Diary Entries

My name is Alexandra Yeoh and I live in Sydney. The COVID-19 cases are decreasing but there are still many cases yet to be treated. Yesterday was my first day back at school ever since the schools closed, it was definitely an experience that I had missed having. Seeing all of my friends again made for a pleasant day. We only go to school once a week on Thursdays which I don't mind but I would love to see all my friends again. I do wish everything was the way it used to be but I can't do anything about the situation that we're in. Although, being at home isn't all bad. I can still find ways to communicate with my friends and I can get my work done faster. What's funny about this whole situation is that when we have the opportunity to go to school or to go out no one ever wants to yet when we have to opportunity to do online school and be at home everyone seems to dread to it.

You can interpret this pandemic in two ways. The worst thing that has happened in years, or the longest school holiday since you broke an arm in primary school.

I cut my hair the other night. I mean, why not? I'm only going to see my classmates, and that's only one or two days a week. Staring at the chunks of hair that I had haphazardly hacked off laying in the sink was somewhat otherworldly. I know, consciously, it wasn't that big of a deal, but I've never cut my own hair before, apart from when I used to do it in year 4 in class. I don't really have to leave the house that much, so I can do anything I want with my appearance, and I wouldn't be judged. Even on the days that I do see my peers, everyone has been going a little crazy, so there wouldn't be that much judgement anyway. I've seen a lot of fresh hair bleaches and dyes. We're all going to look a little feral when this all blows over, perhaps feral in all the colours of the rainbow.

I am a 12 year old girl in Australia that is currently living through the Corona Virus Pandemic. The last 6 weeks I have been a prisoner in my own home. The only social connection I get is when I go to get groceries, that is once literally once a week. I never appreciated socializing, school, normal life more than now. Life is hard, lonely, stressful, horrible! It's hard to think about life after COVID-19. Nothing will go back to normal, it's sad! I just hope that we get over this soon even though they say it'll be a 12 months! I hope that everyone keeps safe!

OUR BACKYARD WORLD The grass is a busy thoroughfare. A red velvet mite climbs a grass blade, and two minute black ants scale the arid cliffs of my right big toe. Suddenly their world shakes as I flex my foot to warn them the mountain will move soon. They scurry off. Two more lives saved. Next task? To use an ancient bone buried by a long-dead thrifty dog as home for a tiny succulent. broken from a flourishing group. The new sprig’s called a pup– yes, seriously. I pack in good black soil, gently water it in. May a pup, two ants and a red velvet mite enjoy their day in this world they share with giants.

MOTHER'S DAY 2020 This year was different. The day before, in the supermarket I join the carefully separated shoppers with sheafs of chrysanthemums in the tops of their trolleys above the boxes of chocolates. It feels like Christmas eve: the tone is festive, anticipatory. Women in mid-life manoevre trolleys deftly, scanning their lists with practised eyes. The seafood counter’s busy. Fathers with sons stride past un-trolleyed, intent on getting in and out, or stand in checkout lines with just Mum’s favourite sweets in hand. ‘That’ll do.’ Relieved. Me? I gather my Saturday papers, my favourite bread, and see the packaged chocolate cakes, a printed icing slab on top: ‘Happy Mother’s Day’– and find my eyes brimful. My mum is a long time gone– over thirty years ago. How can it hurt so much? I furtively wipe my eyes and head towards the fruit. Later, I head back against the flow, and defiantly pick up one of the chocolate cakes festooned with fondant love. It is unexpectedly heavy. I’ll share it with my kids. In the car I let the tears flow. How life continues to surprise us. Grief has no timetable, no neat ending. But salt water’s always healing. I wipe my eyes again and feel the sunlight warm me through the windscreen, snug in my driver’s seat, grown up again. Mostly.

AUTUMN HERON This morning a strange heron hung motionless from a blueberry ash in the garden. Angular, its eye was staring downward, its belly and tail still. An upper wing was hooked nonchalantly over a branch, the other stretched below. I almost held my breath in case it drew itself together and flapped away. No. Just a stray twist of bark, fallen from the eucalypt above, that the sun had scribbled with shadows.

A usual day in remote learning for me is essentially the same ordeal as it would be at school in person. I follow my timetable from Periods 1 - 4 including Pastoral Care and have recess and lunch at the exact same times. I am able to however get up a little bit later which is quite convenient because there is no need to travel anywhere. I am here at home and it is easy to do all work so I really have no troubles. The best part about remote learning is the fact that I have a bell system which is almost identical to the one at school. At the end of recess and lunch the music plays the same songs like the ones at school and it really makes me feel like it is a normal day at the college. I am most happy about the fact that we can now have 60 minute periods because of the reduced workload and it means I end my day earlier at 1:50PM. Very grateful for this because it makes everything loads easier!! It works around my schedule and it means I have extra time spent with my family, self care which has become of extreme importance since yesterday :)

Flowing rivers of yesterdays Swirling into numbing tomorrows My spoken word now silent Tongue coated white An abscess invades my throat Lying like a stranger Strangling my vocal chords My mind adrift A rollercoaster of emotions Ignite my world Leaving me stripped bare All loves lost Locked away in a cage behind my ribs Like a slow caterpillar Drowning in layers of earth Devoid of oxygen Silently suffocating

Days are slow and, and the morning drags on. I'd never thought that something like a worldwide pandemic would occur, stopping schools, jobs, and putting life on a pause. Sometimes I think about primary school, the small gathering around the one fan on sweltering afternoons, and the excited cheers asking 'did you win?' when our sport teams came back from the games against other schools. We left our bags to laugh and talk under the smiling sun. If I had gone back, things, definitely, would be different. For now I look onto the empty expanse, wishing for scattering rain. Yesterday was a breath of fresh air. New but familiar faces, coming back all the same. Excited but different chattering and whispering. Yesterday was the first step forward, and I know that things will go back.