Lockdown Day 53: ...and just like that?

This day started normally. Normally for lockdown, that is. Meaning I got way too little sleep, but could wake up to a hot, nutritious breakfast. I had a white rice and lentil congee, topped with a square of fermented tofu and salted olive vegetable.

For lunch, I had my whole wheat toast with chicken-spinach-artichoke spread, and red lentil soup from yesterday.

It was very nice out today; quite windy!

Then I did my afternoon antigen test.

Sometime before the antigen test, my friend told me that it appeared as if the gates were open. She had heard of this through one of the grocery group buy WeChat groups. Someone in my entryway WeChat group asked entryway leader if we were out of lockdown. She didn’t respond. Someone asked the guard, and I guess the guard just gave him a look, without confirming or denying. So ambiguous. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sneak out of work, but at around 7:30pm I was able to go check out the situation myself. The guard was in a conversation with someone, so I just purposefully walked out. I didn’t ask if we were free to go.

Wow, there’s life on the outside!

Yeast, the coffee shop, I know takes orders. But the rule is now that you have to order online, and pick up at the store. No offline sales are permitted. The door and windows were covered up. I wonder if the staff are sleeping inside?

Same thing with the fruit shop - only online sales.

I walked down Donghu Road to the intersection with IAPM. Wow, so much emptiness. So much darkness.

It’s hilarious to me that even ATM machine booths had lockdown seals. And the seals are quite recent - from May 21!

To my surprise, the gate on the other side of the compound was unlocked. This gate had been locked up since even before our big lockdown! This is why when I went to buy water at the convenience store a few days before lockdown started, I had to walk all the way around the block with the four heavy jugs of water.

Huaihai Middle Road was pretty empty, as expected. The message at the top of Shanghai Tower said, “Shanghai, our hearts are together” in Chinese.

The subway entrance was closed. I guess this line isn’t one of the ones that have opened up just now.

Subway entrance and KFC are both shuttered. The KFC was actually also closed down, from before the big lockdown.

There are some buildings with entrances directly facing the street. Funnily, they just had a metal barrier in front, because there was no way to padlock their front door.

While walking along Changshu Road, I tried crossing Changle Road. There, the gentleman in the blue gown, right behind the white folding chair, asked if I was going home. I said no… He said, this area is closed; you can’t go here. I asked if it was according to subdistricts, and he said yes. This subdistrict was not released from lockdown yet. Notice the traffic cones in the middle of the street. I guess this guy with his lone folding chair is holding guard at this corner, not letting people past. The bus coming towards me is one of the bus lines that have just restarted.

Back to my street…

When I got back, I messaged entryway lady to say that I needed more antigen tests, because I’d run out this afternoon. She came by with a new box of 20 tests, as well as one to take tonight. Apparently tomorrow we have a PCR test.

Someone in the group asked her if she could distribute more tests at a time, to save her the hassle of constantly asking for new boxes. I guess if you’re living with a few people in your apartment, say 4 people, with testing twice a day you’d go through the box of 25 in less than a week.

Entryway leader said that she did have more that we could get at any time, but we couldn’t be wasteful of them. She said the neighborhood committee 居委会 informed her that each box of 20 tests costs 200 RMB (US$30), so we must “珍惜“ zhenxi them; we must cherish them!!

The neighbor then sent pictures of all of the boxes of antigen tests that he had received, and someone else later commented, well, the neighborhood committee could save a lot of money if we didn’t do so many tests each day. Yes!

I was getting ready to workout, when I got a text saying that my group buy of lychee arrived! Even though I rushed out immediately, I was still one of the last to pick up my box. But thankfully I did get my box, because through the group I learned that someone who paid for the lychee went and there were no boxes left. So the store might have sent one fewer than ordered.

These lychee are big! I’m putting my iPhone next to the bag for size comparison.

I’m at a point where everything fits pretty comfortably in my fridge. And there’s a bunch of space behind the watermelon too.

I did my workout of the day, and then had dinner. I stir-fried the last of my Napa cabbage, the fat red sausage that we were given, rehydrated shiitake, black wood ear fungus 黑木耳, and lily flowers, enoki mushrooms, the roasted broccoli from yesterday and scrambled egg. And the noodles, I literally just added them to the pot and turned it out into the strainer immediately. The noodles were still quite firm at that time, but stir-frying and letting them sit tin the steam softened them up - just the right bite, I think.

And then it was on to the lychee! They look a bit green, don’t they? They might have been the slightest bit more tart than usual, but they were still very sweet and very juicy. I had to clean up after myself!