Germany, Zeven: Lotta Corleis, 18, student
1 | Essay-collection by students of a 12th grade English course
Lockdown is a strange situation no one ever prepares you for. Consequently, when they announced in the news how Germany would go into an indefinite period of isolating everyone whose job is not relevant to society my first reaction was anger. How dare this corona virus destroy all the plans I had made now that I had finally turned 18?! Ali, whose massive cat body was …
… covering about 40% of my body looked at me with a glare that seemed to say: „Hey hooman, what’s your problem? You got food, you got a bed, just enjoy it while it lasts.“
That was when it hit me: This lockdown did not have to be a universal punch trying to ruin my summer. It might actually be a chance that might never come up again. Therefore, I decided to quit the pity party and start this journey towards finding myself, a fat and furious companion at my side.
I am not going to lie, starting off my new quarantine life was quite hard in the beginning. Suddenly, you had to set up your own rules, define your day all by yourself. Luckily, Ali was an extraordinary idol to look up to. After one week of moving only in a radius of about 15 meters, however, I felt like I should adapt my cat’s philosophy in a way that I would not have to be flown to school in a helicopter once this quarantine was over.
Hence, I started doing cardio and yoga on a regular basis, improving my strength and my balance. To a certain degree, I could understand Ali’s disapproving looks stabbing my back. Seeing me in poses in hommage of his greatest enemy must have felt like the ultimate betrayal: down dog, up dog, walking dog, dancing dog. I suppose he would have preferred the dead dog. Considering his statue, I was nevertheless convinced that by now, I would be much more likely to land on my feet after falling down than this judgy barrel had ever been.
And even though my poor cat was already flabbergasted by the life choices I had made at the time, I had to disappoint him once more: I became a vegetarian. In face of this declaration, not only did cat-sized jaws drop, I could also have sworn my meat-loving dad was merely inches away from disinheriting me. No big deal, I thought. How hard could it be to provide the vegetarian alternatives myself? The following weeks were filled with me jumping away from the stove after heating up the oil way too much or my sister stating how these lentils/quinoa/ tofu looked/ smelled/ tasted like they were not the first I forced to „enjoy“ them. In consequence, one may understand my overflowing joy when my chilli sin carne was considered to be „quite edible“.
In a nutshell, these months of self-isolation really helped me to get to know myself better. Through cooking, working out and sleeping a lot I slowly but surely got back on track.
Finishing off this period of isolation strong, I rolled out my yoga mat on one of the last mornings before school began. I saw the sun rising over the forest through my window as I was rising in my one-legged side plank, Vasisthasana. As instructed, I looked up at the ceiling, smiling as bright as the morning sun. And as I fell over, futilly trying to keep my balance, I am very sure to have heard something like a quarter-persian malicious meow, saying: nice try.
