A lot has been happening - I just haven't had a chance to sit down and document it all properly. I can't believe we are halfway through May already.
Hong Kong has been experiencing a very welcome relaxation of social distancing policies as each day passes without any local transmission or reports of Covid 19. We had just experienced a streak of 23 days without any new local cases before three new cases (family members) popped up earlier this week. But it seems for the time being that this is not going to affect the slow and gradual reopening of schools, restaurants and public spaces. All civil servants/government officials returned to work the week of May 4. My office also opened back up that same week.
For a while, especially after South Korea and Singapore experienced a sudden reversal of their numbers, I was worried that Hong Kong would be headed the same way. Hong Kong shares a border with China, has a large expatriate community that travels home extensively, and also has a large foreign domestic helper population that lives in very close quarters (and actually, has a general population that lives in very close quarters). To my amazement, over four months after coronavirus first hit these shores, we stand today at only 1,050 cases and 4 fatalities in a population of 7.45 million (New York has 8.4 million and Singapore 5.6 million). That is an incredible feat and I wish people would give Carrie Lam's administration more credit for this. Why is she lambasted for everything and then when she succeeds at something no one wants to talk her up?
This has been a nice respite after months of being cooped up/isolated/worried about imminent closures and coping with the stress of simply not knowing. While things here are not near normal at all (every single person on the street wears a mask; many buildings mandate mask wearing; all appointments, classes and bookings require masks; people wash their hands religiously; hand sanitizer is found everywhere; and many things still remain closed or pending further notice), in the past two weeks we have gradually relaxed our own interactions with the outside world and have brought Lola onto the MTR, into supermarkets, and into some of her classes as they slowly start to open up. Her schools haven't opened yet but I am hopeful it will happen soon.
One of Lola's former playgroups/schools has already fallen victim to the pandemic, and shuttered its doors a month and a half ago. What's scandalous about it, however, is that the founder absconded abruptly without paying back any of the deposits and barely giving any notice to parents. We still had a deposit there, as well as a credit for a bunch of classes, which we had been planning to use for the boys. My emails sent to the founder and the billing coordinator have bounced back. It's a truly surprising turn of events, given the founder seemed so nice and had such a long-running (over 20 years) reputation here in Hong Kong.
So, other than that, what else has been happening in May?
I got a haircut - my first since the end of August, eight months ago! It was such a welcome relief to get all of my limp, long hair chopped off. It felt so heavy and like such a weight, dragging me down. I had been avoiding going to the hair salon out of fear of Covid 19 - it felt so good to finally be able to do something as normal and sanity-resuming as a haircut! In my enthusiasm, I may have chopped off more than I intended. My hair is now cut to shoulder length, which is still long enough to be tied up, but short enough to flip out at odd angles and look kind of messy. Oh well. With my current lifestyle, haircuts are more about efficiency than about appearance - the shorter I cut it, the less frequently I have to go back!
I had my mom here for Mother's Day, which was really great. I ordered a big bouquet of flowers using a voucher that I had, and then printed and framed some particularly good family photos to commemorate her time here in Hong Kong. One of the unexpected and pleasurable effects of Covid 19 has been my parent's ability to spend so much time here with me and their grandkids. Their trip was meant to be 2 months long, and has now been extended to 4 months. At this rate, they are likely going to stay for 4.5 or 5 months. In this busy day and age, getting to spend so much time together is unprecedented! They have truly been a huge help to us with the twins.
I also spent a lot of time going to multiple dentists and specialists (2 dentists, 2 oral surgeons, 2 orthodontists and 1 periodontist) over the past two weeks in order to come up with a long term care plan for my teeth. After multiple consultations and opinions, I finally feel confident and resigned enough to proceed. This past Wednesday, I went in for an extraction (oral surgery) of a stubbornly impacted adult canine. It involved the administration of laughing gas and multiple shots of local anesthesia, and the procedure took nearly 90 minutes. Except for a brief interlude when the local anesthesia wore off slightly, I only felt pressure (sometimes a lot of pressure) as the oral surgeon wrestled with my tooth. It also took multiple bouts of drilling (accompanied with vibrations), which is not for the faint of heart. I am now sitting here with half of my face collapsed from swelling, black and purple and bruised from my cheek up to my eye, definitely looking the worse for wear.
The process is long and will be time consuming and at times painful and daunting, but I feel a lot of relief at having finally decided a course of action. I learned something about myself through this process as well - that I get a lot of reassurance out of speaking with, and questioning, and researching, processes. Part of the reason I had so much anxiety about this whole procedure was because the first set of doctors I met with really gave me information on a need-to-know basis, glossing over a lot of considerations and factors. I decided to get a second opinion and am so grateful I did, because I found a clinic that had a much more holistic but also collaborative approach. No question was too small, and no follow up questions too annoying. That contributed a huge amount to easing my anxiety.
Going to the dentist is never fun, but it proved to be a thrilling adventure for one little macabre person in my family - Lola! She was so excited to get to accompany to the dental clinic. She started anticipating the excursion from the day before my procedure, and excitedly talked about my getting shots and surgery. In fact, on the day, she popped up from her nap half asleep mumbling about going upstairs to the dentist with me. And in the elevator on our way there, she reassured me to "be brave!" as she would be accompanying me. That made my heart swoon - what a fearless little champion I have. (Granted, her attitude would be much different if she were the patient!) The dental clinic had a lovely playroom for kids where she played while I went through my procedure. Since my surgery, she has asked me a couple of times when she can next go to the dentist's playroom again. Ha! Luckily for her, if things go according to plan, there will likely be many many visits in her future.
Hong Kong has been experiencing a very welcome relaxation of social distancing policies as each day passes without any local transmission or reports of Covid 19. We had just experienced a streak of 23 days without any new local cases before three new cases (family members) popped up earlier this week. But it seems for the time being that this is not going to affect the slow and gradual reopening of schools, restaurants and public spaces. All civil servants/government officials returned to work the week of May 4. My office also opened back up that same week.
For a while, especially after South Korea and Singapore experienced a sudden reversal of their numbers, I was worried that Hong Kong would be headed the same way. Hong Kong shares a border with China, has a large expatriate community that travels home extensively, and also has a large foreign domestic helper population that lives in very close quarters (and actually, has a general population that lives in very close quarters). To my amazement, over four months after coronavirus first hit these shores, we stand today at only 1,050 cases and 4 fatalities in a population of 7.45 million (New York has 8.4 million and Singapore 5.6 million). That is an incredible feat and I wish people would give Carrie Lam's administration more credit for this. Why is she lambasted for everything and then when she succeeds at something no one wants to talk her up?
This has been a nice respite after months of being cooped up/isolated/worried about imminent closures and coping with the stress of simply not knowing. While things here are not near normal at all (every single person on the street wears a mask; many buildings mandate mask wearing; all appointments, classes and bookings require masks; people wash their hands religiously; hand sanitizer is found everywhere; and many things still remain closed or pending further notice), in the past two weeks we have gradually relaxed our own interactions with the outside world and have brought Lola onto the MTR, into supermarkets, and into some of her classes as they slowly start to open up. Her schools haven't opened yet but I am hopeful it will happen soon.
One of Lola's former playgroups/schools has already fallen victim to the pandemic, and shuttered its doors a month and a half ago. What's scandalous about it, however, is that the founder absconded abruptly without paying back any of the deposits and barely giving any notice to parents. We still had a deposit there, as well as a credit for a bunch of classes, which we had been planning to use for the boys. My emails sent to the founder and the billing coordinator have bounced back. It's a truly surprising turn of events, given the founder seemed so nice and had such a long-running (over 20 years) reputation here in Hong Kong.
So, other than that, what else has been happening in May?
I got a haircut - my first since the end of August, eight months ago! It was such a welcome relief to get all of my limp, long hair chopped off. It felt so heavy and like such a weight, dragging me down. I had been avoiding going to the hair salon out of fear of Covid 19 - it felt so good to finally be able to do something as normal and sanity-resuming as a haircut! In my enthusiasm, I may have chopped off more than I intended. My hair is now cut to shoulder length, which is still long enough to be tied up, but short enough to flip out at odd angles and look kind of messy. Oh well. With my current lifestyle, haircuts are more about efficiency than about appearance - the shorter I cut it, the less frequently I have to go back!
I had my mom here for Mother's Day, which was really great. I ordered a big bouquet of flowers using a voucher that I had, and then printed and framed some particularly good family photos to commemorate her time here in Hong Kong. One of the unexpected and pleasurable effects of Covid 19 has been my parent's ability to spend so much time here with me and their grandkids. Their trip was meant to be 2 months long, and has now been extended to 4 months. At this rate, they are likely going to stay for 4.5 or 5 months. In this busy day and age, getting to spend so much time together is unprecedented! They have truly been a huge help to us with the twins.
I also spent a lot of time going to multiple dentists and specialists (2 dentists, 2 oral surgeons, 2 orthodontists and 1 periodontist) over the past two weeks in order to come up with a long term care plan for my teeth. After multiple consultations and opinions, I finally feel confident and resigned enough to proceed. This past Wednesday, I went in for an extraction (oral surgery) of a stubbornly impacted adult canine. It involved the administration of laughing gas and multiple shots of local anesthesia, and the procedure took nearly 90 minutes. Except for a brief interlude when the local anesthesia wore off slightly, I only felt pressure (sometimes a lot of pressure) as the oral surgeon wrestled with my tooth. It also took multiple bouts of drilling (accompanied with vibrations), which is not for the faint of heart. I am now sitting here with half of my face collapsed from swelling, black and purple and bruised from my cheek up to my eye, definitely looking the worse for wear.
The process is long and will be time consuming and at times painful and daunting, but I feel a lot of relief at having finally decided a course of action. I learned something about myself through this process as well - that I get a lot of reassurance out of speaking with, and questioning, and researching, processes. Part of the reason I had so much anxiety about this whole procedure was because the first set of doctors I met with really gave me information on a need-to-know basis, glossing over a lot of considerations and factors. I decided to get a second opinion and am so grateful I did, because I found a clinic that had a much more holistic but also collaborative approach. No question was too small, and no follow up questions too annoying. That contributed a huge amount to easing my anxiety.
Going to the dentist is never fun, but it proved to be a thrilling adventure for one little macabre person in my family - Lola! She was so excited to get to accompany to the dental clinic. She started anticipating the excursion from the day before my procedure, and excitedly talked about my getting shots and surgery. In fact, on the day, she popped up from her nap half asleep mumbling about going upstairs to the dentist with me. And in the elevator on our way there, she reassured me to "be brave!" as she would be accompanying me. That made my heart swoon - what a fearless little champion I have. (Granted, her attitude would be much different if she were the patient!) The dental clinic had a lovely playroom for kids where she played while I went through my procedure. Since my surgery, she has asked me a couple of times when she can next go to the dentist's playroom again. Ha! Luckily for her, if things go according to plan, there will likely be many many visits in her future.
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