Day 269 (March 17): Panic? Let's Shop!
The purpose of writing this post is personal and selfish. I just want to record the details of a day that felt like a big deal before, during and after.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia held a press conference last night at 10pm and announced a series of measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We already knew Singapore was closing its borders in a significant way. Now Malaysia announced that nonessential activities (not just travel) would be restricted starting 26 hours later. Among other things this means Legoland is closing for at least 14 days, which is a major change in our expectations for our time here! As far as we could understand immediately, the only things open were going to be grocery stores and maybe banks.
My first action was to rent a car. I had a fear that the taxi services (we use Grab) would be suspended and we'd be really stuck. Then we started a shopping list. It felt like preparing for a hurricane, which is exactly how some of our Floridian tribe-mates described their mindset when we saw them a few hours later! We had lists for the grocery, the pharmacy, the hardware store and "play"things. Eventually we fell asleep around 1am with an alarm set for 7.
I was in a grab at about 8:30 on my way downtown to pick up the rental car. Our facebook chat group was active late into the night and early in the morning (thank goodness for "do not disturb"). Navigating back to the apartment was nerve-racking. It's been a few weeks since I have driven and even though that was on the "other" side of the road, it's still unsettling. Also, this is my first driving in Asia, where it seems the dreaded scooter is everywhere. Furthermore, my phone's navigation wasn't connecting to the internet and the GPS I rented with the car was a bit mysterious to me. It didn't update to keep the screen centered on the car so I had to swipe around to see where I was. It beeps all the time.
Around 10am I arrived. We hired a tribe-mates 16-year old daughter to babysit the twins and we brought Henry and Lily with us on our shopping adventure. We've been deliberating about how much to share with them about the situation. We want to shield them from some of the anxiety and some of the scenarios we fear but also let them experience the problems that they are hearing about directly and indirectly. Also, a big reason we've gone on this trip is to impart life lessons and, boy, there are a lot of life lessons happening all around right now.
We had no trouble getting to the shopping center (especially with Elise navigating with her fully-functional phone). The parking lot was not conspicuously full. But the grocery store, our first stop, was absolutely packed. Our most important goal was to ensure that we stocked up on protein because it's the only thing we really can't get at all in the market on the ground floor of our building. Almost everything else, especially milk, water, rice, cereal and even produce, is available along with all manner of packaged foods.
It was about noon by the time we finished the grocery shopping with at least half that time spent standing in line. An upside of this was that we joined a line with others from our tribe and I had a great chance to chat and learn. Tom is from Florida and fully accustomed to preparing for disasters, usually in the form of hurricanes. He joked that they are usually preparing for power outages so a few things are different in this shopping spree.
I was really struck by how orderly things were in the store. You have to stand in a line to get your produce weighed and labelled (price) before you go to checkout, which saves some time with the cashier. Everybody just stood patiently in line and it went incredibly fast. The checkout line crossed two walkways and there was no tension around line cutters. Nobody tried and nobody seemed nervous about it. We all waited on the far side of the aisle until there was room to cross. I don't think it would ever be so polite or civil at home.
I put our groceries in the car and we went back into the mall. While I had been in line, Elise and the kids had gone to a discount store (like Dollar Tree) and filled a duffel with household items and some arts & crafts. We found a beyblade arena to help keep Henry occupied in the apartment (if you have to ask, you don't care about the answer). Then we went into the homegoods section of the same store where we did the grocery shopping (imagine a Target Greatland installed on three floors of a mall as an anchor tenant).
Our big purchases here, each about $35, included a toaster oven and an inkjet printer. These are patently ridiculous things to buy on a gap year and my self of six months ago would be appalled. But we're in a new reality and these are totally worth it. The toaster oven means we can do basic things like bake a potato or heat up a frozen pizza but it also makes it possible to cook a lasagna or even bake scratch cookies (a pastime in our household). The printer means we can crank out worksheets and coloring pages. My goal is to have the kids generate some decorations for our bare, hospital-white walls, since we're going to live here for a few more weeks and spend a lot more time in the apartment than we had planned.
While Henry and I bought lunch at Subway (also within the same store), Elise and Lily found a pharmacy (to have some flu meds on hand in case of the worst) and then we drove home. We arrived around 2:00. We had to figure out where to park the car (we have a designated parking spot but didn't think we'd need or use it) and then haul all the stuff up to our apartment (two trips). The twins were content with their new friend, there were art projects underway and it appeared that nothing had been broken.
About two hours later (around 4), we arrived at Legoland for a final visit; we have low expectations that it will reopen in the three weeks until our scheduled departure (nothing seems certain anymore). Elise and I scouted the main store while the kids drove boats (bumper boats instead of cars) then we rushed through a greatest hits of the rides they like. This was the final two hours before the park closes for a few weeks and it was desolate. They were out of fountain soda at the only concession stand that was open (out of more than a dozen).
We were kicked out of one venue after another until the park itself closed at 6pm. We bought another stash of legos (on top of the 1800 pieces I bought yesterday). Elise got a few things from the grocery at that mall.
We got home and immediately headed downstairs for a social event with the tribe. Everybody (all the adults) were punch drunk from the day's efforts. Everybody had stories like ours and we were all exhausted. The kids took over the pool, turned furniture into forts and some of them ate some food. It was one child's (7th) birthday and somehow his mom got cake and made icing, with Oreo's and sprinkles to go around. It was impressive.
We also swapped surplus items and scavenged some things left behind by a family that left abruptly yesterday. It was pretty chaotic but also incredibly positive. It's impossible to imagine surviving this situation without having these people around us. We share the same general anxieties about world family travel and now we share the same issues with this pandemic and its local effects.
We returned to our apartment by 9, got the kids into bed and would have watched a movie but for the fact that the internet isn't allowing us to accomplish that. At this moment, Elise has turned off her light and rolled over so I'm taking that as my cue to finish this post and go to sleep, too. It was a wild day; I'm glad it's over. Let's see what craziness tomorrow can bring!
The Prime Minister of Malaysia held a press conference last night at 10pm and announced a series of measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We already knew Singapore was closing its borders in a significant way. Now Malaysia announced that nonessential activities (not just travel) would be restricted starting 26 hours later. Among other things this means Legoland is closing for at least 14 days, which is a major change in our expectations for our time here! As far as we could understand immediately, the only things open were going to be grocery stores and maybe banks.
My first action was to rent a car. I had a fear that the taxi services (we use Grab) would be suspended and we'd be really stuck. Then we started a shopping list. It felt like preparing for a hurricane, which is exactly how some of our Floridian tribe-mates described their mindset when we saw them a few hours later! We had lists for the grocery, the pharmacy, the hardware store and "play"things. Eventually we fell asleep around 1am with an alarm set for 7.
I was in a grab at about 8:30 on my way downtown to pick up the rental car. Our facebook chat group was active late into the night and early in the morning (thank goodness for "do not disturb"). Navigating back to the apartment was nerve-racking. It's been a few weeks since I have driven and even though that was on the "other" side of the road, it's still unsettling. Also, this is my first driving in Asia, where it seems the dreaded scooter is everywhere. Furthermore, my phone's navigation wasn't connecting to the internet and the GPS I rented with the car was a bit mysterious to me. It didn't update to keep the screen centered on the car so I had to swipe around to see where I was. It beeps all the time.
Around 10am I arrived. We hired a tribe-mates 16-year old daughter to babysit the twins and we brought Henry and Lily with us on our shopping adventure. We've been deliberating about how much to share with them about the situation. We want to shield them from some of the anxiety and some of the scenarios we fear but also let them experience the problems that they are hearing about directly and indirectly. Also, a big reason we've gone on this trip is to impart life lessons and, boy, there are a lot of life lessons happening all around right now.
We had no trouble getting to the shopping center (especially with Elise navigating with her fully-functional phone). The parking lot was not conspicuously full. But the grocery store, our first stop, was absolutely packed. Our most important goal was to ensure that we stocked up on protein because it's the only thing we really can't get at all in the market on the ground floor of our building. Almost everything else, especially milk, water, rice, cereal and even produce, is available along with all manner of packaged foods.
It was about noon by the time we finished the grocery shopping with at least half that time spent standing in line. An upside of this was that we joined a line with others from our tribe and I had a great chance to chat and learn. Tom is from Florida and fully accustomed to preparing for disasters, usually in the form of hurricanes. He joked that they are usually preparing for power outages so a few things are different in this shopping spree.
I was really struck by how orderly things were in the store. You have to stand in a line to get your produce weighed and labelled (price) before you go to checkout, which saves some time with the cashier. Everybody just stood patiently in line and it went incredibly fast. The checkout line crossed two walkways and there was no tension around line cutters. Nobody tried and nobody seemed nervous about it. We all waited on the far side of the aisle until there was room to cross. I don't think it would ever be so polite or civil at home.
I put our groceries in the car and we went back into the mall. While I had been in line, Elise and the kids had gone to a discount store (like Dollar Tree) and filled a duffel with household items and some arts & crafts. We found a beyblade arena to help keep Henry occupied in the apartment (if you have to ask, you don't care about the answer). Then we went into the homegoods section of the same store where we did the grocery shopping (imagine a Target Greatland installed on three floors of a mall as an anchor tenant).
Our big purchases here, each about $35, included a toaster oven and an inkjet printer. These are patently ridiculous things to buy on a gap year and my self of six months ago would be appalled. But we're in a new reality and these are totally worth it. The toaster oven means we can do basic things like bake a potato or heat up a frozen pizza but it also makes it possible to cook a lasagna or even bake scratch cookies (a pastime in our household). The printer means we can crank out worksheets and coloring pages. My goal is to have the kids generate some decorations for our bare, hospital-white walls, since we're going to live here for a few more weeks and spend a lot more time in the apartment than we had planned.
While Henry and I bought lunch at Subway (also within the same store), Elise and Lily found a pharmacy (to have some flu meds on hand in case of the worst) and then we drove home. We arrived around 2:00. We had to figure out where to park the car (we have a designated parking spot but didn't think we'd need or use it) and then haul all the stuff up to our apartment (two trips). The twins were content with their new friend, there were art projects underway and it appeared that nothing had been broken.
About two hours later (around 4), we arrived at Legoland for a final visit; we have low expectations that it will reopen in the three weeks until our scheduled departure (nothing seems certain anymore). Elise and I scouted the main store while the kids drove boats (bumper boats instead of cars) then we rushed through a greatest hits of the rides they like. This was the final two hours before the park closes for a few weeks and it was desolate. They were out of fountain soda at the only concession stand that was open (out of more than a dozen).
We were kicked out of one venue after another until the park itself closed at 6pm. We bought another stash of legos (on top of the 1800 pieces I bought yesterday). Elise got a few things from the grocery at that mall.
We got home and immediately headed downstairs for a social event with the tribe. Everybody (all the adults) were punch drunk from the day's efforts. Everybody had stories like ours and we were all exhausted. The kids took over the pool, turned furniture into forts and some of them ate some food. It was one child's (7th) birthday and somehow his mom got cake and made icing, with Oreo's and sprinkles to go around. It was impressive.
We also swapped surplus items and scavenged some things left behind by a family that left abruptly yesterday. It was pretty chaotic but also incredibly positive. It's impossible to imagine surviving this situation without having these people around us. We share the same general anxieties about world family travel and now we share the same issues with this pandemic and its local effects.
 |
| Elise scored big in the swap |
We returned to our apartment by 9, got the kids into bed and would have watched a movie but for the fact that the internet isn't allowing us to accomplish that. At this moment, Elise has turned off her light and rolled over so I'm taking that as my cue to finish this post and go to sleep, too. It was a wild day; I'm glad it's over. Let's see what craziness tomorrow can bring!
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