In February’s finance review I posted that I spent under $200 for that entire month. The major contributor is the COVID-19 quarantine all of China is experiencing.
The very blasé summary: I stayed because I don’t like hot beachy places, or spending money, or becoming nocturnal, and I found out other people were staying. Life is pretty good (so far).
The lead-up
I decided to spend the three weeks of my Chinese New Year break in China, a visit to a friend in Shanghai, and a trip to see family down south. I actively avoid the news so I literally had no clue anything was happening until my Shanghai friend asked me about it. We both shrugged and did nothing differently.
Halfway through Shanghai, my aunt told me I would be placed under a 14-day quarantine if I were to visit from out of province. And once I went back to Beijing, I would be placed under another 14-day quarantine.
Yeah…
Nah.
So I headed back to Beijing to figure out my next moves. The school campus was still open and I have the option to leave if I change my mind, still a possibility.
The potential Philippines problem
As soon as I came back to school FOMO set in. Part of that was being in group chats where the frequent messages heightened my sense of fear. I was increasingly worried about the virus, but also worried about not making the most of my 3-week break. You see, most of my friends somehow all ended up in the Philippines and I knew it would be great fun to join them. Yes, I know I’m privileged.
I know something else too. The anti-virus measures kept schools closed, but because this was China, and I work for an expensive private school, I would most certainly be teaching online.
I can do that from anywhere in theory, so this only added to my desire to be in another country. Depending on how long the quarantine lasted, the two options after the regularly allotted break time would be to teach from the Philippines (or any cheap SEA country) or to go back to Canada and teach from there. Or just stay, a choice I’m pretty sure most people discarded as soon as it crossed their minds.
What, why?
I’m a bit a lot of a homebody
I quite like my apartment and all my creature comforts there. It is set up exactly how I like it, spacious, and has everything I need. The school campus enforces a quarantine procedure and even now I see cleaning staff disinfecting.
Most blasphemously, I don’t like beaches or hot weather. I would be going solely to hang out with my friends (love them), most of whom would be returning to the UK if quarantine continued past the break. A few people were staying longer, travelling around to various places but I was super not down for the idea of having to pack and change my living space every 1-2 weeks. They also have their own plans that don’t involve me crashing in.
Have time to myself, surrounded by beautiful beaches, warm weather, good food, and low(er) risk of death?
Yeah…
Nah.
Which meant I would be going back to Beijing, thus defeating the purpose of escaping quarantine, or going back to Canada.
I didn’t want to go back to Canada (yet)
I didn’t want to return to Canada because a) did you see that picture up there? b) tickets ain’t free, c) teaching with a 12-hr difference and d) living with my parents. Just picture yourself living and working from a house the size of a large apartment, with both your parents and grandparents there as well.
You’d think I would be happy to be closer to my family and friends, however, I WOULD STILL BE TEACHING AT CHINA TIME. Generally speaking, nobody wants to hang out after work when your after work is 5AM.
Fellow detainees
Every Chinese (or ex-pat Chinese like me) I talked to told me to just stay and avoid the crowds at any major transport hubs. To them, I was healthy and not in a high-risk area so it was a better choice than going to an airport and increasing my risk of potential contact. Mathematically I knew they are correct, but emotionally, Philippines!
It helped immensely that a few other teachers were also still on campus. Walking around and chatting with my neighbours greatly reduced my panic and feelings of isolation. A bonus: I’ve made new friends with people who I don’t usually have the chance to talk to.
It was a calming juxtaposition from what my out-of-China-already friends were saying, which was to GTFO.
Leaving costs money $$$
Of course money was a factor! Have you seen the rest of this blog??
Pause for a second so you can rightly judge me for being crazy.
SEA countries are cheap, not free. Flight tickets, food, transport, lodging etc. all cost money. I could go back to Canada where food and lodging would be free but I would become a nocturnal creature. Plus a last-minute flight ticket halfway around the world and another one back to China if schools re-open before the end of this school year.
I want to reach 100k net worth by the end of this school year even if I have to risk a pandemic to do so! This is super funny to you if you’ve been paying any sort of attention to financial news recently.
What my life looks like
I don’t really know what people picture when they think China + Virus + Quarantine but it’s probably not me teaching from the room next door in slippers, living my best commute life.
Food and grocery deliveries have always worked, I just walk down to the gate and pick it up. I take daily walks because the campus is open to anyone already inside — the gym is sadly closed though. Give it another week before I’m begging them to reopen it. I chat with other people and we organize hangouts/group dinners — a couple of nights a week we do light workouts together in the community space.
I was placed under quarantine for 2 weeks inside my apartment when I first came back, reasonably so. You may feel my Freedom™ has been intruded on (as did I), yet I understood it was safer for others who were already here. School management delivered 3 meals a day free of charge so it all worked out well. I had the most important thing in life, working internet.
I sleep more, read more, relax more post-panic, and still actively avoid reading the news. It turned out to be the right choice for me under these circumstances.
How it affected me
Mentally
The decision to stay took me a week. It’s written out here neatly because I don’t want you suffering while reading this but it wasn’t so orderly in my head for a few days. I was literally chatting and Skyping with as many people as possible to stave off feelings of impending doom.
So. How did I fare when most of my friends are gone and I can’t leave the school grounds?
Spoiler alert: I made new friends and turns out I don’t go out often on my own anyway.
My social life took some adjusting. Instead of going to a restaurant we just take turns hosting dinners, and instead of going to the mall we have board game nights. A lot of people already do these without a quarantine, imagine that. Hey, wait…I’m one of those people…
I cannot stress how important still being able to socialize was for me. As I get older, I grudgingly accept I’m more extroverted than I had thought. If nobody else was here I would 100% have packed my luggage and left again, depriving you, dear reader, of this Pulitzer-level piece of writing.
I was (and still am) worried about what others would think. Then I remembered the old advice about not caring and forcefully banish those thoughts to the shadow realm.
Financially
From my records, leisure and eating out are the two largest spending categories (aside from when tuition comes due). Well, I couldn’t go out, so this was certainly one method to save money. For comparison, you can look at my February spendings versus my January spendings. I saved 96% of my net salary this month which isn’t a record I would want to beat.
To balance out my incredible savings rate the markets went down 10%. You win some and you lose some.
Conclusion
Most likely I will be doing this for at least another month which is not ideal but also not the worst thing I’ve ever done for a month. Any of the choices I had came with its own set of stressors, and I decided to pick the least of all three evils. Yes, let it sink in that I think staying in China is the least problematic of my options.
Can things change for the worse? Sure. I will evaluate my options when the need arises. Something something crossing bridges or whatever.
I don’t think this would have been the best option for everyone, but it was the best option for me. If I had already been out of the country when poop hit the fan I would not have made the same choice. Or maybe I would? Only time will tell if this was an idiotic decision.
Let me know, did this post change your perception of life in China during this pandemic? Had this virus affected your life in any way?
