Zoë's Blog

Q-Day 14

This was the last entire day spent in the hotel room…how exciting ! In few hours I should be home!

During all that time, I have not been able to choose how to cook, clean or eat as I wished. I appreciate very much the efforts of the hotel offering us reusable cutleries and the implementation of a dedicated filtered tap to avoid wasting water and most importantly plastic bottles. Nevertheless, the use of disposable containers was, to my experience, extremely contradictory with the current climate crisis that we are diving into – to take a shortcut it links directly to COVID and the new disease threats. I completely understand that it is easy to use and facilitates the elimination of potential virus niche, but I can’t help it to feel really bad…. so to get better data on the point, I collected and/or counted what I have been using all these 14 days during the quarantine:

About 60 plastic bags
44 bento plastic plates
at least 20 different round plastic containers for soups/sauce/chili/ essentially
about 20 small square plastic containers for desserts
about 10 thick round laminated paper containers for soups
52 Nescafe doses
41 Tea bags
2 tissue boxes

Menu of the day: Breakfast: egg in omelette, white beans in tomato sauce, 2 white soft bread with butter and jam, orange juice and a banana fruit. Lunch: Fried tofu In thick sauce on greens, celery, carrot, capsicum, 2 kind of mushrooms and onions in a kind of oyster sauce, Japanese pasta with shrimps, a pear fruit and Orio cookie. Dinner: Corn soup with egg white, fried rice in soja sauce, chicken in sauce with cashew nuts and onions, and Portobello on greens, cream cake.

Q-Day 13

Almost there, almost there! I begin to be nervous…. waiting for the official time of the release. I got a good news today: the COVID swab test is negative. So yes, I should be released on time… Q-Day15!

School begun yesterday.

I continue my routine. Try to finish most of the work in progress. Try to sweat as much as I can in this little room and affine the workout routine so that I can share it soon. Make plans for the next weeks or so. Think about the new normal life that we have, the new concepts that we need to have, and the new mindset that we will develop… Workout my core to dance like a feather. Loose myself in the sky, and dream about how we can feel better in this world….

Menu of the day: Breakfast: Bee hoon, unidentified thing inside the paper (probably fish in spicy sauce – I didn’t try and it was not obvious to guess), chinese steamed bun – Mantou or Baozi, apple juice and an orange fruit. Lunch: Fried wonton (chinese ravioli filled with a pasta made of pork and other onions, veggies and different herbs and spices), fried rice in soja sauce with onions, black beans and a sunny side egg, Lotus roots, capsicum, carrots, onions, Shitake or beech mushrooms, black fungus (Wood ear fungus), potato chips and an apple. Dinner: Clear soup with turnip and a red date, spicy fried chicken breast pieces, white rice and steamed cabbage and carrots, red velvet cake on chocolate shavings, and a sauce that was spicy and sugary, and I am not sure whether it was for the chicken or for the cake…

Q-Day 12

Monday. I should go back to work more than ever: prepare myself to be in peace for the next holidays!
I must admit: this weekend I watched more iPad than I ever did. I watched my first series in Netflix and spoiled myself with videos in YouTube. My favorites are argentine tango dances. I am very frustrated not to be able to dance anymore. I had just the time to meet and begin to know the dancers from the closest studio when the lockdown hit.
So these days I was dancing in the room, following the online lessons from Argentinian maestros. Argentine tango is a spirit, a complicity between two people, a close relationship lasting 3 songs. It is addictive, a zen meditative experience, danced with complete improvisation. It is so intense that people with motor disorders improve their abilities when they dance tango. The music is eclectic, from traditional in the 30-40s to electronic Nuevo tango, there is a song for any mood. And tango has been my mood therapy when I needed it. Ahhhh, I am not sure we’ll be able to dance very soon …. so for now I am dancing in the clouds!

Food in the plate: Breakfast: scrambled eggs, with sausages, rösties and a grilled tomato, 2 slices of white bread, butter and jam, apple juice and a banana. Lunch: fish filet in a tomato and capsicum sauce with steamed potatoes in a butter juice and steamed cauliflower and broccoli, an apple fruit and ginger cookies. Dinner: clear soup with white egg and bitter melon, spicy fried chicken breast finger food, pumpkin white rice and veggies in oyster sauce, and banana cake.

Q-Day 11

Sunday. An important event happened today: swab test. My appointment was at 10:15, I was already back in the room at 10:12… Singaporean efficiency!! The test was a bit uncomfortable, you have just the impression that they tickle your brain; but I already forgot the feeling, so that’s fine finally. “Escorted” all the way to the testing room, straight and clear orders, physical distancing, everybody with masks of course – if not complete PPE, smooth and fast actions. Here I am already, keeping in memory the small amount of real sight exchanged on my way…

It was a grey day, not storming very much, no sun at all, big grey clouds… not a great Sunday. I continue my routine, taking a bit more time today selecting the right music on the workout schedule and working only a little bit. We are Sunday after all! And finally the clouds went out to leave the space for the moon in a perfect croissant tonight.

But I begin seriously to crave for my normal dishes: big salads, raw and fresh or steamed vegetables, spicy food, grains and seeds, basil, garlic, fresh onions, well…. less carbs, no sauce, heum, another kitchen overall. In case it wasn’t clear, I do not choose what I want to eat, food is provided 3 times a day anyways and most of the time it is cold once it has reached my room. I could have said that I was vegetarian, but I was scared to get tofu at all meals, and it is not my favorite food! I can also order from outside, but I am not very much into ordering food… So my diet has been to eat about half of what they provide, sometimes nothing at all from that meal because I eat leftovers, or fruits and bread with the cheese I received from the family at the beginning of the quarantine. I don’t eat breakfast as I am a big fan of intermittent fasting (16/8, I shall have told you long ago!), so I keep things in the fridge for another time. And for today, I still had the salad that I ordered from the restaurant yesterday evening. Yeah!

Menu provided: Breakfast: Hamburger (bread, cheese, eggs omelet and a piece of meat – probably half beef half pork), Ketchup, rösties, green salad, oil and vinegar, apple fruit and orange juice. Lunch: Heavy sticky soup with cabbage, rice noodle with chicken breast and portobello mushrooms, Kaylan and beech mushrooms in sticky sauce, Ritz cheese and salt crackers, an orange fruit. Dinner: Soup with lotus root and red dates, chicken breast in yellow sauce, shrimps and squid with broccoli and cauliflower, white rice, and maccha on coconut shavings.

Q-Day 10

Reaching the 2 digits in my counts, yeah!

That’s why I celebrated. Dinner ordered from the restaurant: green salad and a beer! Well I had to wait about an hour and a half, so I ended up eating half of the provided dinner and not getting this excitement for the beer anymore. The salad (with a bit of cucumber, tomatoes, black olives and red and green capsicum) will be for tomorrow. This is telling me that I will wait with patience to be outside, be able to enjoy a normal draft beer or bottle (instead of a can), with some nice peanuts and most of all nice company. In 5 days I shall be released!

Menu du jour: Breakfast: Porridge, Youtiao (deep fried dough -also called chinese donuts!), Mantou (chinese steamed buns filled with red beans paste), salt and pepper, a banana fruit and apple juice. Lunch: Chinese dry soup with Pipe Rigate pasta, a quail egg, mushrooms, asian greens (cut – non identified), and 2 meat balls (pork), soup broth, potato chips and an apple fruit. Dinner: Clear soup with 3 black beans, rice cooked with mushrooms, deep fried shrimps embedded with cereals, steamed corn, carrots, cabbage and greens in oyster sauce, sponge cake.

Q-Day 9

The hotel has its own rhythm. I hear when they drop the food on the tables, then come back and ring all our bells at once to avoid any contact; I hear when they come again to take the trash bins or when they collect any additional items like bed sheets. I am more aware of my neighbors and surroundings. The buildings are now part of my routine, the clouds reflecting on them too, the pattern of the tiles, colors, and shapes. This becomes familiar, and I realize that I am now focusing more on people. Buildings have no more such appeal, but the hidden people are now the mystery.

My distraction of the day was that team cleaning the windows of the skyscraper…

I got the appointment for the swab test, it is planned for in 2 days. Small disappointment though when I realized that the test will be done inside the hotel. I won’t have the opportunity to smell the heavy hot and humid atmosphere of Singapore, yet. But that’s ok, it is almost there!

Menu del dia: Breakfast: 2 spring rolls, 2 fried chicken legs, omelet on bee-hoon (vermicelli rice pasta), orange juice and an apple fruit. Lunch: Deep fried shrimps on a raw white cabbage bed, whole wheat pasta with mushrooms, carrots and soya sprouts, steamed carrots and kaylan-like greens, watermelon fruits in cubes and Orio cookies. Dinner: The famous Singaporean chicken rice: rice cooked in the chicken broth, pickles, chicken breast with a slice of tomato and another of cucumber, baby buk choy in soya sauce, chili sauce, broth, and a unidentified sponge and creamy cake.

Q-Day 8

I am glad I don’t have access to a vending machine. Sometimes I feel I could eat anything at my disposal. These are these devastating moments where you can’t contain yourself anymore, these moments ending with guilt and disappointments because what you did was without desire, what you ate had no taste and left you unsatisfactory…. wondering how you will remove this extra calories (of course a fruit wouldn’t make it!). Since I can’t go for a walk or have a chat with a colleague and already finished the almonds, I ate the Oreo cookies from the first day, brushed my teeth again, made another tea, and tried to go back deep into my work in progress…. with the hope that the next crisis will not come so soon!

Or I look at the window. The sky and the strange clouds; the streets of the neighborhood; the empty building in front; the windows of the other part of this hotel. I am imagining the life of the other occupants. Where do they come from? Are they alone? Were they separated, or are they coming on holiday, visiting the relatives? What are they doing from their days? Are they laughing? Which music do they listen to? Some have washed their cloths, they hang at their window. Others are making noise, bumping on the walls and jumping on the ceiling of my room, maybe working out as well, playing games or making love – or is it the housekeeping staff sanitizing the next room?

Menu of the day: Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with grilled ham and cherry tomatoes, Pancakes with maple sirup, orange juice and an apple fruit. Lunch: Laksa (wheat noodles, prawns, fish cake, and soya sprouts served in spicy soup based on rich and spicy asam), pear fruit, chocolate eclairs, and a bit more chili flakes for the laksa. Dinner: Vegetable Indian soup, Chapati on yellow spicy rice, vegetable curry, fish curry, red velvet cake on coconut shavings.

Q-Day 7

Half way through!

I asked for a change of my bed sheet today. They brought me only the bed sheet… so I asked for a change of the rest of the bed. It is good to have all the time in the world! And they drop me a little personalized card as encouragement. Appreciated!

The weather was grey again. I am more and more focused on the large sky from my window than trying to catch any human activity from the city. The numerous clouds are complex and changing along the day – and I am glad to be able to enjoy part of the sunset and its colors. For what’s going on on the ground level, I am now convinced that COVID-19 has changed the way the city will function. Gone this messy streets with colorful shops, crowded restaurants where you had to watch the meals passing by while queuing for a table, sweating in the humid and warm ambience, your mouth watering as you smelled the spices and imagined the taste of these authentic flavors of breads, gravy and curries. I still hope that in each house a cook is experimenting right now and will show off with more extraordinary dishes as soon as this will be possible again!

For now, the menu of the day was dramatically less appealing: Breakfast: American style breakfast consisting of Frittata with red and green capsicum, tomatoes, mushrooms and beans in tomato sauce, 2 white soft bread with butter and jam, apple juice and an orange fruit. Lunch: vermicelli noodles with soja sprouts, carrots and onions, white cabbage and carrots, and celery and shrimps in oyster sauce, muskmelon fruit with 2 thin slices of strawberries, and a vanilla cupcake with chocolate chips on a bed of coconut fruit shavings. Dinner (The best meal so far!): Corn soup, fried rice, chicken stew with black fungus, kaylan in oyster sauce, and carrot cake.

Q-Day 6

Lunch time: the bell rang, meaning that the meal is served and available. I was passing by the front door as I came out of the bathroom. So I opened the door almost immediately, and… exchange a sight with the staff! Ohhhh, first live contact in some days, what a surprise!

Apart from few nice phone calls from friends and family nothing happened really this 6th day. Waking up, checking emails, water, coffee, work period 1, workout 1, shower 1, temperature check 1, checking what’s for breakfast, work period 2, lunch, work period 3, temperature check 2, workout 2, shower 2, temperature check 3, dinner, work period 4, ready to sleep …. the routine.

Oh yes, I got another phone call from the Ministry. They will call me actually every day – checking my sanity?

Menu of the day: Breakfast: Sausages, tomatoes and rösties, 4 french toasts with maple sirup, apple juice and an apple fruit. Lunch: Japanese fried rolls, Japanese style pasta with shrimps and mushrooms, Bok choy and carrots in oyster sauce, water melon and pastry with apple sauce filling. Dinner: Pumpkin-like unidentified soup, fried chicken leg with french fries and a soft bread bun, ketchup, butter, coleslaw salad with raisins, Fruit jelly with a spoon of canned fruits.

Q-Day 5

Yesterday was the 5th day, already.
Getting into the new routine slowly. I am still not able to wake up as early as I used to. Maybe because of the lack of contrast between the night and the day in the city – lights in the night are much brighter here. Maybe because I am still scheduling meetings until late at night with my team. I may also be still jetlagged.

A good thing is that I am mastering the daily workouts: The routine is affined, exercices more carefully selected, so is the music that should fit with the exercice – in other words I am trying to combine fitness, cardio, interval training and a bit of dancing into it with the good rhythm in order to stay 200% motivated. Let’s see if I could come out of this time-out with a “hotel room quarantine’s special workout”!

I learned that the swab test will be scheduled around the 10-11th day…. still some time to wait. Meanwhile I am receiving the 3 food platers a day – a surprise each time as it changes between Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western and Japanese food… The distributed menu of Day 5 was: Breakfast: scrambled eggs with sausages, grilled tomato and fried grated potatoes, 1 white and 1 wholemeal flour soft breads with butter and strawberry jam, a chinese pear and orange juice. Lunch: Samosa, 2 fried chicken legs, Malay style spicy pasta, savory mushroom pastry, an orange fruit. Dinner: Miso soup, Japanese style veggies (carrots, turnip and lotus roots in bouillon), grilled duck breast, white rice with tsukemono – purple Japanese pickles, wagashi (daifuku?) lying on white chocolate shavings.

And the weather was as if we were shooting the War of the Worlds…..