#Coronadiaries 2: Collectively experiencing my personal burdens

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Tukwila, Wash. The agency said on its website that seeking treatment or preventive services for the virus would not adversely affect green card applicants.Credit...Jason Redmond/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

It's Thursday, March 19th, 2020.

5 days now since I last left our place, I'm surprised that I've been pretty okay with not being able to go out when up until last week I used to go out every single day. There's something new happening every single day so I guess having this psychological expectation in the back of your mind kind of keeps you looking forward to something.

I've spoken to my mother back home every day now which is also an update to our previous once a week if any routine.

Generally speaking, I'm finding a lot of relief in sharing so many of my own chronic emotional burdens with a whole lot more people these days. I haven't been able to go back to my country for over 4 years now and it's the longest time in my entire life that I've not seen my parents, family members, and my beloved home city. So much has changed for me since I left as a 25-year-old, and it's been tremendously difficult seeing my parents age solely via video-call conversations over a really bad internet connection. It's been hard being unable to travel freely as so many people do but also not having a clear answer on why I simply can't.

When air travel was affected drastically by the recent worldwide pandemic and eventually suspended in many parts of the world including where I live and where my family lives I found some relief in not having to worry about this being something I'm dealing with exclusively. Now and for the first time in forever, I'm not alone in this, and I don't have to have this conversation about my travel plans back home or the lack of it to everyone.

Yesterday, the USCIS, the immigration authority for those of you who may not be familiar, announced closing all of their in-person operations until at least the beginning of April, something that brought both anxiety and relief to me knowing that I'm not the only one affected by this closure.

Being a woman immigrant and a Muslim at this time and place hasn't been the easiest experience in the past few years, it comes with a lot of challenges on top of them is social isolation. Now for the first time, millions of people will be experiencing social isolation under a new guise and for a different reason, I'm learning about a new concept called social distancing.

#Coronadiaries: Day 2 at home in the US

I thought that going back to blogging and putting my thoughts out there can't be any more relevant considering this time and place. I wanted to share some of my thoughts while life slows down a little for the entire world in this very unique and uncertain moment. 

Today Monday, March 16th, 2020 is our first official work from home day in our city on the east coast of the United States, particularly for many of us who work in the field of education. Universities and schools as well as adult education centers such as my workplace had to shut down for the rest of the month and until a further notice. In my city, there are 9 cases confirmed of Covid 19, more people are waiting for their test results to come out. The city just announced halting non-essential businesss for the next 2 weeks.

People around are still going about their daily business as normal which I kinda understand although I don't nessecarily like, public transportation is not as busy as it usually is for a large metropolitan city like our's but it still isn't at the level of cleanliness or sanitation I wish it was at.

The one thing that I'm thinking about a lot is the consequences of cancellations and delays in immigration cases, medical procedures, and things of that nature, as well as the messaging available for folks who don't undertsand English who live in the United States and don't have access to information. I want to do more to help folks understand what's going on and what they need to do to protect themselves and their loved ones.

I can't grasp yet how having to stay at home for an extended period of time will look like for someone like me who works with people closely and finds so much joy in connecting with others but I also think I'm very blessed to be able to stay home when so many others don't have this privilge. It's also incredibly beautiful to see all the good that's being done in response.

An immigrant English teacher in a big city in the United States.

Monday, March 16th, 2020
#CoronaDiaries #Socialdistancing