As much as I wished to further extend my 3-month long summer vacation in Canada, I inevitably needed to face reality and returned to my deteriorating birth city on Sept. 7th. It took about 3 hours from the time my plane landed to get through the airport’s pandemic measures and customs and finally arrive at the designated quarantine hotel. I felt like I was being treated like a highly contagious patient more than a valued guest at the DQH. After 3 days of quarantine at the hotel, I returned home and self-monitored my health for 7 more days. The government’s so-called “3+4” days quarantine scheme is very misleading because it takes a total of 10 days, which includes daily RATs and 5 PCR tests, to fulfill the government’s imposed requirements for everyone arriving from overseas.

I took the 10 days as bonus holidays to organize and transition myself back to reality, to a challenging life in a deteriorating city with no hope of improving in the near future. What’s the plan now? I really don’t know. May God continue to guide my steps, one step at a time. 🙏🏻