Quarantine

Today was a day of highs and lows. It started, as all of my days do, at the very crack of dawn. I went to sleep on Monday at 8:30 pm and woke up at 3:30 am, then slept two more hours until 5:30 am. I then began a 6.5 hour skype-fest, which included an extensive viewing of high school

How I dressed on an average high school day

photos via a screen share with Sarah Chapman.

At around 12:30 pm, a sprite and a yanjing beer arrived at my door, thanks to my recent best friend, the local takeout’s delivery man. Unfortunately, the person on the other line heard me say er jiu yi rather than er jiu liu during my order, so I received two drinks instead of a drink and a meal. In order to compensate for my lack of sustenance during the afternoon, I munched on my leftover rice from last night’s dinner.

At 1:00 pm, my internet cut out because the account I was using ran out of money. I really can’t explain the situation further than this: I was using someone else’s account during the interim before receiving my own account, and because many students bought internet access today, this person’s account ran out of money. Perhaps one day I will understand the complexity of this situation. As I usually do when I lose an internet connection during a quarantine stint, I panicked. I called Jerry – who probably hates me by now – and explained the situation to him. He told me that I would have to wait until my quarantine was over on Thursday (hurray!) before I could get an internet account. I have been trying to have patience through most of the crappiness this week, but I really was not about to not have internet access for two days, so I pleaded with Jerry and he conceded to working it out. Jerry ended up coming by and grabbing my internet account fee and passport to take to the computer center. [The meeting was really funny. In order to prepare for my visitor (I really don't get many), I vigorously washed my face before Jerry's arrival. When I opened the door, Jerry recoiled and said "Your face is red!" I quickly explained that I had just washed my face and was not fatally ill. In order to prove to him that I wasn't sick, I put my arm out for him to touch, just to feel out my temperature. This made Jerry recoil again. After a few seconds, though, he decided to gingerly place his finger on my arm, and was visibly relieved at its temperature, saying "Ah yes, it's normal."] Long story short, I got an internet account today.

I then ordered dinner and was able to order successfully, as I had already told the delivery man what I wanted before he went back to the restaurant. I thought I’d give “Hamburger Set” a try, because then maybe

My burger set

 I’d get shu tiao, right? What I ended up getting was a slab of meat drenched in marinara sauce and soaked lettuce, along with the standard fried egg, salad, and rice that comes with all of the sets. In all honesty, the burger wasn’t bad. It was just strange eating it with chopsticks.

It’s around 6:26 pm now, and I’m thinking about venturing out tonight. I forgot to mention that I received a door card that actually works today; it turns out that the one that didn’t work was given to me by accident…I wasn’t supposed to be locked in my room, I suppose. Liu, Jerry’s sidekick, said that I can go to the supermarket at night. I guess this is because I will be less likely to contaminate people during the dark hours.