SoKo Quarantine...It's No Joke

When I chose to go home for my Granny's funeral, I knew I would have a two-week quarantine upon return to South Korea, because, Covid. She is worth it and I have no regrets. 

But let me walk you through two weeks of quarantine... 

First of all, to leave the country I had to obtain a certificate for re-entry. I also had to take a Covid test, which I believe is for the airplane ride. I was only home for a week, so I was barely there and I had to turn around and take another PCR Covid test in order to get back into SoKo. The website said the results could take up to 40 hours; the test needs to be within 72 hours of flying. I had to be at the airport at 5:00am the day of my flight, so timing was a little tricky. One lady at the airport counted hours and informed me I barely made the 72-hour mark. Aaaanyway, I made it in the window.

I did a saliva test in Manhattan. It's a drive-through service and it's free. Pretty handy. We (my folks, Sister and Harley the dog) were all sitting in the truck, as instructed.

A lady came to the window to get my info. You have to pre-register with insurance info. I did, and I had even taken a picture of my reservation info. However, my Korean phone only has US service over WiFi, which I did not have. The photo was stored in the cloud so I couldn't even access it without WiFi. 

Thankfully, she was able to pull up my info with what little I could access on my phone.  She gave me a vial to fill with spit. Ya'll, it was about 1/2 inch to fill with spit. That's a lot of spit! But before I even started, the lady told me to remove any lipstick. My sister informed the lady, "But she's wearing Lipsense." The lady clearly didn't know what that was because she said I should remove it because it might mess up the results. Weird, but ok. She gave me a tissue to wipe it off but when I wiped nothing came off. 👄 Shout out to Lipsense. 👏 The lady was like, "Oh." She brought me some hand sanitizer to use to rub it off. That sort of worked, but not totally. After scrubbing vigorously on my lips to little avail, I started the arduous task of creating what felt like a soda bottle full of spit. Sister asked why I was spitting so oddly--I was trying to not get my lipstick-stained, hand sanitizer lips on the container. I mean, if lipstick messes up the results, what will hand sanitizer do?? Some little teen pulled up after we did and left before we did. Dad thought I must be the slowest spitter they have ever had. None of that criticism helped, by the way, but I finally filled up my liter of spit.

I stocked up on a few grocery items that I can't buy in Korea while I was home. One happened to be powdered sugar. You can actually buy 'sugar powder' there, but it just does not make good frosting. When I weighed my suitcase for the flight home, it was 0.7 lbs over the limit. I had also picked up a five-pack of Kraft macaroni and cheese (I'm sharing all of our unhealthy eating habits here, but that's not the point, so don't judge). I first grabbed the mac n cheese to put in my carry-on to get rid of weight in the suitcase. My Mom suggested it might make noise in my backpack and I should put the powdered sugar in my carry-on instead. Does anyone see where this is going? Because my Mom and I did not think that through.

When I went through the bag check in Manhattan, they pulled my bag aside. I was like, "Oh, sorry. That's powdered sugar. You can't get the good kind in South Korea." She was kind and said she had to run a swab on the bag. Not a big deal. However, when I landed in DFW and had to go through security there, it was a bigger deal. The lady took out Every. Single. Item. from my backpack. I felt a little violated. She wasn't as friendly when I explained why I was carrying a white powdery substance in my backpack. She suggested that I not do that in the future. That comment was unnecessary, as I had already sussed that one out on my own.

Upon landing in Seoul, I thought I would be OK since you don't have to go through security to leave. One doesn't usually have to go through security to leave, but when the cute little beagle dog sniffs your suitcase and wags its little tail like crazy, you have to go through security to leave. I had to stand there and explain what all the food in my suitcase and carry-on was; "That's powdered sugar, coconut flakes, Cheese Its..." After they dug around my dirty underclothes and found all the food, they let me go.😬 

Now on to South Korean quarantine.

It took me an hour and a half to leave the airport, because, Covid. Covid and contraband American snacks. Part of the long processing time was installing an app on my phone so I can send my temperature twice a day. Once I was a bit late getting it in at night and they texted me asking for it.

DAY 1:

It was ten o'clock at night when I got home from the airport. The next morning I stepped foot outside my apartment for the last time for two weeks as I drove myself to get a Covid test. That night I got a call from Abe's work, explaining that she got a call from the city government saying I never showed up for my test. It told her I went to City Hall; I guess they were expecting me at the hospital where I got my initial test. It ended up being fine. Whew! I don't need to be in trouble with a foreign government.

The city of Sacheon dropped off a box of quarantine food to get me through these two weeks. It was like opening a Christmas present!

I quickly realized it was like getting a white elephant Christmas present. The first soup looked like something we could try.

The next was some kimchee, which I have not acquired a taste for.

Nope. Not gonna do this.

But they did throw in a box of moon pies. 👊 Yay for dessert!

Seriously, they gave me a lot of food. Kudos to the government for taking care of the people, as they are taking care of the people (keeping travelers in quarantine to stop the possible spread of the virus).

I'm moving around my bedroom, doing exercising videos, being productive.

DAY 2:

The government came again and dropped off another care package. This one was more virus prevention stuff, complete with a letter from the city mayor telling me I have to stay home and stay isolated from anyone else in the household.

This orange bag is for any trash that has bodily fluids  (disposable eating utensils, old tissues, etc.) that will need to be disposed of properly if I happen to come down with Covid.

Still movin' and shakin', doing exercise videos.

DAY 3:

I have been in my room with the door closed for three days. 

We are either texting, facetiming, or I open the door a tiny crack with my mask on and yell at anyone I am trying to communicate with. Working out with YouTube. Chuey likes to get really close, even when I'm doing yoga.

DAY4:

Eli was at a party. I could hear the boys playing downstairs and was creeping on them from my window. 

I ate my weight in snacks. Twice.

DAY 5:

Daisy's birthday! I actually opened the door and peeked out a couple times!

DAY 6:

Still consuming more snacks than should be humanly possible.

DAY 7:

Made video of how boring it is.

I did do a zumba workout today and stopped eating so much. So there's that.

DAY 8:

Waited on the plumber. The night before Abe dropped his razor down the toilet as it was flushing. Long story. Anyway, the suction was powerful enough to flush it far enough up the pipe that Abe couldn't get it out, but not powerful enough to suck it all the way out of the pipes. It was making some weird scraping noise that sounded like the toilet was shaving. I shouldn't be letting people in the door since I'm on quarantine, so Abe got to take 1/2 day of personal leave. Excitement! That's Chuey being excited that the doorbell rang.

DAY 9:

I got a surprise visitor!

DAY 10:

The kids were home from school. I yelled through the door to help Eli make pancakes. They were not pretty, but they tasted fine.

DAY 11:

Just biding my time, from sunrise to sunset.

DAY 12:

We're all getting a little tired of this. 

All of us except Chuey. She's living her best life, with me not leaving the house 24/7. It doesn't get any better than this for her.

DAY 13:

Test day!

I put on shoes for the first time in 13 days. Probably the longest I have been without wearing shoes since I first started walking 50 years ago.

I got to drive to the health center to take my last test.

 

Parking is scarce, so I parked as far away as possible and enjoyed the two-minute walk.

They were expecting me. She greeted me with, "One more day," or something like that.

I took the long way back to the car, making it a three-mintute walk.

A monument for the city talking about a society that cultivates an environment where nature and man-made things harmonize.

I drove the long way home, too. But not too long that I would get in trouble.

We drove the backroads through the rice fields once we got close.

See that little tuft of green on the road? That's how they grow the rice from seeds, in little containers. Then they plant small plugs of it in nice little rows.

Rainbow park. Almost home. I made it last as long as I could.

And that was the end of my excitement for the day.

DAY 14:

After our walk, I left Chuey home alone. Look at this sad little face when she learned that I was not going to stay home with her forever and ever. It was sad, but not sad enough to keep me inside!

[May 25-June 8]