Day 103: I Want My Life Back
Day 103: July 7, 2020
Global Cases: 11, 942, 330; Deaths: 545, 678
Egypt Cases: 77, 279; Deaths: 3, 489
Mary Shoukry
Senior Manager, Faculty Support, Internal Grants & Awards
“I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom, for me and you, and I think to myself what a wonderful world” – these were the first words to hear on one of the COVID-19 mornings, when my phone alarm woke me up on Tuesday at 6am.
Well, yes, I had to change the alarm sound, seeking some pleasant vibes during the last four months of quarantine.
Why did I have to wake up so early today; the sunlight hadn’t yet hit my face? It took me a few seconds to recognize which day it was, as they have all all become alike. Well, except for Sundays and Wednesdays, when I usually go to my office to finish some work.
I then realized it was the end of the fiscal year after the national holiday was shifted to Thursday, and that I decided to go to campus on Tuesday instead of Wednesday this week.
Normally, my days never start by cooking, but during the last few months, they did! Let me be fair to Mr. COVID and Mrs. Quarantine, who urged me to cook different dishes and pay special attention to add onion, garlic, curcuma and lemon on whatever kind of food for boosting immunity.
I prepared lunch, took my shower, got dressed, and woke up my daughter Emma who was so excited to spend the day at my parents’ house, which had became her only left resort to meet her cousins and have some quarantined fun after all the summer camps were canceled.
Before dropping Emma off at my parents’, I had to ensure she was showered in alcohol disinfectant, then I headed to campus. When I saw Point 90, I had to revise my checklist: AUC ID, face mask and bottle of disinfectant – all set and ready to go.
For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.
I parked my car, took my stuff and was about to put on my face mask when I heard a voice saying: “Good Morning Mary! Long time! Hope all is good!”. I searched for the voice source but got confused when I found a masked gentleman heading to the gate, yet I couldn’t recognize his face nor his voice from the mask. “Good Morning! All good!” I replied. He definitely seemed to be a dear colleague.
I went to wash my hands, put on some alcohol, then opened my office using tissue in my hand. It was the same empty dull place I’ve been to during the past couple of months, with no one but me, furniture, the coffee machine and the new bird’s nest. This bird became my new and only office mate when it found its way to the window of my office as a safe place to lay its eggs.
Every time I go to the office, I realize how much I miss my colleagues and the fun and laughter we used to have around the coffee machine. I had to focus to finish what I came to do, but the time went by so slowly. The sense of isolation I felt at the office was somehow broken by the calls I made or received from faculty and colleagues to finalize pending issues, and lightened by some jokes about Mr. COVID’s impact on our life.
Well, it’s now 5pm, so enough for the Fiscal Year 2020, while deep inside dreaming of the 31st of December to say goodbye to Calendar Year 2020, which hasn’t been nice to anyone since day one.
It was time to leave, but I first had to wash my hands, get my hands disinfected with alcohol and recheck my list: yep, I had them all.
On my way back home, I looked at the other single-car drivers and found that most of them were wearing face masks. Haven’t they confirmed that fines would be only applied to drivers not wearing face masks if they had more than one passenger in the vehicle?
Yes, that was what actually made much more sense, but maybe people were scared either of Mr. COVID or of the fine, so they were taking extra precautions.
I picked up my daughter, and we kept singing out loud, without face masks, in a car cruising break, then we went home, took another shower and had lunch.
It was 8pm when I had a zoom meeting for a group project assignment as a part of my online studies.
Working in a group online via zoom flashed me back to when I used to meet my group project during my masters at Cilantro Merghany, over a cup of cappuccino. There was no internet instability, no virtual interaction, no absence of body language, no muting for better hearing and no sharing of screens.
After the meeting, not much was left in my day as well as my battery, so I chose to watch a lighthearted black-and-white Arabic movie to take me back to the peaceful good old days.
I went to bed and thought of every single activity I’d accomplished, as opposed to four months earlier, and I realized that I do really want my life back, without zoom, without masks, without alcohol bottles, without precautions, and with all possible human interactions one can get.
