How Wuhan People Decompress at Home | SanwiChina

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Editor’s Note from SandwiChina :It was Chinese New Year’s Eve and someone asked me, “Should we be joyful and celebrate the New Year?” While the family was fixated on the Gala, she remained anxious about the epidemic in Wuhan and kept her eyes out for any updates, only to be chastised by her family for spoiling the mood and being a buzzkill.This is one of those unusual situations in which feelings of joy and sorrow coexist. Every emotion in this turmoil is real; the joy of life that festivals remind us of, as well as the panic and anxiety as the country, grapples to make sense of this epidemic. This soup of emotions is a confrontation of truths and, for everyone involved, these feelings are not performances or rhetoric, but an unexpected life unfolding before their eyes. On the first day of the lockdown of Wuhan, SandwiChina invited 50 people currently in Wuhan or who were born and raised there to document their everyday lives during this unusual time. Written with candor, we chose excerpts from their Daily Writing to publish here. Our hope is that by highlighting authentic slices of their everyday life, we recognize and leave behind a memory of the lives of ordinary people living through this crisis.This piece offers a glimpse of those confined to their homes. Some used video chats to play mahjong or eat dinner afar, whilst some utilized this period of self-quarantine to organize and clean their house fanatically. Some cried uncontrollably in response to news updates and many even tossed their phone aside to shut protect their sanity from more painful information.Regardless of how they are living through these times, each one of them hopes that this will pass soon.

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Original Article:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Hhc2X5PQUnxp7kTBGZn-agOriginal Post Date: 01/26/2020Translators: Zewei, Coral L, Xiaomei Wu, Zining, Vivien XiEditors: Vanessa, S.GaoProofread: PT

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In the family group chat, we share meals and games of mahjong through video chatsAuthor: Huang Beibei Location: Hankou, WuhanOccupation: TeacherOur family had originally reserved a large table in a restaurant for more than twenty people to enjoy New Year Eve reunion dinner with four other families. However, after Dr. Zhong Nanshan’s talk on January 20th, we canceled the reservation and decided to celebrate the new year separately instead.My family lives at a walking distance from my aunt and uncle’s, and we’d spend almost every weekend with them. Every year, we’d not only spend New Year’s Day with them but also the first 6 days of the New Year and play Mahjong. This year though, we planned to “meet” over video chat at 6:00 pm for reunion dinner.4:30 pm: My father was eager to cook. “How many dishes are you preparing that you have to start this early?” I asked. He thought for a bit and said: “Not much to prepare. I guess it is a bit too early.” He sat back down.

6 pm: we cooked four dishes: braised fish, Chinese cabbage and meatballs, pepper beef and enoki mushroom egg soup. This must be the least fancy New Year’s Eve dinner I’ve ever had.We started a video chat in the family group. It took a while for us to gather together, propose a toast, and start our separate meals. My uncle has two grandkids, both of whom were screaming and making loud noises. “Kids always make a household livelier,” my father said as it was purposeful to me. While the four of us ate hurriedly as we looked forward to our game of Mahjong, the three members of my aunt’s family were eating in silence as they looked at their phones.

Finishing our food, we moved to the Mahjong table as the other two families looked on with jealousy. They demanded that we continue our livestream so they could live vicariously through us.

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First Day of Official Lockdown, Seven Days until Due DayAuthor: Girl Run with the WindLocation: WuhanJob: Office clerkChinese New Year’s Eve: it is the first day of the official lockdown of Wuhan, also 7 days until my due date.I woke up yesterday morning to an avalanche of news and messages on my phone: Wuhan is locked down. I suddenly felt like I was on an island, trapped under a dome of depression. I kept thinking of the idiom “No eggs remain intact in an overturned nest”, a Chinese saying that when a group suffers, every individual in the group is affected. My husband had already read the news before me and held me tight when he saw that I was awake. Our little baby protested a bit inside my belly. My husband told me not to worry, and this would be the first hardship we overcome together with our baby. After a whole day of adjusting to our situation, planning on our confinement at home and how to deal with special occasions, I began to relax.Why not consider hardships in life as an opportunity to slow down and focus our attention on our families and our lives? This could be a life-changing experience and we should make use of it.Today I planned to focus all my attention and energy to prepare for the traditional New Year Eve’s reunion dinner. Starting early in the morning, I cleaned up, made a dinner menu, put up decorations, and started cooking. Eventually, it was just me, my husband, and my mother-in-law who enjoyed the feast together. Although the three of us are stuck in Wuhan and apart from the rest of our family because of the coronavirus, I am still infinitely grateful. My mother-in-law made a tableful of ten dishes, which signified the fullness of happiness. The little bit of alcohol she had during dinner also led her down a long and winding memory lane.

Looking at my mother-in-law’s blushing cheeks, I talked to my husband about the past, present, and future. We laughed and cursed; we felt sad and grateful. Touching my belly and feeling my baby doing somersaults inside of me, I fell into a trance. I believe that a wife, a mother can be both so soft, and also so very strong for her family.My baby, although you are yet to be born, mommy has been sharing heartbeats with you for almost 10 months. I believe you can feel the whole spectrum of my emotions as your own. Maybe you realized that this Chinese New Year is different. What a distinct experience in your life! Mommy will slowly go from completely protecting you from letting you explore the world by yourself. My love for you, and my wishes that you are safe and happy would never, ever change.

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Parents exercising with Baduanjin Qigong while watching TV Author: XiaomanLocation: Xudong, WuhanOccupation: New MediaOf course, at a time like this, everyone is unavoidably scared, especially those who are at home alone. Try talking to friends; it is much better than getting more and more scared as you browse through your phone. Definitely do not scare yourself at a time like this. Here is a real example of mine:Last night, like any other night, I turned on my electric toothbrush and started brushing. When I looked down in the sink, oh my god, there was blood mixed in the foam! I looked in the mirror and saw my gums and teeth covered in blood. At that moment, I was convinced that I was dying. But when I opened my mouth, I felt a sharp pain on my lips and realized that my chapped lips had been bleeding. I slapped myself in the head and felt so dumb!Since Monday this week, the city was on lockdown. Cars were banned, 30 provinces and cities activated first-level public health emergency response. Although these are all happening, they still feel so unrealistic to me. I can only slowly digest the sudden surge of information. No matter how awful the reality is, we must slowly accept it.Now let’s see what we are doing hibernating at home in Wuhan.Our life force depends on exercising! Exercise can alleviate stress and give us healthier bodies. My parents did a whole set of Baduanjin Qigong (Editor’s Note: Qigong is a traditional Chinese exercise that coordinates movements, breathing, and meditation) while watching TV. You can imagine two bears exercising…

Friends are gathering in group chats to play online games.

Screenshot reads: “Anybody wants to play?” “Come on” “Please play with me” “So bored” Also, isn’t Chinese New Year all about Mahjong? Even online Mahjong games sometimes need an additional person to make up all 4 players.

Screenshot reads “Let me know if you need people for Mahjong”Or some are like me, typing furiously right now.

Although the city is locked down, we are all trying to live as well as we can. Let’s face the situation with positivity!

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I carefully planned what I need to do and told myself that everything will be fineAuthor: Wang GuimaLocation: Wuchang, WuhanOccupation: Editor for Children’s booksI have been back and forth between anxiety and self-encouragement for the last two days. More and more upset news just kept coming. In the end, I decided to give up tracking the news and take care of myself, because there was nothing that I could do. And that sense of powerlessness was only getting deeper.I decided to cheer up and carefully planned what I needed to do on Chinese New Year’s Eve: house cleaning, disinfection, preparing three meals for the day, bathing cats, and writing diaries about this epidemic, all of which kept me busy on this New Year’s Eve alone at home.

I woke up exactly at 8:30 a.m., which was very rare for me to get up this early. The weather was not very good. It was still drizzling in the gloomy sky. I prepared a simple breakfast and carefully picked a plate, then started the New Year’s Eve on my own. Eating alone is not too complicated: carbohydrate, protein, vegetables, and milk. I tried to get my diet as balanced as possible.

Then I opened the window to get some fresh air, cleaned up the room and sprayed the diluted 84 disinfectants all over my apartment. The whole morning flew by while I did these house chores. I called my family and asked them about their condition. My mother said: “You really can make yourself busy!” But she didn’t know that I was doing this only to keep myself from spinning my wheels. I simply made a bowl of fried rice for lunch, because I was busy with chores. I carefully prepared dinner since it was the New Year’s Eve meal after all! I made rib stew with radish and stir-fry bean sprouts. The entree was dumplings made of shepherd’s purse and pork that I made at home with my mother before the new year. Although there was nobody to drink with, I still poured myself a glass of Umeshu; it isn’t a new year without alcohol. I took a sip and wished in my heart that everyone have a healthy and safe year.

On the morning of New Year’s Day, I was bombarded by WeChat messages from my family about a video of unattended dead bodies in a hospital that went viral on Weibo (now proved to be fake news). There was also news of suspected patients being taken away by ambulances in many neighborhoods around the community. My family was very nervous and repeatedly told me not to go out. On the 23rd, many local chat groups that I’ve joined were endlessly discussing the epidemic. All sorts of hearsay, news about material donations, posts of people seeking help, short videos of the situation inside the hospitals…information rushed in on all fronts and it was very difficult to validate anything.One after another bad news kept coming: A classmate from high school whom I haven’t seen in years was a nurse at a big general hospital in Hankou. I contacted her and asked her about the situation. She told me that her hospital had been requisitioned as a specialized epidemic hospital, and they must go to the frontline after the hospital facilities were properly arranged. Another friend had a fever and went to the hospital for examination. At present, no results have come out (although highly unlikely to be viral pneumonia). He was being isolated in the hospital. We didn’t know what to say to each other on WeChat. The words were deleted and typed, typed and deleted. There were no words left except vague exhortations like “You must take good care of yourself.” The sense of powerlessness caused me to burst into tears and almost run out of breath.

At 4:00 pm on January 25th, the government of Wuhan officially announced that transportation by private cars will be banned from tomorrow. All my WeChat groups started to flare up again. A friend living in Hankou did not have a large supermarket near her. She needed to go very far to buy food supplies. I asked her if there was enough food at home. I suggested that she better get some supplies this afternoon because it could be more difficult to get food later. Instead of being nervous like I was, she was much calmer. She comforted me that she could ride a shared bike to buy food, which would be a good way to exercise.In the film The Host, the girl was killed by the monster in the end. But the father, who should’ve been sad and desperate, seemed like nothing had happened. Life seemed to return to peace, and everything seemed to be back to normal after the disaster. But the pain is hidden underneath the peaceful water, just like the situation we are in right now. Fear and anxiety will slowly accumulate. All we can do is to take a deep breath and tell ourselves that this, too, shall pass. We must wait and see.

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My family’s shopping mission before the citywide car banAuthor: AnonymousWe initially planned on traveling during the Chinese New Year, so we didn’t stock up for the holidays. We rushed and bought some food supplies before the grocery delivery app “Fresh Hema” stopped accepting orders. One day the racks had been cleared in the supermarkets and the next day, people still squeezed in hoping to find some last bits of supplies. I thought to myself, “between these out of stock moments and panic buying episodes, how am I going to shop for my groceries?”Understandably, people had never experienced something like this before and bought everything they could in panic. I could also understand that with everyone on leave to celebrate the Chinese New Year, it would take time for the government and retailers to restore its stockpile of goods. I remain calm because I believe that Wuhan, the great city of China, would never ever starve her people.My husband and I then planned and portioned out the produce that we still had. We decided to go grocery shopping on the morning of New Year’s Day when the least amount of people would be in stores. Destinations: grocery market, Fresh Hema storeGears: hats, face masks, glasses, disposable glovesTransportation: drivingThe food market downstairs to Zhongbai Supermarket was open and a few stalls had plenty of produce. Hongshan choy sum for 25 RMB (about US$ 3.5), regular choy sum for 15 RMB (about USD 2) and Napa cabbages for 6 RMB (about US$ 0.90). These were pretty comparable to the prices we’ve seen around this time of year before; the prices didn’t seem inflated. It was the first day of the new year after all. I considered these workers heroes for keeping the stalls stocked and functional as I whipped out my phone to scan the QR code to pay.Zhongbai Supermarket also didn’t have many customers. We were able to buy shampoo requested by my grandmother and some snacks and drinks that should make our life a bit more enjoyable.Fresh Hema Market (the physical store of the grocery delivery app) also had few customers. The different varieties of produce, especially the many leafy greens, were very unexpected. There was also fresh milk, including the Yonsei Milk that we couldn’t get a hold of for so many days! Dried tofu, half processed food, they had them all. I started stuffing our bags full.My husband looked at me as if I was an alien new to the Earth knowing nothing. He repeated that the government had promised and guaranteed that there would be steady supplies and that nobody would be fighting with us for these. “Why are you panic buying like this?” he asked. I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how to answer this question… I just kept going with my shopping mission. We ended up with about six big bags of supplies and brought half of them to our grandparents. After that, we returned home excitedly.We drove through the Second Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge on our way home. There were traffic restrictions in places and only one lane was open for vehicles. Surprisingly, we didn’t run into any stop point or get our temperatures taken at any time.Later the day, everyone received a notice about a citywide vehicle ban starting at midnight that night. All my WeChat groups were flooded with messages. People lined up at supermarkets and all shelves were bought empty. My husband looked at me with disbelief. I looked back at him as if he was an alien new to the Earth knowing nothing. “Babe, you are such a genius!” he said.Of course, I, his wife, have got to be pretty smart…We were inundated with information from every source, and they all suggested that the patients with severe symptoms usually had other pre-existing conditions or were older. A long-term sufferer of chronic bronchitis, I counted as one of them. I was drowned with fear and I kept crying sporadically throughout the days. Even my husband couldn’t calm me down the slightest.To cry or not to cry, that was a choice. I chose to cry. When the military came, I cried; when the doctors came, I cried; when the protective medical gears came, I cried; when the new emergency medical classification system was established, I cried; when the vehicle ban was issued, I cried; when our community notice was published, I cried…Crying was my right, my way of expressing my emotions and my stress relief. It was hard for my husband as he could not share my fear in order to make me feel better. The only thing he could do was to hold me helplessly as I let my tears flow. Surprisingly, these storms of emotions calmed down slightly after I spent some time outside of my apartment. Tomorrow, I will start exercising.

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Staying in and cleaning my house, Ah Huan made stir-fry carrot and avocado with meatOriginal author: An GeLocation: WuhanOccupation: FreelancerTime at home passes by extremely slowly. After organizing the kitchen and running the dishwasher, I even washed my stainless-steel pot that had been burnt to a jet-black color. When I had a minute of unoccupied time, I checked my phone. When I read the information and comments on the news regarding Wuhan’s ban on privately-owned vehicles, my anxiety immediately kicked in again. Since I was struggling to process my emotions properly as I got irritated, all I could do was to project my feelings onto the only other living creature in the apartment – Ah Huan. “We only have five rolls of toilet paper left and barely any tissues! What are we gonna do with less than half a bottle of dish soap and barely any toothpaste!” I kept lashing out on Ah Huan, but it seemed like he hardly noticed my emotions. He tried to solve my problems as if he was solving a math problem. We searched for apps that were still open for business—such as JD, Taobao, Missfresh, Meituan, or Eleme—but it was like fishing for a needle in a haystack. I guess we got lucky when we found one Lawson convenience store that was still open on the Eleme app. We ordered three packs of disinfectant wipes, toothbrushes, two cups of ramen and two cartons of milk. Lawson quickly closed as well after I placed my order, but luckily a delivery guy was still able to deliver my order. The delivery came within no time. I opened the door and saw a delivery guy with a blue medical mask, who threw me the commodities from one meter away. After thanking him, I immediately closed the door and disinfected the plastic bag in the “disinfection zone” outside my door. I used 99% disinfectant wipes and cleaned every single item in the plastic bag and finally cleaned the doorknob as well. Tonight, Ah Huan cooked stir-fry snow peas, scrambled eggs with cucumber, stir-fry carrots and avocado with meat. Looking at the dinner I guessed that the snow peas were getting old, cucumbers were overstocked, and the avocados would go bad soon.

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I wrapped a gift. When the cherry blossom season arrives, I will give it to my friendsOriginal author: BajiaoxiaomeizisangLocation: WuhanOccupation: TeacherWhen I was talking to my best friend yesterday, I mentioned that I could not stop crying while reading the news as if I was on an emotional rollercoaster. As I mentioned that I feel dizzy often with chest pains and insomnia, my friend, who is a psychologist, sent me the content below. “Special reminder: strolling through traumatic news online nonstop is a sign of being in a highly stressed mental state. We advise individuals without special training or professional support to steer away from being exposed to traumatic information. They can easily empathize and be traumatized as well. My friends—if you have symptoms of dizziness or chest pain, please get off Weibo immediately and take a nap! Do something else to take a break. Please pay attention to your own physical and mental health, strengthen your immune system, and don’t worsen the situation in our country. Those are the least we do as civilians. “After reading the paragraph above, I realized that I was in a highly stressed mental state. I consciously began steering myself away from my phone and kept myself distracted. I carefully chose what information I was reading to prevent information overload. Meanwhile, I also advised my girlfriends in our group chat: From now on—1. Only official links or information are allowed in this group chat, and you are responsible for the information you posted. 2. Don’t incite public anxiety. Send red packets in this group chat if anybody violates the rules!3. Of course, any humor or casual jokes are welcomed anytimeAfter setting the rules above, the situation improved significantly. Instead of obsessing over anxiety and uneasiness, everybody focused on the positive and enjoyable things. For example, we paid more attention to the epidemic prevention measures in Henan province or posting photos of pastries that we baked, handcrafts that we created, and boba milk tea that we made. It suddenly seemed like we had a lot of free time and could finally truly enjoy our “staycation”. We tried to enjoy alone time and enhance intimate relationships with our families. This morning I wrapped a gift. When the cherry blossom season arrives, I will give it to my friends, who survived this severe epidemic outbreak together with me.

My baby kept me company as I made some handicrafts. Although she was naughty, she was not as troublesome as my husky dog. I recalled the last time I had taken her to see the cherry blossoms and snapped a picture of her yawning. Gosh! That was ten months ago! I really wish that the epidemic crisis will clear up by the time the cherry blossoms bloom again. I’d love to take her there again, and maybe she’ll smell the spring and yawn lazily too!