Allow me to start on a positive note: we got to talk to family and friends we had not talked to for a long time. Our second week in lockdown here in Kuala Lumpur has felt different from the first. In the beginning it was like a kind of weird holiday, a new experience for the better or worse. But the second week required more effort from us to motivate ourselves to maintain our new daily routine.
Our daughter Marcella continued to work from home, had virtual happy-hour drinks with friends and does some creative painting. Francien staves off the boredom by joining Marcella in daily virtual meditation and yoga sessions. She also made face masks for the guys who keep our condominium running. From some cotton fabrics and elastic band donated by one of our neighbors (thanks Nabila) Francien made face masks which are still in short supply here in Malaysia. She also started another project: making Easter decorations. Every morning I sit on the balcony, watch the sunrise and sip my first cup of coffee while reading all the worldwide COVID-19 news on the internet. Then I do my two hours walking up and down the emergency stairs. That is boring, but it gives me my daily dopamine. I also set some goals to steadily improve my cardio condition, which gives it more purpose.
The three of us read books and have started on-line courses. In the evening we watched together the short live sessions of the local stand-up comedian club and some movies.
All and all, we succeed to maintain structure in our daily life. The real challenge is to have a meaningful purpose while locked in. It is important not allowing the isolation to overwhelm us and so far we have managed to do that.
One exciting highly this past week was our first ‘post-lockdown’ visit to the supermarket. Francien and I walked past the KLCC subway station which was closed (on normal days 100.000 people pass through this station), felt the eerie quietness in the malls and on the streets. At the supermarket nobody was allowed to enter without wearing a face mask. Per family, only one person could enter, so I stayed outside and Francien walked in. ’It is 36.2 C, you are OK.’ said the security guard pointing a temperature scanner to her head. At any time, maximum 50 men and women were allowed to be inside and all cashiers were open to avoid queues. Everyone was very calm and all the shelves were fully stocked. It all was well organized. Allow me to predict the future: I think this will be the new normal shopping experience until we are all vaccinated. Francien bought one week of food supplies. That means we are ensured of another highlight next week: our second visit to the supermarket!
We are getting to the point that we want to be distracted away from the overwhelming amount of news and opinions about this corona virus pandemic. It all was still interesting and exciting the first week, but now we are looking for ways to focus on other news than Covid-19. That is not easy, because every day this pandemic keeps changing how people around the world live and try to cope with it. We are no exception: on Wednesday 25th March we received info via our online newspapers that the lockdown in Malaysia has been extended by two weeks until 14 April and further restrictions will be announced soon. Alas, disappointing news as we had hoped for not more than a one-week extension.
“We are not climbing the walls yet, not going insane.”
Local newspaper article ….
But let’s look at the bright side of all this:
1. It is fascinating to try to understand how this virus is writing history and we are part of that!
2. The seemingly endless flow of funny videos and jokes being sent around is a welcome distraction.
3. Fortunately we do not know anyone personally who has been infected yet.
4. The air in Kuala Lumpur is fresh and crispy.
5. The crime rate in Kuala Lumpur is low.
6. I enjoy watching many people being so creative in using the internet to enable classes, get-togethers, celebrations and services to continue in a virtual world.
7. Since I am writing my blog, I never had so many people visiting my posts. Thank you for reading my articles.
And yes, please help me even increasing the number of visits to my blog: let me know what I should write about in my next weeks’ post ‘Living in lockdown – week 3’.
Stay healthy, stay inside and stay tuned