Of Covid and Spring

Hello Hello Hello!

Pre-lockdown

Me

Spring!

It has been a while, I know! I didn’t post anything in the month of April due to numerous reasons which include but are not limited to: being swamped with school work and being indoors. In my last post I was really determined to go out more in the subsequent months. I didn’t know that Covid-19 was planning a worldwide tour. Alas, mid March, things were moved online and I have been mostly indoors since then.

Prior to the lockdown, I took a weeklong class  where we made cardboard masks and walked round downtown capturing moments. Visualize 17 adults with winter coats and backpacks walking and counting each step out loud, then stopping abruptly to take random pictures and you have seen us. At a point we skipped. Some passersby even joined us or tried to confuse our counting. It was fun and liberating because I would never have considered that at this my big age I would be skipping and hopping with other adults in broad daylight in public.

Downtown

Studio Bell

Us walking

More walking

We were also facilitators of a forum on architecture called the Cafe West. It was very informative and exciting because there was a mixture of students and professionals. Our final assignment involved creating video manifestos of what we thought architecture was or could be. I also volunteered for the Design Matters lectures that took place.

Feeling through Architecture

Facilitating

Sadly my outside ventures came to a halt shortly after as classes were moved online.  I was a little bummed because I had gotten a list of places to visit and I had already began making plans. But what is a plan when my health is more important? Please I sat at home. The first online class we had was four hours non stop. Usually, during the in-class sessions, we had intermittent breaks. However, my professor seemed to forget about this and just powered through the four hours. At a point I gave up and fell asleep at my desk chair. I cannot come and go and die. I woke up after the zoom meeting had ended. Thank God the class was recorded. Subsequent classes were better handled and I developed a working school-life balance. I will say though that I had very little sleep this period because of all the assignments, presentations and submissions. The professors had higher digital expectations because the physical model making parts of the assignments were removed due to covid.

After school, I decided to explore my baking side because in times like this, all our hidden talents must come to light. I did a bit of exploring and made meatpies and chin chin. My first meatpie attempt was a disaster because I used too much butter. This made the shell crumbly like butter cookies. If I was making cookies this would have been a hit, but I was not making cookies. Alas, I have no nice pictures of my baking to show. I also made braids for a friend (shameless plug- I can make hair). My family also did some sorting and found several throwback images that I featured in. Thank God for growth.

My sisters and I. Spot ME!

I finished a couple of series on Netflix like the Great Canadian Baking Show, Brooklyn 99 season 7, Skinny girl in transit season 6 and many more. I also re-read some of my favourite novels. Right now, I am taking advantage of all the free time I have. I am using it to learn and practice software for school, reading, sleeping and watching shows.

I am officially done with the first year of grad school. It was not easy, but I enjoyed it. I still have some years to go, but I definitely feel better about them. I have acclimatized and have even accepted that winter is inevitable. I am very thankful for family, for friends and for all the people I met this year. They made my location transition easier and more bearable.

During this pandemic period, we are all in this, and I am grateful for the people who are risking their lives and working relentlessly for my own comfort and health. Please be safe everyone. Wash your hands, obey instructions and if you are ill, please stay home.

Till next time,

Bye!