Quarantine Experience

By Kawayan Bolick Ong

Friday, three weeks ago, school officially got cancelled until spring break. Everything got canceled, literally everything: all my plans with my friends, trips I was going to take during spring break, my dance classes, the swim season, shows, even movie releases. At first, it didn't feel like anything changed, you could go outside and still see people walking around. Those were the days when the weather was nice. But when it would rain, it was really hard; you had to stay inside, you had no choice because there was nowhere you could go.

Dance classes are a big part of my daily life. All of my classes have been canceled for the rest of the season. I'm really sad about it because I feel like this school year I've grown a lot as a dancer, with what I learned at school and at Lines Ballet Dance Center. I’ve taken an online dance class, danced to almost every song on Just Dance, and have had multiple dance parties in my room, the living room and on the sidewalk. I'm looking into taking some more modern and contemporary online dance lessons with Lines Ballet Dance Center.

Swimming also became a big part of my life after joining the swim team at school. We practiced everyday after school. We had swim meets coming up and other events, but they all had to be canceled. The same thing goes for surfing. I extremely miss being in the ocean, and I was really excited for the Brown Girl Surf season to start in March. The Brown Girl Surf community is filled with so many amazing, sweet people, that I was really looking forward to being around and surfing together.

Even though school closed, it isn't canceled, I still have school work that I have to do. My teachers are posting assignments online and setting up Zoom meetings for the class, making sure that we understand the lessons. I kind of like it, being able to do work at home, at the time I want to and at my own pace. When I'm not doing school work, I spend my time organizing my room, listening to music, painting, coloring, playing piano, watching Netflix, and video calling with friends and family. My friends and I had a Zoom meeting a few days ago and it was really nice to see their faces and to talk to them. Most of the time we talked about whatever we could. There was a point during the call when we just started doing our own thing; even though we weren't talking to each other, it was still nice knowing that there was someone that I could talk to.

I know that this is a really scary time for everyone, especially for those who can't afford or don't have access to certain resources. I'm mostly feeling really anxious, especially after hearing that “shelter in place” is lasting until May and that school is cancelled for the rest of the school year. This means that I won't be able to see any of my friends, teachers and family whom I extremely miss. When I'm feeling anxious, going outside helps, even if it's just for a little bit. I hope that everyone is doing their best to stay safe and healthy.

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Kawayan Bolick Ong is a part of the new generation of Filipino American artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a cast member of the Kularts production In the Belly of the Eagle: Man@ng is Deity.