Travel Restrictions and Protests Across China But a Quiet Weekend For Me
For anyone who follows international news they may already know about the protests all over China over the Covid 19 restrictions. It is not my place to remark about these events. All I will say is that things can only improve. While progress may be slow, there are already signs that things are getting better. Earlier this week the restrictions were tightened in response to rising cases, this was followed by mass protests the likes of which have not been seen in China since 1989, after which some restrictions were eliminated, reduced, or "strategically optimized". For example, while I was in Shenzhen's Dameisha Beach last weekend the city of Shenzhen announced a policy whereby people returning to Shenzhen from other cities would need to isolate at home for three days and have three negative tests before gathering in large numbers or going to crowded places. While this policy did not directly impact me as I had not left the city, many teachers who had left for Thanksgiving ended up "stuck" at home for three days upon their return with a substitute covering their classes. I substituted for one of them on Monday.
By midweek this three day isolation policy was all but ignored as people need to travel between cities, and sometimes between provinces, for work. As of today (Saturday), 24 hour testing is no longer required to go to malls, markets, parks, or public transit. Now a 72 hr test will be accepted in most cases. While the city of Shenzhen and the education bureau has still not reversed their decision regarding intercity travel, it appears that covid restrictions are on a gradual decline regarding movement within the city and testing requirements. The education bureau however has maintained a fairly strict stance on testing requirements as it reduces the chance of spread in schools.
Because of the aforementioned restrictions I did end up canceling my plans to go to Huizhou's Silver Beach Resort with the Shekou H3 this Saturday because I simply did not want to risk missing work for a run on the beach. I weighed the options and considered various ideas to skirt the regulations by turning off my phone and using a screenshot of my green health code, but ultimately opted out when I realized that my anxiety levels were too high to justify my fear of missing out. I managed to enjoy myself regardless.
On Friday night after work I had some beers with friends and then called it an early night. I woke early on Saturday to go on a hike on Nanshan with some friends from work. Later in the day I met with two other friends for lunch and drinks so we could coordinate the walkers and runners trail for next week.
With regard to the woman I hooked up with last weekend, on Tuesday she cancelled our plans to get together again over the weekend. Despite how much she expressed her interest initially, I am not disappointed as I had a fair bit of concern about dating someone from work. We had some drunk fun on vacation, and it should be left at that. She made it clear she was not looking to date but said that she might be hitting me up for some fun in the future. Whenever that may be I will likely refuse her advances. I lost interest in her as soon as she canceled our plans. I have little patience for flakey types. She is not worth my time or energy. By the time she shows interest again I will likely be tangled up with someone else anyway.
We did not have band practice today (Sunday) because the school is hosting placement tests and our music would have been a pretty big distraction. I had planned to go into the building to make up my ab workout which I missed on Friday but was not feeling well. I think that I might have eaten something that fouled up my intestines yesterday so I spent the day at home.
The weather has cooled down. The temperature has gone as low as 10C (51F) this week. While it may not snow here, being south of the Tropic of Cancer means relatively warm winters, I am looking at traveling north soon to get some exposure to fresh powder and hit the ski slopes. I am not sure if this will work out but I am hopeful I can find a way to make it happen.
I have a video from last week's band practice. Our sound is really coming together, pun intended. We are preparing three other songs for Chinese New Year but I do not have videos of those. The photos from this week are mostly from the Nanshan hike on Saturday. I also included the poster I made for next week's hash.
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