If you're having trouble comprehending this week's title, then you might have some problems yourself.
The long and the short of it is that Carina and I have spent almost the entirety of this past week self-quarantined due to illness. Although we're still not sure exactly what we were suffering from, I can tell you that it was not pleasant. My symptoms included congestion, sinus pain, and a fever so bad it made my muscles ache. Carina has been dealing with much the same thing, plus a sore throat (although I suspect I would have also had this problem had I not been sucking down lozenges the entire time). The good news is that we are on the up and up. The bad news is that our recovery phase has been marked by what seem like indestructible walls of mucus gumming up our chests. Well, I'll just keep exercising and making spicy food and hope that does the trick.
That really does make up the majority of the week. In fact, I think yesterday was actually the most eventful and productive day we've had. Sheesh, when Saturday is your most productive day of the week you know something's really off.
Anyway, as many of you (by which I mean "all of you") are aware, I've been sitting on a completed thesis for several months now, biding my time until given permission to submit. I finally received that permission last week and I've been scrambling to get everything put together ASAP so I can go ahead and submit the blasted thing. Yesterday I finally achieved a major milestone: temporary binding. I finally managed to get the entire thesis printed off and bound for examination purposes (and it only cost about USD 7 for four copies). All in all, not a bad haul. I feel like a massive weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I feel better, happier, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...okay, maybe not that last one, but you get the picture.
I imagine my feeling better is also partially attributable to two other events as well. First, I've finally changed my running route. I've decided that the automobiles of Hong Kong are just too much of a pain to deal with. Even when they aren't trying to kill me, they pollute the air with smells and sounds that just make me ache. I am averse to all of it, and so I have decided to distance myself as much as possible from them. How have I accomplished this? I finally got around to calculating distances over at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, and I found a decent 2K loop. Awesome, so I just run that 2.5 times and I'm solid for my morning dose of speed (pun intended). It's really nice: the walkways are smoother but more porous, so not as slick; being near the harbor means a constant cool breeze; finally, and most importantly, no car can hit me. Ah, bliss.
The other event was our (much needed) quarterly room cleaning. Since Carina and I are both better, we figured it was time to purge the room of as many infection vectors as possible. I had already made a pass at this a few times previous (our walls were covered in mold and needed to be cleaned), and I think that may have been what got me sick to begin with, or at least contributed to it. Due to the room's small size and the fact that I needed to get my thesis bound, I asked Carina if she'd be willing to clean up. Wonderful being that she is, she consented and set to work bleaching the crap out of as much as she could. When I got back from the bindery the flat smelled like cleaning supplies. All I could think was, "Thank the stars, the nightmare's almost over." I have never been so happy to smell Febreeze in my life. Of course, it came as no surprise to learn that pretty much everything had been covered in mold and that an army of dehumidifiers probably wouldn't be enough to save us. Still, Carina really cleaned up as best she could and I'm glad she did. I think it will really help us keep alive and healthy (relatively speaking) over the next few months. I made sure to cook a really good lunch as a way of thanking her.
Other than that, not much has happened. I continue to remain vigilant for mold, but I'm aware that there's only so much we can do. Doubtless mold has crept into some places we just can't get to, but hopefully that's okay. Right now I'm just glad to be almost done with my MPhil. I'm ready to come home. WE are ready to come home.
Missing you all,
Colin
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