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  2020-03-22

  My Life in China During the Coronavirus

  Ten weeks ago, I was in Beijing. I did not have to wear a mask, I did not have to get my temperature checked. I was with a close friend of mine. While they were worried about this virus, I shrugged it off. "We have a new virus every year," I said--"This will be no big deal, I'm not worried." I still feel terrible about that conversation exchange. A few weeks later, I was canceling my holiday to South Korea. A couple weeks after that, China had reached 40,000+ cases. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was stuck inside. I slipped into what felt like an endless ocean of the blues. I felt sad, worried, I was contacting those most important to me almost every chance I got. Now, after 10 weeks, China is slowly starting to return to normal. This picture, taken by Joe Larrea, shows me out and about for the first time since the pandemic began. We have been teaching online for 7 weeks now, with uncertainty on when we'll go back. However, it's nice to see that the city is finally starting to come back to life, even if it is still not as booming as it usually is. We still cannot leave without masks, or enter anywhere without temperature checks. But the country is slowly starting to open up again. What's considered normal is starting to return, albeit at a slow rate. Now, the rest of the world is reaching the problems that China experienced a few weeks ago. Hopefully, the rest of the globe can combat this as well, and one day it'll all seem like a bad dream.