Wake, eat, sleep, repeat... okay so this video doesn't quite catch the sentiment we're all feeling these days, but it's kinda has the point. Day 9 of 14-day mandatory quarantine for Covid 19. Someone shared a little music video in Bahasa Malaysia and the lyric for the entire song, which lasts about 1.15s is just that - Wake, eat, sleep, repeat! (Bangun, makan, tidur, ulang!). I think most people found it funny, but there's an active and funny minority on the chat group whilst the rest of them are a silent majority. Observers. I'd like to think there was a few more chuckles in our batch when they heard the song. It's very very relatable at the moment, the same way it was relatable when the first Covid 19 lockdowns began back in March 2020.
One of the doctors who is in charge of our batch pointed out that there is a Youtube quarantine video challenge supported but the Oriental Crystal Hotel. So far there's six videos on there but I'm not sure just how video-tech-savvy most of the people in the quarantine are. There might be some more videos but so far the momentum seems to have slowed... as have our enjoyment of chicken lunches.. and dinners. I suppose one mustn't complain. But when you reach a point where you dread even opening the plastic container to see what's being served, it's a sign that perhaps something other than chicken would be greatly appreciated! I haven't reached that point (yet) but someone did point this out in our WhatsApp group chat. So there's been a steady stream of PUS who have opted to order their food in from outside - either from Grab Food, from the Hotel's Cafe downstairs or delivered to the hotel by friends/families. So that's not too bad if you have plenty of money and/or family and friends who are willing to deliver food to you. But for PUS like students (of which there are quite a few in our batch) who come from abroad, this is likely not a feasible alternative.
So far, everyone's managed to get everything they need - fresh towels, bathmats, linens, shower gels, shampoos, toothpaste, milk for their kids, bottles of drinking water, etc. We get a little box of vitamin-enriched fruit juice at almost every lunch meal and a bit of fruit or single-pack slice of cake. So really, for a 3.3-star hotel, you can't complain. I've been spending some time just sitting and staring out the lovely large window at the LRT line, train line, houses, roads and trees outside and just contemplating what's been happening. It's quite enlightening actually. I can see why people used to go to remote locations and spend days or months or even years meditating. In Malay, it's called 'bertapa' and when you say that word, it recalls an image of a wizened old man with a long white beard, sitting alone inside a dark cave somewhere in the middle of the jungle. When you strip away all the fripperies of life - the traffic jam, the lunch dates, the TV and all it's distractions and distortions, the politics, the drama - when you strip all these out of your life and you're able to take the time to just sit and process, review, evaluate, consider, critically ponder on all the things that's been chucked somewhere in the farthest corner of your cerebellum or cereberum, slowly, very slowly, some things start to clarify. So perhaps this is a blessing hidden somewhere in all the drama and panic of the Covid 19 'pandemic'.
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