The Lockdown Log | Interview with Miki

Last updated on 20 June 2020

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Welcome to The Lockdown Log!

In this new series, The Lockdown Log, I’m going to be interviewing some of my friends from New Zealand, to hear a little about what their experience was like during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Lockdown that our country went through in April (and continues, in some degree until we’re told otherwise). For some of my friends, life has radically changed, for others, it’s only a little different. But whatever has happened in the last few months, whatever their situation has been or will continue to be, they have a story, and one that I believe is worth sharing, if not for now, then for the future.

In this instalment of The Lockdown Log, I chat to my sister Miki, who is currently doing teacher training by distance in Wellington, as well as working as an administrator and events coordinator at Weta Workshop.

Yo yo! Welcome to This Splendid Shambles, Miki. Thanks for answering some questions for me today! So like Scott, who I talked to last week, you’ve been continuing with your tertiary study throughout the lockdown in New Zealand. Outside of lockdown, in ‘normal’ times, what does a usual week look like for you?

Hey! Yeah, so I’m currently training to become a high school, with Media Studies as my main subject. I’m doing this via distance at a college in Tauranga (I live in Wellington). Part of this involved travelling to Tauranga every few weeks for a week or two at a time for face to face lectures. Before lockdown began, I had already completed two trips to Tauranga during which I obviously was not working at Weta.

When I was not in Tauranga, my week would usually consist of 1-2 days of part-time work at Weta and 3-4 days of study from home. I am extremely active and would spend most weekends travelling around the Wellington region with friends doing activities such as diving, fishing, 4wd-driving, long walks, and swims. I also have a very tight-knit group of friends who all live within walking distance of each other so evenings and weekends usually were spent with friends.

When you say ‘extremely active’, I feel like even that’s an understatement. You’re out doing things more than literally anyone I know, all the time. Every day. Besides climbing every hill and walking every track you can find, doing your teacher training at home can’t have been too different, seeing as the whole course is extramural to begin with. Did you find it was very different?

Yeah, as you say, I was already studying from home, so this did not really change much for me initially. I did, however, miss one of my block courses as I wasn’t able to travel to Tauranga. They did, however, move the whole thing online seamlessly. This consisted of about 6 hours of 1.5-hour classes online for one week. I actually found it incredibly exhausting as I really struggle to sit still and in front of screens for too long. In terms of my work for Weta, we have weekly tasks we are set such as induction documents, scriptwriting, planning for re-open and 2 weekly check-in zoom meetings.

Zoom meetings can get really exhausting, eh?! It is good that you’ve been able to do some of the work for Weta from home, though. Do you have any tips for working and/or studying from home?

If you can, make sure you are taking regular breaks and moving your body! There are lots of online resources that have come out that share stretches that are supposed to help muscle strains. I also find that I can concentrate far better when I’m regularly going outside. I personally will either get up early and go for a long walk first thing in the morning or at night, as well as 3-4 brisk walks or runs around the block in my breaks. Also, try to stay in a routine.

I definitely haven’t been going out that often, but a walk a day has been super helpful. Even just for getting out and having a change of scenery.

You’ve already mentioned a few things that have been tricky for you – full-on Zoom sessions, for one! – but what have you found the hardest thing about levels 3 and 4 lockdown?

Not being able to see my friends! As I mentioned, most evenings and weekends before lockdown were either spent with my friends in Wellington or my friends in Tauranga, so that’s definitely been the hardest thing! And just recently, the weather has really been awful in Wellington, so the closure of indoor leisure venues such as the gym, the pools, and movie theatres has really been dumb. I’m a very high energy individual and being trapped inside all day really gets to me big time!

Yeah, it’s been a bit rough with so many venues closed, eh? But so important to keep everyone away from each other. It’s made a huge difference to our numbers of COVID-19 cases, and so worth it in the long run. Even though it’s been a bit hard, are there things that you’ve been grateful for, or you’re really appreciative of in this time?

I have had a lot of time to get ahead with assignments due to the fact my placements have obviously been delayed due to schools being closed. If it wasn’t for lockdown I would be working in a school as well as doing assignments as well as trying to continue working at Weta, which would have been pretty hectic! I’ve also really enjoyed spending some time with my partner. He also works at Weta Workshop and before lockdown, they had some really big projects, so he was working really long hours and most weekends. Due to my studying in Tauranga, I had also been away a lot more than usual, so it’s been nice being able to hang out again!

Being a bubble with people who you actually want to spend time with all the time is so good, right? Other than the things you’ve been grateful for, has there been anything you’ve actually enjoyed about being home?

Aside from what I mentioned above, nope; I hate it so much. LET ME OUT! I WANT TO SEE MY FRIENDS.

Thank goodness for video calling, right?! I know that we have it really good where we are in the world and in our cities and situations, but I can’t imagine trying to be apart from all the people I see so often and hang out with back in the day when we didn’t have access to the internet. Would we snail mail? Or would we just accept the fact that we’re not seeing people and we don’t know how they’re doing?

You haven’t been enjoying this time at all, but have you picked up any tips for being at home all the time? Or any advice you can give people who are still at home?

Yeah, don’t drink too much wine. Especially not red wine, it’ll just make you sad. And also you don’t have to join every single Zoom chat if you don’t want to. You do you. (And if you do find yourself begrudgingly stuck in one, just leave and blame the internet connection- works every time.)

Haha! Excellent tips! Blaming the lack of fibre connection in our house has definitely been used as an excuse.

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about lockdown and even into level 3 has been the creativity coming out of people, and the stories they’re sharing about what they’ve been doing besides work. It’s been really fun seeing what people are getting up to in their bubbles, even if it’s things like exploring their neighbourhoods and discovering new things around the corner. Do you have any stories you’d like to share of what you’ve gotten up to with your bubble?

Yeah, actually, we went foraging for the first time! I live in Island Bay in Wellington right down by the beach. We are surrounded by native bush and there is a huge reserve right behind our house with horses in it and two golf courses with epic pine forests. On the 3rd week of level 4, we discovered a patch of mushrooms as we were walking through the golf-course so collected them and made dumplings. This spurred a few hours of googling ‘foraging in Wellington’ and we then went down and collected seaweed which we dried and turned into a tasty salty salad topping. We also discovered a whole lot of edible weeds (not ACTUAL weed) and made a spicy salad with plants such as dandelion (yup you can eat them!), sorrel, and wild parsley we found growing on the waterfront. Island Bay also has olive trees lining the entire main road (the parade) so we spent a day walking down the main drag with a ladder, periodically stopping to pick olives from the trees, before coming home and bottling them in rosemary and olive oil – yum!

That sounds amazing! It’s like you’re back in our England days where fruit trees would be on every stretch of public land and no one would pick it! We used to spend ages picking plums. Sounds like you’ve discovered something awesome!

Okay, last question … hairdressers have been out of action in lockdown; did you do anything drastic to your hair?

For the first time ever in my life, I haven’t touched my hair for at least 6 months! Grow baby grow! Although I have been getting my flat-mate to braid my hair every night because she’s got the time so that’s been fun.

Your hair will thank you for not doing anything extreme to it! Thank you for chatting with me today! Here’s to the days that don’t involve endless Zoom calls, but do involved meals with friends and some more delicious foraging!

Stay tuned for another edition of The Lockdown Log coming soon!

To learn more about New Zealand’s alert level system, check out the COVID-19 website.