My Apocalyptic First Week in China
I felt like Will Smith in I Am Legend.
A few days before I arrived in China in January 2020, I decided to visit my grandma, uncle, and aunt.
While chatting away, my grandma mentioned a new cold in China that the news started talking about that day. I figured that it was nothing and shrugged it off. Grandmas always worry, right?
As time progressed to the day I left, the world became much more educated on Covid-19. Through the airport and 31 total hours of travel, I wore surgical gloves and a mask, as the virus was so new, and I worried I would get it in transit.
When I landed, it was like nothing I’d ever seen.
When you think of the Beijing Airport, I’m sure you imagine it being packed to the ceiling with people. Yet, as I walked from my gate to recheck my bags and onward to my connecting flight, I only saw perhaps 20 people during the whole experience.
I’d be lying if I said this didn’t worry me a bit. However, I was just excited to get a start on my new life in Yantai, China. Once I got to the gate, the flight was nearly at capacity.
I landed and made my way to be picked up. After an hour's drive from the airport, I was in my new apartment with no sheets, no phone, no wifi, and nothing but myself and my luggage.
Trying to sleep that night was incredibly hard; my ears kept ringing. This may be a sign that the next month was going to be something out of The Road.
The Streets Were Empty
Covid-19 was ravaging the population of China at an accelerating rate. No one knew much about the virus; all we knew was to stay home.
I’d see a car driving down the main road of Kaifaqu, Yantai, maybe once a minute. Granted, the town I was in “only” has 6.9 million people, which is small by Chinese standards.
There I was, sitting in a brand-new apartment with zero appliances and zero food. My friend Chen, who brought me to China, took me to the store where I bought just about anything I could. The ordeal of shopping took about three hours.
Every store was closed except for a select few supermarkets. The supermarket lines could take up to an hour to get inside, and even if you made it in, many shelves were empty. It’s not like a full-blown zombie movie where people fight for food, but there was a lot of running and shouting.
Once the shopping was finally completed, my friend took me around, trying to find a phone store. Alas, all of them were closed. I went the first month in a new country without a Chinese SIM card, so each text or minute of data used racked up a crazy bill. No television, no computer, no wifi, no books, nothing.
The one thing I had to entertain myself was Animal Crossing on my Nintendo Switch.
Chen to the Rescue
Chen, continuing to be my best friend ever, would take me to his home every other day to eat and download new manga and movies to watch at home. His family prepared delicious food, and I even got to try baijiu for the first time!
Although things didn’t work out with the rest of his family and me, which I wrote about here, he and I are still very close friends. I was even the best man at his wedding!
Enough about Chen; back to the apocalypse.
No Work for Five Months
I went to China to work as a teacher, typical, I know. Yet, due to the virus, all schools were closed until further notice. I hadn’t been in contact with a single kid until five months into my China stay.
Eventually, I got a computer where I spent all my time playing games like World of Warcraft. This helped the mind-numbing bore that was my life during these five months.
Overall, things eventually got to normal, then again back to the apocalypse a few times over. Yet, China is finally opening its doors after 3 years, so things are on the up!
I’m quite glad I could be here in China during such an exciting time in our history. It was like being in the Walking Dead, without the zombies.
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