NG MING EE – STAYING HOME TO FIGHT COVID-19

It’s now 35 days since we’ve all stayed home in the joint effort to fight Covid-19. The Movement Control Order which was first implemented on March 18 2020 has restricted our movement in a bid to bring down the curve of infection from the “invisible” virus.

The MCO has given banker Ng Ming Ee more time to spend with her family while working from home. She has also found more time to try out new recipes and learning to take nicer photographs of her creations. Luckily for her, the weighing scale at home has called it a day; giving her the opportunity to free fall and enjoy what comes next at home. She gives us an insight into what MCO is at home:

How are you coping with the MCO? What are you doing to keep your time occupied?

I am in the essential services, but luckily enough I am able to work from home. I am pretty much occupied with work on weekdays while juggling household chores and light cooking.

As my husband and my work schedules tend to be demanding, we’re lucky enough to have my parents-in-law who live a few doors away to babysit our young girls during the day, and manage their daily e-learning. On weekends, we spend our time together trying out new recipes and e-learning courses while slotting some light exercises (at home) together.

Are you happy to get more time to spend with the family? Tell us how you are doing this?

I am indeed blessed to be able to spend more time with my husband now as he’s always busy at work (despite the amount of face time we have, all is peaceful at home, thankfully!). We spend our evenings with our girls, reading, playing card games and sometimes a little craft work since early bedtime is almost non-existent now, thanks to the MCO.

Have you found new hobbies while staying at home? Have you discovered you (or your spouse) can cook too?

I’ve always loved cooking. The MCO has given me the opportunity to try out new recipes and as I love all things beautiful, I am learning to plate my dishes and take nice pictures out of them before posting them on social media (hoping to cheer up [or spam] my friends).

How are you keeping fit and alert at home? Have you gained weight?

My trusted weighing scale decided to retire very early into MCO (thankfully?). My home clothes aren’t feeling too snug yet, so I guess we’re all good? While I try to slot in a 10-min workout every now and then, I believe life is too short to worry too much on weight gains alone. Since we’re being put on MCO, we might as well make the best out of it and enjoy the food we’ve always wanted to but have not had the time for it otherwise. I’ll get back on track once all this ends, I promise!

How are you keeping abreast with the news on Covid-19 and MCO?

My updates are through social media (SJ ECHO, and media pages) as well as group WhatsApps with my friends. We do share lots of information but are also careful not to spread fake news along the way.

What’s your advise to everyone?

Play your part and flatten the curve. Take this opportunity to reflect on life and do what you have not been able to do otherwise. The last thing we want is for MCO to prolong, businesses to collapse causing people to lose jobs and having to worry on the negative social implications thereafter.