Day 123: The Long Wait Continues!

Day 123: July 27, 2020
Global Cases: 16, 635, 927 ; Deaths: 656, 063
Egypt Cases: 92, 482; Deaths: 4, 652

Rania Jabr
Senior Instructor II,  Department of English Language Instruction, ALA

Not sure what day of the week it is. I did actually check my phone. It is Monday. Same as all other days of the week. 

I am still waiting. This is what I think of the minute I open my eyes. I wake up early, by 6am. It is sheer habit, so why should these days be different.

I first checked my Twitter feed in case there is any breaking news. Have the airports opened? Can I travel back home to Jordan? I must go to pay bills, settle accounts, and attend to what seems like a million errands. Car license, maintenance fees … memory fades!!!

The list is too long, and I simply add to it almost daily. I also need to travel to Riyadh to see my son and also … (similar long to-do list is prepared for Saudi). Nope, airports still closed! Deeply disappointed.

I make my coffee and head to my laptop, which awaits me in my make shift office in the dining room. It has much more light than the office room in my apartment, so my mornings are mainly there. I am well prepared to face the day with my coffee and soda. Afternoons and evenings are spent in my office; it could be my way to combat fatigue by then.

I have been enjoying my classes, my students, my online training sessions, my new course, and my meetings. Thank God for Zoom; we can work, meet, and even chat with colleagues. Thank God for work. It is a blessing. Tiring, but very rewarding. It has kept me going during these stressful times.

It is 2pm already. Oh, forgot to WhatsApp my husband to tell him when my Zoom meeting starts today. We have developed a system, and it really works. I text the time and duration of my zoom meetings so that he does not inadvertently walk in any of the zoom meetings to show me a funny picture or joke he received on his cellphone. But that is a story for another day. He still does not realize that the camera is ON all the time.

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

I need to FaceTime my son. I miss him a lot, and I always forget his working hours. A one-hour difference is not much, but is it ahead of Cairo or is Cairo ahead? Can never get it straight. I end up calling him endlessly and when he does not pick up (since I am in running Zoom meetings), I get frustrated, I worry, and I imagine the worst scenarios. Finally, he sends a one-line WhatsApp message. He knows his mom too well. It is always THE SAME message. Still, I love it.

“Calm down. I am at work.”

By 6pm, if there are no more Zoom sessions, I work from the vicinity of my bed. I just bought a special laptop table online to use to continue working in bed.

My slipped disc is obviously a major issue, and I have come to “befriend” my pain as my doctor advised.

At the time, I thought he was raving mad as he said those words to me, but it turns out that every day I learn how to master the art of befriending my pain.

Sitting at my laptop for hours is not the best remedy for excruciating back pain, and feeling sad about my inability to travel does not help either, so now that I am writing this, I remind myself that I need to keep moving around the house and try different sofas and chairs to beat the curve of the next back pain spasm.

It is late. Sleep is hard. Too much on my mind. Laptop still on my bed. After my FaceTime call with my son, it is time for the best part of the day. The finale. A Mahjong game.

I can claim that it can be both addictive and therapeutic. Yes, now I play mindlessly and I win. I am proud to say I am quite adept. Well, they call us “experts”. I have been playing it for years. Picked up the game as a child when I was in China, and my dad bought me my first wooden Mahjong game.

Since the 1990s, I have played online. I subscribe and download challenges to complete and compete. I always end my day with a Mahjong challenge.

I feel sad when I lose, but while playing, I somehow relax, unwind, and declutter my mind. It works for me. Research says it fights depression and makes your smarter. Well, I do not miss a day without playing at least one quick game.