Image credit: Celine Vitto
Subject: Lifestyle Objective: Hold onto visible and invisible changes during the quarantine Student level: All ages Venue: Global
| Pre- quarantine | 1. Listen to the following: |
| a. Birds greeting you good morning at night. | |
| b. In Lan Kwai Fong, live music, bottles clinking, and bodies smashing against the beat of the music. | |
| c. People screaming to tell you to move over in MTR carriages. | |
| d. Pencils choking at the hands of children rushing to finish untouched homework. | |
| e. Exhaling unfiltered air out of your lungs. | |
| 2. Do the following: | |
| a. When your partner washes the dishes, go over to them and embrace them from behind. Tell them you love them even if you don’t. | |
| b. Gather four of your friends and treat them to a karaoke party with bottomless drinks. Sing and chug until the sun decides to rise again. | |
| c. Send how-to’s of video calling to elderly parents and grand- parents from afar. Practice when at home so they know how to unmute | |
While – Quarantine |
a. Travel around your flat. There may be places left unexplored. Use your treadmill as a baggage drop off and pick up. You are two places in one. |
| b. When hair falls, pick one up. Take out a ruler and measure how long. If long enough, be daring. #Quarantrim If it’s bad, you have a reason to stay frozen at home. If so, take hand outside of window to thaw once in a while. | |
| c. Collect meeting IDs of family members. Hold a quiz night regularly. Create a timetable. Don’t forget to schedule emotional breakdowns, even unexpected ones | |
| d. Identify when members of the household arrive home. Prepare dinner before observed time. Eat well while you can. | |
| e. If you’re a creative, start an Instagram page for your dump. Don’t buy followers. | |
| f. Put on news to see how others are doing. (Hint: It’s all the same for the poor.) | |
Post – quarantine |
- When it’s all officially over, hold a party for 8 to 12 people. To be safe. Remove masks only when taking filtered photos |
| - Don’t travel for the next 2 years unless on a self- destructive mission. Don’t cause the nth wave. | |
| - Keep all records of any outburst and endurance. Tell people inside your head you survived the quarantine | |
| - Look for people who seem normal when back to normal. Always assume they’re not. |
Author Bio: When not teaching English, Celine is any other typical 20-something that reads and binge watches TV series. The current show that she wishes to have all the time to finish is Grey's Anatomy. When the world gets too much at times, words find their way out of her through angry typing on a designated very click-y keyboard.