 PM
School finally ends after 4 periods of 1 and ½ hour long classes of English, Chinese, Math and PE. Instead of heading straight home, I hop on a different school bus and head to my math tutoring place on the other side of Hong Kong Island.
5:30 PM
I arrive home after tutoring and begin to organize all the assignments I have to complete today, in the meantime I roughly estimate how much sleep I get that night.
6:30 PM
Prior to dinnertime, I occasionally step in the kitchen to help out with cooking a dish or setting up the dinner table. It is probably my favorite place in my entire apartment.
8:00 PM
Dinner is finished and I start the grind of finishing homework and studying for upcoming tests. Sometimes, if I’m mentally strong enough, I bring myself in front of the piano and practice for forty minutes.
11:00 PM
I pack away my homework and stationary, ready for another day of school tomorrow. Workout for ten minutes followed by heading towards the shower and getting ready for bed.
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM
Before I drift off to sleep, I set my alarm to 6:00 AM, ready for yet another day of MYP.
Quarantine Day in Hong Kong (February 2020)
7:15 AM
Somehow I still find it hard to drag myself out of bed despite the extended sleep time. Daily routine and change into comfortable clothes followed by a quick breakfast.
7:40 AM
Breakfast with my siblings, the same food for 5 days a week, the same view outside my living room window, the same people eating breakfast with me, but yet, something still feels strange, 「有一點不可思議」.
7:55 AM
First period of online class, I turn on my computer in the living room (as it has the best WiFi) and greet my math teacher over zoom call. Our daily assignments are organized into a google doc lesson plan and a google presentation was screen shared by our teacher to runthrough today’s lesson.
9:10 AM
Second period of online classes, PE. In the zoom call with my PE class, we turn on all of our cameras and do our weekly pushup challenge together. After 50 grueling pushups, our PE teacher checks off our physical activity logs and dismisses us soon afterwards.
10:25 AM
I have about two hours of break time before the last two periods of class. This is the time where I take a break from the screen and try to do something else without heavy reliance on my eyes. I also have lunch at this time prior to the second shift of classes.
12:35 PM
English class. Usually this is a class where the energy level of the teacher is sky high, but not online. Everyone has their cameras off, usually including our teacher too, his iconic loudspeaker-like voice and sense of humour is dimmed drastically over zoom calls. Only a few people contribute to classroom discussions, always the same people as well. Class is concluded by finishing up the class reading chapter and thanking our teacher awkwardly.
1:50 PM
Last class of the day, Chinese. Unironically it is one of my favorite classes at normal school and even quarantine. However, today we have an assessment so we collectively make an individual google doc and share it with our teacher immediately. With cameras on, we are to finish typing up the assessment before class ends at 3 PM. Honestly, typing out traditional Chinese characters made our Lang A lives much easier over online assessments, most of us finish the test with a few minutes to spare.
3:15 PM
School classes have ended but I have one more class for the day, online math tutoring. Disclaimer: my mom did not make me take these classes, it is completely my will to learn extra things in math from the tutoring classes, for those who are reading.
4:15 PM
Classes are finally finished and I pay our piano a visit since I don’t have any excuse to not practice anymore.
5:15 PM
I begin doing some of the remaining assignments that I haven’t finished over online class and work on long term projects as well. Feelings of mundaneness etch into my mind and I manage to brush it off by keeping contact with my friends on social media.
6:00 PM
Cooking is something I did more of thanks to quarantine, even though I’m putting on extra weight by doing so, it helps to fight off my anxiety of not being able to leave my apartment complex for days to come.
9:00 PM
Dinner and majority of my work finished, I video call some of my friends and play Minecraft together for a while. It is the closest thing to a friends hangout amidst all the lockdown and social distancing, something I will find myself to be grateful for in the next few months.
12:00 AM
I eventually stop procrastinating my sleep and head off to bed. Sometimes, I found myself taking out my school uniform and packing my bags for school. As I drift off to my dreams, I ponder, when will my normal life come back?
About the Author:
Leo Li
See “About” Page.
The Big Duck 