We received news yesterday that we would be able to continue on with online lessons for the international schools. We talked about it this morning in my advisory period. The kids felt so much better. They weren’t happy about the idea of having their summer break during a time that is guaranteed to be a time where they are stuck in the house. At least for summer holiday, there is still the hope that we will be back to some sort of normal (though I don’t know how likely that is).

I know it sounds silly and perhaps selfish to worry so much about traveling. A lot of our kids are dual citizenship in other countries as well as Hong Konger born and raised. There are a fraction of the kids who are actually non-Chinese. Most of the faculty though is foreign. While we have made Hong Kong our home, we have somewhere we came from where family is waiting for us. Hong Kong is also a very small place. There is no way out right now. Not only is it geographically small, but the places we live are small.

I know of a lot of teachers who made the hard decision to leave Hong Kong for next year because they couldn’t deal with the situation any longer. I have to hang on until at least Bub is out of school. I don’t want to leave Hong Kong though either. Other teachers have small kids. Mine are practically grown. They will be going off into the world here soon, and I will be on my own.

Things are just going nuts here. They are talking about locking down the city, but they aren’t being very clear about that. They are saying “we haven’t ruled it out” as if that is supposed to make things better.

I don’t understand the testing thing at all. We already don’t have the space for the current cases. You’re going to require everyone to be tested (which means putting a huge amount of people all in one space for an extended period of time. I’ve waited in those lines already) and then do what with the people who test positive? What about exposing those people who aren’t positive to the people who are positive that they are going to come into contact with when you force them into these testing facilities?

The threat of the lockdown is causing panic buying again. I thought we learned our lesson the first time around. Apparently not.

Funnily enough, there was plenty of toilet paper even though we saw tons of people buying it. This was from a supermarket near us in Ma On Shan. Other places seem to have it much worse.

The last date I saw for the lockdown to start was March 17 (the day after Bub’s birthday). I am hoping before then, they see the flaws in this plan and make adjustments. I don’t think the zero policy is going to work right now. While I don’t necessarily understand the inner workings of the government and the pressures it is under, I do know what it is like to be a person watching and experiencing the situation. The level of uncertainty for my children and myself. The possible threat of isolation and quarantine. The pressure of being responsible for not just myself, but my children, my helper, and my pet. Not leaving the house for fear of contracting and passing the illness while living in 900 square feet with 4 other people. All of it is crushing.

Here having COVID is a dirty word. You don’t want to admit you have it. You don’t want to admit to knowing someone who has it. Up until this point, I hadn’t known anyone in Hong Kong who had had Covid. At home, almost everyone in my family has had it. My brother and his wife have had it TWICE! Here, you don’t want to be the one with it because of what the implications are for you and your family and friends. It’s such a strange difference in perception.