A few weeks ago I was in Albany briefly, and I decided to I wanted to come here again and spend a bit more time. The soldiers bound for Gallipoli during WWI left from Albany, so it's home to the National Anzac Centre. The setting for this coastal city is actually quite nice even though it can get a bit chilly. I decided to come back, although things didn't go quite the way I planned it. About a week and a half ago, I had a weird headache that I had never felt before, but I attributed it to drinking a few glasses of wine with someone the previous evening. Someone else told me I looked a bit pale, but I figured it was because I was running on only two hours of sleep. Last week I was sneezing a bit and had a stuffy nose. I'm staying with a really awesome CouchSurfer named Rachel. She's a single mum to her 13-year-old son, Liam. We were all going to go to the Anzac Centre together, but she suggested taking a rapid antigen test (RAT) before we went out. I tested positive! My worst nightmare came to pass...I contracted COVID-19. It meant I had to self-isolate for a whole week. No going to the shops, out to eat, or anywhere really for that matter. Rachel immediately said I could stay at her home whilst I isolated, and it meant she and Liam had to isolate as well. At first I was feeling really horrible because their schedules have been altered as well but then I thought about it later, about how millions of people all around the world have had to alter their schedules either due to contracting COVID-19 or by being a close contact. A few weeks ago I said "I've accepted the fact that I'm gonna get COVID-19. It's either that, or I lose my sanity." I just didn't realize it'd happen so soon.
All throughout my week of isolation, I kept myself busy the entire time.
Cooking, baking, lighting the fire, feeding chickens, cleaning, and tinkering on my computer are what I kept myself occupied with. Rachel's birthday was last week, and I made her a sugarless chocolate torte cake.
It wouldn't win any awards for my best cake ever, but I did my best and Rachel really enjoyed it. Theoretically we are supposed to stay inside the house but there's nothing in principle stopping us from things like bushwalking, or any activity that doesn't involve being around other people, so we did a few walks in the area. Rachel is very passionate about the environment and related causes, and I notice how she brings a bag to collect rubbish when we go out. She's also good about collecting kindling wood for the fire. It's the first time in a very long time I've been able to sit warm and toasty by a fire. Rachel and Liam have a very interesting collection of board games, and we played one called Photosynthesis.
It's a green strategy game where you plant and cultivate trees. Liam ended up winning, but it's a really fun game. See, there are a lot more board games than just Monopoly.
Staying at home has never been easy for me. Even going back as far as my childhood, I vastly preferred to be out doing things than watching TV. However, I kept myself busy during my week of isolation and I wasn't too sick at all.
