Quarantine diary

by Rizouana P.

5/22/20

Dear Diary,

Hi, my name is Rizouana Prome. But a lot of my friends call me Rizzy, Riz or Rizouana, and my family calls me Prome. So I give you the option to call me whatever you want. I am 15 years old and currently in the tenth grade. I am starting to write in this diary to document my time during this lockdown. You might wonder why I am in lockdown, and that is because there is a global pandemic going on. A disease named COVID-19 has spread all over the world and it is extremely contagious. We are practicing social distancing to slow down the spread of this disease. Schools have been canceled for the whole year and it’s been two months since we are in the online school. Online school is nothing like regular school. I miss the human connection a lot. I miss having fun with my classmates and hanging out with my friends.

When quarantine first started, I hated it. I didn’t know what to do with all this time and I know you might think “well there’s so much to do.” But after my dad’s shop temporarily closed and my mom stopped going to work, our family has been facing some issues. My parents argue a lot due to the financial crisis and honestly, I think they are just too tired of seeing each other. Before quarantine, we each had our own routine and they were really busy with work. We only saw each other at night when we ate dinner together. I used to be busy with school and after school activities so I was not able to spend a lot of family time. Before quarantine, I used to crave family time but after seeing how much my parents argue on a daily basis it makes me want to go back to the past when we barely used to see each other.

Not being able to go back to school also breaks my heart. I am a sophomore in high school and this year was supposed to be a chill year before I became a junior and started stressing about college and the SAT. I had high hopes for this year but this Coronavirus pandemic has ruined it all for me. I feel bad for the seniors. They can’t even have their prom or graduation. It sucks but I hope all these sacrifices will be worth it.

All these things around me have put me into the dark side. I often feel like I am losing myself and nothing motivates me. I used to love drawing, reading about science and writing but since quarantine started I just have the energy to complete my school work. I am so exhausted about this situation that it takes a long time for me to be productive. But luckily there are days when I feel like doing things I love. I love painting, writing stories, and reading about Dinosaurs and the brain.

Today was one of my productive days! Summer is approaching and I needed to find things to do over the summer. So I did some summer applications. Those applications were LONG!! I spent my afternoon completing them. My day started off by joining zoom calls for my classes and that was until 3 pm. Next, I worked out for fifteen minutes and took a shower. By 4 pm I was in front of the screen again working on the applications. At 6 pm I had another meeting about a campaign update that I am taking parts in. It is basically calling people to check in about how they are doing and if they need anything during this situation. I am part of this organization called DRUM which launched this campaign. Our goal through this campaign is to educate working-class people about the current situation and build people’s power. So I am just checking up with people in my community.

At 8 pm I had Iftar in order to break my fast. It’s Ramadan and I am Muslim so I am fasting. It’s the second last fasting day, Eid is on Sunday. I know Eid will be different this year, we can’t leave our houses. After doing iftar I was so tired and exhausted, I went to take a nap. But that nap turned out to be longer than I expected. I woke up at 1 am and then remembered I needed to catch up on some homework. So I prepared some interview questions for my ELA class which I will conduct tomorrow. We are writing memoirs in our English class and interviewing family members to see if they have experienced something similar in their life. I will interview my dad tomorrow about the worst pain he experienced in his life. Next, I had to watch a fast-food documentary for gym class and answer some questions. I finished my homework around 2:30 pm so I decided to watch a Chinese drama called “Best of you in my mind.” It's an amazing drama about friendship and love. I love watching Chinese dramas; the stories are so heartwarming. At 3 am I had to eat suhoor to fast for the last time this Ramadan. This year Ramadan was very different, it was not as difficult because we were home the whole month but the feeling was just different. After eating I decided to write to you. It’s currently 4:02 am and yes I need to go to sleep. This quarantine and Ramadan ruined my sleep schedule so much, I think my body hates me. But anyway, that’s all I had for today and I will try to keep you updated about my life during this time.

See you soon, maybe tomorrow. Good night.

5/23/20

What up fam? Last night I thought about giving you a name! I didn’t know what to call you though. So I decided I will call you Tarry. It’s the first name that popped up in my head when I thought about this dairy. Tarry, you will be my friend who I tell everything to: about how my days went, my concerns, my accomplishment, etc. So, Tarry, it was a Saturday today and I thought I would be able to sleep until noon. But guess what! At 11 am water was leaking through our bathroom ceiling and my mom called the building super. When he came they were making so much noise which woke me up and so I went to see what was going on. I was so pissed when I found out that the super did not do anything about it. He told my mom that the plumber is not working until Tuesday because of Memorial Day weekend so we will have to wait for the leaking to stop or he will stop the water supply. Then he left but my mom was still very mad and continued cursing at him. Eventually, the water stopped leaking and he did not stop the water. It’s Eid tomorrow, we need to take showers, clean and of course cook so the water was a very essential part. Luckily the situation did not escalate and around 1 pm I went back to sleep.

PhEw! When I finally woke up, it was 6:30 pm! I literally slept the WHOLE day. I’ve realized I got my period so my fast broke because I was bleeding. It’s the last day of Ramadan and I’ve only broken one fast. But I was happy I got my period even though it is SO PAINFUL. After getting up I made my bed and went to take a shower. After taking a 45minutes long shower I finally came out and it was almost time for iftar. I moisturized and helped my mom prepare for iftar. After we ate I realized how much my uterus was hurting, I HATE CRAMPS!

This year’s Ramadan is gone and Eid is tomorrow. So I had to get prepared for Eid and by that, I mean wear henna. It’s like a temporary tattoo that lasts for less than seven days. But before that, I had to conduct an interview for my English class. After finishing up the interview, I started to put henna.

While I was putting henna, my best friend Rozana called me and we were talking and putting henna together until 3 am. Meanwhile, my parents were talking to my relatives in Bangladesh. It was around 4 am when we actually went to bed but I had so much trouble falling asleep!! I was scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, looking at old memories in Snapchat but my eyes were still not tired. Then I started to braid my hair and I think at around 6 am I finally went to sleep. I need to fix my sleeping schedule ASAP!!

5/24/20

EID MUBARAK!!

I woke up at 8 am, and only got two hours of sleep!! Yet during the whole day, I had so much energy!! I guess it’s the eid spirit!

My day started off by waking up, brushing my teeth, and washing my face. Then I started cleaning my room and organizing everything so that it does not look messy even though I know we will not have any visitors due to quarantine. Later I had sweets for breakfast, that’s a tradition during Eid days! Around 11 am I hopped in the shower and took a cold shower. After I got out of the shower I got ready for no reason but to take pictures. My mom called me to come to have lunch at around 12 pm. The food is the best part about Eid. I had polow, beef, and other cultural food. As much as they are super greasy, they taste so good. Desi food over anything else!! After eating I helped my mom clean up and tried taking some pictures.

Taking pictures is HARD!! After taking a few decent pictures, I gave up and went to lay down in my bed. I was tired but not sleepy so when my mom got out of the shower, I did her makeup and hair. Of course, she was cursing at me the whole time and told me to stop. But I didn’t care at all plus why would I stop halfway through. Not going to lie, quarantine Eid is not as bad as I thought it would be. During the afternoon, Rozana and I watched a movie together through zoom. She shared her screen and we got to watch the same thing at the same time. We watched Jumanji: the next chapter! It was honestly a nerve-racking movie!! After finishing watching the movie I put henna in my right hand. Tell me how the henna on my right-hand looks so much better than the one in my left hand even though I used my left hand to do it.

Around 9 pm I finished the application for Girls who Code, Rozana also applied for it. I hope we both get it. Since then I have been on my computer listening to music, journaling, helping my teacher plan a lesson, etc. Something funny happened, so my living environment teacher graded one of my assignments in google classroom. The assignment was based on 4 credits and I don’t know how or why she gave me a 5/4. I think it was probably a mistake but it was just so funny!!

Ok Tarry I am going to go to bed and try to fall asleep at a reasonable time. It’s currently 1:30 am. I am trying to improve my sleep schedule as much as I can. Oh yes, tomorrow is Monday but we don’t have classes because of memorial day. So tomorrow I will try to be a little bit productive and not sleep for the whole day.

See ya!

5/25/20

What up Tarry? I’m back and I have a lot to tell you today. So today I woke up at 3 pm! Better than any other days when I don’t have school. So that’s an improvement! Also, I think I went to sleep before 3 am yesterday. I don’t know the exact time but I fell asleep listening to music. Anyway, that’s beside the point, while I was sleeping I saw this crazy dream. I saw I was at a BTS concert!!!!! If you don’t know about BTS you are probably living under a rock. But it’s a South Korean boy band with seven members. J-hope is my bias, that’s what you call your favorite members. The concert was like an award ceremony, everyone was sitting down not what they usually do at a concert, it was very formal! What’s crazy is that somehow I got assigned to do J-hope’s makeup!! Jung Hoseok is his real name but on stage, he goes by J- Hope. I saw that I was on the stage doing his eyeliner. Let me tell you this I am terrible at makeup! I can’t put anything properly except lipstick. Not even lipstick on someone else, but only my lips. However, somehow I was doing it and I thought people would make fun of me because of how bad it was. I was so close to Hoseok, it was crazy!! When I finished it and was about to leave he said ‘kamsamnida’ which means thank you in Korean. Then I was about to leave the stage when I realized I could hug him. When I looked back I saw him already starting to perform so I did not want to ruin his performance. Then I went back to my seat, on my way back I saw the other SIX MEMBERS OF BTS seating as I walked in front of them. I was shocked and just stared at them as I kept walking. I don’t know why but I could not speak at that time. All I wanted to say was how much I love them! As I finally took a seat I looked around and in front of me, I saw Zhang Yao that’s the main lead from the drama ‘best of you in my mind’!!! The one I am currently watching. I started screaming inside my head!! The next thing you know I was waving at him and screaming hello but when he looked back I was like *Ni hao*. That's hello in Chinese. He looked so confused but I told him that I love his acting and he is amazing. Can’t remember what happened next but here you go a little fangirl moment.

After getting up and getting ready for the day, by which means brushing my teeth and washing my face I had breakfast. I had two roti and one fried egg. Rotis are like tortillas for brown people. After eating I made my bed and I was watching random funny videos on YouTube. Then I heard that two of my cousins are somewhat feeling sick. One of them has a rash on his legs and face. The other one is having diarrhea. Both of these are COVID-19 symptoms in kids. Man, they are just 11 and 14!! I was so worried but also mad. They went to my grandma’s house yesterday because it was Eid. After they came back they did not take a shower, just simply changed their clothes and washed their hands. I don’t understand why they had to go outside yesterday, I mean I get it because it's Eid. So what!! People are dying, this coronavirus is so serious. But they are still not serious about it. The main goal is for us to survive and stay safe right now. What I am most worried about is my dad’s health. He has chorionic diseases like diabetes and heart problems. It’s dangerous for everyone but god I am just worried! My mom is going to visit my grandma and my new cousin at their house. Yea I had a baby cousin who was born I think close to a month ago. I feel like we should not visit each other’s houses during this time just because anything can happen due to slight mistakes. But what can I do? She is going tomorrow and I hope she returns home safely.

By 6 pm I took a shower and then I had tea. I drink tea almost every day, if I had to rate every energy drink in this world I would still say that tea is the most elite drink to ever exist. The type of tea I drink is warm milk tea with sugar. It’s common among south Asian countries especially in Bangladesh, that’s where I am from. During the evening I found out Jitu’s rash was getting better and Niloy said he was doing okay. I hope they are healthy and nothing goes wrong. I did some online shopping today as well. I brought some skincare products from ordinary and Neutrogena. I bought a Neutrogena hydro boost water gel moisturizer, serum, and a peeling solution from Ordinary. The serum was shipping from Soul, South Korea. And guess what a few minutes after I placed the order the seller contacted me telling me that I would have to either wait a really long time for my product or I could cancel my order. This is because airplanes are not flying from South Korea to the USA due to Coronavirus. Man, I was a bit disappointed but then again it’s the reality now so I had to cancel my order. I will have to look for a new seller within the USA to place my order in.

Around 8 pm I started painting and I did two paintings. One was a painting with a tree with a boy and a girl on two opposite sides and another one was just a flower painting. I used a combination of acrylic paint and watercolor painting for the first one and for the second one it was just watercolor. I need new acrylic paint. I find them so relaxing to work with. I was supposed to work on another summer program application for a writing program but by the time I finished painting, it was 11 pm. Then two of my friends called me because they needed help with their college now application. So I helped them and around 11:30 pm I had dinner. But can you believe it’s almost June? It’s almost the end of the school year and I can’t even see all my friends. Mann this is sad, sophomore year is coming to an end in less than one month. Ughhhhhhhhh I don’t like how fast time is traveling, I am afraid that what I am missing out will never return to me. Additionally, as I grow older there are always more responsibilities not just about my life but the people around me and that can be a little bit stressful!

After dinner, I didn’t do much except scrolling through TikTok and Instagram. I was supposed to watch a movie but couldn’t decide on what to watch. Currently, it’s 3:09 am and I have to wake up at 8:45 am tomorrow because of online classes. So take care and stay safe!