The fill in blog to explain how the Coronavirus is affecting life in asia and what that means for our livelihood out here.
Shit has hit the fan
So, here we are. This will be more of a short post about what has been going on the past couple of weeks and where we now stand in Vietnam. As you may well know the Coronavirus broke out in China and has now caused issues throughout Asia. The way in which Vietnam has been hit is an unusual one. While although at this point in time there are only fourteen recorded cases throughout the whole of Vietnam, there are two large hospitals being built to secure a large number of predicted infected civilians. Not only has the use of the shown medical masks grown massively so has the average costs, this is Vietnam’s main procedure for staying safe at the time, as well as increased awareness for your own health.
One of the other precautions Vietnam has taken is to close schools for a deep cleaning process. This process took place between 3rd-5th February and unfortunately we have not been allowed back into schools since, with another expected week away, it will leave us two weeks without teaching or setting foot in a school. These precautions, although in place to help overall in Vietnam, have left us both a little stranded. Not only have the schools been closed but there have been a number of restrictions placed on travel between cities and certain tourist destinations, which are closing for the time being. Now I am not sure if you have ever been stuck somewhere for an extended period of time with a lack of funding coming your way and majority of places nearby being closed but it is not something that can be sustained for very long.
One of the hardest parts of this experience I have found so far is the sense of claustrophobia that sneaks up on myself. Now, it may sound strange to talk about claustrophobia when we are free and able to leave the flat and Hai Phong is a good sized city but the feeling of aimlessly walking through the city after a number of days and not having a day to day purpose, mixed with the dread of not knowing your future wage or your future as an English teacher at this very point would be enough to drive anyone a little mad. For now it has been a fair amount of time on the playstation and a good amount of new card games learned but this obviously can not keep anyone entertained for too long considering the stressful circumstances we are in right now. So, we are making some plans to get out of our flat with our friends and trying to keep eachother positive when we can. Hopefully these conditions do not last too much longer and if they do…well it may be time for a different conversation.
– Dan
Beth and Dan go to Vietnam 