In my Ap Language class back in 11th grade, we would take some time out of every class to briefly cover ‘current events’. My teacher thought it was important for us to be educated on what was going on beyond the classroom, which I agree with. I think it is necessary to be informed on topics and issues that people are facing around the world, even when not directly impacting you. We did this all year. Many topics would come up for a week and then drop off the next, cycling through. January brought the Australian Wildfires which we covered every single day, from start to finish. We discussed the devastating effects the bushfires had on the wildlife, where nearly 3 billion animals were impacted in the first half of 2020. January did not only bring the devastating fires but also a rapidly spreading virus in China. I remember scrolling for a topic to bring up in the class discussion, trying to search for something other than the wildfires in Australia. I read how the fast spreading virus in China pushed officials to build an entirely new hospital in Wuhan dedicated to help patients with the new virus, Covid 19. We had spoken about the virus before in class but it did not worry any of us. How could it find its way on the other side of the world to us? It was not till early March when the fear started to set in, but by that time it was already too late.
My school was holding an auction on the Friday night of March 13th, 2020. I did not attend the attend the event, it was a Friday, and I wanted to go home after a long week of school. I did not miss out on much. Just 30 minutes into the auction, everyone was urged to go home immediately. because of the Covid 19, which at this point had been labeled as a Pandemic for some time now. Later that night, in-person school was canceled for the following two weeks, which later became the entire semester, and we were set to switch to virtual schooling. The teachers had no time to prepare their classes nor did the students have any opportunity to grab anything out of lockers. The school had completely shut down, and it was not till mid-summer when anyone was allowed back in to grab personal belongings.
Summer of 2020 was like no time before and I doubt there will ever be a time like it again. The fear of the pandemic was still alive and hardly anyone left their house. I was one of those who never left, I was terrified of what might happen if I did. With all this time in my house things became stale fast. I needed a new hobby other than scrolling mindlessly on my phone. My first attempt was with paining. I set up a white foldout table and a stool in the center of my room. The small selection of paint I had was placed meticulously in the left hand corner, organized by color. Starting with the earth tones and ending with the pale pastels. A cup of water stood on the right side, teetering on the edge of the table. The brush met the paper and started to deposited the olive green paint as I moved it along in large strokes. Shortly after an oval like figure had been formed I gave up. Painting was not for me. My second attempt at a new hobby was with candle making. At the start of summer I purchased a peach scented candle and that sparked my love for candles so much that I thought I should take it upon myself to make my own. Why buy them when you can make your own? From my brief spout with candle making I learned that it is certainly far more expensive, time consuming, and aggravating to make your own. I suggest buying premade candles to be the best option.
I did not see my friends that summer and I only talked to one on a regular basis. Long facetime calls starting from sundown to sunrise were my only form of social interaction. However, I did not mind. My socially incompetent self, found the time alone to be calming. I went from seeing the same people daily to seeing no one. It was a big change but I enjoyed it. The friend I kept in touch with insisted we spend all this free time we had watching Avatar: The Last Air Bender via facetime, which was one of their favorite shows. I reluctantly gave in, what else was I to do? I had heard of the show and knew many people grew up with it but the show never peaked my interest. We started watching from the top, spending a few hours every other day watching more and more. Unfortunately, we were never able to finish. School started in August which consumed the free time we had previously