Being in Taiwan in 2020

 

A few days ago I was thinking about how surreal this year was for me. It was a year unlike any other, a year where for the most part I wasn't able to plan anything but just sit and wait it out. Now you may rightfully say: You're not the only one. That's very accurate. I bet millions of people had a similar experience; it's definitely one of those years that we won't ever forget (similarly to 2001 for example). And yet, very few people could claim that they lived through the coronavirus pandemic in a country that was for the most part virus free. Sure, we have had new cases in Taiwan almost every day, but since April every such case was someone coming to Taiwan from the outside. These people were then quarantined, and medically treated, and thus there was no new local spread yet. 

So here we are now: It's December, and we are still virus free in our daily lives, although cases from outside are again on the rise, because they are on the rise around the world, but I trust that whatever happens our government will do a great job. They are always one step ahead. They started to require a negative Covid test for anyone who is entering Taiwan right now, including Taiwanese residents, and the 14 days compulsory quarantine is still in place. Masks will be required not only in public transportations, but also in museums, shopping malls and other closed public areas (before that it depended on each individual place). Everybody has adapted masks as something normal, something you put on once you leave the house. There's no such thing as an 'anti-masker movement' in Taiwan, nor are there any protests against all these safety regulations. We're a normally functioning society, we just wear masks and occasionally someone puts a thermometer to your head. But that fear of getting the virus has been very minimal for the past 8 months. And this is where I want to get back to the surreal part. Whenever I check international news, I see rising numbers. I see more infections, more deaths, I call my mum back home and tell her to be careful, to not go out. There is now an increasing number of friends back home who told me they got Covid. Some had no or very small symptoms, some had something that was in their own words worse than flu. I'm glad that they're fine, but on some level I just cannot relate. I can't relate to lockdowns, I can't relate to work from home, school from home, I can't relate to fear and anxiety of being in the epicenter of an outbreak. And for that I am very grateful, and I hope I won't ever have this experience. But it feels surreal. I can't leave nor I want to leave Taiwan right now. And that might be the case for all of 2021, perhaps even all of 2022. I've never been here so long without interruption. Even though I live here for over a decade, Taiwan was always a kind of an 'open home' for me. Every year I traveled 2 to 3 times to other Asian countries, to Europe and to North America. Part of it was my job, part of it was my own passion for traveling and photography. That is now taken away from me, and of course it's just a 'First World Problem', but it just shows how much my life has changed, and how much it has probably changed forever. I'm so glad I was able to see so much of Asia during 2010s. I'm glad I took over 100,000 photos in the past decade, and this year I finally had time to organize them, and to prepare a photo book. Sometimes it's great to slow down, too. With that said, I do feel like stuck on an island and I'm a bit anxious about when we can go back to some sort of normalcy related to international travel. I miss my dear ones back home, perhaps now even more than before. I would love to visit them as soon as possible, but I just don't know when that will be possible. Thank god for FaceTime, but it just can't replace a hug and a lengthy face to face conversation. I miss that, but at the same time I am thankful that everybody close to me has been alright so far. I'm thankful that Taiwan has been safe, that life is relatively normal here, that I can walk outside without fear. I hope this madness goes away soon. 

2021 can't come soon enough.