Diary Entries

Today was the first day in 7 weeks since i have gone to school , I was really excited to go back to school and see all of my friends , and i am really happy to get back to learning in the classroom. i didn't really enjoy online school.

As a student my life has been a wild mess, it was difficult and I think it has damaged not just my school work but everyone in school right now. School holidays was different I couldn't go out, I couldn't see family and I felt alone without any friends and family around. This is my first day of school for 6 weeks now and it was awkward talking to my friends and teachers. Easter and Mother's day was annoying because I couldn't see anyone, for example my family was alone on Easter and it felt like a normal day. Now I zoom my aunty every day and my mum and dad zoom their friends for a drink and talk every week.

It's been ages since I've seen anyone during this pandemic and everything has been hard. Schools have started to become online, people have relied on technology for a while, but for me, I've been binging Rick and Morty on Netflix and have been playing a lot of videogames, I've been keeping in touch with my family relatives all across Sydney.

I am a student and it is my first day back at school from online learning, it has been six weeks from the last time I went to school. Mothers day was very different instead of my whole family together we had around 3 families at my grandmas' house. But personally my holidays weren't that different I stayed inside the whole time. The start of term two was different but still good.

My name is Hailee and I'm 12 years old. I am in year 7 at Marist Catholic College Penshurst. I have been in isolation for 7 weeks. Isolation hasn't been easy. I am an active girl and I have only been outside the house to walk the dog for exercise of a morning, when there are not to many people around. Although I have already missed an entire netball season and lots of Physical Culture lessons, I feel like I am luckier then most kids my age because I have a big backyard where I can play and run with the dog for exercise. I miss my friends and I miss my team sports but I know I have to put my health and safety and the health of my family first. My living situation is a bit different to some others. My Pop lives with us and he's in his 70s and my little sister is 6 and is a coeliac. That is an autoimmune disease. I can't risk getting out to help Mum with the groceries or to see my friends. Even now with phased schooling, I can't attend and I am still learning online. I have been learning online for 5 weeks. At first it was hard, scary even. I felt nervous and anxious every time I had to complete a task online. It was all new. I started to understand though, that every kid in NSW was in the same situation as me. Isolation hasn't been all bad. I have learned a lot about myself and my family. It has made me value them more. I know Covid-19 will end and isolation will lift. I also know that my generation has made history during this time. I am proud to be apart of that.

Stuck in isolation for 7 weeks finally coming back to school after all of this, it has definitely left a mark in my mind. We couldn't even see the nonnas we had to chat from the bottom of the balcony, not even a hug we couldn't get too close either. I am very grateful that I can see my friends today it's very cool after 8 weeks we go back to school seeing all our friends and all the teachers. It's the best.

Today is officially my 52nd day in isolation. I haven't left the house or seen any family or friends since the 21st of March. Life has been tough but I managed to get through it with my family. I have a family of six so there is not a lot of room. Every night we fight about what movie to watch. Being one of the middle children means that generally I am overwritten by my younger brothers and my older sister. Although the current times, I believe that some countries will rise as others fall. What I mean by that is some countries have greatly overcome the pandemic such as Italy and some will be recovering for decades after the pandemic such as the US.

My husband and I are both teachers. He is full-time and I am mostly casual. We have both had work the whole time the Covid-19 virus has been affecting NSW and so our 3 kids have also been going to school. It is hard for them, they are at school but most or their friends are not. It has been good for them to get out of the house though. We have all felt very safe in our area of SW Sydney. We were all at home for the 2.5 weeks of school holidays. We are blessed with a big house and a yard of 3/4 acre with beautiful big trees and lots of space. It was not hard to be home. After living in Tanzania for the last 4.5 years, we are used to being a family, amusing ourselves, playing games together and being creative with our time. For us, the whole situation has not been too bad. We do miss seeing friends and family and being able to be hospitable in our home. Normally we love to invite people over and share meals together. We reached out to our local community by starting a FB page. Not many have been in need around us though. We really enjoyed joining with the community in celebrating ANZAC day at the end of our drive. It was eerie, beautiful all at the same time. W e love doing church services via Zoom. People are interviewed about their lives and we get further into their story than we do over the usual cup of tea after the service. We have had many 'positives'.

I get woke by the screaming alarm in my ear, I reach over to turn it off as I lay there and the air around me grows colder. I wish to stay in bed forever but I know soon enough the lesson will start. I force my body to get out of bed and get ready, as I reef off the sheets on top of me the frozen air pierces my skin. Once I get up I go outside to eat breakfast with my dog and the birds. I go down the back to feed the chickens and collect eggs, the frosty ground melts under my step and the sun gives me warmth. I feed the dog and get my things ready for the online class. I wait staring at my computer for the class to start. There it is the only reason to be awake, I click on the chat, mute my microphone and turn off the camera. The teacher starts marking the roll to make sure everyone is there, before she starts going on about the lesson. There are so many distractions around me and I try my hardest to stay focused, the work is mocking me and I try to motivate myself to do it all. I email the work to the teacher and go back to bed to watch Netflix and eat. This continues on during the day. Finally my parents and brothers get home from work as essential workers, we all sit down, have dinner and go to bed ready to do it all again tomorrow.

School. Thats what us kids revolve around. These days, That's all there is. So this is a supposed to be a documentary history thing, But nothing is happening. Except school. I don't know, It seems like school is even more boring and trite than normal. Thank god that i'm at real school now, But all I'm doing is doing stuff on quotev. I dunno what to do.\ so yeah. History sucks baiii