There really is no cause for alarm, Rex is not sick (as far as we know).
Here is what happened. Two weeks ago, Rex flew to Seattle and back in order to initiate his residency in the United States. Unfortunately that was the only way to do that, even though travel at this time is not ideal by any means. You can read all about how we planned the trip in my last post.
So why quarantine? This is Taiwan's policy. If you've been out of the country you need to self quarantine for 14 days before you're allowed to leave your home. This quarantine is strictly enforced.
How does quarantine work here?
First, when you arrive at the airport, a special quarantine taxi will drive you back to wherever you're spending your period of isolation. They track your location on your phone and if your phone dies or if you leave the area in which you are quarantining, the police will come to make sure you're staying alone.
Also, they will ask you to check your temperature and symptoms each day and report that to them in a daily phone call. There is also someone who is kind of in charge of making sure you have everything you need, etc.
In Rex's first day of quarantine a lady came by with a bag of commodities and food. Actually, I'm not sure what all was in it except rice, garbage bags, and bleach. I suspect there were other items as well, but I can't say what since Rex didn't show me.
Furthermore, if you have people in your house under the age of 6, or over the age of 65 you are required to remain separate from them. Since we have a baby, I am not allowed to come into contact with Rex this whole time. So he has to self-isolate in his own bedroom/bathroom. I cannot imagine how we would have survived this period in our last studio apartment. I think the only option would have been for me to stay with my in-laws. But Rex likely would have gone stir crazy (more than he is here) because the only view out the window was the back of another apartment building, there was next to no sunlight visible, and the air was often full of the smell of frying oil or fish from our neighbors. Gross! Also, Rex would have had to endure the daily dose of neighbors singing melodramatic karaoke songs with that weird echo effect to sound like they're in an auditorium (which of course, they're not!) Rex detests the sound of karaoke.
Because the average time for the onset of COVID symptoms is five days, Rex had me and the baby staying at a BNB in the neighborhood for those first five days. Then we moved back home. But baby and I are sharing our own bedroom and Rex is stuck inside of his own room.
In some ways this ought to be perfect for Rex because now he can spend as much time at whatever time he likes working on his research without disrupting my sleep or routine. I think he stayed up all night the last three nights, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he's been doing most days.
Thus, you can see how quarantine is done here in Taiwan and why.
How are we coping, and what have we learned in the process?
I think Ioanna has been acting a little unusually lately, a little more clingy, a little more likely to express strong complaints, and I can't say if this is because of her age or because of the events of the last two weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if somehow she misses daddy.
Rex is, naturally, feeling cooped up. But he has mountain views and he got to see a double rainbow yesterday morning. When I go out on a walk, I will give him a video call and just let him see where we're going. This way he gets to at least vicariously experience the wind, the lake, the trees, and nature. But it makes him dizzy because I can't keep the camera very steady while walking for my own pleasure.
For my own sake, I find that this quarantine time has actually helped me become more aware of my own actions, my own habits, and how I can do much better at keeping up with chores, etc., without putting things off and letting the piled up tasks overwhelm me. So the house has actually been cleaner, the meals have been more timely, and I've even been going out for lengthy walks some days. I've also binged on listening to books and am close to finishing my third within 16 days. Oh, and I've been doing some professional development for my English teaching.
I can't say that it's always easy. Naturally, it's a bit more difficult that I can't ever ask Rex to hold the baby for awhile, or that I can't leave her in her crib while I dump the trash. She has begun crawling with her tummy off the ground and pulling up on furniture while we were at the BNB, so she sometimes pulls up on the crib rails and then loses her balance. I'm afraid of her hitting her head on the rails behind her, so the other day I just set her on the shock absorbing mat in the living room and asked Rex to observe her from his room with the door open while I went to dump the garbage.
Or when I go grocery shopping, I can't leave the baby behind with Rex, or bring Rex along to help carry things. So the other day Ioanna fell asleep in the car within five minutes or so, and I had to wake her to go buy food. I carried her on my back while buying food. But upon returning home (since I had purchased a lot of items and they were heavy) I needed to unload them and the baby before parking the car in its place about a block or two away. I think I put her down for a nap before parking the car, if I remember correctly.
I'm just thankful we have the car now, otherwise I would have to walk 10+ minutes to buy groceries and I would have to go more frequently because I would only be able to buy what I can carry. Well, I should acknowledge that we have friends in the area who have offered to help us pick up groceries if we need anything, but up until now we haven't needed to ask them for this kind of assistance.
For the record, Rex is still feeling fine and has only three more days left of quarantine.
