Hey Family! I know I know, it's been awhile. My last post was in July 2020 and it's now April 2021 😩. Back then, I was still in the U.S., stuck outside of China's borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I left China on February 1, 2020 for what I thought at the time, would only be about 3 weeks. We were on CNY holiday break so school wasn't an issue. In fact, I was enjoying traveling in Bali then next, Cambodia. Bali was heavenly and I can't wait to go back. I enjoyed Cambodia, but not as much as I really wanted to. Bali wore me out and I won't lie and say that the virus had me wanting to stay within my own resort.
By this time, the Corona virus was rearing its ugly head all throughout Asia. I was faced with the dilemma of extending my vacation, but my wallet was like, "Go home child." So I headed back to Shenzhen, just long enough to unpack, wash clothes, and pack again. I decided to go home because the city was pretty much a ghost town due to the holiday festivities and I didn't want to get stuck if the city shut down. So I purchased a ticket and went home. I was nervous all the way to the airport because airlines begin shutting off flights from China. I had to fly from Shenzhen to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Newark, NJ. The flight from Tokyo was fully booked as everyone was trying to leave. By the time I landed safely in the US, my returning flight had been cancelled. Maybe about a week of returning, Shenzhen was put in lockdown. I'm thankful I left when I did.
Throughout it all my school was very supportive and kept us well informed. We were told to stay put and not travel back to Shenzhen until further notice. Around March, the HR Department was trying to make arrangements for teachers outside of China to return. They were fearful that China would close its borders. March 26th, I was in the middle of making arrangements with the school's travel agents, set to depart on April 5th. Then it happened, China announced that they were closing their borders effective March 28th. I was honestly relieved because traveling during that time period was very scary to me. Add in the fact that everyone had to quarantine at hotels, some of which were very unpleasant (I heard the stories on Facebook), I was in no rush to get back.
In the end, I stayed in the U.S. until November 13th. After 9 months, I was finally on my way back to China. It was a very long process. I went through just about every emotion with this trip. I know God was tired of hearing from my confused self. I was nervous about traveling back. But I met up with 2 of my colleagues at LAX and traveling with them helped my anxiety a great deal. We landed in Guangzhou on November 15th and spent 2 weeks in quarantine. I spent Thanksgiving stuck in a room by myself with less than desirable food. All in all, other than the food, quarantine wasn't bad. The hotel was nice and clean, although you could't tell from the outside (I was ready to tell them that I wasn't staying). We received 3 meals a day, along with temperature checks twice a day. Before I left the U.S., I had to take a Covid test as well as a blood test to determine if I ever had the virus. This had to be completed all within 48 hours of my departure. It was not easy. After arriving in China I had to take a second test, and on the 14th day we took our 3rd test. After we were cleared, my school sent a car for us to bring us back to Shenzhen. I thought we were done with testing but we had to take another test a few days after arriving in Shenzhen. So within 4 weeks, I took a total of 4 covid test. It's almost 5 months since returning and I have taken a test since. Praise be!
As you can see, so much happend in 2020 and there's still so much I left out. I really didn't mean for this to be so long. I should have vlogged this whole experience. Hopefully I'll do more blogging in the future, I have so much more to share with you all! Stay tuned for me!
Until next time...
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