For the past few months, the world had been at a standstill. The virus had taken a world tour and what had once been the butt of all jokes was now a pretty serious subject. Most people hid away into their homes, hiding behind doors and screens, fitting their world into a box.
Tuition fees aren’t cheap. Corona wasn’t a valid enough excuse to stop school completely. So, our school adapted to the changes and decided that online classes were a great solution. People outside our school laughed at our misfortune, unknowing of the fact that they too, would soon have to do the same thing. After months of zoom classes, terrible planning and delay after delay, a date was set for us to go back to school. There were still rules to adhere to, but we were allowed back at school! Hallelujah.
The work given to us during virtual learning wasn’t too overwhelming, if you planned your time well. I was not a good planner. Added on to work given from tutors ‘due to the fact that I have more time at home,’ I drowned in work that I swam away from, day after day. Waking up to classes I had overdue work in, added on to the fact that I had developed a terrible internal clock that meant I couldn’t fall asleep until somewhere from 5am to 9am really didn’t help. When my parents found out what kind of situation I had sunk into, they locked me in the car and wouldn’t let me out until I finished all my overdue work. Wouldn’t recommend it, the car gets really hot if it’s not running. Safe to say, I finished my work quickly.
I think what changed me the most was when I found out how fragile everything was. Everything broke so easily. The platform we were all standing on was being held by people, and those people were falling. We were all falling, though some sprouted wings and flew away. Some took others with them.
Now that school has ended and summer holidays started, the excuses to leave the house have increased, everyone slowly leaving their boxes to do more and more outdoor activities again. Of course, nothing is ‘normal’ yet. Social distancing rules are still applied in restaurants, everyone still wears masks. There is a lot of shuffling away from others ‘just in case’, you’re stopped at the door for a temperature check. I don’t think ‘normal’ will come back for a long time. Everyone’s trying, though. There are people who leave the house and don’t come back until 3am. There are people who stay at home all day. There are people who go to work every day, trying to keep their lives afloat.
This piece of writing is chaos. But I think it matches 2020 pretty well.
The Big Duck 