CORONA DIARIES

As I came to Leipzig before the university term started, I have been a bit lonely and uninspired. In a bit of a ~creative rut~ you might say. Hence blog posts weren't as regular as they were when I was in Marseille. Whomst could have known all I needed was a global pandemic to relight my fire?! Gott sei Dank people, I'm back!

For the past couple weeks, I have been pretty derisive about Corona; just sitting back and enjoying the rich wave of memes that it spawned. I was exposed to the backlash condemning mediatised hysteria before I was exposed to the original mediatisation; so - as is quite often the case in my left-wing, right-on echo chamber - I picked up the critical, alternative line, before even being aware of the issue which was being criticised.

Thursday 12^th March

This is the first day I am taking the virus seriously. In the afternoon I receive an email saying that my university term is delayed by a month - to May at the earliest. I then receive correspondence from friends who are finding themselves in similarly inconvenient situations – particularly ones abroad, and (maybe more pressingly) those who work in the health service. I have a strong urge to reach out to everyone I know to check that they are okay. I also can't tell if this is a reasonable reaction or not.

Today I wash my hands and notice myself doing it. Autopilot is out; panic mode begins.

Friday 13^th March

It is my last day at language school and I cannot concentrate: I feel worried about BJ’s callous approach to managing Corona’s spread, about people who cannot afford to stop going to work, and frankly most worried about my Granny.

The school I've been going to is keen to stress that it will not be closing – everything will carry on as usual, until someone in the school gets ill. Firstly, if one person is ill, I’m fairly confident that everyone else will be too, and secondly (judging by China, Italy & France), give it a few days and I suspect they won’t actually get much of a say in the matter. Thank God I'm out of there: Tchüssi, Leute!

When I get home in the afternoon, my flatmate’s shift (at a local pub) has just been cancelled, and she doesn’t think she will be able to pay the rent. She's also been to the supermarket and says there was a strange atmosphere, and no veggies left bar tomatoes (which NGL are a fruit). Fortunately, our other two flatmates are both away for the weekend so we are left alone together to undergo our first Isolation Bonding Session (IBS). This is a phenomenon that I expect to experience increasingly often over the next weeks/months. IBS arise from the global pandemic providing non-stop news updates and a socio-political experiment playing itself out in our reality, resulting a never-ending source of conversation. One can speculate for hours, as well as spend unhealthy amounts of time on the internet, in a guilt-free, business-like manner. The odd moment of preoccupied, pondersome silence is tolerated, nay encouraged.

In the evening we watch a Polish film (with German subtitles teehee) called Cold War. That is a non-sequitur, but I highly recommend it. Arty :3

Saturday 16^th March

I spend the morning driving myself mad listening to the radio and perusing Twitter (I'm never really sure whether for more news or for light relief). In the afternoon I take myself on a walk to our local park. It is disconcertingly lively. Youths are just chilling; chatting and sitting around in… groups. I feel nauseated; judging them all as they are risking becoming dreaded Spreaders, but then spontaneously fall asleep in the sun under a tree (our IBS kept us up 'til 4am) and wake up feeling more tolerant.

However, later on my outraged flatmate reports social media evidence of house parties; Hypezig’s clubs have all been shut, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. The (now temptingly forbidden) party must go on. 

That evening I suggest we watch Ghost World because I think its ambience will be appropriate in the current climate, and will perhaps even prod us towards doing something vaguely creative. Instead, I find the film about a ghostly American suburb where nothing happens depressing, and just a bit boring. I don't recommend that one.

Sunday 15^th March

On top of everything else, today Donald Trump tested negative for Corona virus. With that potential silver lining gone, my flatmate and I try to lift our moods by penning a little song x. We intend to belt it from our balcony (Italian-style) once the inevitable isolation is officially imposed. In the meantime, we should probably practise if we are serious about going viral (ha! ha!).

Our other two Mitbewohner arrive home from their travels; now also appropriately sober about Corona. Before they left, we were still treating it as a source of amusement(!) One has been in Prague, where there are apparently warning signs everywhere and people are wearing masks. Upon return, she is shocked by the normality of Leben in Leizpig. I had taken myself on another walk earlier and thought the same thing; nothing looked any different. People were even BBQing (Grillparty in German). It felt like Spring.
My first day of the pre-semester induction course should have been tomorrow; but instead I will wake up on Monday morning to a passive-aggressive text from one of the newly-returned flatmates encouraging us all to be respectvoll and not leave plates out in our (permanently sparklingly clean) kitchen while the four of us are all stuck inside with nothing to do.
May the cabin fever commence.