Rewind: Overseas Student in Quarantine; Mizuka Yasuda | S3 E3

After realising we were in the same quarantine facility online Mizuka reached out and connected with our WhatsApp group and Adrie on Instagram where they were following each others Stories from opposite buildings. 

After chatting for several days online Niall and Adrie finally met Mizuka in person, at a distance, on one of our walks.

Born and raised in Saigon, with her parents still living here, Mizuka made the difficult decision to return to Vietnam from her final year of studies in the U.S. to be with her parents before she was locked out of Vietnam. Or her parents were locked out of the U.S.

Her story is one of many similar yet unique stories around the world about how the rapid escalation of Covid-19 affected people. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:37

Thanks for listening to Discover Vietnam. I really, really appreciate it that you've chosen to listen to this podcast. We started in two thousand and nineteen. I did it just as a hobby for some fun and uh six years later we're still going strong with over three hundred and fifty episodes. We're in the top five percent of podcasts worldwide and the longest running English language podcast in Vietnam. So thank you again so much uh for tuning in to this episode. Uh because we have so many amazing episodes in the back catalogue that are just sitting there and they only get a couple of listens a week, which is still amazing. But I want to bring them to you so we don't lose any of those amazing conversations to time. So every week we're gonna bring you a podcast episode. So we're gonna bring you an old episode from the back catalogue completely unchanged for you to enjoy. So it's gonna be quite fun because the further back you go, the quality of the audio will be worse and worse. But I hope you enjoy it and you'll even hear some old episodes with biscuits snoring in the background as well, which I know some of our fans love as well. So enjoy this podcast. Don't forget, follow, subscribe, share the episode as well, and you can still join our Patreon. You can become a bopsow dare. So go to patreon.com forward slash a Vietnam podcast and join Discover Vietnam and become a bopsowdare. Enjoy the episode. Cheers. Thanks for listening to Discover Vietnam. As you probably know by now, my name is Neil Mackay and I'm your host. I started this podcast in 2019 just as a hobby, and from there I was able to become a full-time podcast production agency called 7 Million Bikes Podcast. So this podcast, Discover Vietnam, is sponsored by me, my own company. If you are interested in starting your own show, then please go to sevenmillionbikes.com or send me a message and I'd love to set up a free call with you to discuss how we can help you create the best podcast possible. All right, that's my blurb. That's my ad. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. Cheers. Hello, Mizuka.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

Hello.

SPEAKER_05 2:54

How are you?

SPEAKER_06 2:55

I am alright. Just another day in the quarantine facilities daytime.

SPEAKER_05 3:01

So uh for everyone listening, welcome to the third episode of the special quarantine season, uh, which is technically season three of 7 million bikes. If you've listened to previous episodes and you're coming back, thank you. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. You can go back and get previous episodes on sevenmillionbikes.com or on Facebook, uh not Facebook, on uh Spotify, iTunes, all the places you get your podcast, and you can also get updates on the Facebook page, which is 7 million bikes. So I'm Neil Mackay, I'm the host as always, and today I have a special guest who is also a fellow quarantine or an inmate. Um and so just to give a bit of a background, well, first of all, like thank you very much for joining us. We have Mazuka Yasuda. That's it. So Mazuka, uh actually this is uh maybe the first time I've ever my for my wife and I, we both were saying yesterday it's the first time we've ever connected with someone online and then met them in the real world. Um so what happened was if if you've seen the Facebook page for 7 million bikes, when we first got here, we went on to Reddit and we did an AMA, which is an Ask Me Anything. And um that that was um that kind of blew up a bit. We got like lots of responses, and um I actually had a few messages from like friends in the around the world being like, Did you guys do an AMA? We just saw it on Reddit, and then what happened was Mazooka was one of those people that read uh AMA and was like, Wait a minute, that sounds familiar. So she sent me a direct message saying, Are you in quarantine in so-and-so? and I was like, Yeah, that's us. She's like, I'm here as well. And so through that, she then connected with my wife on Instagram, because my wife uses Instagram, I don't I don't really use that, and we we added her to uh we've got a quarantine WhatsApp group with a whole bunch of people as well. We're all trying to keep each other informed and helping each other. Um, and then after that was what about when we've been here for nine days, I think that was how long ago, like a week ago maybe.

SPEAKER_06 5:10

Um yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

And we connected, I think, about a day or two after we got here, and then finally last night when we were out for our evening stroll, we finally encountered each other at a distance with masks on. But we were able to finally meet each other. So thank you for being uh on the show, Mizuka.

SPEAKER_06 5:33

Thank you, thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_05 5:36

And this is also the first ever time I've done uh a phone interview. So we're using Skype, so uh we'll see how this goes. Hopefully it works, and hopefully the sound quality will be good for anyone listening. So, Mizuka, tell us uh tell me, you know, tell everyone a little bit of a background. Basically, how did you end up in quarantine? Who are you, where do you come from, and how did you end up here?

SPEAKER_06 5:55

So my name is Mizuka Isuda. Um I'm half Japanese, half Vietnamese. So I was born in Ho Chi Minh City with my parents, and we live here. Um I've been in the United States for school as a study abroad candidate. Um and until recently, I was in Rochester, New York, um, home of Kodak, which I don't know if anyone knows, but yeah. Um I was there for a couple while well, I was there for I think it was my third year, and we were approaching our spring break. So this is going to be a just to um put it there that I this is from a university student's perspective. I don't know how many like students you've interviewed, so you are the first one. Yeah, it's just uh hopefully my naivety could be passed off. But um yeah, so we were going into spring break and um we well we were in America and well I was in America and you know I heard about corona around December and I knew my parents were in Vietnam and we hadn't really talked much about much much about it, so I didn't think it was affecting it heavily, although towards March we started hearing a lot more happening. Um my parents live on one of the major commercial roads, and they were starting to tell me that a lot of the businesses were starting to close down and that this was going to be something a lot more serious, and I think that's when I really ticked or hit for me, knowing that this is a very serious concern. This was before WHO announced that it would be a pandemic. Um yeah, and we were going into a break, and I had planned to go to Japan with a partner of mine um in the second week of March, and we had already planned this for six months ahead, and we were super excited and didn't really think it would affect our trip. But then we start seeing things being canceled online for l places that we were going to go to in Japan, um, refunds and whatever, and we start getting anxious. My parents started telling me not to go, um, and it was really difficult because um both of us were really excited, and we had put in a quite a bit of money towards this, you know, as students. But then um, you know, the more we thought about it, it was it seemed more logical for us to not go to Japan considering what was going up, even with the princess diamond, diamond princess um cruise ship and all of that. So we canceled our trip and we ended up going to Montreal um just for a short break for a week. Um, we went to Montreal and Quebec City, and honestly, it was probably the better choice that we took that, um, just because we didn't have to worry as much about potential travel bans between Japan and um Japan and the US because at this point from the student's perspective, I was getting um emails from our international student services at our college saying that they would highly advise us not to go to Japan and parts of Europe. This was probably a week before they released the um travel ban from Europe between America and Europe. Um and so things were just escalating while we were on this trip in Canada.

SPEAKER_05 9:37

Um this was around then March 5th, is that right? If it's a week, the travel book was March 12th, right?

SPEAKER_06 9:43

Yeah, I think yeah, this was in within the first week of March or second week of March, we were you know watching the news roll in as it was just yeah, you know, just increasing in this immense like speed. Um ever the news was different every day, they had new information, and it just started looking a lot more real, especially in the Western. Um and so by the time I came back, I started also receiving emails from my university saying that okay, um, school will be extended for a week. Um, we're going to figure out how things are going to go, it might be just temporary, don't worry about it. And then two days later, we had another email saying, okay, we're going to be um shutting down temporarily. Um, if you are students who live on campus, you may come back, but try avoid being on campus. Um, and then a day or two later again, we receive another email saying, okay, you guys have to leave by April 5th. Please get rid of all your things. We are closing the university um location for the entirety of the semester.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Um, we even leave your stuff there.

SPEAKER_06 11:01

No, we couldn't leave our stuff there. Um, and they said they're going to, what is it? They are moving everything to online, and so we'll have online classes moving forward. Um, so we were actually thankful that, at least for my school, that we got a week break extension of uh our spring break because without that time, I think it would have been a lot crazier. We were also given so much more time, and it's not even April 5th now to move things out of our dormitories um and living quarters. So that was good. I heard that there were a lot of other friends of mine in bigger city schools, and they were only given a three-day notice, you know, from their first email of we're closing everything, everything's shutting down, we will be online, move out right now, please. And it was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

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SPEAKER_05 12:52

Like I usually worry about it now.

SPEAKER_06 12:54

Yeah, no, it it definitely didn't feel right for sure. Um, and round about this time we came back from Canada. We went by car, but we went back in from the Canadian border. Um, and I was actually stopped by the border, and I am not an American national, my partner is, so I started getting nervous whether it was to do with my visa or is it a travel band that we didn't hear of that may have changed in the last hour or so, but it was just a small mishap. Um, so thankfully it was okay. Um we then we got back though, and at that point my partner works for um a IT company that's pretty global. Um there the CEO of that company actually sent out a company-wide email saying that please work from home moving forward and have food stocked up for you know at least 45 days, you know, a month to two months. Um and you know, we didn't really think much of it until that email well, I already started feeling worried, but my partner really like shifted gear after having received that email and said that, you know, I think this might be serious. Um, and his reasoning was that the CEO is on quite a few boards, um, executive boards with uh President Trump. And so him having said something like that may mean that this is something that's a lot more serious. And so we hopped into the car and started our self-quarantine. I had a whole extra week of break at this point, um, and my school wasn't completely shut down yet. But I yeah, but we got onto the car and went for a quick grocery run, and this was the first time my parents messaged me saying that maybe I should consider going home. And I I typically don't go home as much. Um, I only since I've been studying abroad, I only go home once a year. Um, and it's only for short periods of time, like three weeks during winter break. So this would have been, you know, out of the ordinary. I do so to, you know, save a bit of money, um, try to use my resources in the US. But this was starting to feel a lot more real, and I think there's definitely an element of denial, you know, me being with my partner and feeling that it's probably a lot safer to stay in one place instead of going to airports as well. Um, but we still went out to the grocery store and it was really interesting because this was only the start of the toilet paper outbreak in the US. Yeah, yeah. Um we went to Whole Foods, which is slightly nicer of a place. Um at this point we were in Rhode Island, which is a state right below Massachusetts, sort of neighboring New York. Um but it's a very Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_05 16:05

I used to live there.

SPEAKER_06 16:06

Oh, you did? Where were you at? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:09

Uh mostly kind of Wakefield, Narragansett area. Oh, okay. Providence. I've still got a lot of good friends in uh Rhode Island. If anyone's listening, hello.

SPEAKER_06 16:18

Oh my goodness. I love Providence. Providence is probably my most favorite city so far. Yeah, but um, yeah, so we went to Whole Foods there, and you know that there's a lot of nice um privileged folk around there, and there's a lot of people who use uh Whole Foods, and it was really interesting just seeing how crazy things were. They weren't limiting the amount of people who could go into supermarkets yet, or the number of people who could go to supermarkets. Um, so we walked in and there were so many people. This was probably the first wave of um people or working career people at the grocery store trying to hoard on stuff, probably because um their company also sent out a company-wide email, much like the CEO of my partner. Um and yeah, we it was really funny. We went to the meat aisle and the package meets, and the only things that were remaining was $20 veal, you know, fancy game um or Cornish hens that were really, really small. Um there's this woman.

SPEAKER_05 17:29

So you're gonna have a bougie quarantine then?

SPEAKER_06 17:32

Yeah, for sure. And there's this woman just looking between the two, and she picks up the tiny little packaged Cornish hen with her fingers and just kind of makes a face. And it's just comical. Um Yeah, and then we walked along a bit more into the produce section, and you know, there's an old couple, and the woman is yelling at the man saying, What do you mean there's no more asparagus or whatever they were talking about? And there's a woman on the phone. Um, actually, there was low potatoes, that's what it was. She was saying, What do you mean there's no potatoes? And there were no potatoes for some reason. I guess it's one of the produce that lasts longer, so they were just hoarded all up. Um, and then you know, some people are on the phone, um, they're talking, saying, Yeah, the organic asparagus are all gone. Times are tough. And as comical as it is, and it's kind of ridiculous, it it's what we saw, you know. Um so yeah, but we were able to hoard quite a bit, and it was a month and a half, and at this point, I was talking to my partner, and we were saying, Yeah, you know what, I should just probably stay here with you, limit the amount of travel for me. We're here safe, we have the stuff, we have the goods, um, so it should be fine, and I can just continue my education um with my laptop if it's all online. But it just started escalating. My parents got more desperate and they were saying, Okay, you know what, there's a lot more travel bans happening here and there. Probably um come home sooner.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

Don't and what date was that around, do you remember?

SPEAKER_06 19:22

Um, I could pull up my phone. This was the weekend, the second weekend of March. So probably between yeah, it all like shifted from 13, 14, 15, 16.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Which was about yeah, the same for when things really started changing quickly.

SPEAKER_06 19:46

Yeah, yeah. Um, my parents were saying that I had to come home. Well, first it was maybe you should consider going home, and then oh, maybe you should contact the school and ask their administration what would happen with my visa status, with my education, had I left. Um, my father started saying things like as if um I might not even go back to school for a whole nother year. And honestly, I don't know what to expect, but that is one of the you know more serious um scenarios that we could consider. So I wasn't sure about that, and I had to ask, but it was the weekend, so I had an excuse to say, you know what, I still have to ask the school, but it's gonna take a while. But it's from one day to another, it was constantly, well, this is happening and that is happening. We have this new information, I have my own information, but where are they reading their information? And you know, it's I mean, to a certain extent, you you know, you have those parents or family members who read all sorts of things online, uncertain of um it being fact-checked or whatever, and you know, that's not just them, but it it could also be me and other of my peers. Um, you know, just pretty much reading the article titles and not really reading the rest of the article sometimes. Um yeah, short information span, a short, yeah, short attention span. That's the Gen Z problem, I suppose. Um but yeah, it was really nerve-wracking, and I think I knew my parents were right, but I was trying to reason why it would have been better that I stayed in one place. And my partner and I kept saying that, well, we kept rating saying that like it's not affecting young people, it only affects older people, and you know, two weeks.

SPEAKER_05 21:39

I think everyone's gone through those stages, yeah, you know, in the beginning where I I think and I've seen some funny videos about everyone goes through like denial in the beginning, like that's just the flu. I mean, I know I've gone through this, you know. Oh, is it that big a deal? You know, and then it doesn't affect it's only well, I'm all gonna be okay because I'm young, but you know, now we're starting to understand the full picture. It's not about us being young or or whatnot, it's about protecting the people who are vulnerable. But I mean in the beginning, yeah, you don't you definitely don't really think about that too much.

SPEAKER_06 22:07

Yeah, no, no, no. I was I think um I think it the fact that we chose not to go to Japan was our first turning point of this uh series. And then we really limited everything, you know, washed our hands, made sure every time, even from Montreal, um, we started doing that and you know, hoarding the food and everything. But eventually it just built up and um I still had some things I needed to bring with me to Order to do my work online, so I had to return to campus regardless. And I ended up seeing that you know I had to go back Monday morning. So I did. Um I booked a train immediately and I decided to go to the train instead of going to an airport just because I felt that it could be safer. Um my train ride would be ten hours or nine hours. Um but I generally sit in the same place and it's relatively clean and I wouldn't really move anywhere, so and there wouldn't be as much contact with other people for sure. Um so I chose I opted for the train, even though my parents told me I should have flown. Um well they actually don't know I took a train, they just knew that I went back. But I still that was me trying to take measures thinking that that's the right decision to do. Um but I went back up and on that long train ride, you know I had to go back and forth, and my parents were adamant that I go home, but that morning she my mom um messaged saying maybe you should stay. And you know, I'm getting torn left and right throughout this entire weekend. Um, and eventually, you know, I bought the tickets. It was a one-way trip. I didn't know when I was gonna come back. Um I my visa is actually gonna run out soon, so technically it's okay. It's a good thing that I can leave and maybe renew my visa. Um but yeah, so I bought the train.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

I was gonna ask. Oh sorry, on you go.

SPEAKER_06 24:15

Oh, I bought the ticket for that Thursday. So I was coming back Monday, packing everything. That's when we re that's also the date that I received the email saying that we should move everything off campus and that campus would be closed. So yeah, bought my tickets for thirty for to fly Thursday morning. I would arrive Monday night, pack everything Tuesday, Wednesday, and then be back. So you're saying Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:43

So uh yeah, no, I mean just it's just incredible listening to all of that and uh empathizing with you know the the back and forth and the being told on decisions and and so ultimately was it the was it the fact that your parents were worried and that you were worried that you may be locked out of Vietnam for a considerable period and then stranded in America, or what what were the reasons that you were thinking of staying in the States? Like what what was the ultimate decision, I guess, and the factors involved in that?

SPEAKER_06 25:08

Mm-hmm. So I mean I knew how serious things were going to be, but I understood that if I was still in the United States, my partner had offered that I could stay with them. I could just stay and work and study, um, develop on other things, maybe still apply for internships, and I could still be there, you know. Um I have decent health insurance because I am automatically enrolled into insurance once I am a student. So it wasn't going to be as bad. However, my parents started feeling that there weren't as measures um set or infrastructure set into place in America as there were in Vietnam, you know, with these court quarantine facilities, there's plenty of masks, um, there's a lot of initiative, and you know, this quarantine facility is free and they're doing tests. So at this point, you know, I thought that it was fair that I should go home. The only thing was that if I left, I don't know if I could come back in. I also followed um on the train ride, I tried to search for um the I reached out to the national agency um that works with offices that work with international students in America. Um, and they released a statement saying that they would not try to revoke our visas in this moment because it is difficult for everyone. Although they highly recommend like they were saying that it might not be likely that if they left the country and needed to renew their visas that they could get the visa renewed because a lot of embassies are going to close are and are are probably closing, um, and might not be open for quite some time. So that was definitely a worrisome thought because it's a visa that I need to get me back into the US to finish my last year of my studies. Um, you know. Um, and you know, food is and everything is fine. I would still have my resources, and at least I would be in the same time zone as some of my peers, my professors, um, and other resources that I would like to use, but I would be slightly cut off of that if I came back to Vietnam. However, at the same time, you know, my parents were worried that, well, what if I can't even go back home? But I wasn't thinking that it would last until December, you know. At least the most I feel that this would have lasted was until October, and I would come home December regardless. So I think it should it would have died down then. I don't really return to Vietnam in the summer, so I didn't feel much of a moment of stress there. Although my parents were saying that, well, what if like we're think of we're what is it? Think of the worst case possible is that I get caught and I die or something like that. And if my parents can't come into the US because of travel bans or something happens to my parents and I can't go home, then what of them? And I think that really rung um with me.

SPEAKER_05 28:33

Yeah, but it was I mean that that really was case scenario.

SPEAKER_06 28:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But but that's why I was saying that it's not affecting young people, you know. Um and I was just trying to say that me going through, you know, flying from the US to Vietnam, I go through three major international airports. So isn't that posing more of a risk? Like what does you know, that's not really ideal, is pretty much where I was coming from at that point. It's just I assure I I would try, I would like to return. I think that would be better with that reason, but what am I going to get exposed to? And what if I bring that back to my parents? You know, there's that sense of guilt.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Because that's where we, I think, and we talked about this when when I recorded our episode, you know, but on our flight back, we were just terrified. We've gloves on. We we had I think I mentioned we had our own little corner where we just stayed in because we didn't want to get the disease and then bring it back, you know, and it's like, but we have to get home. So yeah, I know I completely empathize it's it's pretty terrifying at that point, and especially if you're coming back to parents. Um it's definitely a concern. So you you made the decision, you got on the flight on the Thursday, which was the day before we got back. Um what were you expecting them to come back to?

SPEAKER_06 30:44

So um I just knew that I was going to come back and they well, I didn't know how, but I knew I was going to be at a facility, some quarantine center. Um, I didn't really do much research upon that because the moment I arrived back in Rochester to clear everything and put things away and you know try to organize all of that, pack up my life over there, figure out storage and bring it there and you know, pack everything to go home. It was I didn't really look at the news then. I didn't really read much there and I didn't know of the updates, um, and I was just going to let it happen as it does, you know. It it's no point worrying because the outcome is still the same. Um, I can be a bit of a realist like that, which kind of helps. Um but I just knew that I was going to be in Quarantine Center, but we just got on the flight, and that was that. But it's actually interesting. Um, from the Rochester Airport to Newark Airport in New Jersey, um Mar my flight was United Airlines and no one was wearing masks, maybe myself and like one or two other people, but the flight attendant, the cabin crew, nothing at all. They acted fairly normal. The flight was pretty empty, but it was okay. Um, we all had some kind of distance. And then our my second flight from Newark to Narita Airport was also United Airlines. Um, and there were a lot of Japanese cabin crew members, and they were all wearing their masks. And in comparison to the American cabin crew member, um, in my section at least, the American Caucasian woman um was wearing a mask herself. It was not the same as the Japanese cabin crew members, but she was wearing a mask, and there was one male American cabin crew member, and he he didn't really wear a mask, and he seemed just as he would be, um, you know, all relaxed and very welcoming and smiling. Um, but on that flight, once we got seated, the Japanese cabin crew members actually tried to separate our seats um because it was still a fairly open air open um flight. So she moved some of us saying that we should all sit far apart from each other, which is actually kind of great um that they did that. I think it's a good way to you know take that into their own hands. It wasn't really said on the PA system, but she would say, if you are next to each other, sit one person aside or you over there, there's some seats over there, please move over there and you know, all of that.

SPEAKER_05 33:28

So that's great. Yeah, they didn't do that on our flight at all.

SPEAKER_06 33:32

Yeah, and then we arrived in Japan and there's so much more masks. Newark airport started showing some other masks too, and a lot of the entertainment and lounges were closed. Um, at Newark Airport. At the Japanese airport in Narita, there were actually still some lounges open, a few stores were open, but masks everywhere for sure. There's a lot more people. Um, and I was on the All-Nipon airway flight. Um, and actually on the PA system, they said that they had added something else, which was, you know, if you're coughing or sneezing, please don't let that splash around next to you. And please contain it. Um which was just really funny to hear, especially when spoken in Japanese. Um it wasn't really said in English though, in their translation, but um I thought it was a interesting thing that they added.

SPEAKER_05 34:27

And then that's lucky for you, so I'm assuming you can speak Vietnamese, Japanese, and English.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:34

So I got to in a airport when they're giving giving out warnings in Japanese then.

SPEAKER_06 34:39

Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, so we got back and at this point I really I think it was just great to not be connected to the internet for a good moment in the air. Um, just because all the I would all that it would do for me to read more news is just to let me understand, but it really doesn't help with how I feel about the situation or what is going to happen. I just know I'm going to be in quarantine. But my parents did message a few times here and there saying, Okay, it looks like you'll be quarantined for 10 days. And then by the time I arrive, someone uh some one of them said, Okay, so I see that apparently you can pay your way to be at a ho uh hotel quarantine facility, or you're just gonna get put into some court quarantine facility. I don't know. Ask about it.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

Did you so did you your parents sorry, you your parents said that to you before you got here or before you have a lot of people? That's when I landed.

SPEAKER_06 35:40

No, that's when I landed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

Um I because we found that out after but when we already got here that apparently a hotel was an option, but it was too late by that point. And also I think we we read somewhere that it was gonna be like a hundred dollars a day, which when you if you're gonna be here for 14 days, that's a pretty huge expense.

SPEAKER_06 36:00

Oh yeah, no, for sure. Actually my parents said that it would like my mom said if it's just twenty dollars a day, that's the most that she would go.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 36:10

Yeah, but my dad said nah, it would be fine. But in the end, I didn't really have the chance to even ask about it. I was just equally as confused and it was late. I'd just rather go through the motions. How bad can it be, you know, paid or not paid? So um, I'm not too picky.

SPEAKER_05 36:30

So my parents at the airport and then you had a similar experience through as us apart from didn't have the drama of nearly being sent back on a flight because you're you're you have a Vietnamese passport, right?

SPEAKER_06 36:42

I do, I do, thankfully. Yeah, actually that would have um affected me at the Japanese airport had I not shown my Vietnamese passport. Um because at the Japanese airport, once we as soon as we landed, we were told that we should go to a transfer um counter and a connecting flight counter to make sure that we have all the visas and everything because I'm sure they were trying to keep up with different countries' laws and helping make sure that they can take certain guests from different nationalities to the next country that they need to go to. So um so it was it was interesting. I never really had to do that when I I've done a connection before in Narita, but I did, and then once we were trying to board at the gate, there were a lot of people getting stopped and told to nobody yeah, to getting told that they couldn't get on the plane or that they had to wait for a moment. There was probably 20 people standing around, and I was also one of them. But I just showed them what that I had my Vietnamese passport and it worked out.

SPEAKER_05 37:43

But it was our concern that we were gonna get stopped on the flight to even get here. But when we when we got to the desk, she went went through all of the documentation. She's like, Yep, yep, you'll be fine. So we we at that point we were like, Okay, it looks like we're gonna get back to Vietnam, but we still were unsure what was gonna happen next.

SPEAKER_06 38:01

Yeah, it was really heartbreaking for sure. They're just watching some other families who are Vietnamese and not being able to um go home, and you know, some of them they were just begging to like let them go back, but they don't have the Vietnamese nationality anymore because they have a US passport and citizenship instead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

So I'm surprised. So why why did you end up how did you get put in quarantine then? Because even on the flight that we arrived on the day after you, we're we're not 100% sure, but we're fairly certain that there was a lot of Vietnamese nationals on that flight were allowed to to go home and self-isolate. Again, I'm not we're not 100% sure on that. So why were you not given the option then as a Vietnamese citizen to go home? Why were you directed straight to quarantine?

SPEAKER_06 38:48

Because I came from the US at this by the time I was still in the US preparing to go home, it was already on the list of places that was to be quarantined. The US would have been if you were from the US, my parents had last told me that I would be quarantined for 10 days. But by the time I got here, went through the health department or health officials, um, I was told that I had to be quarantined for the full 14 days.

SPEAKER_05 39:18

That's right, because the difference with our flight was coming from Australia, which wasn't on the list, so that would be why those people would have gotten through and gone home to quarantine or self-isolate. That that would have been the difference. So um from our conversations online and through chat, um, we're both in the same facility. You're in the building that's just opposite ours, but it seems like we've had quite different experiences in terms of food, in terms of the information we've received, in terms of maybe living quarters are pretty similar. But do you want to explain to to any of the listeners who've maybe listened to already me the description that Adrian and I have given and with Anesthesia of our experience in quarantine? How has that experience been for you?

SPEAKER_06 40:01

Um so I think I guess we everyone knows that this is a university dormitory that that makes shift into a quarantine facility. Um we arrived fairly late, and I couldn't really tell what that would look like. I've never been at a Vietnamese university before or a dorm um here, so it was interesting just trying to get in. There weren't that much of us. There was probably two or three buses. They told us to leave our luggage, um, go in, write up some forms, had our temperatures taken, and they just sprayed, they hosed down our luggage in this meantime. It was really shocking when I went to get the back, it was drenched.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Um bleach, right?

SPEAKER_06 40:45

Yeah. Um, but I got to I went in and you know, I w I traveled solo. There was other few people who traveled solo, so I was surrounded by other ladies who I don't know, we're we're just in our own bubble. Um, but we try we found each other and got to be in our own in our room, the four of us. Um we've been in this room. It's been okay. Sorry, just could you repeat the question again?

SPEAKER_05 41:24

Yeah, so I'm getting distracted as well because we have people at the door right now asking questions and I'm like, what do they want? Is it temperature? Is someone tested positive for COVID? Who knows what's going on? Uh the question was, how has the quarantine been for you and how has it been different for us? So you you talk about you you we've talked about how there's the three of us here. Who's who are you in a room with because you said you were you're with other solo travelers?

SPEAKER_06 41:46

Yeah, so um we weren't allowed to go up to a room until there was four people. Um so it's me, a Vietnamese high schooler, but she was going to school in the US and California. An older lady, probably between 60s and 70s, she was visiting family for six months in the US. I don't know where, but she came back. Um, and then a Malaysian slash Singaporean national who is here for work. Um slightly older, probably in mid-20s, but it's the four of us. Um, yeah, we got to our rooms and you know we weren't given anything. There's only straw mats on our bunk beds. We closed the door and just passed out for the night. Um and honestly, we didn't know how many, like how many people were here. There was only there's only three buses when we came, so the process was fairly fast, and I got to our room a little sooner than um your building actually. But we got here and I couldn't sleep that night as much because I had jet lag and I woke up and I started seeing, you know, eight buses piling around the block of your guys' building, and that had continued all the way until morning. Um and following to the next day, and there's just so many people standing outside, so I think it was good that we didn't really have the experience. Um, I suspect that that's one of the things that was different was that our building filled up fairly quickly, um, but without too much hassle. Um but yeah, we woke up the next day and um weren't sure where to go, but we knew that we needed to go somewhere to gather some information. So we went down to the lobby where we um filled out our forms and uh saw that there were people just picking up stuff, just bags of equipment and or whatever was needed. So all of each of us had gotten a little, you know, supermarket bag filled with slippers, one small pink towel, kind of like a facial towel, um 14 packets of shampoo, 14 packets of body wash. Um for those of you who can't picture it, think of the little ketchup packets you get from McDonald's, but shampoo and body wash isn't those.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

So that's what we're gonna description. All over Vietnam. If you've if you're from Vietnam or you live in Vietnam, you know exactly what you're talking about. But other countries we don't have them, right?

SPEAKER_06 44:27

No.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

But that's amazing. So that's one of the big differences because yeah, I remember you told us you got this like package of things like shampoo, towel, slippers. We got like nothing on the first night, which is fine, but we got nothing on the next day. Everything we got, we luckily got through care packages. So we had people send us cleaning supplies. Luckily, we had some shampoo. Um, Anastasia had some slippers sent because she didn't have any footwear. We didn't mention this on Anastasia's podcast because she was on a business trip, she literally only had really business clothes with her. She does didn't have like any clothes to just hang out in. So I had to lend her a pair of shorts. She got some t-shirts sent. Um, so that was a that was a difference I remember when you said that you got all that stuff. We were like, what? We didn't get any of that.

SPEAKER_06 45:12

Yeah, uh, we also had a toothpaste, some of the bags came in toothbrush. Um, and I don't know if there's anything else, but I think that was the gist of it, and that came with breakfast. Um, and breakfast. This was great that day.

SPEAKER_05 45:27

I imagine by the time we got here they'd just run out of all of that stuff, which is which is fair enough because there were so many people coming. Um and then so from our communications on message stuff, so the food situation for for your building and for our building has been quite vastly different as well. We seem to get consistent meals, there's never been a problem with them. Uh quite repetitive, but that's fine. Um what what's the situation been with your meals? Because they seem it's not as good as ours from what we've been discussing.

SPEAKER_06 45:56

Well, I feel like we yeah, I'm also just really surprised because it seems like our building were the people that came first, so we should have it equal or if not better, or I don't know, something like that. But here we are, and we've had breakfast almost every day. Um, and there's a variety actually. Um, it sounds like your guys' building has a lot of you know, pork buns, bow, or whatever, but we've been having one day every morning thing. Yeah, over here we've had rice porridge kanji or rice noodle or um one of the days we've had the option for bow, but I haven't seen that option since we had bang me one morning.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

We've not had ban me one but love of me.

SPEAKER_06 46:49

Rice cakes, um yeah. Oh actually. Speaking of Bang Me, did you get any food when you're at the airport waiting to be put on a bus?

SPEAKER_05 47:00

We did, yeah, thanks. So they broke open a bag of like croissants and milk and stuff. So that yeah, I mean that this in terms of that, it's just been really impressive how prepared they are, how much stuff they have for us. Anything about like repet repetition of food is it's I'm just joking because it it's I'm just grateful for what for what we're getting. But it's just quite funny that you're the building over and you've been getting a variety of stuff. But then at the same time, so you said a few times that your food has been comes spoiled or or unedible because it's been out for too long, whereas our food comes often it's either still warm or it we've never had any spoiled food or anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 47:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 47:41

So yeah, food, um yeah, so it looks like our foods are coming from all sorts of places. There's little stickers sometimes that you can find where it's coming from. It's coming in, you know, big bags or whatnot, but I think it might be because of the weather and that they're accommodating a larger number of people that they might have to start cooking it much earlier, and so having that you know transported in these metal vans, it's heating up very quickly, and things are arriving spoiled actually. It's kind of appalling. Um, apparently there's also like a radio system here in the building, but it's really hard to see or hard to hear with the muffled tones. Um I sometimes have trouble picking up hearing some Vietnamese here and there, and it's uh because I speak multiple, but it's just it's a lot harder with the radio, so I miss out on a few things. But for the first day, it seemed Yes?

SPEAKER_05 48:42

On you go. No, you continue.

SPEAKER_06 48:44

Okay, so on the first day it seemed like we just went down to pick up everything, which didn't seem quite as sanitary, but you know, we came down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to pick up our stuff, so we thought that was the norm. But then we were told that from day two that we had to stay in our rooms and that food would be delivered to us. So that was really interesting. Um, and actually on day two, we started having a lot of you know items that were spoiling, whether it was soups or vegetables. It was always one or the other, and it's kind of you know, it's sour and it you definitely know it's not right to eat. Um, but there's been a variety of, you know, we've had fish some days, um, cabbages or morning glory or um pumpkin soup and watercrust soup and pork like chicken. So there's been a wide variety, so that's been nice from time to time. Um, noodles, but day two or three, we did not really get to eat until well, we didn't even have lunch. Um things started coming late, or they didn't really tell us that we had to go down and pick up food ourselves. And so we were just stuck here, just hungry, and it was it's been weird.

SPEAKER_05 50:07

Um days to go. We never missed a meal.

SPEAKER_06 50:11

Yeah, no, we missed a meal and um and day three they started telling us that we couldn't go outside of our room at all because they had a high suspect um there's a potential case from our flight that came with us. So they're waiting on results from them. Um, and so we couldn't even leave the room. So, but they at least gave us like a hotline that we can call and ask. So I've just been, and my roommates and I have just been calling to ask, do we pick up our food or do we go or is it getting delivered? That's literally something I do now almost every day before a meal, just to check.

SPEAKER_05 50:51

Being able being able to speak Vietnamese, do you feel more informed? Do you feel you get more information?

SPEAKER_06 50:59

No, not really. Um, I think it's difficult because I can speak Vietnamese on the day to day, but most of my education has been in English, so you know, advanced languages, like the term quarantine is something I had to learn being here. Um, you know, there's a lot more uh advanced vocabulary to do with the government or things that processes and systems, and that has been a bit of a challenge.

SPEAKER_05 51:28

Um learn a new type of Vietnamese, quarantine Vietnamese.

SPEAKER_06 51:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:35

And how did that feel when you found out that there could have been a potential case on your flight?

SPEAKER_06 51:42

Um, I wasn't surprised just because I've been following the um Ministry of Health's website on all the cases um that are coming in, and I saw that the same flight of mine for two days before had a case. Um had a confirmed case the night before that, and the night before that as well. So I felt that I was nervous, but I had a feeling that that would be the same for my flight too, that there might be someone. But I've been following it since and really there's been no response, so I think my flight may have been able to skip out on a case.

SPEAKER_05 52:24

And you've been tested now, right? Like uh it took you a long time to get the first COVID test, right?

SPEAKER_06 52:30

Finally, it was yesterday. I came in last Saturday night or Friday night.

SPEAKER_02 52:36

Ten days?

SPEAKER_06 52:37

Yeah, ten days, and I finally got my COVID test. Whereas you guys got it on Wednesday instead of Sunday.

SPEAKER_05 52:43

Yeah, something like that. Yeah. And we've also now heard that about that you need to have had two negative COVID tests before you leave. Have you heard this?

SPEAKER_06 52:51

No, yeah. Well, I only heard from you guys last night.

SPEAKER_05 52:55

So everyone hears from someone. We don't no one knows really anything for sure, but um So that's what we're now hoping that we get a second COVID test soon so that we can uh that we'll because apparently we get a certificate when we leave to show we're negative, so we're all gonna get that framed and uh show that off to people.

SPEAKER_06 53:13

Perfect. Oh, actually, I was going to ask you guys, did you guys get your discharge paperwork? 'Cause we have to Yeah, we're very jealous.

SPEAKER_05 53:24

So you're you should be discharged on Friday, right? And today is Monday. What was the discharge paperwork?

SPEAKER_06 53:31

Um, it basically just says your name, where you lived in the facility, and then if you want it to be dropped off and where you want it to be dropped off.

unknown 53:41

Right.

SPEAKER_06 53:42

Or if you're having someone pick you up, what date and when, but it had to be exactly 14 days. The only thing is it says it has to be 14 days from the time you're here. And it's hard to understand because I didn't could I just it seemed like they weren't checking, so could I just have ridden like a day earlier and they wouldn't have noticed and they said it had to be in the morning or the afternoon, and I also also thought, well, I could always just say get me out at 8 a.m. But it's I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 54:15

But they came around to pick it up and so well I think that um that's good, that's enough. I think we've shared uh your story. Thank you for sharing that. Because I what I'm just finding so interesting is the more people you talk about, everyone's just got their own story, which is always the case no matter what, but especially in this situation, um, no two stories are the same. And I think but everyone's kind of gone through the same stages of of you know, like you can have mentioned, almost denial and acceptance, and um trying to figure things out and then having competing and conflicting opinions and and reading so much. I think that seems to be the same the world over. But overall, how how are you doing?

SPEAKER_06 54:56

Um I think that it's a little bit more positive now, just waiting for a couple more days. I've been trying to stay optimistic, but uh, you know, it's hard to do, so I think I am on my tenth TV show, don't tell my parents.

SPEAKER_05 55:12

Which so what TV shows have you been watching? Share share with the world everyone needs advice on what to watch.

SPEAKER_06 55:19

Oh, I I caught up on Terra's House, which is a Japanese reality TV show, which is nothing like a typical American TV show, American reality TV show. Really fun, I highly suggest it's just a bunch of people living in a house together and in their day-to-day, and it's kind of wholesome. But I caught up with that. I watched um Nex in Fashion and Oh, I started a little bit of Travels with my father, which is a great kicker if um you like to see what a potential relationship between a child and father could be when the father is interesting.

SPEAKER_05 56:02

Jack Whitehole.

SPEAKER_06 56:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 56:04

That's right. I haven't seen it, but yeah, I know the one. And have you watched Tiger King?

SPEAKER_06 56:10

Oh, I've heard about it, but I think I'm gonna save it to watch with my mother.

SPEAKER_05 56:14

Alright, you gotta watch that one. No, we're gonna finish with uh I've some questions that I asked Adri and Anastasia yesterday, so I'm gonna finish every uh interview with these questions. If you're in quarantine, what's the first thing you're gonna drink when you get out of quarantine?

SPEAKER_06 56:38

I just want some good Japanese green tea. I don't like drinking water for some reason. So I have just drinking water. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_05 56:51

That's all we have here.

SPEAKER_06 56:52

I know, it's the tastelessness of it. So I was surprised. I was excited when I saw that you guys had milk.

SPEAKER_05 57:00

We have lots of milk. They keep bringing us milk with every meal, and we don't and it's sweet milk, so we can we'll we'll bring you some milk.

SPEAKER_06 57:07

Yeah, no milk to come with our meals at all. Just soup, rice, and meat and veg.

SPEAKER_04 57:13

Yeah. I mean I've had yeah.

SPEAKER_06 57:15

I've had some sugar cane juice and coconut that was delivered to me by my mum, so I think those were things I definitely r really wanted to drink, but green tea's good for now.

SPEAKER_05 57:26

That was before the deliveries stopped, you know. Those were the heady days to get deliveries. So we get green tea. Uh, what is gonna be the first thing you're gonna eat when you leave?

SPEAKER_06 57:37

Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I think food has been pretty good so far, so I'm not craving anything crazy, but I think I'd like some fresh fruits.

SPEAKER_05 57:48

Um that's what we ote said. I was eating that we ote fresh fruits and vegetables. Yeah. Um what's the first thing you're gonna do when you get home?

SPEAKER_06 58:01

I think um shower and put away my laundry.

SPEAKER_05 58:06

You have the same answer from us. I'm gonna have to think of new questions. Everyone is gonna say the same thing. Uh and then last one is tell me something positive about this experience.

SPEAKER_06 58:24

I mean, I haven't really seen it as too negative. It just now I get to be I get to uh put that in my, you know, fun facts about me whenever they have those questions, like, oh give the fun fact about yourself. And we're like, I'm in a I was in a quarant government-owned uh quarantine facility. Oh yeah, no, my grandparents' grandchildren would hate it.

SPEAKER_05 58:56

Like, granny, we've heard this story before, we know, we know. Yeah. And you can't really complain too much. It's like they brought me three meals a day, they brought me water, I had my cell phone. It's not really like uh it's not really a war story, is it?

SPEAKER_06 59:12

No, I mean there's been Wi-Fi too, although it's not been great since you guys arrived.

SPEAKER_05 59:22

Well, thank you very much. I think we've uh we've nearly chatted for about an hour, so um, that is awesome. I appreciate you uh sharing your story. Um and uh we will bring you over some milk as soon as we can.

SPEAKER_06 59:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 59:37

All right, have a good day and good luck. You're you've you've got four days left, right? So hopefully you'll get out on Friday.

SPEAKER_06 59:43

Yeah, see you guys then.

SPEAKER_05 59:46

And we'll see you on the outside. Once this is all over, we're gonna meet up for a big party and a drink.

SPEAKER_06 59:50

Oh, definitely. Quarantine buddies.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

Yeah, for sure. All right.

SPEAKER_00 59:57

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SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

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