2020. The year of the pandemic. I was a 3rd grade adviser at an International school. Lockdown. Immediate and stressful transfer to e-learning. Workload quadrupled. Fear mongering in media. For 5 months I didn’t go out. Only one member of the family could go out specifically ‘to buy essential goods’. The academic year ended online. Acceptance. Anxiety.
When the academic year ended in June 2020 and I didn’t renew my teaching post, I stayed home due to the community quarantine. Most of the time, I was in my room, which I shared with my sister. She had this pink ukelele displayed on the wall. I asked to borrow it, taught myself, via Youtube to play a few songs: Highway to Hell, Moon River, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Despacito.
Arriving in France in September of the same year, my first major purchase was this 80-euro matte black Kala ukulele. Soon after I decided to buy a glossy black, electric Yamaha guitar.
Self-taught, I recorded myself playing this and sent it to close friends and family. Maybe to let them know I’m doing okay – ‘Look guys I even have a new hobby. Don’t worry about me. I’m my own wonderwall.’