About 2.5 months ago, I was in Colombo leading a carefree life with a daily routine of going to school and spending time with my parents and brother. During this time, it was often discussed in the news how a deadly coronavirus, named COVID-19, was spreading across China and slowly reaching the other parts of the world. As there were some precautions taken by the airport in Sri Lanka, we did not imagine a day would come that Sri Lanka too would be under a lockdown. However, proving us wrong, Sri Lankan schools were closed down as a safety measure and the country underwent a partial lockdown with curfew being declared islandwide. 

Personally, my family and I were wondering whether to return to my home country Oman as we were not sure when schools would reopen and how the situation would progress in Sri Lanka. Our final decision was to leave to Oman towards the end of March. The airport in Colombo was empty and the situation in Muscat international airport was no different except for students flying back to Oman from abroad. 

There were few hundreds of infected patients identified in Oman at that time and all citizens were strictly warned to wear masks, especially when they are outside. Once we arrived in the capital of Muscat, we stayed two nights in a hotel and we were asked to choose between getting quarantined in a hotel under supervision or self quarantine at our own house for two weeks as we were right after traveling from another country. We chose the latter as it was more convenient. At the end of the quarantine period, two doctors visited us to check whether we had any symptoms asking us questions and checking our body temperature, pressure etc. Fortunately, none of us in the family had any symptoms. 

During the quarantine period, I had online classes from 7:30AM – 2:15PM in local time. It was quite challenging to get used to the routine in a new timezone but I could successfully manage it. In the meantime, I was also quite stressed and nervous thinking about whether or not any family member or I would test positive for COVID-19. During this time, we were not associated with any relatives and were confined to our house. My daily routine started with having breakfast after which I attended all the online classes finishing all the school work, followed with my lunch. During this time, I found an effective way of relieving stress which was coloring in my coloring book along with listening to music which were very interesting and were similar to meditation. I also allocated time for some physical activity which helps me balance the workload and mental wellbeing and for this I used a useful app and the treadmill I have at home. Sometimes, I try to take some pictures of the sky or the plants that I have here in our garden in Oman. Moreover, we also had family time every night watching movies and tv series together to make sure that the bonds in our family are strong even during such a harsh time. I Also used to take a lot of pictures of the sky as you can see in the pictures below.

 

Although the entire world was drastically affected by the global pandemic called COVID-19, I believe that it gave us the opportunity to take a break from our busy lifestyle and cherish the time that we get to spend with our loved ones enjoying the simple things in life. The COVID-19 outbreak taught humankind a lesson to be thankful of what we had and what we have and most importantly to live in the moment. On the other side, the destruction the pandemic has done to the world is immeasurable in terms of precious lives and economy. 

 

In conclusion, I look forward to the day we can return to our normal lives and when we do, we will be more thoughtful and conscious of our actions.