KÓKKi: The 2020 No One Expected

KÓK K i ISSUE 01

SPRING 2020

The 2020 No One Expected

A unique look on how the pandemic affected people differently from around the world

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EDITOR'S

LETTER

It’s quite an honor to experience what it's like to be an Editor in Chief. Although this publication is only a school project, it is more than enough to see the world of publication and develop a new perspective for writers and authors alike.

As an Editor in Chief, my goal for this publication project is to create a platform where people all over the world could share their take on the pandemic. Detailing their day to day experience with how the quarantine has affected them, to understand how influential the coronavirus has been mentally, forcing people all over the world to live within an unfamiliar controlled environment.

Ken Pitts, Editor in Chief

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KÓK K i SPRING 2020 / MAY

The 2020 No One Expected NEW NORMALITY Ebu Tale Barcelona, Spain BY

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BY

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WILL THERE BE A LIFE FOR ME AFTER ALL THIS?

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BECOMING A ROUTINE Malak ElChoum Beirut, Lebanon

Jeramie Angeles Bacoor, Philippines BY

HOW MY ALREADY DEAD SOCIAL LIFE BECAME EVEN DEADER

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Grace Kiper Yokosuka, Japan BY

CONTRIBUTORS

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GRACE KIPER I YOKOSUKA, JAPAN

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NEW NORMALITY

BY Ebu Tale

Barcelona, Spain

On March 14, 2020, Spain imposed a state of alarm and national lockdown which prohibited the public from leaving their homes. Spain enforced this strict lockdown by handing out fines for those caught in the streets which started at 600 euros.

Never would I have imagined spending my semester abroad in Barcelona under these conditions. Basic freedoms such as going on walks, playing sports, hanging out with friends were stripped away from us in the blink of an eye.

For the next 7 weeks we were under strict rules to only leave our houses for essentials, making sure to stay within a couple of blocks from our homes to avoid being questioned and fined by the police. Spain’s government created a 4 step lockdown de-escalation plan allowing us to slowly return to society which is planned to bring us to a “new normality”, as they call It. We are currently in phase 0 which has a time schedule laid out for different age groups to be able to go out and exercise. My age group is allowed to go out for exercise between 6am-10am and 8pm-11pm.

Overall, I believe these strict limitations were necessary in order to speed up our recovery process and to hopefully bring us to the “new normality” we are all looking forward towards.

EBU TALE I BARCELONA, SPAIN

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EBU TALE I LA RAMBLA, SPAIN

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BECOMING A ROUTINE

BY Malak ElChoum

Beirut, Lebanon

Since Lebanon forced public lockdown, I am spending all my time with my family doing activities together like cooking, watching movies, working out and playing cards.

Surely I am doing all the work required for my courses like attending online courses, assignments, exams… And yea I am trying to take advantage of this free time by learning something new. I enrolled in several free online courses.

But all what we are doing is becoming a routine like honestly the quarantine has been going on for almost two months here and we are doing the same activities everyday.

We want to go out badly, but till now we are stuck at home for everyone’s safety. I hope the situation gets better soon.

RAWAN ELCHOUM I BEIRUT, LEBANON

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WILL THERE BE A LIFE FOR ME AFTER ALL THIS?

BY Jeramie Angeles

Bacoor, Philippines

For most people I know, including me, COVID-19 started out as a joke. I watched as the opinions about the virus expressed by those around me shifted in just a few weeks.

COVID-19 went from something that seemed slightly humorous to something that caused panic. Now everything in the news is about the coronavirus. We’ve been in lockdown for a solid month already with no work & no pay.

It is affecting the lives of everyone I know, and most haven’t even been tested for it yet.

It’s hard to remember that the world isn’t actually ending and that there will be life for me after this.

Spring 2020 I The 2020 No One Expected I KÓKKi

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HOW MY ALREADY DEAD SOCIAL LIFE BECAME EVEN DEADER

BY Grace Kiper

Yokosuka, Japan

When I first learned about the coronavirus, it was on Instagram, and it was still just concentrated in China. However, people were scared that it was the new plague and the post was a video of the earth and how quickly the virus was going to spread and it scared me.

I got worried of course and started doing research about it and looking up symptoms and how it spreads and how I can prevent it for my parents (because they are old). Work didn’t change that much until February, when we were told to Lysol the counters after every transaction but it was not enforced.

I started getting paranoid about using the trains as cases started to increase, so I slowly decided to use the trains less and drive a little bit more. Yokosuka (off base) had not gotten any cases until around the middle of March, but there were rumors that cases from Tokyo were going to be moved to hospitals in Yokosuka.

GRACE KIPER I YOKOSUKA, JAPAN The whole thing with the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama being on quarantine was the first big thing in Japan because that was the most cases in one place there was at that point, and the base sent a group of doctors to help out with that, so there were also rumors that the doctors brought the coronavirus to the base.

As soon as the base got their first case, things started getting serious. The people were still trying to trace this guy’s steps to see who he came into contact with and what not so at this point, they knew they had to go into quarantine. They put all the ships that just docked in a two-week quarantine, because they don’t know where they came from and who they touched.

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The NEX, a shopping center I work at, closed for 4 days because we had to disinfect everything and send delivery orders to the ships (soap, deodorant underwear, food) It was a lot of work. We also closed down the electronics section, and the cosmetics, purses, jewelry, and clothing section of the NEX to only limit the customers to essential items. When the store opened up, we only let in 25 people at a time, to keep up with social distancing, and all customers HAVE to wear a mask, even children. Some people didn’t have masks so they would wrap a tshirt or a scarf around their face. WE sold out of masks, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol really fast, less than a day.

Even though I was already doing it, It became mandatory for employees to wear a mask and gloves at all times, food courts became takeout only, they removed the tables and chairs from every public eatery. They also turned off public wifi so that people don’t linger around for no reason. The captain also sent out orders to limit purchasing alcohol to only one bottle per person so that those in quarantine don’t develop a dependency for alcohol (and also so people don’t throw quarantine parties).

Recently, off base Yokosuka started doing things; Mores closed everything except for the grocery stores. Many restaurants in blue street only do take out, and in my neighborhood we have announcements going around encouraging people to stay inside and don’t go out unless we have to.

I also am guilty of panic buying stuff when things got serious . We stacked a room that we don’t use with toilet paper, sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, Lysol wipes, a bunch of disinfectants, and etc. Also my boyfriend was supposed to come for summer but now he can't because Rona (coronavirus) wants the attention for herself.

Because of all this, things feel really weird. I don’t want to go to work because I see many customers in one day, and what if one of them has it. I don’t feel like doing homework because it doesn’t feel important. I’m getting down in the dumps because everything feels pointless and if this is going to last a year or more then what is the point of getting a degree if i'm just going to be in quarantine when I get it. RIGHT? Everytime I go grocery shopping I have latex gloves and a mask on. On base I don’t really get weird looks but off base I do. These people don’t have any type of protection, and there's still a lot of people crowding in one area (Yokosuka is doomed).

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CONTRIBUTORS WRITING Grace Kiper Jeramie Angeles Malak ElChoum Ebu Tale

PHOTO Grace Kiper Ebu Tale Summer Smilie Rawan ElChoum

REVISIONS Katie Trainor Justin Alejo Ericson Pallasigui SUMMER SMILIE I TOKYO, JAPAN

KEN PITTS I UCLA

ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES 104B NEELANJANA BANERJEE SPRING 2020

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