journaling

Diary Of A Locked Kid By Alice Pak, 10 It all started on Thursday, March 12th. At my Jungle Book Musical practice, my teacher, Mrs. Frost, had some news to share. She looked around, a very sorrowful expression on her face, and then murmured something to another teacher. The other teacher’s face also fell into a frown, but she called us to gather around. As we gathered around Mrs. Frost, she took a deep breath and said, “Students, I know this is going to shock you, and you are probably going to be VERY sad, but I have to tell this to you now. We are going to have a school lockdown for three weeks, and it starts tomorrow.” There was a stunned silence. Then one of the students nervously raised her hand, and asked what a lockdown was. It was obvious that Mrs. Frost was not very comfortable with the topic, but she explained that a lockdown was when a social place was closed, for example, our school, and nobody attended it for a few weeks. In our case, three weeks. She also said that we would have online learning, on our chromebooks. Now, everyone was thinking about another thing; they would not be able to see their friends! Some people burst into tears. Some had sad expressions engraved on their faces. Others still looked confused and puzzled. But nobody was happy, even though that meant missing school. Thursday, March 12th, evening When I came home from school that day, I burst into tears. I didn’t want school to end, even if it was temporary! It was so fun at school! All the crafts, books, projects, and other fun activities would have to end. All because that cruel little virus! All because of him, school had to end! I was very upset, so it took my parents a couple of minutes to calm me down. I was very unhappy about the school lockdown, and even if it was not forever. Tonight I went to bed, thinking about what I should tell our friends, because they didn’t know yet. Friday, March 13th Today at school we had our Jungle Book Musical. It turned out to be quite magnificent; the audience was constantly laughing and commenting. The cast was also amused sometimes, and they chuckled lightly. The staff loved it also. I was having so much fun, I even forgot about the lockdown… for a while. But when we were back in our classes, and my math teacher handed me a pack of homework, I remembered about it, and went back to my gloomy self. When school ended, and I was saying bye to my friends, I realized how much the coronavirus has changed in this world… even if it wasn’t a good thing. Saturday, March 14th I woke up, and remembered what day it was. The first day of Break! That thought stirred some sadness and excitement in me. My mom went around the corner, and smiling at me she said, “ here you are! Happy first day of Break! I have something for you.” She handed me a suitcase-like box. I opened it and saw that it contained a machine that seemed to be able to do something. After a minute of further inspection, I found out that it was called a KumiKreator, and that it braided bracelets. Now that was something! I quickly mastered the KumiKreator, and started making bracelets. The machine would quickly make the threads trade places in a specific order; then, when the bracelet was done, the machine clicked three red lines together, and you had to take off the finished bracelet and put on the clips and… Magnifique! I made four, and they came out fantastically! My break seemed not to be that bad, so far. Sunday, March 15th Today, I was ready to have a fresh start on my day. Now, my sadness was slowly melting into eagerness and possibilities. I ate up my breakfast and then we decided to go to a Turkish Marketplace called U.S International Foods, which also contained Russian food, which we loved. We bought a lot of Russian and Turkish food like sausages called “Kolbasa”, different fish, Russian saltless pretzels called “Bubliki”, Turkish bread called “Lavash”, candy, chocolates, and mouth-watering Russian ice cream. As soon as we were out of the shop, we each took an ice cream and ate it all up. Then when we arrived home, we took on the hard job of loading up our refrigerator. Then we ate our soup, and went to Gerspacher Park. We played there for a while, and then went back to our house, and went to sleep. What a great day it was! Monday, March 16th Today I felt a bit unsure about staying at home. Even though I knew that we were having a lockdown, I was so used to going to school. Instead, I decided to play the piano. I sat down at our beautiful black “ Pearl River” and started to play all I knew. First I played my small jazz program, then I played “Lady green Sleeves”, followed by Ronda, Minuet, and my Sonatina. I managed to play all 5 pages of the Sonatina! It was very pleasant. My mom is my music teacher: she taught me all of that. My dad played the piano too, so after I finished playing, he sat down and played his music; two of his Waltzes, Nocturne in E flat, another Nocturne by Chopin, Mazurka in A minor, and a French Tango to rival me. Of course, neither was better than the other, so we gave up on our music competition. But my mom enjoyed telling us, especially my dad, that we were playing the wrong note. Tuesday, March 17th Today I already got used to the fact that I was not going to school for a few weeks. Instead, I busied myself with the opportunity to make so many arts and crafts during this “off school time”.

My COVID-19 Experience Journal By Sophie Harris, 14 Today is Tuesday, March 17, 2020, and it was our third day of online school. School has been canceled since last Thursday b/c of corona. It’s not as bad as I thought but I miss being able to go outside and see my friends. I appreciate it more now. It’s scary because corona is shutting down a lot of things and also sad because a lot of people are getting sick. I’m disappointed because our trip to Mexico for Pesach was canceled and we still don’t know when school will open back up again. I actually like the online classes and they give me something to do while sitting at home. I also like doing school at home b/c I can relax more from the comfort of my own home. Today while I had some free time before my next class, I did yoga and a workout with my mom and I really enjoyed it. After math, which was my last class of the day, Sascha and I walked to Central Park. Sascha wore a mask (my dad couldn’t find the rest we had at home) and I covered my nose and mouth with a scarf (that’s what my dad, who’s a doctor, told me to do lol) and wore latex gloves. We went into the playground area next to the Met b/c there weren’t too many people there and it’s really pretty. It was golden hour and there was this tree with white blossoms on it that was beautiful. I was really happy to get out of the house. Sascha and I sat on a bench away from people and we read. Then we went on the swings and talked. I also made some tik tok videos to some of the dances that I know. The rest of the night, after I showered and ate dinner, I relaxed and facetimed with my camp friend, Sophia K. Now I’m in my bed writing this (it’s 9:36 pm) and my parents are coming in to put me to bed in 5 minutes so now I’m going to read for the rest of my time. I’m reading a book called The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, which has to do with one of my favorite series, The Mysterious Benedict Society. Also, fun fact–I’m wearing my blue-light glasses that I ordered last week that block the blue light from straining your eyes when you look at screens since we do school on a computer 🙂 Good night😴 Today is Wednesday, March 18, 2020 (our fourth day of online school) and I had a pretty good day today. Most of my classes were on zoom, which I enjoy. I did a workout with my sister, too. I also worked on a drawing of a bridge I started. I want to try to plan to do more things at home after school so I don’t get too bored. I’m feeling scared about everything going on right now, but I think I’m doing a good job of staying positive. I started a trial of Disney Plus and so far really like it. I have to go to bed right now so that’s it for tonight 🙂 It’s now almost 11:00pm on Sunday, March 22. I had a pretty good weekend considering the circumstances with corona and everything. Yesterday Sascha and I made apple crisp and it was delicious. We also built a fort in my room because we had nothing better to do. It was actually really cool. It was fun to hang out in there. We brought in snacks and lots of things to do. We even tried sleeping in it but it got really cold for some reason and super uncomfortable so we left at like 4:30am. Today we made peanut butter cookies, chilled, and for dinner, Sascha and I made fried rice. We were proud of ourselves for making it and it turned out really well. We also went on a walk with our dad (we wore gloves and masks). The streets were empty. Barely a driving car in sight. We went into the playground next to the Met, which was empty. The white blossom trees were still there and even more beautiful. Even though it was cold outside, it was a very enjoyable walk. I took some pictures of things I saw in the street and in the park that were pretty. Sascha and I went on the swings while my dad watched. Then we were going to go into the park, but it seemed a little bit too crowded, so we didn’t. It felt great to get some fresh air. I have to go to sleep now, so goodnight. Today is Monday, March 23, 2020. I just found out our Israel trip that was supposed to be in May was canceled. I’m really upset, and so is everyone else. We all saw it coming, I feel, but now that it’s official, I’m really sad. I was looking forward to it and I heard that this was supposed to be an incredible and unique way to experience Israel, even though I’ve been there more than ten times with my family. It’s all hitting me now. I really, really hope, please Hash-m, that camp doesn’t get canceled. I just want to go back to normal life where nobody is getting sick. I’m doing fine with the whole staying at home thing, and am finding things to do. I hope that after this we all appreciate the little things in life more, because I know I will, bh. This morning I had a smoothie that I made and my mom made me eggs. I had math first, but I just face timed my friend Hallie and we did a worksheet together since it said our teacher, Ms. Brown, is not well. I hope she is okay and that she doesn’t have corona. Our test that was supposed to be on Wednesday is also postponed. I