Quarantine and Covid-19

WOAH. Like, WOAHHH. It's been years since I last blogged. I cannot believe how long it's been. Sooo, last time I posted about studying at MMMC. Currently, I am a final year student. Yes, I am FINALLY a final year student. I will talk about how this makes me feel maybe in another entry. For now, just a "short update" about my current situation. I guess blogging this is a way for me to de-stress or just fill up a bit of "free time". Like, I said, I will most probably make an entry about what's going on with me in the academic aspect. I honestly don't have much free time, but I don't think my brain can take anymore bulls*** for now. SO YEAHHH, blogging at 6am in the morning on a Sunday is definitely a way to de-stress. Anyway, allow me to get straight to it.

I am currently in Sabah. The couple of days before MCO was first announced, my sister and I received news about MCO and our college will only be doing online classes. So the day before MCO, my sister and I left first thing in the morning for Sabah. We brought very little with us which is something we regretted so very much till this day. Our internet back home was good enough for video conferencing, so we decided going back home was and is still the best choice despite the difficulties we are currently facing. It was also because we know our family especially our mother would be at ease. She was worried sick weeks before Covid-19 struck Malaysia. 

I'll be brutally honest, what we did was SELFISH. I won't deny it. Other people stayed so that they do not spread the disease just in case they are asymptomatic carriers and here we were leaving our hostel to get back home. I felt sick to my stomach, but I had a very strong foreboding feeling that being at home was the best choice. I've always did have such acute instincts (Is this the correct term? I haven't written in a long time). And damn I was right. Again, more #quarantinestories for later days. Point is, we got back but we took all necessary precautions. We wore face masks, frequently washed our hands with soap (imagine the trips to the washroom), and used sanitizer wipes before proceeding to use hand sanitizer. Besides that, we kept a good distance between other people and also did not touch anything especially our face. FYI, we didn't panic buy the stuff I mentioned. We always had stocks of these stuff since we are medical students. Unfortunately, that also was not much because we were running out of stock and the weeks before MCO was announced, there was already panic buying among Malaysians. So we couldn't get our hands on more. I mean, we are DAMN EXPOSED. We are medical students. Imagine the amount we have to use to keep ourselves safe on a daily basis. 

So yeah, guys. Before you panic buy stuff, think about the people who need them more. This does not just apply to hand sanitizers and whatever stuff I mentioned earlier, but also goes to grocery shopping. I understand currently it is not as bad as it was earlier. But I can still tell there are shortages. How? Looking at what my parents bought from their grocery trips. They had to buy the brands they don't usually buy to substitute the usual. You may be like: 

WHAT? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF REASONING IS THAT?

Well, you see, my parents are the type of people who only buy the BRANDS THEY TRUST FOR YEARS AND KNOW ALL THEIR LIFE. So yeah. When you come over to my house, there is no "fun stuff" to eat. We don't buy junk food and the like. Everything goes through my parents' quality check which is very high besides having the quality proven by experts. This basically means, they won't substitute the stuff they buy for other brands. That's how particular my parents are. So, when they came back with different brands of food items, you know there's something wrong. And sure enough when I asked, they basically said there is no "panic" buying, there was panic "buying". I was like:

Aahhh... Sabahans can be calm but panicked at the same time. 🤣

I was a bit shocked though. I went grocery shopping with my parents once before MCO was enforced. This was the same day we returned to Sabah. We cleaned up before leaving for grocery shopping. EVERYONE was calm. There was no panic buying of any kind AT ALL. So when I heard about it, I was actually baffled. But then, in a sense I get it. It's not that you are being selfish, but more you are worried. Like, what if your family members get infected on one of your usual trips? So it's better to buy in bulks than to buy your usual amount so as to reduce the amount of time you have to leave home and increase the chance of transmitting the disease to your family members despite your best efforts. So yeah, I get it. Because my parents do it too. They are buying for other people as well though, but still I get it. Anyway, back to the main point of this post (updating about my status)!   

The internet connection was quite good when we reached home. In fact, we were already setting up for online classes. Until, the day MCO was enforced... Which was the very next day. We didn't have class yet, but the internet was slower than usual. I couldn't log on Facebook. FACEBOOK. I couldn't LOG ON FREAKING FACEBOOK. My WhatsApp was wonkier than usual. I was at a loss of words. Then, it hit me:

People are stuck at home... That means more people on the server than usual. Don't tell me the servers are freaking LOADED!!!

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

And true enough, yes. It even made it on the news. 80% of Sabahans are suffering from poor to no connection. I was like: 

 

SOOOO YEAHHHHHHHH. That happened. So from this LOOOOOONG story of mine, you can tell what happened next and still happening. Sooo, to summarise it all up:

1. I have been in Sabah for quarantine since MCO was first enforced.

2. I have serious internet issues.

Besides that:

1. Take all safety precautionary steps.

2. NEVER panic buy.

I will talk more about my experience in quarantine later on. And I encourage you guys to share yours. It may give you guys some kind of solace. Sometimes writing down your thoughts down on paper, actually helps you make sense of your feelings and your surroundings as you find the words to convey what is nesting in your hearts and playing in your mind. Anyway, stay safe everyone. After years, guys,

This is Erna signing out! Tutt... Tutt...