By Claris Lee

I once interviewed a remarkable person on his perspectives of COVID-19, and how he would describe the pandemic in one word.

He answered me: Awakening.

That made me think a lot. One simple word yet it has such a deep meaning to it.

COVID-19 and the Movement Control Order (MCO) have taught us many of life's precious lessons.

I remembered vividly the moment the government announced whether to extend the MCO. Almost three months of MCO had passed and everyone was so curious if MCO would be lifted or not. My family and I quickly switched on to the news.

The suspense was unbearable. When the prime minister announced we were moving into the recovery phase, everyone jumped out of our seats, excited and happy. School was starting on July 22, replacing online classes and surprisingly I was looking forward to it!

I would be able to meet all my friends again after so long! Although my face fell when I learned that we had to wear masks and keep a 1 meter distance, I was still excited, nevertheless.

A difficult new norm, but I knew that this would be the best for me and everyone else. As the saying goes, "It's better be safe than sorry."

If I could return to school, it also meant I could finally go out to the malls and dine in at restaurants, as I read from somewhere these activities involve low to medium risks if we adhere to the SOPs.

I made a mental note to speak to my mom about it. Overjoyed, I ran upstairs, my face beaming with happiness.

The first day of school finally arrived. I woke up at 6 am, changed and quickly went down to have my breakfast. I was already beginning to feel exhausted because on MCO days I would usually wake up at 10 am, just on time for my class but now we must wake up four hours earlier. I stifled a yawn and quickly ate my breakfast. I equipped myself with a face mask and hand sanitizer (with >70% alcohol!) to ensure I was protected from the virus.

The ride to school was equally memorable. I stared out of the window and the view was spectacular as it was the first time I was going out after so many months.

We finally arrived at the designated drop-off point outside my school compound. Many teachers were helping to ease the traffic and aided the students. I walked past a temperature monitor at the entrance, and amazingly the TV monitor detected my temperature! Advanced technology indeed, I had never seen anything like that before!

The school flow was redesignated to allow only one way to walk to our classrooms. We had to follow the arrows and practice 1 meter social distance. Before I stepped into the class, we were told to sanitize our hands. Unlike what I thought it would be, there were 30 students instead of 15. Tables were positioned 1 meter apart from one another. I waved to my friends and quickly settled down.

Before our lesson started, our principal made the first announcement through the loudspeaker. She clarified to us about the new SOPs and assured us that the teachers would do their best to make us feel comfortable in the new norm.

We were introduced to a new break – the breather break! Our principal explained how breather breaks work. Whenever anyone experiences any difficulty in breathing, we could take a short break outside the class with the mask opened. I found this very thoughtful and useful. Barely an hour with the mask, I was already starting to get uncomfortable.

Prior to returning to school, I was imagining it would be very eventful, but the day passed on smoothly. Classes went on as usual except that we were not allowed to have group activities. I gave up talking after a while as my voice seemed muffled behind the mask. My friends couldn't really hear what I was saying!

For lunch, to reduce the movement of students, we were not allowed to go to the canteen. We stayed inside the classroom and our teachers served us with pre-packaged food. Our usual plates and cutleries were replaced with recyclable plastic containers and plastic cutleries. Although this is good for COVID-19 prevention, sadly we accumulate a lot of plastic containers which is bad for the environment.

Soon it was time to go home. Students were assigned to wait at specific places to ease the congestion. I felt so exhausted after such a long day in school. Upon returning from school, I had another set of rules to follow at home. I had to leave my bags outside to minimize risk to my family members. I followed dutifully as this new routine would ensure we keep safe.

This experience would stay in my mind for a very long time. Awakening is a very good word to describe the COVID 19 experience.

For me, my one word for COVID 19 would be: Reflection. Time for us to reflect the good and the bad and how important it is for us to go through this together. I hope we will get past this soon.

(Claris Lee, a 10-year-old Primary 4 school girl, would like to thank Uncle Amar-Singh HSS for the interview opportunity and inspiring her to keep writing. Her class teacher eventually presented each student with a stainless fork and spoon to replace the plastic cutleries. Claris thought it was a brilliant idea to reduce plastic wastage.)