Diary Entries

My name is Sophie and i am a student at st.aidans. I am in year 5 and I still remember the first day of covid 19 as if it was just yesterday and I will never forget it. The days we were fighting for toilet paper and food like we were in world war three. that was an absolutely crazy time. we were told that we had to stay home in lock down. the only exception was to go to the shops for essentials like food and supplies we needed to stay alive. Those days sucked. oh online work sucked the most because if. but some of it was good because you could finish earlier than usual but it also sucked because if you needed help from the teacher he or she couldn't help you. But on the plus side I got to spend some decent family time with my friends family and loved ones. That is it for now!

My uncle passed away yesterday. It was not long after I had written an entry to these files. It wasn't COVID-19 related, and it wasn't in Australia. He was back in my country of origin, far away from Australian shores. As he took his last breaths, we had a video-call on Whatsapp to say our goodbyes. There were lockdown restrictions in force, so not many could be physically by his side. However, technology allowed us to have a last moment with him. It was surreal. The family is in mourning, but the distance does buffer me from the immediacy of the occasion. There is an added dimension of dislocation to the grief, not being able to be back there with the extended family. It also heightens my worry for my mum, who is elderly and has a litany of health issues. If anything happens to her, it might not be easy for me to jump on a plane and be back there quickly. The frequency of flights have been drastically reduced. It's even hard to imagine what international travel will look like. On the plus side, it occurs to me that with less planes overhead, I have been enjoying more peace and quiet at home. Just a random silver lining. I really miss my family.

Well who would of thought Australian people would be in isolation because of Covid 19, not me.... you go on with your life and no outside world, no gym, no seeing friends, going to dinner, just going out in general. You become lazy, no makeup, no driving to work, wearing bike pants, joggers and jumper. No one can see you so who cares, well that’s what it is happening in my household. You eat more, drink more there is no escape, you just have the walls in your house to look at. Lucky we can go for a walk along the lake and see ducks and birds. At least we still have our jobs, some people are not that lucky, lose of jobs, can’t work, pay bills, eat, look after their families, that would be worse, the economy is going to suffer for years, very sad ☹️ Australia is going to be a different country relying on us to sanitize, wash hands, keeping our distance and no greeting people the way we used to, it’s going to be like that for a while, hopefully everyone will do the same to make Australia safe again. At least it will be another 100 years until the next pandemic of the world. I won’t have yo worry about that.........

A letter to my Dad's friend's son to be opened in ten years time. Dear Aksal In 2020 you would not believe what we lived through. The Coronavirus changed the whole world when it happened. It was a big impact on the world with everyone kept in quarantine. When they announced we had to stay in quarantine I felt like it was the end of my normal life forever which it wasn’t. But it was only for a few months but I was still very disappointed. The virus was called the Coronavirus or COVID-19. It was an outrageous pandemic which is a virus that spreads over the whole world… that’s right the WHOLE WORLD. Some countries were worse than others. But I definitely felt sorry for those countries that are less developed countries where many people didn’t have access to health care facilities. COVID-19 is very contagious and because of that we would have to stay home and do nothing, but most importantly wash our hands. With the restrictions of course we could not play sport and that disappointed me the most. All the time I am worrying about my family. What if they get it??? Some people have died from it and if one of my family members get it, they will struggle especially the ones older than 70 because they are more likely to die. So, all I massively hope for is for the virus to stay away from my family. Don’t worry it wasn’t all sad, funny memes exploded and all toilet paper was gone from the super markets which was pretty funny because of what the product was. You were only little when it happened… about 2 years old. I don’t know if you remember it but it was pretty chaotic. Kind Regards Ruby Brown

I was sitting in English class on a Monday afternoon, when my teacher informed us that we should not come to school tomorrow. My entire class was excited but I was somewhat anxious. I was not able to complete certain schoolwork. My schoolwork was not the only part of my life affected by this pandemic. My, after school dances and my martial arts club was now doing online classes. Without these things, my weeks were free. Now to some that sounds good, but to me that was upsetting because now I had nothing really to look forward too. Now I knew that because I did not have to go to school or martial arts or anywhere else, the days would slowly begin to merge into a blur of days. I had completely lost track of time. Classes rolled past, break times went by in a flash, and online martial arts classes finished faster than ever before. It hasn’t all been bad, I have spent quality time with my family because they do not have to work for long hours every day, and I am pretty sure that I have read my entire bookshelf of books. I have played music and listened to twice as much as I normally would. My assessments have been sorted and now I can relax a little knowing that I am not going to fail a class. Siblings may get annoying and sometimes you may want to pull out your hair because they are playing their music at full blast while you are trying to concentrate, but we are all going through the same struggles. We need to remember that we are all in this together. As restrictions are starting to be lifted, we need to make sure that we are keeping each other safe.

The stay at home for my age group especially, was on reflection, a release from the build up of life’s pressures that had sneaked up on me. I warmed to the slow mornings, taking all the time I wanted in prayer with no plans to distract me. Concerns and needs of others filled my thoughts expressed in supplications. I wondered and questioned as I followed the news updates frustrated by talking heads who insisted on telling me their interpretation of what I had just heard. Do they think I needed that! Getting a bit cranky, hmm. I communicated online with friends and for hours found great pleasure in the yard. My biggest decision of the days being what to wear as I enlisted gardeners to do the heavy lifting. The bones and muscles eventually needed to rest, just in time we could have chats on the large front porch, breaking the isolation. My neighbour arrived, all dressed up declaring, “I even have my pearls on!” I thought I was sort of dressed for morning tea but my standards had taken a dive. A visit from grandchildren on Mother’s Day has busted me out! I see the doors opening and wonder if I will ever allow my life to come under the former pressures? No! So thankful for what I have learnt.

In these dire situations a lot has changed since the start of the year, school/work online, isolation...however naming every change won't do any of us good, and in this entry I hope many things will change. Oftentimes I think to myself, as we have too much time in our hands in this current situation. How it seems like there are no comparisons apart from dubbing it as the more lethal flu. I also think of how toilet paper has become such a value, and it's what psychologists call the ‘mirroring’ effect, people subconsciously/feel the need to follow others that has increased the value.. But mostly, I think of how the world works to cater to all this, how it seems like a burden carried upon doctors, nurses and etc. backs, how every countries applies different strategies, how we have yet to find a vaccine...the thought of such things brings a new perspective into life and the world, and instead of bringing light to every other disease and unfortunate event, it hides them even more. At times like this we have to think positively, and of what we do have, how lucky we are...but oftentimes we forget. Hopefully we can press ‘resume’ on our lives, just to have a norm in the midst of everything, just to go back before all this becomes worse or the new ‘normal’. ..and to leave on a last note, it's a common thing to be ungrateful and forget the luck of our lives but during these unprecedented times I've begin to realise so many things; to really cherish everything.

It's been almost 3 months since I've been in quarantine. I miss going to school and seeing all my friends but luckily we are finally starting to go to school again even though it's once a week, I'm very happy to be able to see my friends again. Going to school again for the first time in 3 months felt like how I felt on my first day of school in year 7. Most of my friends went to school on different days so on the train it was very lonely. In school we were separated into 2 groups and stayed in one class for the whole day but it was really fun.

3.5 million cases. 250 thousand deaths. What could I possibly be talking about? None other than the infamous Coronavirus. COVID19 to the officials; corona to the kids. I am a self-proclaimed corona-kid. Perhaps babies born in this time are more accurately corona-kids than me but growing up in these trying times is just as bad. I saw a couple of articles about coronavirus in early 2020. I suspected it was one of those obscure viruses that don't really kill anyone and you don't really hear about. I was definitively wrong. My mum thinks that coronavirus is the first time the whole world has been united against a common enemy. She's right. We are all fighting the same battle against the same enemy. I'm not at school. I'm remote learning. It's okay and I like not having to get up early, but sometimes it's hard to focus on the task at hand. Everything on the news is about coronavirus. Whilst not always directly, it can be talked about when talking about the impacts. I haven't seen my friends in person since March 22nd. It is now May 5th. It has been 44 days. They say that it's okay to miss out on a week of school here and a week of school there when you are in Year 4, or Year 7, but as a Kindergartner or a Year 12 student it must be really hard. I am in year 7 and I guess they're right. Missing school in Year 7 wouldn't be critical. For my brother in Year 12, it's hard. Luckily, we are going back to school soon for 2 days a week, and then 3. Enough about coronavirus. I had a bagel with cream cheese on it today and it was yummy. Thank you for listening to me.

I am Emily, a high school student in NSW. I guess the corona virus has affected us all in several ways but my view as a school student it has tremendously affected my life. From waking up at 7am to get ready for school, to going to bed late and waking up right when my classes started. It has changed every school, students’ life. It was difficult to have to do school work from home some teachers had other classes to and other students to focus on. I would not say that I'd rather be at school, because being at home has helped me to finish my work, even though I do find myself procrastinating. I feel like being at home and doing online school has gotten the stress and pressure off our shoulders. However, now that this pandemic is clearing up and the government has enforced that all students can return to school it has not allowed students much time to get back into that routine. If anything, I still strongly believe that we should not be going back to school 5 days a week. It seems too soon but I hope this pandemic goes away for good as it has changed everything and has mucked up many peoples plans for the year.