Quarantine: Day 5
Our timing of this trip has fallen in middle of a major event in Australia's COVID-19 battle with 223 active cases in New South Wales (NSW). Right after we started quarantine, Sydney went into lockdown. As a result, South Australia (SA) closed the border to travelers from NSW. We are watching the cross-border travel restrictions, and they may change in the coming days. For now, we still don't know whether we can travel to SA after our quarantine is over because it's ambiguous whether we are considered as "genuinely relocating" to SA or not; if we are, then we can travel and follow testing protocols and masking for 14 days. We are completely willing to mask and test if it allows us to enter!
Jetlag update - we are all trying to stay up a bit later in the evening so we can sleep later. Baxter and Miles actually slept in to 4:30 am (an improvement) but Jeremy and I are routinely up by 3. We will get there!
Meanwhile, we are locked in and trying to pass the time. Boys have been doing an hour of educational content (Miles is doing Khan Academy math and Baxter is learning about the history of PCs). We continue to learn to Aussie slang and history - we are so thankful to have reliable WiFi!
Our hotel organizes events, and today it was Bingo. At one point there were 80+ people playing from several of the Novotel hotel locations. Most of the participants are single people (mostly middle aged and older), but there are other families, and some couples. Lots of amateur's comedy hour antics from the hosts, but it was good fun. In the final game of 5, Miles won the grand prize - a seafood platter! As most of you know, this is a laughable prize for our family because no one is much of a seafood fan except Jeremy, and the tray of seafood was enough for a buffet! Being a Klein after all, I brazenly requested a substitute prize from one of the earlier prizes - wine and chocolate, and because it was Miles' prize, I asked for more Sprite! They delivered, literally and figuratively, as they provided this adorable treat box with loads of new and interesting candies, marshamallows, chocolates, two bottles of wine (white and red), plus more Sprite. #winning
A positive benefit of engaging in these weird Zoom events and various Facebook groups for people in hotel quarantine (in both Sydney and around the country) is that I've connected with a few fellow quarantiners. Yesterday I had a long chat (via Facebook messenger) with a software engineer from Google who lives in NYC and is back visiting his parents in Canberra; he and I did some live chatting during the Prime Minister's big announcement on the plans to increase vaccination and get back to "normal." It was a fascinating chat because of his perspective on the anti-immigration elements in the Commonwealth's policy, and gives me lots of food for thought on this country's history. I've also commiserated with a mom traveling with her 13 year old son (and his electric guitar!!) moving back to Australia from Singapore; she and I have swapped complaints about being stuck in a small space with teen/tween boy(s). Yesterday I got to cheer for the quarantine release day of a veterinarian mom of two from Brooklyn who I met during a Zoom happy hour. I've also discussed the vaccine rollout plans and the root of hesitancy for Australians - these discussions will be professionally relevant when I begin working with the SA health department on how to best communicate to promote vaccination in the state. There's something lovely about being able to connect with others sharing the oddity of this experience that makes it a little more bearable.
