squattingtaiwan

[squattingtaiwan]

Freedom & Earthquakes

On my 3rd day out of quarantine I went to the ER. On the 3rd day of non-quarantine there was a big earthquake. I woke up in the middle of the night to a “presidential alert” on my phone which said an earthquake was going to happen and that I should take cover. I was too sleepy. For some reason I thought this was an alert for California and should not affect me. I ignored it and went back to sleep. Within a minute I heard a very strange noise and the building started to shake, sway, and rock back and forth. I didn’t do anything. I stayed in bed and tried to orient myself. I had experienced small earthquakes in California, which I could barely feel. This was different. It lasted a minute or more. I wondered what I could do but there was no way I was going to stand up and walk while the building was dancing. Eventually it ended. I went back to sleep around 2 am. Several aftershocks occurred throughout the night, some of which woke me up. It was the same weird feeling and sound, but they didn’t last as long.

Several Taiwanese friends sent me messages to check on me and reassured me that this was nothing to worry about. People who live here for a while get used to it. In fact I can confirm that I did not ear anyone make a noise nor did any of my neighbor seem to go down to the street.

The following day I confirmed with my boss that he felt it too in Taichung. He said that the advised procedure is as follows: open the door first (because earthquakes can cause the door to be misaligned with the frame), grab something to cover your head, and then go downstairs (using the stairs), and stand outside in as open a place as possible.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.7 and it also affected Japan, the Philippines and China.

After 2 weeks of quarantine there is one week of self-health management – that means I can go out but I can’t use public transportation or eat at restaurants. I also can’t leave Taipei. This gave me an opportunity to go buy some things for the apartment, meet some friends, buy some meals and fruits from the local market. In the process I edited and filmed several videos. Screenshot and links below:

Taipei Quarantine Food & Leaving Tango ChangAn

https://youtu.be/xsHEqJa6wk0

Taipei Apartment tour & Neighborhood – 東門

https://youtu.be/h3yOwc4YDRc

Walking Yongkang Street – 逛��康街 – Taipei

https://youtu.be/8Sb14tih_9E

Daan Forest Park in Taipei – 大安森林公園 – Night walk

https://youtu.be/WUFY0icDCVs

After that week ended I was able to go out and enjoy hotpot – my first meal in an actual restaurant. It was an all-you-can-eat hotpot so I left quite full. I also got my MRT card and took the MRT for the first time. Finally I went to the gym which was overdue. The gym I found is called Soulfit and doesn’t require signing up for a membership. It allows you to swipe your MRT card (悠遊卡) upon entry and then charges 1 NT per minute until I exit the gym and swipe it again. So an hour would cost 60 NT, which right now is about $2.10 USD. Not bad at all.

After three weeks of quarantine + health self-management, I am finally free. I can start going around as I wish, I don’t have to report my health to the government everyday, and I can start meeting friends.

[squattingtaiwan]

Jet lag & Work

Last time I came to Taiwan it took me a week to get over the jet lag. This time I had a plan. I was going to defeat it from the start by staying awake as long as I could during the day, making strategic use of my hotel’s espresso machine, and drinking tons of water. I also made sure to keep the curtains open so that the sunlight and night time would get my circadian rhythm in sync. It worked.

Since I still have to attend most of my USA meetings, my schedule tries to cater to my California colleagues. I typically wake up around 3 am or 3:30 am and start work around 4 am. If there are no meetings I may start at 5 am. The great thing is that my work day ends pretty early, around 1 pm or 2 pm. Then I can use the rest of the day to do other things. I’ll typically go to sleep around 9 pm or 10 pm.

To my surprise, this lifestyle turns out to be quite wonderful. When I wake up the world is absolutely quiet, it’s dark outside, and there are almost no people or cars on the streets. I get to watch the sunrise every day. The other thing I noticed is that my productivity skyrocketed. I just completed a full week of work from my quarantine hotel and I am sure that this has been my most productive week since I joined the company.

I usually take a small break around 8 am, which is halfway through my workday. At that point I make a coffee by combining espresso and some milk that I microwave. Side note: this is the best coffee I have ever had. I find these illy capsules a lot closer to real espresso than Nespresso capsules. I am slowly building an addiction.

This is the time I look out the window and notice the traffic picking up. People are going to work, the workers at the construction site next door begin to operate heavy machinery, and the sun has fully made its appearance. This is also the time at which I may call my parents or sister, as it’s right before dinner time in California.

After catching up and getting caffeinated, I get back to work for another 4 hours. In the middle I have regular interruptions: take my body temperature at 10 am and send a picture of the thermometer to the hotel’s Line account, respond to a text message from CECC (Central Epidemic Command Center) to let them know I have no symptoms. Around 11 am I start browsing the foodpanda app to figure out what I’d like to order for lunch. I need to order early enough so that the food arrives by 12 pm. If the food arrives late, I will have to wait until 3 pm for the hotel to bring it up. There are only 6 times at which the hotel will deliver food to rooms: 8 am, 10 am, 12 pm, 3pm, 6pm and midnight.

I continue to work until the food arrives. I want to eat it warm so I immediately launch Netflix and feast. Afterwards I will also wash some cherry tomatoes and fruits to make sure I eat something more natural and unprocessed. Of course I will indulge in a square of dark chocolate (70% Lindt) and make another coffee to make sure I stay awake until the end of the day. I will typically do another hour or two of work depending on workload. There has been some exceptions where I did some 13 hour workdays, but I didn’t mind since I’m stuck quarantining in a room anyway.

I don’t know what it is about working at 4 am that makes me so productive but it’s quite magical. I really recommend that anyone tries this at least for a week. It make an enormous difference not only in productivity but also in state of mind. There is something very peaceful and still about these early hours and I now feel that waking up late would rob me of the best part of the day.

[squattingtaiwan]

A Rough Start

Making a move from the San Francisco Bay Area to Taipei Taiwan in the middle of the pandemic went surprisingly smoothly. The plane and airports were empty, there were no delays and there were no lines at check-in, TSA, or immigration. On the plane I had the entire row to myself (as well as the one in front and behind me) which made it more pleasant than flying in non-pandemic times. The only challenge was wearing a face mask the entire time (maybe close to 20 hours from door to door). You can see it all in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWL54vmJtTs

However, on my third day here I had to go to the emergency room after splitting my chin open while working out in my room. It was a funny and silly accident. I brought resistance bands to work out. I thought it would be a good idea to hook the resistance band to the office chair that was provided in the room. After a few reps, the headrest detached from the chair and flew into my face. It hurt! I touched my face and checked if my teeth were still there. It seemed my teeth were fine. However, I noticed my hand was getting covered in blood. I didn’t know where it was coming from. So I ran to the bathroom. It turns out my chin was bleeding quite a bit. I ran some cold water on it, pressed it down with a t-shirt for 10 minutes to try to stop the bleeding. I called June to ask for advice. I was still jet-lagged and not thinking clearly (plus I had just knocked myself on the head with what is essentially a two-meter slingshot).

She asked me if I wanted to go to the ER. I told her I can’t leave the room. I just needs bandaids. She called the hotel reception and had them send some bandaids and something to clean the wound. I used them immediately. Things seemed to be calming down.

I had a call with June and explained what had happened. She also talked to her sister and the police. The authorities said that if I wanted to to the ER I would have to first do a PCR test. I sent her a photo of my wound and she said it was bleeding too much. She asked the reception to send up bandages.

At the time I arrived, Taiwan required 2 weeks of quarantining in a designated quarantine hotel. Going to a hospital seemed a bit complicated. Thankfully, June’s sister is a nurse and she arranged for a quarantine taxi to take me to the hospital.

The taxi arrived and the receptionist told me to come down. I took 5000 Taiwanese dollars with me. June reassured me it would be more than enough. The taxi already knew my destination. We didn’t speak much but we only spoke Chinese. It was raining, and I was looking at the streets of Taipei and taking in the sights. This was my chance to get out of my quarantine and possibly the only time I would get fresh air during these two weeks.

We arrived in front of a large hospital called McKay Memorial Hospital (馬偕紀念醫院). The taxi driver rolled down his window and addressed a hospital employee explaining that he had a foreigner in the car. The word “foreigner” got thrown around a couple of times, after which we were told to go to the back entrance.

At the back entrance I was told to exit the taxi and walk to a building and wait outside. A nurse greeted me and spoke some English. She asked me to fill out a form and asked for an ID. I gave her my California ID. She told me to sit on the chair which was outside the building and left. The form was in both English in Chinese but the bottom section was Chinese only, so I was glad I could read it. It was pretty small but I took my time to fill it out because I had never filled out such a form before. 

She came back 10 minutes later and asked if had my passport. Unfortunately I didn’t because I left in a rush and only thought about bringing cash. Luckily, I remembered that when I applied for the Taiwan Gold Card I had uploaded my passport picture to their website. So I was able to login from my phone and download it. The nurse took my phone (unlocked) and disappeared for what felt like an eternity. I had never given my unlocked phone to anyone. It was a forced exercise in “letting go”.

I sat there and waited. The wind grew stronger and so did the rain. The trees were waving about against a background of large concrete buildings. The combination of city life and tropical weather is a refreshing and curious experience. I told myself this was my chance to experience the outside world during these two weeks. I better enjoy it.

Soon after, a nurse called me into the building. She brought me to doctor Wang, who spoke English fluently. After a few questions about allergies and whether I’m single, he asked me to take off my face mask and examined the wound. He explained that he would have to suture it and that he would first inject an anesthetic to make it painless. In addition, he asked me if I had had a Tetanus vaccine recently. I didn’t remember, so he ordered one.

The nurse took me to another room and told me to lie down. She cleaned the wound. She returned later with the Tetanus shot and asked me to sit up and uncover my arm. She injection was quick but a bit shaky. Then I lied down again. Doctor Wang came back and covered my head with a towel which had an opening. I couldn’t see anything but the opening would allow him to work on my chin. He injected the anesthetic and proceeded to sow me up. His work was impressively focused and precise. In cooperation, I did my best to remain completely still. When he was done he told me to make sure I don’t get the stitches wet and that I should come back in 10 days to get them removed.

Afterwards I was asked to go outside and sit on the chair again. A few minutes later a nurse came and told me to follow her into another building. She brought me to an office where a lady sat opposite me, asking me in Chinese how I would like to pay. I replied「現金」(”cash”) and she gave me the total. Meanwhile the other nurse handed me two packets and explained to me that I would have to eat this medication after every meal and use the ointment to clean my wound. Everything happened quickly and in Chinese. I paid 2 bills totaling about $3600 NT, which is about $126 USD, a friendly amount for an ER visit while uninsured (including medication).

I was then brought back to my chair outside and told to call a quarantine taxi. “Call 1922” she said. I called. I heard a menu all in Chinese and was very confused, but the last item said “For English press 7” which I pressed without hesitation. A man responded to me in English and I explained my situation: “I’m at the hospital and need to go back to my quarantine hotel, so I need a quarantine taxi”. The friendly man understood but said this was the wrong number. I had to hang up and call 1999, which I did. This time the menu was entirely in Chinese. There was no option for English. I listened to the menu 5 times, trying to block out the surrounding noise and focus on the voice. In the end I randomly pressed 2. A woman picked the phone in Chinese and I asked「請問，妳會說英文嗎？」(”excuse me, do you speak English?”) She said no. I told her「那我先試試看可不可以用中文」(“Then, let me try in Chinese first”). After I explained my situation she passed the phone to her manager who spoke English. He said he would send a taxi my way.

The taxi called me afterwards. He only spoke Chinese and asked me what entrance I was at. I told him I’m at the back entrance. He said he was on his way. The manager from the previous call called me back and said the taxi was on its way and told me its license plate number. I only remembered half of it. He gave me an estimate of 15 to 20 minutes.

I waited, it was getting dark and the rain was still pouring. The wind was still blowing. My phone rang and the taxi driver said he was here. I walked towards the street and asked him if it was the white car, which he confirmed. He was holding a bottle of sanitizing spray and asked to stand with in the shape of a 大 so he could spray me down. He also sprayed some in my hands. We got into the car and again I got a chance to observe the city. Each time the car stopped I could observe in more detail. I particularly like watching people hanging out casually on plastic chairs or stools in front of a store and enjoying tea, chit-chatting, or playing some board game.

I arrived at the hotel and they provided me a key to return to my room. Usually when you quarantine you don’t get a room key because you are not allowed to exit your room. I felt this was a privilege.

Back safely and stitched up, it was time to figure out how to shower. How do I wash my hair and face without getting my chin wet? I was a combination of bandages, tape, a face mask and changes in my shower routine. Can’t wait to remove these stitches and wash properly.