Distinguishing Week From Weekend

Monday 4/20/19: I have always been aware of the inequalities in the world amongst races and wealth, however the pandemic has really made me think about how lucky I am. Saturday night there was a program called One World Together at Home on the television where famous actors and musicians collaborated together to bring awareness and joy to homes of millions. During the program they talked about how the majority of CoronaVirus cases are amongst African American communities. Many African Americans can’t afford health care and many times have previous health conditions that were not taken care of. Additionally, many African American families live multigeneracional and also hold most blue collar jobs. As a result of both of these statements, many of them are out working and bring the virus home to their older relatives and then five or six people end up sick all at once. Furthermore, the program showed many scenes where communities are gathering packages of food to hand out. I forget how lucky I am to be able to have food on the table everyday. There are millions of families across the United States who are out of work and can’t afford food. There are several organizations like Pepsi who are gathering and collecting food as well as volunteers taking their time to hand out food to cars. I feel so useless sitting at home, instead of outside helping those less fortunate in this difficult time. I wish there was more that I could do from my kitchen table. 
Yesterday we met my grandparents halfway between their house and ours. We gave them groceries and ate lunch together. We each sat in our cars with a parking spot between. It was so sad to not be able to give them a hug and kiss. Instead, we had to scream through the window as if we were strangers screaming at eachother. The Corona pandemic has taken away part of our humanity. I would've never believed someone if they told me at the beginning of this year that I wouldn’t be able to see or touch my relatives, let alone my friends. I think the first week of quarantine I was just in shock and felt like I needed to call all of my friends. Then for a couple of weeks, I think my friends, as well as myself kind of got into a routine and didn’t talk to each other as often. Now that it is the sixth week, I am truly missing social interactions. Seeing friends on FaceTime just isn’t the same as giving them a hug or high five in the hallway in between classes. I wouldn’t say that I am depressed, instead, I think I would describe my feelings as being dispirited. I have nothing to look forward to anymore because my summer plans and end of the year concerts and celebrations have all been canceled. It is weird to only know the present. Everyday the news estimates when they predict everything will be back to normal, but it is constantly changing. All I know is that I will be home doing e-learning for the rest of the school year. 

Wednesday 4/22/20: Today my sister and I started a new instagram account showcasing the food that we have made during quarantine. Nearly everyday during quarantine we have tried at least one new recipe from a cookbook or website. It is a super fun way to spend time in a productive manner. We have not ordered dinner from any restaurants and instead we have been cooking everything. Our fear is that you don’t know the last time that somebody washed their hands, or who is cooking the food. So, just to be safe, we have been making everything. Usually we have our go to recipes that we constantly rotate through for meals and we don’t have much time to start playing around and cutting everything for dinner or lunch. It seems like we are always in a rush and just need to throw a quick meal together. However, with all this extra time and nowhere to go and eat we have tried so many new foods that we once thought only restaurants could make because they seemed so complex. 
 Homemade Mushroom Stroganoff


Homemade Smoothie Bowl

Friday 4/24/20: Today in my dance zoom class, my teacher asked everyone what they were doing this weekend. I found his question really interesting because it is really hard now to distinguish week from weekend. Before we were all stuck in our houses, this seemed like a fun question to ask on a Friday. Everyone would share their exciting plans, whether it was celebrating a friend’s birthday, going to the city, or going out of town for a few days. However, now this question has lost all meaning. There is nothing out of the ordinary to do. The only aspect that makes Saturday and Sunday different is that we don’t have e-learning and most parents don’t have work. Unfortunately, we are still staying at home doing weekday activities like watching Netflix, cooking, cleaning, or any other thing you can do in your house. Luckily, Shabbat makes the weekend stand out. Every Friday night to Saturday night my family celebrates Shabbat. I make special challah bread, we have a nice meal Friday night, we listen to services on Saturday (on zoom now because we can’t go into synagogue) and we try to avoid using technology. Having this special day every week is really nice, especially right now because everyday seems like Groundhog Day. 
The weather the past few days has been really dreary. It is foggy and chilly, which just adds to the depressiveness of this time. It is super rainy, which means that we can’t even go outside for a walk to get some fresh air. Looking outside just makes me lose hope. A few weeks ago when the sun was shining and it was 80 degrees, there were children playing in their backyards, chalked sidewalks and families enjoying a nice bike ride. It felt like we were a community, all doing our best to social distance but still make the most of the time. Furthermore, just yesterday there was an announcement saying that everyone in Illinois must wear masks when going outside beginning May 1st. This means that when we want to enjoy a nice walk outside, we have to cover our mouths. It feels like we are in a zombie apocalypse or even a movie. I guess all of these regulations are just to help lower the spread of Corona, even though it feels inhuman. 

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