Doing work in sweatpants and baggy t-shirts can get old faster than one might think. In fact, I never realized how incomplete my wardrobe was until refusing to do my school work at home in jeans or a skirt. This year, COVID-19 has forced changes in many regular sleep, school, homework, eat, sleep routines. But I can say honestly, that this virus has meant something different for my 7-person family. On top of the dramatic routine changes, we have been forced to spend long hours with each other, confined to our 4 bedroom apartment. Long story short, some compromises have needed to be established.

For one thing, the 11 year age gap between my youngest sibling and me equals an ongoing fight about which rooms are for working and which rooms are for playing. With 4 different school schedules, 2 different work schedules, one VERY serious playing routine and only 4 rooms to dedicate to the causes, it gets a little chaotic.

Nonetheless, DP has been sure to keep me as busy as possible. With the IB Headquarters’ focus on a smooth transition out of DP for the seniors, the DP1 have been left to tread above water while being weighed down by a workload that is next to impossible online. The reduction of face to face meetings has meant less feedback from teachers and more sophisticated organizational skill on students’ part and unfortunately…higher motivation levels; all off which are sparse at this point in the school year. But no one ever said IB was easy and unfortunately the CAS show must go on. Activity still needs doing, creativity still needs having, and service still needs completing. (I say I don’t enjoy CAS but the truth is, I now understand more than ever why it’s so important. No lies are told when I say I would definitely not be sane without the physical, creative and service activities I do.)

In quarantine, the area of my life that has been affected the heaviest is sports. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve trained with the SAISA teams and made sure to keep up with my activity requirements. Despite the increasingly strong temptation of resolving to be an utter couch potato, I’ve managed to find fun ways to be physical such as spending time at the pool. This one is my favorite. On the days I can’t go to the pool, I walk to the embassy to pick up groceries from the commissary. Occasionally, when I feel particularly couchpotatoeish, I do a couple home workouts.  Although this level of activity is far from what I was adjusted to prior to quarantine, it’s keeping me active and healthy.

I CANNOT STRESS HOW MUCH FOOD I HAVE MADE IN THE PAST 2 MONTHS. I’ve always been a food enthusiast but these days, it’s become borderline obsessive. My mother, bless her heart, has finally grown weary of making food for 7 people 3 times a day. Although my specialty has been baking, quarantine has forced me to dip a to into uncharted cooking territory. And as much as it really kills me to admit, half of the reason cooking and baking is fun is because my little brother Daniel loves helping me. I’ll put him to work sifting little insect friends out of flour or making cinnamon roll glaze. His favorite treat to make so far has been chocolate donut holes. BUT let’s not lose sight of the real reason I’ve been baking a lot…to eating yummy things (From left to right: Churro donuts, pretzels, pad thai, jiao zi).

Service is an area that makes me lucky to be in a big family. When all squashed into one place, it’s easy to find little ways to serve so many people. My service requirements during quarantine have been fulfilled in conjunction with my cooking. I…enjoy helping my siblings learn how to cook and bake and spending time with them elevates from my mother not only the stress of having to keep them occupied all the time, but also the stress of having to constantly provide food for the family. My pool hours are often spent with my siblings as well. I’ll take the noisy little things down to the pool so my mom can have some peace and quiet.

At the start of lockdown, the thought of having constantly to be in such close proximity with so many (very loud) little people was on the overbearing side. But another thing that’s hard to admit, is my siblings and I have become closer by spending so much time together. Who knew quarantine would have up sides?