A Quarantine Diary

For two weeks, I didn't leave my hotel room.  I didn't wear shoes or put in my contacts.  I had three (vegetarian) meals a day delivered to my door, all chosen by the hotel staff.  For two weeks, I didn't eat any processed sugar.  My phone was tracked by the Taiwanese CDC, and they texted me everyday.  I reported by body temperature everyday at 9 am and 9 pm.  My device usage time, as tracked by my computer and phone, went from ~2 hours per day (during the weeks of summer vacation before leaving the US) to ~11.25 hours per day. Here are the highlights of my days:

Day 1: arrived late via quarantine taxi

Day 2: finished my book
Day 3: started virtual classes

Day 4: wrote the most quickly produced grant proposal of my life

Day 5: took a 4 hour nap upside down on my bed in the afternoon with the shades fully open

Day 6: got a NYT crossword subscription and did an entire week of crosswords, managed not to nap for the first day yet

Day 7: received a care package, experienced my first earthquake!

Day 8: finished the final season of Sex Education on Netflix, exploded my two very carefully packed suitcases of 50.5 pounds each to find my nail clippers

Day 9: figured out a method to use my water heater to reheat food

Day 10: fully overcame jet lag because I had to start leaving the curtains open so the morning light would help me get out of bed and stop snoozing my alarm before 8 am class

Day 11: developed blisters on the bottom of my feet from a YouTube dance workout, figured out through trial and error what every single button did on the fancy Toto Washlet (toilet+bidet) remote

Day 12: got to interact with a nurse to have my PCR test done

Day 13: flossed twice

Day 14: completed my IRB human subjects research recertification

Day 15: released into the world!

View from my new shower

By released into the world, I mean I began another period of slightly less strict quarantine, a week called the Self-Health Management Period.  I am in a different hotel, in a very nice corner suite on the 11th floor. The CDC still tracks me and messages me, but I am allowed to leave my new hotel room so long as I don't take off my mask, go within 6 feet of another person, get on public transport, or go to campus or any large gatherings.  After this period, I will finally move into my dorm on NTU's campus.

Care package from my high school Chinese
teacher's sister, whom I've never even met

Where I got my first meal out of quarantine,
sweet and sour noodle soup with bok choy
(酸辣面汤、青菜)

I have become extremely social in recent years so I thought quarantine would be much harder mentally than it turned out to be.  My favorite pre-quarantine activities included being outside, going to the gym, and interacting with others, but through this process I’ve been reminded that I have quite strong introverted habits as well.  It was a little bittersweet when I finally left my cave of productivity to begin building a new life in a new city.

I am not a person who gets overstimulated easily, but total isolation to downtown Taipei was a lot.  Suddenly I was outside in an extremely dense foreign city surrounded by bright signs Chinese characters and 500 mopeds trying to cross the stoplight.

A Self-Health Management Period Diary

Day 1: overwhelmed

Day 2: ecstatic

Day 3: sunburnt with sore feet