Quarantine Chronicles: Day 1
Hello! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve wrote a blog post.
A lot has happened since I’ve posted in 2016. I’ve graduated from college, moved to Chicago, and started new jobs. Most recently, at the beginning of 2020 I moved to Thailand to teach English to kindergarten students.
Unfortunately, my Thailand journey was cut short a few days ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early last week, my school in Chiang Mai announced they’d be postponing school until June 2020 and the U.S. State Department declared a Level 4 travel advisory—all US citizens to return home immediately.
So here we are, I’ve arrived back home in the United States and quarantining myself in the suburbs of Chicago. Feeling very blessed to be healthy and home during these crazy, unprecedented times.
Over the past few years, I’ve continued to express my thoughts through journaling and photography—albeit privately. Now as I sit here at home, with an optimistic, but unsure vision of the future I feel like this is an opportunity to share my thoughts more publicly.
I present to you: The Quarantine Chronicles.
As I sit here on Day one of quarantined life, I realize that there there is an indefinite timeline on when this lockdown will be lifted. One of my goals for this time period is to blog daily about my experiences navigating quarantined life.
Day 1: From Bangkok to Chicago, IL
My sister, her friend, and I landed in O’hare on Sunday morning. The grey skies and cold weather provided a stark contrast to the sunny, beaches of Thailand which we had experience only 48 hours previously.
After we disembarked the plane, we quickly realized we were one of the only planes landing at the time. Many flights had been canceled so we went through customs rather quickly. At no point were we temperature checked or provided information regarding the state-wide COVID-19 lockdown procedures that went into place at 5 PM the day prior.
“At no point were we temperature checked or provided information regarding the state-wide COVID-19 lockdown procedures that went into place at 5 PM the day prior.”
We waited indoors for our pre-arranged driver to transport us from the airport back to our house. When we got in the car we took all necessary precautions to prevent transmitting any germs. We all wore masks, gloves, and wiped down all surfaces with a disinfectant wipe. Our driver mentioned that we were his first airport ride in over 3 weeks since a lot of people were refusing to travel.
We arrived home in record time (crazy what happens when there are no cars on the highway). My parents greeted us at the door with a decorated sign and then quickly ushered us into our basement—a.k.a. our home for the next 14 days. The day prior, my parents had completely turned our basement into a quarantined crib. The three of us had our own makeshift bedrooms completed with a bed, dresser, and desk. For me, that was our workout room. As I’m writing this from said room, I’m feeling incredibly grateful this is my home for the foreseeable future. It’s incredibly cozy and the treadmill and elliptical behind my bed have provided me a constant reminder to keep myself physically active.
The first morning home we continued to explore our new home. Our families had decorated the basement with fresh flowers. The fridge and pantry were stocked with the essentials: fresh produce, guacamole, wine, popcorn, and more. We decided to order chipotle in as our first meal on US soil after months abroad.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was a lot of relaxing and adjusting to our new normal. We washed our clothes, took naps, and grazed on quarantine snacks. Not sure what’s in store for tomorrow but I’m guessing jetlag will take care of a lot of that!
