This year on Good Friday, Belinda Kamarga was a week and a half into self-isolation. As it was for many around the world, Easter just wasn’t the same for her.
“It's not the same because of Coronavirus. It's a bit of a bummer I can’t go to church to celebrate,” Belinda says.
The Bachelor of International Relations student had returned home to Indonesia at the end of March. Belinda’s family live in Bandung, the capital of West Java. It’s a three hour drive from Jakarta, a commute that’s made longer on the weekends when Jakartans flock to her city.
“It's a great city, really pretty,” she says. “People say it's like the Melbourne of Indonesia. A lot of cuisine, art, and heritage.”
Jakartans, she explains, travel to her city on the weekend for the food, which is cheaper than in the country’s capital, as well as to be in nature.
“That's why people from Bandung never really go anywhere on the weekend – because of traffic jams from people from Jakarta!”
Being home this time around has felt weird to Belinda. She was last in Bandung a year and a half ago, and home life under coronavirus has been very different. Her older sister, who is studying in Malaysia, has returned home too. Her parents, who are normally out of the house for work, aren’t anymore. Now, everyone is under the one roof 24/7.