The First Two Years of Conquering the Tundra

After a few pleasant days hanging out with my mom and living in a hotel; my real, albeit completely unnecessary, quarantine started this afternoon.  Much like a lot of things that happen on this side of the word, this section of my quarantine is A) totally not based on any medical science and 2) 100% based on fear and paranoia.  It's obvious that on one on my mom's plane had swine flu because any case would've been reported in the news.  It's obvious that neither my mom or her friends had swine flu because none of them are sick.  I don't have swine flu either.  The oddest part is that if anything, this is the reverse of how any normal quarantine would work.  For the first four days I had the freedom to travel around the city and interact with whomever I wished.  For the next four days, after showing no symptoms whatsoever, I'm stuck in my apartment with no contact with the outside world.  That's another point in the "China is Annoying" column.

Now that I have today's bitching out of the way, I proudly present to you the official drink of the next four days:  The Quarantini.  Part pomegranate/grape/apple juice blend, part whiskey.  It's actually not too bad, though I'm a bit heavy handed when I poor drinks so the first one turned out to be half of each.  A three to one mix is a lot tastier.

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Since I'm only quarantined from university campuses for the next few days, I'm free to travel around the city with my mom and her friends Lisa and Yvonne. A few weeks ago, it looked as if I wasn't going to be able to see them at all so they booked a local tour guide, Steve, to take them to all the touristy stuff around Shenyang. It worked out well for me since I rarely visit the palaces and tombs here. Today we went to the Imperial Palace and Marshal Zhang's Mansion, which reminded me of DeSales Heights Academy the most haunted and scary building in Parkersburg, WV.
 
I didn't really listen much when Steve talked about all the historical stuff. The only thing I really remember was when he was talking about the ancient arrows (pictured). He mentioned that some of the arrowheads were made of bone and had holes put in them so they whistled when they flew threw the air. This stood out in my mind because I thought if I went back in time, I'd just think someone was tossing one of those Nerf Turbo Screamer footballs at me. Then I'd be dead.
 
Note: Mom is the one with the pink shirt and the visor.

                                         

Click here to download:

Quarantine_Post_3_Being_a_tour.zip (2002 KB)

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Didn't really try to hard on this one.  I plan to attempt to do a better one sometime over the next few days.

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Subway!  My name is Jarrod, after all.  My quarantine hotel is located in one of Shenyang's main shopping districts, packed with Western import stores and expensive eateries.  I finally filled up my Subway card with this purchase, which means I'll probably get another sub tomorrow.  My mom and friends got here about two hours ago, minus luggage (which is still in Beijing).  Their stuff (including multiple boxes of Cap'n Crunch for me) should get here tomorrow. 

In the photo, computer is watching The Office, just in case you were wondering.

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In my previous post, Swine Flu is for Losers, I failed to consider that I could end up being the loser.  My mom will come to visit for a few days in a couple weeks and as long as she doesn't have a temperature when she gets off the plane, she'll be fine to travel around the country.  However, after I meet up with my mom, I'll be quarantined from coming back to campus / teaching for eight days.  Details to come.  Should be interesting.

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