Almost 6 weeks spent in quarantine has come and gone. And I can say, “I survived!” Here’s a sort of breakdown of the days:
- Day 1 – arriving in Taipei, Taiwan
- Day 2 counts as first of the 14-day quarantine in Taipei
- Day 16-17 – time spent getting COVID tests to be able to return to Shanghai plus errands and meeting with family and friends
- Day 18 – arriving in Shanghai, China and first day of quarantine
- Day 32 – left quarantine hotel to quarantine at home
- Day 40 – finished quarantine and back at work
For the first part of my quarantine in Taipei, Taiwan, all went smoothly. The staff were quite friendly and helped me get settled. The room was comfortable even if it wasn’t big but I had the opportunity to do exercises. All the necessities for the 14 days were all prepared and was so happy to have a Nespresso in the room!
I brought a lot of projects to keep myself busy, apart from working remotely, ranging from sewing and embroidery projects to watercolour paints and other portable supplies. Being in quarantine was the perfect opportunity to go through the various online classes I’ve saved or signed up for but never get “enough time” to sit down and finish the classes. If you are following me on Instagram, I posted all of the things I created while in quarantine.
I also brought my Travelers Notebook to do some documenting, but I was not sure how I wanted to document my days and in the end, I kept it mostly sketches and words and if any ephemera was available, I would attach it to the page(s).
My daily meal is a big part of the content in my travel journal. They were presented well, yummy and just looked interesting to sketch.
Coming out of quarantine, and after getting COVID test for the return flight to Shanghai, I went exploring near the central post office area in Ximending and found some really cool places and decided to do some sketching including part of the post office roof. Explored the nearby museum, too, and had fun sketching the seeds exhibit. The following day I again managed to find locations to sketch.
The next morning, it was back to Shanghai.
The quarantine hotel experience in Shanghai was so totally the opposite of the one in Taipei. Honestly, my room was awful saved for the fantastic view from the huge windows. The view was what kept me sane as well as work. I did manage to do some art; this time more on art journaling and urban sketching. Tried to get into the #inktober but was not successful in finishing the whole month. And towards the last few days of my quarantine in the hotel, I did some hand stitching on fabric scraps I had brought and truly enjoyed transitioning to that kind of activity for the evenings because of the low light in the room.
And finally got to go home but there were plenty of things to do so there was not much time for art.
The one thing I have noticed is that with having less materials to play with, it actually made me stretch my creativity further and was quite productive, having at least one form of art done. Can I just say that having these time to recharge and do more art was just a bliss.
I would love to be in quarantine again but not in the way I had experienced it in Shanghai so that is a major reason why I cannot even begin to think of going out of China unless the quarantine is already out of the requirements.
Hope this was a good read. Thank you.
