Quarantine: Day 4
We have been here long enough to recognize.... this is a long haul. We have loads more time to go before we can get released! Ugh.
I had calls with Flinders University (my host institution) and Fulbright folks today. Both have been very gracious to offer support/assistance. One of the Fulbright staffers, Ian, is originally from Adelaide so he's sharing some ideas of things to do once we get there. SA, including Adelaide, is treated much like the Midwestern US; that is, the bigger cities treat that region as being rather unremarkable or what folks in the US would call "flyover country." Actually, my friend Anne introduced me to an Australian comedian, Jimmy Rees, who does short videos poking fun at the comedy of errors in the management of quarantine which also highlights some stereotyping of the different states/territories of Australia. As a native Midwesterner, I'm feeling the kindred spirit with Adelaide as an underrated region!
So today we participated in a late afternoon social with others in quarantine at our hotel. Mostly it felt like a strange comedy hour or an episode of the gong show (for those over 40+ who recognize that reference). But the "hosts" kept offering desirable things (free food/ wine delivery) so we hung in there. In the end, Miles lurked into the Zoom meeting on screen and his super powered cuteness resulted in a surprise delivery of treats to our room! The hosts asked Miles a few questions and offered him chocolate treats; I gentled asked if they could substitute Spring since he's been asking for it daily. Low and behold, 6 pack of Sprite was delivered with a knock at the door with a sweet note. Darn the power of that cute 8 year old face!! The second delivery, likely for all those who participated in the meet and greet, was one of the features they offer in room service - popcorn and ice cream bars. It was a strange but nice sense of community to see the other poor souls stuck here in quarantine. Of course, the kids were thrilled to have treats delivered to our door!
In the meantime, I have been trying to figure out how to avoid double quarantining once we arrive in South Australia (SA). It's a complicated process given the daily changes in the cross border travel rules. Unfortunately, the SA COVID-19 toll-free line is awfully busy, as I've spent 2+ hours on two different days I haven't been able to get through. I'll keep trying. In the meantime, we have gotten tips from other previous quarantine graduates on how to maintain the "quarantine bubble" after we get our certificate of quarantine service (no kidding, it's an actual certificate), take a private vehicle to the airport properly masked, fly directly to Adelaide, then confirm with the police at the airport that we haven't had any other exposures since leaving quarantine. As you can imagine, the fact that the SA border is closed to travelers, we're not sure how we can even get in! As I said, we're watching the border changes daily; updates are expected early next week.
