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“Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. or a week.”

– Shonda Rhimes

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Day 55 of self isolation: Welcome everyone, to my world.

First I’d like to say, Happy First Day of Spring everyone! And as the rest of you join me during this wondrous time I’d like to let you know it will get better. Hopefully you won’t have to wait as long as I have for a “light at the end of the tunnel” moment, but it seems China is in its final stretch before returning to some kind of normalcy. Right now there are no new cases coming from within China, but unfortunately there are people traveling in on international flights carrying the virus with them.

China has devised a plan to keep them from re-releasing the virus though. All incoming flights must go into a mandatory quarantine before being able to return home. And the best part is the travelers have to pay for their own quarantine. Which, if you decide your going to come back to China, even though they said, “Hey, don’t come back yet”, then you should pay for putting everyone else at risk. So, the government now sends these travelers to some hotel where they have to stay for 14 days.

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So, what can you expect if your self isolation and self distancing is, likely, to last longer than your already planned 14 days? Nothing. Every day is the same. You wake up, you eat, you’re bored, you sleep. A fortunate reality for most of you though is that you live with friends or family and will be able to have that kind of social interaction when you need it. I know they can drive you crazy and it may not always be desirable, but be thankful for it. Everyone’s situation is going to be different. There will be major ups and downs. Here are some of my own.

When this all started, it was an extension to a holiday. Everyone in China were going on with their plans for Spring Festival, which was to last about a week. Plans for most of China involved traveling back to their hometowns to spend time with family. For expats (people who live outside their native country), it’s a time to travel to some cool new destination or visit home. I had no plans because I got sick (not the Corona Virus) shortly after my arrival and I didn’t feel like doing much of anything except for staying inside and getting better. Some of the teachers from my school cancelled their vacation plans in preparation for the rumors that travel was going to be more difficult than what they were willing to deal with.

In the middle of the holiday break we found out that it was going to be extended for 14 days. That was a big hooray moment for us because who doesn’t love more time off, right? Well, then that time off extended indefinitely and here we are almost 2 months later. The teachers who left for holiday have not returned per advisory and are waiting to hear of a return date while chilling in their home countries. I, on the other hand, have been in self isolation in a small studio apartment by myself. Apart from going to the market for food I haven’t done much of anything else outside of it. Later in February I went out a few times with some teachers from my school to grab a bite to eat and go for a walk to curb our isolation loneliness. Other than those few moments it’s been me, myself, and I.

In February, my school set up how we were to teach our students online in the form of sending them videos and encouraging messages on WeChat. In March we do a little more. We still send videos but are now required to do 30 minute video chats with different students every Monday thru Friday. I tend to enjoy these chats because it’s usually the only “face-to-face” social interaction I get on those days. Besides student interactions, throughout the day I’m also in contact with either family or friends on various messaging platforms (thank you for working VPNs), as well as other teachers I’ve met within my school or company.

I’m happy to say that my time spent making videos for my kindergartners, binge watching movies and TV shows, reading via kindle, having Skype dates, and keeping in touch with family/friends on social media are, most of the time, good enough to keep me occupied and satisfied. I’ve always been an introvert and it seems that this is my time to shine. BUT… I do have those days when I don’t want to get out of bed. I’m lonely. Time means nothing anymore. I went from getting up at 7 in the morning to staying up past 5am every night and waking up whenever. Because time means nothing. I sleep when I’m tired and I wake when I wake. I eat one big meal a day and snack a little the rest of it because I’m not putting out that much energy, even on days I do exercise.

This is life right now and it is what it is. On days when I’m feeling that loneliness a little more than usual I try to reach out to friends and family to pull me out of that hole. All we can do us make the best of the situation. I’m lucky to have had way more good days than bad. I keep my mind occupied and do my best to stay positive. Most importantly, I stay informed, keep it real, and I DON’T FREAK OUT… you toilet paper crazy people. Things that I’m sad about the most are not being able to see my students IRL because they are so freaking adorable and fun, and also not being able to experience China and see the sites. Seeing some of my students during the video chats help with the one sadness. For the latter, I make plans for everything I’m going to see when this shit show is over.

So, you’re going to be bored beyond belief. Especially if your someone who lives alone in a tiny apartment with nowhere to go. Really, I can’t even go room to room, up and down stairs, out on a porch or balcony… nowhere. I would kill for another room to walk into right now. Just saying. Hope everyone continues to wash their hands as they should have been doing their entire lives. Don’t be selfish and stop bulk buying everything. This is not the apocalypse. Be kind and stay away from people. And work on your cooking skills because I just read a twitter post that speaks the ultimate truth… “Half of us are gonna come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks and the other half is gonna come out with a drinking problem. There is no in between”.