Day 32: Lockdown is an Introvert’s Best Friend

Day 32: April 27, 2020
Global cases: 3,062,515; Deaths: 211,499
Egypt cases: 4,782; Deaths: 337

Bassel Hanna
@basselawsamw

This semester started really well for me. I was really enjoying university for the first time since I came here. I was doing good reporting, chasing down sources and stories, and I was never behind in any of my classes.

I was never like this, I used to be a slacker for the whole of my university life and always submitting my work an hour before it was due. I remember once making a submission at 11:59 PM, which was exactly when it was due. Talk about timing.

Well, my timing couldn’t have been worse in choosing a time to get my act together. Corona came and quickly unraveled my life.

I don’t remember the last time I went to bed before the birds woke up; their chirping became the lullaby to help me sleep. Pulling Netflix all-nighters became the everyday norm. I could start a series at 10pm and finish it before going to bed.

Working on assignments is always for later. Suddenly, 2pm Zoom classes become too early. Writing stories becomes less flavorful and more of a chore. I guess that’s just work, eh? Talking to friends becomes pointless because everyone is basically doing the same thing everyday and the question of “how was your day?” becomes redundant.

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

It’s not all bad, though. They say quarantine favors the introverted and it definitely does. The only issue is that there’s always someone in the house and I can’t go to the kitchen and make a snack with no one around. But it’s not a big deal.

People say that they’re looking forward to seeing their friends when this Corona stuff is gone, but really I’m just looking forward to being in a vacant home every now and then and not constantly being nagged to do something. Of course, I miss my friends, but only introverts would understand this.

At a time when not much should be going on, a lot is happening around the house and the neighborhood. New Cairo is not known to be very noisy, but during the curfew hours it really could be.

I’d sit in my room to play some video games, and there would be a dog incessantly barking. I think they take shifts to fill in the silence for when my neighbors aren’t causing severe noise pollution. I think some of them have a football court in their backyard and you could hear footballs being slammed into a wall for upwards of two hours straight.

If it’s not that, It’s my dad sitting under my window (my window overlooks our garden) whistling or singing some classical song at the top of his lungs. He thinks no one can hear because he has his headphones on, but pretty much the whole neighborhood can.

A small price to pay to slack off at home.