On my 3rd day of quarantine I went to the ER. On the 3rd day of non-quarantine there was a big earthquake. I woke up in the middle of the night to a “presidential alert” on my phone which said an earthquake was going to happen and that I should take cover.
I was too sleepy. For some reason I thought this was an alert for California and should not affect me. I ignored it and went back to sleep. Within a minute I heard a very strange noise and the building started to shake, sway, and rock back and forth. I didn’t do anything. I stayed in bed and tried to orient myself. I had experienced small earthquakes in California, which I could barely feel. This was different. It lasted a minute or more. I wondered what I could do but there was no way I was going to stand up and walk while the building was dancing. Eventually it ended. I went back to sleep around 2 am. Several aftershocks occurred throughout the night, some of which woke me up. It was the same weird feeling and sound, but they didn’t last as long.
Several Taiwanese friends sent me messages to check on me and reassured me that this was nothing to worry about. People who live here for a while get used to it. In fact I can confirm that I did not ear anyone make a noise nor did any of my neighbor seem to go down to the street.
The following day I confirmed with my boss that he felt it too in Taichung. He said that the advised procedure is as follows: open the door first (because earthquakes can cause the door to be misaligned with the frame), grab something to cover your head, and then go downstairs (using the stairs), and stand outside in as open a place as possible.
The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.7 and it also affected Japan, the Philippines and China.
After 2 weeks of quarantine there is one week of self-health management – that means I can go out but I can’t use public transportation or eat at restaurants. I also can’t leave Taipei. This gave me an opportunity to go buy some things for the apartment, meet some friends, buy some meals and fruits from the local market. In the process I edited and filmed several videos. See below.
After that week ended I was able to go out and enjoy hotpot – my first meal in an actual restaurant, 馬辣火鍋 next to Taipei 191.
It was an all-you-can-eat hotpot so I left quite full. I also got my MRT card and took the MRT for the first time. Finally I went to the gym which was overdue. The gym I found is called Soulfit and doesn’t require signing up for a membership. It allows you to swipe your MRT card (悠遊卡) upon entry and then charges 1 NT per minute until I exit the gym and swipe it again. So an hour would cost 60 NT, which right now is about $2.10 USD. Not bad at all.
After three weeks of quarantine + health self-management, I am finally free. I can start going around as I wish, I don’t have to report my health to the government everyday, and I can start meeting friends.