Liberation Day
The day has finally come, Liberation day. As of 11:59 last night April 22, the most severe of the government directive to shutdown the economy and contain the spread of Covid-19, expired. We have been shuttered in the apartment building. Often with the massive metal overhead door closed and the world kept out. Other than very controlled grocery shopping we have been in this apartment building all alone since March 15, 39 days.
No other tenants in the entire building and the family that runs the building often stay away. They come in once a day to check on the building and us, but other than that we’ve been shut in. At times it almost feels like we are hunkered down in some sort of zombie apocalypse. It’s been difficult at times I can not lie. Isolation, staving off depression and the inability to see family and friends has been taxing for us. But Diem and I have supported each other, played games, cooking way too much and trying to keep a routine going.
Every morning we would wake up, have a breakfast drink, coffee or my guilty pleasure Pepsi, and I make calls to family and friends back in the states. We clean the apartment completely including mopping. I have never lived in such a perpetually clean place. A shower, a little breakfast and if it’s shopping day a trip to the Mega Market. A hosing down of self and cart with disinfectant on the way in, a temperature check and then we are waived on.
Some Challenges
Taxi’s have been closed for over a month so we have to do our weekly shopping on a motorbike. Challenging is the word of the day as a weeks worth of groceries is a substantial amount and there was often so much between us that I had to sit on the back edge of the seat and am always thankful when Diem wears pants with belt loops as I can tuck my fingers in and keep the sensation of sliding off the back at bay.
With most western style grocery stores here in western style malls, we have to travel many kilometers to the other side of the city to shop at a stand alone Mega Market, as malls are shuttered. It is a sometimes seemingly slow and arduous ride home. Then there is the hike. Usually with normal circumstances we market shop daily, but recently it’s been a weekly affair. We are on the top floor with no elevator. Though I’m not entirely sad about that as it gives me the most exercise I’ve been recently getting. It’s very different walking up with some items for the night’s dinner as opposed to a week’s worth.
Usually after shopping we make a lite lunch or snack and then get to work. I usually work on something, a script for a quarantined update or website management and try to just keep my mind occupied. Diem does her thing and we sit in our own little “office” spaces through the afternoon. At some point we make dinner, our kitchen is incredibly small so we usually take turns cooking rather than getting in each other’s way. Which is nice because it brings a nice flow and diversity to our meals.
Diem makes these wonderful coconut curry stews with chicken, taro and carrots that are just wonderful. Stir fry noodles are a common place as well as some western favorites like cheeseburgers and chicken wings. I am really enjoying the Vietnamese standard of fresh fruit for dessert as it has helped me decrease my consumption of junk food like cookies, cakes and candy bars. In fact I think the closest thing to junk food I’ve eaten in quarantine was some sweet yogurt and a few Ritz cheese crackers.
The Sun
The sun is an interesting animal here. Sunrise is an incredibly early 5:26am currently and sunset is 6pm. Our apartment is very open and our front door is frosted glass. There is a massive skylight just outside so as you can imagine our apartment is basked in copious amounts of light before 6 in the morning. It’s hard sleeping past 7, even though I try, and as the sunsets relatively early usually by 7 or 8 I’m struggling to stay awake.
An unexpected treat
On the eve of lockdown easing things were different. Diem and I were in the kitchen preparing for dinner when I heard something I haven’t heard in over a month. I looked at Diem and asked if she heard it also. She confirmed and I walked to the kitchen window. Wafting in the air from the street below was the laughter of children playing. Overcome with a bit of excitement I grabbed my phone and ran up to the rooftop terrace.
All around our building was activity. Children on the street behind us were playing soccer in the street. On our street people were walking their dogs and visiting neighbors. Motorbikes whizzed by with families of four on them shuttling off to visit family and friends not seen in many weeks. Two small boys sat in chairs on the sidewalk in front of us with their grandmother enjoying the fresh air.
From my rooftop perch I could sense something wonderful, The world was coming back to life. The Prime Minister was to give a directive in the evening to extend the lockdown. If he was in fact going to extend it. The moment came and went. Everyone was overjoyed with the ability to simply go outside again. Although many restrictions would stay in effect, the most severe of the restrictions would be allowed to expire.
It is hard to explain the overwhelming since of victory I feel writing this now. You get a sense here that we all made sacrifices, we have all played our part in this fight and we have won the war. I struggle with holding the tears back as I am writing this small chapter of the global fight. In Vietnam children haven’t been to school since the new year break. As restrictions began to be imposed as far back as January.
Diem was informed today that schools will reopen on May 4, Travel restrictions will begin to be lifted as soon as April 1 and we are finally going to reunite with the children in An Lao. Though Life will in some way never be the same, we are finally beginning to find our new normal. It is going to do a great deal of good for my mental health to plunge into the sea as beaches and parks are beginning to reopen with strict distancing guidelines. It just feels so amazing, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is to know the end is in sight.
Awaking to a new world
As people across Vietnam woke up today to an easement of restrictions they also awoke to the sixth consecutive day with no new cases. With a total of 268 cases in the country with zero deaths and 223 of those already recovered and released, it is a truly amazing story. We walked to the corner market this morning and families were putting out altars on the sidewalks to thank their ancestors for keeping them safe and motorbikes were whizzing about. It was the first time the world seemed close to normal for us in months. Just walking to the store was emotional.
I would like to personally say a thank you to my temporary adoptive home. Through decisive leadership, social management, informed decision making and public support, Vietnam quickly declared war on the pandemic in January and has spared no expense at attacking the outbreak. Even risking economic ruin, the Prime Minister has said since day one that public health would always come first. It was a tough and amazingly courageous decision. It has resulted in one of the greatest successes in the world.
We have persevered and we have overcome. In Vietnam today it feels like Liberation day. The day we have been waiting patiently for, the day that we would at least know that the war is being won. It’s not over, but we are another day closer. I now look home to America. I am praying everyday for everyone back home. There is hope and light at the end of the tunnel. Just be patient. Patience is far more important now than the eagerness to return to normal. Make informed decisions and above all be patient and be present. I’ll be seeing ya soon.
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
Winston Churchill
A true story of how Vietnam overcame the virus click here.
For something different click here
For a few of my quarantined update videos
