It was just another ordinary day in February 2020 when I was Form 5. When I got home, my father told me about a new virus outbreak in Wuhan, China that was spreading like wildfire. I later learned that this virus was called 2019-ncoV which stood for 2019 Novel Coronavirus, a mutation of the SARS Coronavirus. It seemed that the virus had been spreading since late December 2019 and was strangely very deadly. I thought nothing of it at the time as Malaysia had not recorded any cases yet. Fast forward to a few weeks later, me and my friends taking computer science didn't have class that day, so we talked about this outbreak. They strangely knew very little and we were thinking about scenarios that could play out if the situation were to escalate any further. Surely enough, it did and as we were preparing for the sports day parade, we were met with news of all outdoor activities being suspended, thus ending our sports day plans.
The following week during the semester break, it was reported that COVID-19 cases were rapidly increasing in Malaysia. The newly appointed Prime Minister at the time, Tan Sri Muhyiddin bin Yassin later on televised his first COVID-19 speech and announced a Movement Control Order(MCO) which would mean that everyone had to stay at home until further notice. School was suspended for a few months and I soon began to regret ever wanting to take a long holiday. I'm not joking, once you've sat down and rested for a long time with nothing to do, it gets annoyingly desolate. This was worsened when my PlayStation 3, which I used for 9 years finally broke for the first time leaving me with no games to play. It was eventually fixed partially but I was stuck on a constant 240p resolution which made it more difficult to okay games. Due to this, I abandoned it completely and began the hunt for a new game console. During this time, a monitor lizard broke into my house and it took the firemen (heavily armored) about an hour to capture it.
Between this and when online classes started, everyday was excruciatingly the same and I have to say, these were the worst moments of my life as I was constantly seeking for things to go back to normal. School eventually went online and it was a lot better and later on went to physical lessons after the COVID-19 cases dropped to single digits. Unfortunately, the cases fort worse over time and we went back to online. The next scheduled physical lessons would be in January, before our examination. Moving into January, I felt as if I was released from prison as I finally returned to long term physical lessons until my examination. My grandmother who was my only grandparent left alive passed away during this period and I attended the first funeral in my entire life. She was 89 when she died and I was consoled by the fact that she had been suffering for years as she grew older. Her passing sparked the beginning of my growth in faith. During this time, we also had our "appreciation ceremony". During the examination week, I felt nervous but there was a part of me that was happy and confident which would turn out to symbolize something. I also recall every english teacher telling me that it would be "sap sap sui" for me before the english exam. Me being born in a Hakka family understood what they meant but I didn't let it get to my head.
Another few boring months passed by and I decided on getting a Nintendo Switch which only had 2 versions at the time so I saved up since then. I then received news of an OLED Model coming out for the Nintendo Switch in October, so I decided to let my SPM results decide whether or not I would get it later on that year. I then received my SPM results where I scored 3As, 4Bs, 2Cs and 1D, which concluded my perfect record of 3As during every major exam. It also solidified my Nintendo Switch ownership later that year. I signed up for Form 6 straight after that as I had been planning to go there eversince Form 4. Out of my results, I never expected to get a B for History as I was a failing student for that subject so it must've been my anxiety that drove me to make a breakthrough. Following these events, I was instantly enrolled in Maktab Sabah once again but this time in the mysterious part which I had only ever been to once during an art exhibition. I was met with a few old friends and mostly new ones but still online.
Things would get better as vaccines for the virus would be developed around mid-2021 and restrictions would be loosened more and more. Physical lessons would then begin to take place but only to be ended just before my Semester 1 exam due to an outbreak in the main Maktab Sabah area. In October 2021, I indeed obtained my Nintendo Switch which turned out to bring a ton of benefits for me and my family as it allowed us to watch youtube including online masses on the TV and I could finally play games with my niece. It was as soon as physical lessons started that my grandmother's sister, my grandaunt died at the age of 94 after a long life and being bedridden for almost a decade with glaucoma. All her children were living in Australia at the time so I was entrusted with carrying her picture. I would take my Semester 1 exam with no drawbacks and continue on safely till today.
So after a long story, I've finally made it back to where I am now, exhausted after another long day and happy that things are going to start returning to how they were before the pandemic. A long and tiring 2 years full of sorrow and joy added with disappointment and hope is finally ending. If things truly start to go back to normal, I can proudly say to younger generations that I was able to survive a global pandemic that wiped out billions of people around the world but gained a lot of new values during that time.
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