By Daniel Amador
Ever since this quarantine started, millions of people have done many unique and fun things to keep them occupied and busy, so I have interviewed 6 people (myself included) and asked them to tell me five interesting things they did during this pandemic, and here they are.
I have made my interview very diverse, I have interviewed a sister, a cousin, two friends from ODE, and a friend from a camp: 3 boys, 3 girls, to get all perspectives.
My first interviewee is my oldest sister Elie Amador. Around the time this epidemic started, she came back home to Chicago for a break from teaching in Thailand, and she was hoping to do all sorts of fun things in Chicago, but couldn’t because of this lockdown, so I only thought it necessary to interview her first, so here is the interview:
“What are five things creative things you did during quarantine?”
“I looked through my childhood books. Books I read in my childhood.
“I recorded my music in the attic of my church.”
“I volunteered at the food drive at my church.”
“I went for a long run around my neighborhood, in the dark.”
“I bought a polaroid to take pictures.”
“Was that five?”
“Um, yes.”
My second interviewee is a girl named Kayla Bitakis, a friend from a camp. She is homeschooled and has just recently turned 14. This is what she wrote:
“By Kayla Bitakis”
“As this COVID-19 quarantine has been going on, I have found some fun hobbies to do in all this free time. Whether you find joy watching TV all day, or baking, or just have absolutely no idea to do with all this free time, I thought I’d share some of the fun things I’ve been doing during quarantine.”
“So the thing that I have found to be taking a big chunk of my time is this TV series called “The Chosen”. It’s a multiple season story based on the life of Christ. IT IS SO GOOD. I’ve cried in several episodes and cannot stop rewatching it. HIGHLY recommend it.”
“Another thing that I’ve enjoyed doing is baking. I’ve been experimenting with especially bread and cookies!”
“Another thing that I’ve been doing is biking! I’ve been biking so often lately I feel I’m going out too much.”
“One thing that I’ve also been doing is doing is testing my geography skills and seeing if I can list all of the countries of the world.”
My third interviewee is a friend from ODE, Zoomy Muhammad. She is also a writer for OTJ, is homeschooled, and is 16 years old. Here is how the interview went:
“Ok, so, the first interesting thing I did during quarantine, was, I taught myself a Tik Tok dance. because I thought it was weird, that I was sixteen, and I didn’t know a Tik Tok dance. And I was like, I’m like the only person my age in the world that doesn’t know a little bit of a Tik Tok dance, so I taught myself one. it was actually pretty fun, and it didn’t take long, so I’m gonna try to teach myself three more, over the course of this month.”
“So that was the first thing I did. This next one is for school, but I’ve been experimenting with cooking, not baking, cause I’ve got baking down, but cooking. I’m trying to figure out how to season things better and stuff like that.”
“That’s the second thing. I’ve been making new outfits. Eh, it sounds weird because I can’t actually leave the house, to, um, like, to show them off. But, you know, I’ve been rummaging through my drawers, finding old clothes that I haven’t worn in long time, and I’ve been trying them on, pairing them up with other clothes, so that, hopefully, when the quarantine is over, at least I’ll leave quarantine looking cute.”
“Um, some, somewhat similar, I’ve been doing something similar with my hair, um, I’ve been trying new things, uh, with my hair, watching videos on Instagram, of how to get my hair in certain styles I want it to be in. So, I have my hair done up right now and I’m gonna try to do something with it later.”
“Uh, the fifth thing is that I’ve been perfecting my rollerblading. I now somewhat know how to stop, a little bit, maybe.”
My fourth interviewee is another friend from ODE named Luke Fisher. Like the interviewee before him, he is also a writer for OTJ, is homeschooled, and is 13 years old. This is what he said:
“Ok, so, once again you said that I have to mention that I’ve been writing a book, so that is number one.”
“Number two, um, I’ve watched the final season of the clone wars, which is fantastic, especially the last four episodes. they are just perfect, some of the best Star Wars I’ve ever watched.”
“Number, I think three, maybe, Yeah. I think three. Uh, I rewatched The Mandalorian and I’m watching The Disney gallery Mandalorian The Series Behind the Scenes Documentary every Friday. Good series.”
“Um, number four, wait, am I already on number four or is it number five? Number four, thank you! I have been kicked out of my own room and forced to sleep in the basement, which has been an interesting experience.”
“Um, number five. I’ve been completely ignoring the stay-at-home-lock-down-quarantine-thing, just haven’t listened to that at all.
And we are done.”
My fifth interviewee is my cousin, David Chan. He is homeschooled, and just recently turned 14. This is how it went:
“What was the first interesting thing you did during quarantine?”
“So, one interesting thing I did was because I had extra time, I started working out and my dad taught me how to do different things, so it’s been fun to do that.”
“Another thing is that I’ve been doing is online Chess, doing chess calls with my friends, and learning how to play chess better and having fun with my friends at the same time.”
“The third thing I have been doing is I have been collecting data with a survey I sent, a survey for a history project, so it’s been kinda cool to see different people’s responses to the questions I gave, and on what they thought, like on what they thought about CoronaVirus and, responses to it and, the government’s handling [it].”
“The fourth thing is I have been doing lots of virtual game nights. Like, playing different things on them. Well not game nights necessarily game nights, just game times, playing games like Pharisees, or, Scribble-io, Mafia, you know, kinds of different games with friends whereas I would have never really done calls like that before.”
“I’ve, been participating in organizing and leading Virtual Prayer and Worship calls with people, also, I’ll add to the fourth, that some of the calls of I’ve been on have been with people I wouldn’t have seen otherwise, not just people I see regularly.”
“Thank you for your time!”
The last official person I interviewed was myself. I am (evidently) a writer for OTJ, am homeschooled, and am 13 years old. This is what I wrote:
“Number one is that I have been writing a book, and I have been re-reading a lot more books, like The Underland Chronicles.”
“Number two is that I have been writing articles for OTJ, like this one.
“Number three is that me and my family re-watched the Lord of the Rings series, the Star Wars movies, and The Mandalorian series.”
“Number four is that, for my second oldest sister’s birthday, we did a scavenger hunt sort of thing where we would drive to friends’ or relatives’ house and she would be blindfolded. By the time we reached a destination, we would read a clue to her about the person or persons, and she would have to guess correctly before we unblindfold her.”
“The fifth and final thing is that, several times, me, my younger brother, my oldest sister, and once my father and older brother slept in a tent in the basement or the greenroom. We did it for fun and to try a new experience!”
The final interview was with my little sister Emma Amador/Rodriguez. This one is not an official interview, since Emma is only 2 ½, and is basically just comic relief. Unlike the other interviews, I will include what I say during the interview, so that it will be less confusing. So, here it is:
“What are five interesting things you did during quarantine?”
“Favaves.”
“Uh huh,”
“Es fevavalen esoufathis.”
“And then what?”
“Ati!”
“¿Que?”
“Pasi a fefa.”
“Oh.”
“Editouwyow faui. Dede mau.”
“Thank you for your time.”
Translation for at least one of the things she said: Ati = Aquí = “Here” in Spanish.
And those are all the interviews! I hope this will give you some ideas of things to do during quarantine, maybe you could even ‘Pasi a fefa’ (whatever that means) like Emma said!