Day 90: Halfway Through 2020 – My Look Back

Day 90: June 24, 2020
Global Cases: 9, 519, 482; Deaths: 483, 959
Egypt Cases: 59, 561; Deaths: 2, 450

Laila Salem
Communication and Media Arts Sophomore

It is currently 8:19pm and God knows what day it is … I am currently sitting on a bench in front the beach recalling all of what happened through the year 2020 so far.

Since the beginning of 2020, my life changed a lot. As any cheerful human being we often have the conception that even numbers are kind, but to our surprise 2020 hit us all with the truth. I had really high hopes in this year, but ever since the storm hit Cairo in March, it is as if someone locked me up from the outside world and forgot about me.

I lost count of days, weeks, and months. Everyday was the same as the one before. I first heard about COVID-19 when it was spreading in China, and we were all joking around as if it will never be a threat to us. But when March was coming to an end, the bad news came as several cases were found in Egypt. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the  symptoms and how it impacts the elderly, was to worry about my parents … especially my mother.

By the end of 2019, her immunity dropped. So the news of the virus was scary because she might not be able to fight it accordingly. I was so afraid that I would become the reason for her catching the virus. With that, I immediately cut off all gatherings and I confined myself to my house.

Above all that, I had five courses to worry about in university. We had turned to online leaning and it was a rough start to be honest. But with time, I did adapt to it and actually to my realization, I think that it might be more useful and efficient than real life university.

The perks of online learning are that you get to have your classes while in bed, drinking coffee, and not having to worry about what to wear, where to park, and getting late to class. Also, all of my exams were switched into research papers which I was quite pleased about as I am a person who doesn’t work well under pressure.

On the other hand though, a lot of my professors were struggling just like us. It was a new system to everyone and that had an effect on the quality of learning that the students received.

Even though I was locked at home, these few months were actually my wake up call. It made me achieve something. By mid-May I started my own Instagram blog about cooking and to my surprise, I got a lot of followers and great feedback. People started messaging me requesting new recipes and all that made me take my mind off things.

I’ve always had a sweet spot for baking and cooking, it was my utopia as I was able to relieve all the stress in the world in a piece of dough. My family were very supportive of my decision of me starting my own blog as they have always told me that I should start something that is related to cooking. My friends also kept sharing the page and they encouraged me a lot through my decision. The achievement that I felt when I saw the impact that I had on a lot of strangers who are now creating my own recipes made me feel like I am actually good after all.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

It might sound silly, but I am actually one of the few that really enjoyed this quarantine. It made me discover myself and appreciate what I have. My family was the reason why quarantine was passing smoothly. We grew so much closer to each other in this time. At first, we couldn’t believe how we would be stuck all this time together at home.

And by the second month of the lockdown, we started fighting over the silliest matters. That was fixed when we purchased a lot of board and card games that brought us together and made us share priceless moments that we will always look back on.

Thankfully, my family and I are very close, so this is the main reason why I would accept to be on lockdown with them forever.

Unfortunately, my brother’s wedding plans got postponed until well, no one knows when. The news of the cancellation of all weddings was quite devastating as we were planning out the dresses, but he took it in a very positive way and started to appreciate what he had.

I believe that 2020 was the wake up call we all needed to pause for a bit, take a look at what we’ve got, and let it sink in.