Life during Movement Control Order (MCO) Due to Covid-19

Hey readers (I hope I still have readers). How is everyone doing? I hope everyone stay safe, stay home. I lose count on how many days has it been since the first day of MCO here in Malaysia but we are approaching the end of phase 3 and Phase 4 for this MCO is starting from 29 April 2020 till 12th May 2020. 

Life during this MCO period is a mix of everything. At some point it feels good and torturing at the same time. There have been a lot of stuff going around the media especially on the effects of this MCO. Personally, I believe this action is taken by our government for the good of everyone. Corona Virus or COVID-19 as it is commonly refers to is not a joke. To be honest, I have my own personal view on its effect on everyone's life and everything, mine too.

As a high school teacher myself, honestly it is something that does terrifies me. We are always made to believe that the end of the world will be signed with the earth shaking, rain of fires coming from the sky and so on. But then again, how do we know for sure that it is how the end of the world going to be? I am not a specialist of religions or the bible but then, I do believe that all those things that we are made to believe, mostly comes from human's words and there are indeed signs mentioned yet still, deep down I believe all of the truth about the apocalypse and stuff is exclusively known to God alone. Who are we to tell? Now don't get me wrong. This are all just my personal view and my own personal thinking. I have no intention in twisting the facts or any religious beliefs. The reason for why I am putting all these into words as mentioned above is because I have the fear that while we believe that this may be a temporary period, like who knows this is actually the end of everything, the extinction of human civilisation?

Going back to the 'me as a high school teacher', let me lay out how it all was  before and during this MCO period.

The public school break 14 - 22 March 2020

MCO Phase 1: 18 - 31 March 2020

MCO Phase 2: 1 - 14 April 2020

MCO Phase 3: 15 April - 28 April 2020

MCO Phase 4: 29 April - 12 May 2020

From the list above, the first MCO was implemented even before the school break begins and it is entering the end of Phase 3 and beginning of Phase 4 soon.

During the school break, I was super excited (Before the MCO come into the picture) because I managed to mark all of the exam papers so I would not have to spend my one week school break marking the exam papers. As an exchange, I brought some papers and stuff to do my classroom decoration stuff. I did all the decoration stuff without printers and manually sketch and trim all of them during the school break. As the first MCO phase come into the picture, I put those decoration stuff down as I have only a few papers left. This was actually the time when I had the thought of like what if the school is never going to open? What are all these decorations stuff are for then? And that was also the moment when I had the thought of, what if this is actually how the world end? There are so many things popping out in my tiny little mind. Just so you know, this was also during the month of Lent. I attended my last mass at St. Joseph Cathedral Kuching, Sarawak just a few days before the MCO was announced and I am grateful for that. The fact that we are no longer allowed to be gathered in public due to the pandemic, we are privileged to have the mass streamed online from home and it has become our new normal now. We participate in the daily mass and also conduct daily rosary or Divine Mercy prayer with the whole family everyday. This is one of the bright side of this MCO. We felt blessed.

Handwritten everything

I printed out the template when I was in Bintulu and brought it home to do the sketches

More... Classroom Decoration Stuff

If you ask me whether I have good response or the opposite of this MCO thing, my answer would be I have both. I may have the opposite view on it because I feel like the freedom and life I used to have before this all happens is taken away from me but honestly, that was just me being selfish and not thinking straight. If someone is wise enough to know the reason behind this MCO, they would know that it is not a burden but an initiative made to save our lives. This is the main reason for why we should not take this period of MCO negatively. I am aware that this MCO has also become a financial burden to most of us but still, what would all the money meant to us if we are going to be dead due to the virus? Worst come to worse, what if by not having this period we may have carry a virus that could kill people around us, those whom we love? It would be more painful that being kept home. I am also aware that saying this may make you think that I am lucky to have food and home to live in and I would not deny that there are more people sufferings out there having no food to eat or place to live. That is why, we must work together to help them. Apart from God, we human only have each other to depend on after all despite of having differences in terms of skin tone, ethnicity, nationality, religions and more to go into the list. That is why, never harm others because what human in need is a human indeed and God is what makes it all possible.

We had out Palm Sunday Mass via Live Streaming

I am not going to elaborate more on that because I believe we all have what we have to say on the issue and I respect your views and beliefs. 

As the title of this entry written there, I am going to make this post as to share on what I have been doing throughout this MCO period. I mentioned it earlier that during the school break period I was busy doing decoration stuff for my classroom and sort of finished 90% of the materials I brought home. As the MCO is officially announced, I am taking the chance to slowly read the one and only novel I brought home from my workplace in Bintulu. It was a great novel from my favourite author, Adam Silvera and I kind of having a personal connection with the author simply because we share the same name... hahaha to that... I actually bought the novel back in 15 December 2018 but I never really had the time to read it till the end (being busy may just be an excuse). So, since I told myself to finish it during this MCO period, I started all over and was hooked up with it to the extend that I do not feel like finishing it. This is actually one of my biggest problem when reading a good book, I purposely slow down the reading just because I did not want it to end too soon, which it eventually come to an end. Having nothing much to do and finishing the book at the same time really made me feel lonely. I was struggling to find things to do or things to read. I browse through google for free pdf, audible audiobook, youtube and even had the thought of buying some books online. None of it really make me feel coming back to that normal track of life but I did it anyway. I purchased 3 new novels online, something similar to the What If Its Us novel by Adam Silvera. I bought them online from https://www.bookurve.com/ They have a huge number of books from many different genres. I actually paid RM206 for the three novels and I am still waiting for it to arrive at my doorsteps. The delay is truly understandable due to this MCO period. I contacted them asking about the updates and they were so friendly to entertain me. So, as for today , two of the book are still on its way with the courier service provider while the other one shall be delivered after the MCO is ended. Do you think that amount of money for three books worth it? If you want me to be honest, from the digit of the money of course I would say that it is expensive and those who are not into books may think that I am wasting my money. But this is book that we are talking about, knowledge and appreciating hardwork of the authors. So, nope. For me it is an investment because there are more people who are investing in gadgets, lifestyle, fashions, food and so on where they are willing to pay as much or more and I respect their choice. For me, my choice of investment is books.

My sis made this for her berbuka

Its a family business actually. We are providing caterings.

Bought Sushi King via Food Panda

Treating the family.

Ordered Pizza too for the family.

Waiting for the book to arrive is really a killing thing and if you have bought anything online during this MCO period, you would understand what I am trying to say. So, in my case... I bought books from the overseas and while purchasing stuff from inside the country via online platform cost us to wait longer than usual, imagine how long purchasing things from the overseas should arrive? Well, I am still patiently waiting. Hopefully it will be home by this week. Oh, anyways... To kill the time while waiting for the new books to arrive I actually asked my friend to return a book which I lend him about a year ago. I know I was being bad for asking him to return the book while he have not even reading them but I really need something to read, so I did and he sent it home. Thank you buddy. You are always welcome to borrow it again in the future. When I received the book, I was super happy because I have a new one to read while waiting for the books I purchased to arrive. The title of the book is Chicken Soup for the souls, Tough Time for Teens. I bought this one back in 2015 and have never read it. So, I told myself this time I must. Unfortunately, my biggest expectations on this book was crushed as I read page by page and I only read till story 13 out of 101 stories. I don't really like the way the stories are narrated because as much as they claimed that it is based on true story (And of course it is), I did not feel any connection when reading it. I am feeling tortured to even read one story per day but then I must finish what I started and I must make sure I did before the new books arrive so I would not have to put this one down before it even finish.

The book I am struggling to read.

This is one of the biggest reason I can hardly lend my book to people

My FAVOURITE book! Finished reading at 7.35 in the morning

This is the receipt for the online purchase. Can't wait!!!

Some other blessings that I feel during this MCO period is, I get to spend more time with my family while still able to conduct my teaching and learning online via the WhatsApp group and Google Forms. I know that not all of my kids in school will have the access to the lesson but the fact that I manage to do for more than half of them is more than enough to make me happy. As they said "All of the starfish landed on the shore will be dead and there is no way for us to be able saving them all but the moment you pick one and throw it back to the water makes a big difference."

These are some of the online lesson I have conducted.

I know that working 650 kilometres away from home limits me from spending more time and money with the family. I normally get to spend the most for about two or three weeks with the family, that is the longest and if I were to put it all together, I may only have spend about 2 or three months out of 12 months a year. That is the biggest challenge I have to live with as a high school teacher teaching the exam classes and with the distance of 650 kilometres away from home. So, at time like this I am trying my best to make sure we spent the time well, and we did so far, praise the Lord. I ordered some food for us and we spent our time for at least an hour or two everyday for daily prayers. That is one of the biggest blessings during this MCO.

Oh, I think I should also include this one here for my self record and remembrance. My 2 years contract with the Huawei phone actually ended last month, so if I were to keep paying for the same amount while the contract has ended, it would be some sort of a waste to me. So, I had in mind to get another phone with another 2 years contract. At least I know that I am paying the internet and mobile service for something right? So, after doing some research and asking around I had made up my mind to go for Iphone 11. Why I-phone? Well, I am more like a traditional and village kind of boy, so I always had the thought that I-phone is expensive and I can't afford them. However, there should be no harm in trying right? So after doing some calculation on the expenses and stuff, I have decided. It was not easy because no.1, their store was not really available during the MCO period so I really have to check them on google like almost everyday. No.2, I went there (It was just around 5 minutes away from home) and I could not proceed without a credit card because only Android is allowed for purchase without the credit card. I considered myself lucky since I applied for some credit card before the school break and they are all approved and that is the problem. I must handle the cards well. The biggest problem with the card is, it was sent to the school which located 650 kilometres away from me. After asking and telling, I am allowed to proceed with just the cards photo since the TAC is sent to my phone and it is under my name. Walla! Done! I got the phone with a new 2 years contract on 13 April 2020. I am still learning to use it because I am so used to android. If it goes well then perhaps I will try the camera for making vlogs in the future.

My new baby.

Please be kind. I am not familiar with the functions and all yet... hahaha

Now, this is the highlight of this long lengthy post. I am working on my very first English novel during this MCO period. I haven't decided the title yet but the story is there. The novel was actually initiated on 10-02-2020 yes, this year! I just wrote 1802 words at first and leave it, exactly the way I did to my 11 years old malay novel that has reached page 235 and yet haven't got an ending. After doing all as stated above, I decided to make full use of this MCO period where I actually continued with the writing during the MCO Phase 1, not knowing that it would be extended. I am glad that I took the chance to write because now that it has been a few weeks and Phase 4 is coming, I am truly blessed to know that I have written down 35,191 words as in today 26-04-2020. Wohoo!

I am really serious about getting it published. This time I am very serious about it that my instagram are mostly viewing posts on authors and publishing stuff, same goes with my google search engine and the youtube channel I am subscribing to. I am learning on how to write a good novel, what format should I go for, how to do self publish and all those things related to make the book goes on sale and be available in ebook and paperback. Just to think of it made my blood rush! If I can make this happen, I may want to work on a motivational book next. I had always wanted to be an author. I want to sell a book with my name on it. I want to show my students that dreams are free for everyone and if we work hard, we will surely make those dreams comes true. I am working on it. Do pray for me and do support me once the book is available in ebook and paperback version. I will update on the novel from time to time.

I posted this kind of thing each time I have finished writing for the day. To keep record of the progress. I am going to make it happen this time. Targeting at least 500 to 1000 words a day!

So, I think that would be it. Thank you so much for dropping by this blog. I am trying my best to write as much as I did when I first started this blog. I won't let it die. I will keep updating. Pray for me so I can finish the novel and get it published. If you have any informations on what should I know on self publishing do drop me a message okay. Follow me on my instagram at mewziqbeads and Facebook: Adamfi Dafi. Thank you everyone. Stay safe. Stay home. Make full use of this MCO Period! May this pandemic ends well, soon. May God Bless us all. Amen.

With Love,

Adam Geordrey

(Author to be)