The Isolation Journals Week #1 (My First MCO)

The Isolation Journals is a weekly post on life during the unofficial lockdown or Restricted Movement Order (RMO). The journal will be updated every Wednesday. This is the journal for Week 1.

By Farhira Farudin

It is Day 21 since the government announced the MCO.

The last time I went out was two weeks ago, to get the groceries at a Tesco near my house. I remember the feeling of how serious the situation really is when the shelves of the essentials such as bread and eggs are empty. There was nothing left. And I was only out of the house to get those essentials. I had my temperature checked by the Tesco staff. I heard the security guard bombarding a family with questions on how they were not allowed to go out in groups. Tesco was practically empty and everyone who were there had taken precautions to avoid being affected by the virus. Everyone had masks on. No one talked to each other. The situation was jarring, and I admitted that I felt afraid of going out. I haven’t left home ever since.

My days were spent by the same schedule I’ve had when I am home and away from my university. To be frank everything felt the same, minus the part where I actually had a little more freedom to go out. When I am home, I can count with my one hand on the amount of times I actually go out. I am not an outside person. I rarely go home, so when I am home I’d like to spend as much time with my family as I can. But the quarantine has undoubtedly had its psychological effects on me where I felt no freedom at all and it’s suffocating. In reality, everything else is just the same. Except this time my isolation is needed by the government, not something that I actually wanted to do.

It is also the first week of online class. We are not allowed to back to university during this tough time. It was supposed to be the first week of my fifth semester. I was very much looking forward to this semester because the courses I am taking are core subjects that I find interesting. But in an unexpected circumstances, here I am just finishing my online class through Skype where I could barely hear or see what my lecturer was saying while my friends kept popping in and out of the chatroom due to poor internet connection. I was excited initially to start my online classes. I thought “I’d rather do this than not doing anything at home.” But it’s been tough for many of us. The learning experience is far different from what we are used to when we were in university.

The quarantine has definitely made many of us become more appreciative and self-aware of the life we had before. The little things suddenly matter, because we never know when we are able to go back to normal. Maybe this is the new normal, the new change. It’s just not what we wanted. The little things I’ve grown to appreciate are the mundane activities in life like walking to class with my friends, go for a walk in the evening, taking my time to choose the vegetables at the supermarket, using the ATM machine without worrying whether the buttons have been touched by people who could be contaminated. This whole situation is suffocating and anxiety-inducing. We feel constantly paranoid by the surroundings, even when we have been at home for more than weeks.

I have a strong feeling that the MCO will be extended. And seeing the daily statistics of the reported new cases, deaths and recovered patients, I think it’s only best if we stay at home longer. It’s a little sacrifice, albeit with major consequences, that we have to do in order to keep everyone safe and healthy. I wish the new normal of life will end soon, and for the greater good.