Back in the Homeland

Very unexpectedly, Matt and I are back in England.  It's very odd, considering our Lunar New Year holidays finish today, and we were meant to start back at school tomorrow.

Due to the Coronavirus, the Chinese government has closed all schools in cities with outbreaks (Shanghai has over 200 cases now) for the next two weeks.

What tipped us over the edge and pushed us from doing enormous online food orders on Monday, to booking flights on Wednesday was mainly our gym closing!  it sounds so silly, but it was the only reason we were leaving the flat most days, since all the shops and restaurants had started to shut.  Then the taxi service in our area was suspended, and then BA announced that it was cancelling all flights to and from China. That made us panic a little bit.  So, along with another 11 people from our school, we booked flights on the next plane out of Shanghai, which was Thursday morning, via Amsterdam. We seem to have got out of China just in time, as lots of other airlines have also cancelled flights since then.  

The cats went to a highly recommended cat hotel, and from the videos we get sent each day, they seem to be settling in just fine.  I must say it is very nice to be out of China.  We hadn't left our flat for over a week without a face mask and gloves.  We were going through hand gel like it was going out of fashion, and to be honest, we were just going to go crazy from boredom being stuck at home.

The flight home wasn't much fun, as we spent the entire 11 and a half hours wearing out face masks, along with all the other passengers and staff.  Quite uncomfortable. There has been confirmation from our airline that no one on our plane has the virus, but we are still being sensible and keeping to ourselves for a few days.  Some of the photos below show just how quiet our usually very busy area of Shanghai has been over the last week or so.  People seem very frightened and I haven't seen anyone without a mask in ages.  Personally, I think things will get worse before they get better.  We now have elearning for the next two weeks.  I've set all my work and it was fairly easy for my small groups.  Matt's has been more difficult because he has exam classes.  He is having daily Skype meetings with the senior school management team.  I think it will be at least another week on top of what we currently think, maybe longer.  The question is then, how will we get back to China if all the flights have been cancelled, but that's a question for another day.

For now, i'm just going to enjoy being at home with Mum and Dad, and maybe Matt and I will go away somewhere for a few days next week.

Matt got to watch West Ham play on Saturday, so he's happy - or not as the case may be, with the score!