Plus Three: June 2022

I probably have not mentioned we're free.

So, we're free. To be honest, I am sick of the lockdown stuff and want to move on. But also, it was quite an impactful time in my life, so I feel it is necessary to write everything down for memories sake. Anyway, sorry for being a bit boring lately. I hope the next entry will have more exciting travels.

So, how did this go down? All in all, it took about two and a half months, from mid March to June 1st. We were (un)lucky enough to start ours about 2 weeks before most of everyone else, I suppose because there was a positive case in our compound. This turned out to be good in a way, because we were able to stock up on some things before the rest of the city got locked in. There were delays in getting packages, but it wasn't too bad - we're talking an hour or two delivery instead of 30 minutes. In retrospect, we should have gotten a lot more. Although at the time, it did not seem like it was so necessary to stock up. At the gate, they had an official notice with a release date a few days in the future. And when we got near that, that was moved a few more days, and a few more. Then they said they were going to close the whole city for 48 hours. That 48 hours turned out to be 2 months. So of course, people were caught unprepared. We had a couple weeks of food. Supposedly the grocery stores were able to deliver, but everyone was jamming the apps the moment they opened. With few drivers and low stock, we were not once able to order.

When we were down to maybe 5 days, we had a moment where we said, "Alright. We need to go figure this out." I swallowed my pride, went to the community office, and on the way ran into truck unloading stuff. I asked how to buy it. Turns out it was a truck for Haidilao, a pretty well known hotpot chain. The lady just gave me a giant bag of rice, greens, and potatoes, for free, and said don't worry about it. I insisted on paying something, and she eventually charged me a pretty fair price overall. While this would be good for a few days, I still went to the community office, who got us in on the group buy. Basically you sign up for the vegetable set, the meat set, etc.. Then a few days later you get it. Of course there is no choice in the matter, but it was alright. I got to learn how to cook vegetables I had never heard of before, like celtuce and water bamboo (look them up if you'd like, pretty interesting).

Now I will say, for us, things were boring but smooth sailing after that. In fact, the aforementioned veggie shop in my last blog opened around that time. That was joined by another 5 or 6 shops, so really you had everything you needed in our compound - shops just run out of apartments or in front of them. This time and before it were also where the not so great stories you saw in the news came out, about people not having food. Is it because they were out of options, or because they tried to do it themselves like we did and failed? I don't know. But also around that time, we started to get lots of government care packages. I will say this - this is the only time in my life I ever felt worried that I would not be able to eat. I knew it would not be dire - there are like 5000 people in my community - but I was embarrassed I was going to have to ask people for help. It turns out it was not a big deal at all. Like when I went to the community office, their attitude was more like "Oh, you finally finished your ramen noodles! We've been waiting for you!" I can only hope everyone else was as lucky as we were. Still, it left an impression on me. I'm not going to turn into a hoarder or anything, I still hate having things in my apartment. But for the rest of my life, I probably will keep a little more food on hand than I would in the past.

Anyway, these group buys, work care packages, and government care packages, were of course, giant. And the days they came were a big chore. Basically, we had to wash, chop, and freeze as much as we could. Everything that wouldn't fit in the freezer, we'd need to plan how to eat it before it went bad. Basically in addition to my regular full time job (which was fortunately more relaxed now), Ella and I had another full time job as kitchen managers. Choosing meals around "what random ingredients will go bad first" is not great. I think for a month, I never got to choose what I wanted to eat over what I had to eat. To be honest I still get annoyed by cooking, although I expect that will pass once I get tired of takeout every day.

And that was our life for a while. We basically worked, did kitchen stuff, and I snuck in some video games. Every 48 hours, the nucleic acid test workers came by and called out your building with a megaphone. You'd go down, scan your code, and get a mouth swab. I took this time to throw out some trash and go for a 20 minute walk, just for some sunlight and exercise. We'd also feed and play with the stray cats around the community. About a week before the end, they came by and said we could go out tomorrow for a few hours to go to the grocery. Ella asked me to go first. Going out that day was surreal. Everything was still shut down, and a city of 25 million was surprisingly empty. Still, it was refreshing that everything was the same, and it really improved my mood a lot. A few days later, Ella got her chance. But it turns out it was not as necessary, because just a few days after that, they announced that tomorrow, everything was over.

And that was that. Now, things are not 100% back to normal. For one, you cannot dine in restaurants, although many have set up outdoor tables. You need to get regular tests, because to go anywhere or do anything, you need to scan your code. If it has been more than 72 hours, sorry. The only place you're allowed in is home. Fortunately, it is quite convenient to get tested. There are booths every block or two, and even our community does it twice a day. Some are 24 hours. It takes like 5 minutes to stop on your way, and it is free. The first day we were free, luckily enough, was Children's Day. That means it was a day off for me. I went downtown, got Five Guys, and basically walked for hours. I even got to meet a friend for coffee. That evening, we went to a bar, which was again, surreal. It looked like it always had, but I know that everyone was in the same situation as me, that this was the first time they've been out in months. Anyway, over the past two weeks, things have felt surprisingly normal, almost like the lockdown was a distant memory. We even had our 4/8 year anniversary (4 years married, 8 since we met), where we got to eat some great pizza and go around the city.

So, that leads us to today. What have I learned? Well, like I said before, I will stock a little more food than I did. Also, after the first few weeks, Ella and I are surprisingly good at being in isolation. At the beginning I was pretty bummed out, and I got sad here and there when they said there was a new case in our community (which turned out to not matter at all). But overall, we dealt with it really well - especially Ella. She is a rock, and I don't think it bothered her at all. We didn't get too sick of each other, and the few times we got on each other's nerves we'd just talk about it. I think the biggest lesson I learned was do not set a date in your mind that things will be over - because it is soul crushing when you're wrong. I think this was far more impactful a time for Ella. It reminds me of when I was stuck in my apartment in Vietnam, where I looked at my life and said "Hm.. I should be with Ella." She looked at her life and decided teaching teenagers is not for her. So she quit her job after this semester, and is taking her life in a completely new direction. I don't think she knows what that direction is. Then again, I was a BA Psych major turned IT tech turned kids teacher, so I certainly didn't know either. She has some ideas that sound very exciting, and I am very proud of her for making the jump.

Whew! That was a lot. There weren't many photos of that time for obvious reasons. But here's what I have, which seems to consist mostly of stray cats.