These are strange times

It started innocently enough - in China -In a story sensationalized by the Daily Mail and with just a squeak of a mention in CNN, if at all. As Daily Mail is my first go to source of news every morning, the darknet of the Corona virus was giving Wuhan a bad name and had shed spotlight on the supposedly disgusting wet market of all exotic meats under the sun that the Wuhan residents seem to be so fond of.

As days went on, things started to change - little by little but the no of infections started to spread and the number of deaths were rising. Here in the USA, the virus’s namesake was the source of many jokes - most notably how some dumbos were emptying all Corona beer bottles into the sink. We smiled and laughed then. Thinking back, maybe it was nervous laughter.

This was back then in early January....Wuhan was still the epicenter of the outbreak and Hong Kong as well as Taiwan were reporting their first few cases. We seemed to be insulated from them being so far away  in Houston. Folks were getting the Chinese New Year celebrations ready and school life carried on as usual.

My first cause for alarm was when Martin was about to go on a business trip in mid February and I was asked to get some disinfecting spray as well as gloves for his plane ride - just in case. The pharmacies were out of them and on Amazon, you could not get them in stock unless you were prepared to pay an arm and a leg. At about the same time, a friend from school had an acquaintance who could get surgical masks as well as N95 masks. The word got around the Malaysian/Singaporean community in our school and we promptly placed our orders. I think at the time, we were having the first inkling that this was not going away and our sense of urgency and preparedness set in.

Slowly but surely, I started to buy the disposable gloves, disinfecting wipes and since hand sanitizers were clearing off the shelves, I bought the ingredients needed to make our own sanitizers i.e rubbing alcohol, Aloe Vera gel by the bottles - always trying to anticipate and staying a step ahead. Within our community, we would inform each other if a supermarket or store had hand sanitizers in stock, or we would show each other our pantry to see if we had missed out on the essentials. Letting the panic slowly overtake my senses, I started placing orders for Germicides, Chlorox as well as disinfecting cleaners. Martin was already in Germany at this point in time - and must have wondered about the huge charges on this credit card.

I also started to buy pasta, rice, canned food, toilet paper, bottles of water ( the big gallon bottles were all sold out, so I bought loads of smaller drinking bottles). Our garage was slowly filling up with goods, the pantry was filling up.

Then one picture of a lady in Singapore who had loaded her cart full of instant noodles hit the internet and this struck a chord with me till today. It was not the toilet paper hoarding that would be the sign that this virus was upon us but rather this instant noodle lady. In Australia, the toilet paper hoarding had begun. Germany began reporting a spike in the number of people being infected. Alarmingly close to where Martin is.

In school, we were seeing hand sanitizers being in installed everywhere and the mantra about washing your hands for at least 20 seconds to the tune of Happy Birthday was being implemented. Some cases were appearing in the USA but the sense of urgency did not yet arise.

Martin arrived back from Germany on the 6th of March and I remember being apprehensive as to whether it was safe to kiss or hug him. Martin thought at the time that wearing a mask was overrated (me thinks that he was too embarrassed to wear them) and we went out to celebrate my 51st Birthday at a fancy steak house in City Center. Little did we know that that would be one of the last times we would be patronizing a restaurant for a long time to come.

A week later, Martin who had ignored all my pleadings to remain at home due to the virus now appearing in Brazos Bend County (not too far away from our county) appeared at our doorstep around lunchtime because HR had sent a memo asking everyone who had travelled abroad in the last 2 weeks to go straight home. It was about 200 folks sent home that day.

It is hitting closer to home. Some feeling of uncertainty has started to swell up in me and everyone. We started to take a step back with the normal way of greeting. No kisses on the cheeks with my Latina friends. During a house viewing for example, Martin preferred to not shake the realtor’s hand - just to be on the safe side. On the same day, Marc-Harris had a play date with a bunch of friends at a trampoline park and I remember feeling very uneasy at the large number of people there.

School carried on but now posters were appearing everywhere advising the kids as well as the parents that clinking shoes or touching elbows were the better way to greet each other. I found both methods off putting preferring to Namaste them instead or to greet them with my right hand placed on the heart and bowing my head down slightly - the Islamic appropriate Malaysian style of greeting. Nevertheless, our school carried on much to the chagrin of some moms. Public schools decided to extend the mid term break for an additional week - making our private school a safer place to be.

One of the last lunches I had was with a good friend at Phat Eatery - normally crowded but this time, we could get a table straight away. My days were spent stocking up again and again - to the point of exhaustion.

Alas, the school succumbed to the pressure and decided to close the school starting on the 16th March. That Friday 13th was then the last day of school, I attended the parent choir and we video recorded our efforts singing Sweet Child Of Mine. It is a bittersweet memory now to me because unbeknownst to us, we would not be singing together again till the end of the academic year.

Back home, the realization has not really sunk in - felt like we were just home for the weekend, we even went out for pizza! How careless we were...

And so, virtual learning begins......