Good to See You Again—My City!
- Carina Tuo
- May 5, 2020
- 4 min read
QUARANTINE AT EASE AFTER 40 HOURS LONG-WAY HOME
Written by: Carina Tuo
It is May 6, exactly one month after the end of Rachel Zhou’s quarantine period. Casting back on the 14-days staying at the hotel, she did not repine at all. Instead, she appreciated so much for the selfless dedication from hotel and airport crews, working day and night.
“Welcome back home,” she clearly remembered the favor done by a hotel staff on the first day of her quarantine, to guide her to the room, and what he said.
“Many Chinese don't want us back,” she murmured in a low voice.
“But Guangzhou does.”
—“Just like being Home.”
To avoid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Zhou, 21, one of the returned students from the University of Aberdeen in the UK, had returned from Scotland on March 23 and was staying at Howard Johnson Riverview Hotel (Guangzhou) for 14-days in site quarantine under the policy restriction by the Chinese government.
Zhou regards her daily quarantine as such a “carefree” experience, “every day I fell asleep after finishing the meal sent by hotel staff, and when I was awake, there was another meal coming,” she admitted it awesome being well taken care of—just as piggy—and a true sense of home no more worries.
“I would wake up before 10 a.m. every morning to wait for the body temperature testing,” she kept it as a habit in case of troubling the medical staff, who had to record the data of all the students twice a day, including one in the morning and another in the afternoon, “it was just a one-minute task to point the temperature gun at me as soon as I opened the door. But when you need to conduct so many returnees under quarantine in the hotel, it was time-consuming.”
—“Haven't the heart to trouble them.”
To those anti-epidemic personnel supported the whole way of her returning, Zhou always tried her best to avoid causing them any trouble, “they were devoted and exhausted,” she recalls the scene when arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on March 24, “many of the customs officials were slumping into chairs to have a rest, and one of them even made an ‘OK’ gesture when I showed gratitude to him.”
However, suspicions or intolerances about the comeback of overseas students still exist on social media. Zhou complains about being indiscriminately attacked, and defends returned students with two points, as their study plan abroad has long been confirmed and they returned to China only because the college allowed them to do so. “We are not coming back to China out of fleeing purpose,” she said.
—“Why didn't I go when I was the only wearing the mask?”
“I had to leave,” recalling the early situation of COVID-19 in Scotland before she left, there were merely two confirmed cases around her accommodation—one at a 30-minute walk north and another at about 60 miles south. None of them was that much serious, though, “but you know, the virus had just started to spread, in the early March. There were no strict anti-epidemic measures in Aberdeen and no school closures. So I still had to meet with my group members face to face every day to discuss on our school project—sitting at a close range without wearing a mask—as I didn’t want to be offensive or hurt anybody when I was the only one putting on the mask.”
Even on March 24, the use of facemasks was still discouraged and regarded as an invalid means of preventing coronavirus outside of the clinical settings by British officials.
Her “over-reacting” even brought her some troubles, “some of the locals might frown and lean over on the side of the road to keep a distance as soon as they saw the mask on my face—an Asian face—then kind of being labelled as a ‘virus-carrier’,” Zhou admitted it frustrated and boosting her further determination to come back to China.
—“Keep a Cool Head facing Irrational Comments on Social Media.”
She calls up the word “arduous” to describe her journey, as she had to stop at Cater Doha and Cambodia Phnom Penh before finally landing at Guangzhou, which took nearly 40 hours!
“It was really painful to wear all these suits all along, and I really wanted to take them off under such an anoxic condition,” said Zhou, “even worse, I have seen several Asian people—probably Chinese too—laughing at me, just as those surprised foreigners who kept taking pictures from a distance on our wearing.”
To Zhou, the returned trip may seem hard, but prompt her to think “with a cool head”, especially during the period of her quarantine. Any group should not undertake joint liability for individual behaviour, unwise and unfair—this is what she believes—criticism should be based case by case rather than be engaged in meaningless scolding on the internet because all groups have good and bad people.
Just as the early March, 2020, during the peak of the outbreak of coronavirus in China, she clearly recalls it was a balmy morning, bright and breezy, while walking down the streets of Scotland with her Asian friends. They were greeted cordially by three gracious Scotch grannies, “Good morning, ladies! How's your day?”
Pseudonym was applied for protecting the character in this article
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