An American Expat in China

I had some nervous energy on Monday night before leaving quarantine in Shanghai on Tuesday morning.  What would have been a good night of sleep was disturbed by a sharp pain in my abdomen around 3am.  I wasn't sick, although I tried to shit out the pain for a full hour there was nothing to shit and eventually the pain just subsided.  It must have been nerves.  I went back to sleep for another three hours and woke at 7am, which was an hour before I was scheduled to leave.  With my packing already done from the night prior I scarfed down some noodles, did my morning routine, and was ready to leave by 7:45am.  They came to my room at 7:50am to take me downstairs.  I left my cell and after going out the door was provided with a release letter.  The fresh air was nice, although it was a bit smoggy, and the sun and humidity was intense.  I was sweating within a few seconds as I lugged my luggage to the gate.  After a few minutes of waiting my ...

It has been a full week since I arrived in China.  I have a pretty steady routine going.  Every morning I wake up at 6:00 and exercise for thirty minutes.  I start with stretching and yoga and work my way into pushups, sit-ups, squats, windmills and other abdominal exercises.  I finish my workout with a cardio. Either I do jumping jacks for 5 min straight or I run back and forth from wall to wall in my balcony space for 5 minutes.  It is a pretty good workout all things considered.  My workout is typically accompanied by local radio.  My morning routine includes at least 15 min of mandarin lessons, which I do on the toilet.  Breakfast is typically outside my door by the time I get out of the shower at 7am.  I eat, brush my teeth, and then continue my mandarin lessons until about 7:30 when I sit down to start working.   I teach daily from 8:00-8:50, 11:40-12:30, and 14:35-15:25.  Between classes I am grading, planning, meeting, ...

I am on my second full day of quarantine in Shanghai.  The journey was exhausting.  Following the 13 hour flight on Friday 9/23, I spent 4 additional hours in the airport going through customs, testing, and waiting to be released into quarantine. Then there was a three hour drive on a bus to the quarantine site.  The quarantine site resembles a college dormitory.  I cannot get the TV to work but I am keeping busy with various other things.  As a teacher there is always work to be done with planning, grading, and training.  When I take breaks from work I spend time reading, practicing my mandarin, playing guitar, exercising, meditating, napping, listening to local radio, blogging, and watching videos online.  Three meals are provided daily and they are palatable and nutritious.  I might loose weight since my calorie intake is thusly limited and I am exercising, this would be good since I put on a few pounds since stopping my gym membership in early...