First day in Quarantine.

Quarantine; a word taken by the British from the French, which initially meant a ‘fortnight’ or ‘une quarantaine’. Whereby people were detained and observed for fourteen days and fourteen nights in the times of the Black Death.

Whilst I don’t have the Black Death, I still suffered the misfortune of going to a summer course at Beijing Uni with the ghastly people who caught swine flu. Whence they caught this flu, I don’t know. The two Japanese girls in my class stopped coming on Wednesday last week, and I was too drunk to come into class on one of those days, hence not being at class for five days.

Alas, pretty much everyone has been bundled into a van, given a mask and then taken to this posh swanky hotel, decorated with beautiful ‘chinglish’ signs everywhere, including in the shower, which reads ‘be careful of landslides’ – meaning ‘don’t slip over’.

How I got quarantined I still don’t know. My Russian classmate told me about the imminent saga yesterday night; he doesn’t speak English and his Chinese isn’t great. So I play Mr Aaronski Hobdayski. So, I called the student’s office last night and with the help of my Chinese housemates, it seemed I wouldn’t have to go and be quarantined. Then this morning they called again, I even nearly managed to talk my way out of it, by getting them down to 4 days in quarantine, 2 days then at home, and then they suggested a doctor see me. In the end they said I had to stay here for a day to check on me, yet after arriving here in the scariest and seemingly fastest ambulance ride to the hotel ever (Chinese road signs are merely a ‘guide’ for road users), many other students have to stay for 7 days…

But why, if I am healthy, go to a hotel where all the other potential swine flu ‘carriers’ are free to roam the corridors? It is Chinese logic I am sure. But thanks to my losing my temper and shouting in Chinese at the Chinese doctors, suddenly something clicked in my head, and my Chinese started to flow well for the first time. It looks hopeful that I won’t be here for too much longer, that is, if I haven’t already caught swine flu from the other students in the hotel…