quarantine pt. 1

大家好 hi everyone ~

i have been in one room for the past eleven days with four to go until i can go out for the first time. thankfully, i have class to occupy my time during the week. without it on the weekend, i was bored out of my mind.

as for quarantine, i'll just say no wonder taiwan case numbers are so low. the rules and expectations are so strict. we can not step past our door or we'll be fined. we have to wait to be notified via LINE (a messaging app) that we may open our doors after food is delivered. each morning, we have to report our temperature and any covid symptoms to the hotel and a form through LINE along with replying to a text message from the government. if we do not respond to the text, they will call on the quarter hour for an hour and if for some reason you miss all of those too, the police will be summoned to the hotel. the same goes for if you disconnect from taiwan cell towers (airplane mode or US SIM card). they cannot loose track of anyone. once those three things are completed, we have to report to one of our teachers and this all has to be completed before 10am. an important note is that we start class at 10am, so i can definitely confirm the chaos of the morning. one time, the government just straight up didn't send me the text and i got all stressed out, but it was all good after the call (automated ofc).

sometimes we have to add a covid self test to our morning routine. since arriving in taiwan, i have had four covid tests (one PCR at the airport and three self tests). we have another PCR test scheduled for monday and one self test left for the last week of self health reporting.

checking my neighbors' eating habits (a sore excuse for human interaction🥲)

negative self test!

as for food, it's pretty good; we just don't have any say in the matter. we get three meals a day from the hotel， but we are also allowed to get takeout, and because i can't contain myself, i have ordered milk tea multiple times. 😅

dinner: glass noodle bowl

breakfast: egg roll, rice, tofu, chicken, sausage....

breakfast: congee!!

black tea latte and my view

we also got some gifts. according to the group chat, the hotel gave the girls face masks and the boys mini lego sets 😂

this snack pack is from the fall cohort saying they're looking forward to meeting and to enjoy the hotel because it goes downhill from here...

上課吧～ let's go to class

we started off nice and easy with professional chinese for the workplace every day in the morning and we only just started a weekly one-on-one professional research class today. so far, we have discussed and started writing the materials we need to apply to our internships. i did not expect to get started on the application process so early, but i suppose it makes sense because we have to go through the whole selection process. we also are learning proper email etiquette! i am looking at a digital diplomacy internship as my first choice and media work for some NGOs as backup. here in taiwan, we are expected to submit our 履歷 resumés and 自傳 autobiographies (essentially a cover letter) along with any other position-specific submission materials. while remembering the idioms 成語 and formal ways of saying things (書面語) is a bit tough, i am learning a lot. this is the most education i've gotten on applying to jobs period.

surprising things:

~we are allowed to, encouraged even, to message our hotel and teachers on LINE

想你們～

♡蘇晨