This Expat Life (March): Saigon in the Time of Coronavirus

After moving abroad in July 2014, I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Southeast Asia and all the nitty-gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. Check out my most recent monthly roundup posts: December, January and February.

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I think it’s safe to say that March was a pretty rough month for everyone around the world. Adjusting to this new coronavirus/quarantine lifestyle is just scary and unnatural. Despite all of our efforts to “stay positive,” everyone I’ve talked to has had their ups and downs. I’ve definitely had mine.

The coronavirus has had a huge impact on life in Saigon ever since I returned from a trip to Bali on February 7. In case you’re curious I wrote a detailed post about what it is like living in Saigon in the time of coronavirus. Things have changed a bit since I wrote that post three weeks ago. And clearly, things have been spiraling in the US, my home country. But I’ll get to that later.

Here’s what went on in my life during the month of March:

Staying at home

Vietnam finally imposed a 15-day partial lockdown on April 1. As a country, we’re now on our ninth official day of self-isolating. That being said Aaron and I adopted the stay-at-home philosophy about a month ago.

While we’d mainly been self-isolating since the beginning of March, we did have one dinner with a friend on March 10. We chose a spot that typically isn’t all that crowded. When we arrived, no one was there but tables quickly started filling up. All three of us felt super uncomfortable being about a foot away from the family at the next table.

That dinner sealed the deal for Aaron and I. Aside from going to the store and going for walks – far away from other people – we’re staying at home. If you aren’t staying at home. I beg of you. Please. Stay. Home. That being said, I do understand that it’s essential for some people to go to work. A big shout-out to all essential workers. Stay safe out there! But if you don’t need to go out, don’t.

Coping with unemployment during a pandemic

I know so many people who have lost their jobs or who have had their businesses hit hard due to the coronavirus. I lost my job the first week of March. Being forced to stay home and not having a job or income is a challenge.

Blogging has always helped me get through the unemployment blues but because travel isn’t really a thing anymore, no one is reading travel blogs. Literally, my daily website traffic has plummeted into the double digits. It hasn’t been that low since the first year I started my blog over five years ago! I need to find new ways of occupying my time. That being said, I’ll still write about what it’s like living abroad.

It’s also challenging to really job hunt during a pandemic. Everyone is losing their jobs and it’s not like I can hit the pavement and go on job interviews. It’s just weird. I’m thankful Aaron is super supportive and still has his job. That being said it’s awkward being cooped up in a small apartment when he works all day and I have nothing to do.

It’s even weirder when he has Zoom meetings and classes. I have to hole up in our bedroom and can’t leave the room because I’d be spotted in the background and it would be super distracting for Aaron. Our place is awkwardly small. Yes, we do have a loft upstairs as you can kinda see in the photo above, but it’s so hot up there we only use the upstairs area to dry our laundry. It dries in a couple of hours up there! So we really just have a living room/kitchen and bedroom downstairs.

Fighting to get paid

My company owes me a few thousand dollars. I spent nearly every single day in March fighting to get paid. I was already dealing with the stress of suddenly losing my job, the fear of getting coronavirus and worrying about my family in the US. Having to go to battle to get the money I worked so hard for from a company I worked at for four years was stressful and really upsetting.

There were a lot of tears and it brought my anxiety levels through the roof. I finally just gave up. I could really use the money, but it’s clear I’m never going to get it. So no, I never got paid but I’ve been way less stressed now that I’ve put it behind me.

Threats of apartment lockdown

Because of a couple fresh outbreaks in Vietnam last month, the government has been abruptly locking down entire apartment complexes if there are suspected or positive cases. Last month, our complex notified us that we had two suspected cases in our building. Those people were taken into government quarantine and tested. If the tests had come back positive our whole building would have be locked down for two weeks.

We woke up every day wondering whether we’d be able to go outside or not. At that point, we made sure we had enough food to last us two weeks just in case. For the record, our apartment has not been locked down, but many of our friends’ complexes have.

Watching a man get taken away by an ambulance

Around the same time, we watched in horror as a man in our apartment complex was whisked away by an ambulance. That night a friend messaged us saying there was a rumor that there was a positive case in our building. Literally, three minutes later we heard sirens. We watched as an ambulance pulled into our courtyard and medical personnel ran into the building.

A few minutes later they wheeled out an elderly gentleman on a gurney, covered his face with something and quickly loaded him into the ambulance. It was really scary to watch. We still don’t know if this was a case of coronavirus or if the man had another medical issue. Either way, it was heartbreaking and scary to watch.

Being extremely worried for my family back home

I always say that being away from family is the hardest thing about living abroad. But watching the coronavirus rapidly spread across the US is heart-wrenching. I knew the coronavirus would eventually make it there, but I had no idea how ill-prepared my country would be for a pandemic.

Last month, I feel like every conversation I had with friends and family back home was me lecturing them about the coronavirus. I’m sure at times I even yelled in frustration. So many people believed it was a mild flu, that only elderly people get it, that it wouldn’t reach the States and if it did it wouldn’t impact them.

Many believed that because there were no cases in their area, that they were safe. I had to explain until I was blue in the face that the coronavirus is already there. It’s everywhere. And it’s been there for months. But because of the slow response and lack of testing, people weren’t taking it seriously. So many people still don’t get it…

Thankfully, my dad took my suggestion and canceled two upcoming trips. Thankfully, I urged my mom to stop allowing workers to come into her house. Thankfully, my three sisters all took it seriously and started working and staying at home weeks ago. Thankfully, they are all healthy.

Being shocked at how the US is handling coronavirus

At this point, I feel so much safer being in Vietnam than I would in California. It’s insane. The US had its first case of coronavirus on January 20. That’s the same day South Korea reported its first case.

The world is looking at South Korea as a model on how to deal with this pandemic. As the situation is gradually improving in South Korea, things are getting out of control in the US. The government now estimates that 100,000-200,000 in the US will die from this. Yet, the fact that the government won’t put the country on lockdown means the number could very likely be much higher. To think that we have nearly 15,000 deaths at the time of writing is a sobering reminder of how much worse this is going to get in the States.

There’s also so much misinformation floating around about the coronavirus, and so many people still aren’t taking it seriously. How is that even possible? This didn’t need to happen. I feel so badly for healthcare workers, and I’m hoping people will start staying home so we can slow the spread and give some much needed relief to our hospitals and the heroic people who work in them.

Comparing Vietnam with the US

Vietnam borders China so they’ve been taking this really seriously since January when we started getting our first cases. The situation here is vastly different from the US. The entire country has been told to stay at home — aside from visits to the store or doctor — all inbound flights stopped weeks ago and borders are closed. Non-essential businesses are closed and restaurants are all pickup or delivery.

Everyone is required to wear a mask in public. There are no shortages of food, toilet paper (I still don’t get that) or PPE, at least where I am. Even grocery store workers are required by law to wear gloves, masks and plastic shields. In the US, healthcare workers can’t get these things. They make us put masks on, have our temperatures checked and use their free hand sanitizer when we enter stores.

Testing is available in Vietnam and mass quarantines are taking place when there are new outbreaks. We now have 255 cases. I’m not certain that number is accurate, but they’re doing a good job all things considered. (For context, Vietnam has an estimated population of 96 million people to the United States’ 327 million.)

Racism and the coronavirus

As I explained in my last blog post, the coronavirus has brought out some serious racism. This is a global issue and there’s no reason to point fingers. I’ve been upset by a lot of things people are choosing to post on Facebook. While I’m not one to comment on people’s posts, there was one video posted by a childhood friend that I felt compelled to comment on because it was igniting some seriously horrible comments about Chinese people. This is a snippet of what I wrote. The actual message was much longer. (I DMed her so as not to call her out publicly):

“My boyfriend is a university professor, which is why we moved to China…for his work. His Chinese student, who is now getting her MA in New York, has experienced all sorts of racism since this outbreak began. People literally cough on her. It’s so sad to hear her stories. She has not been to China in over a year. She does not have the coronavirus. Her whole family back in China does have the coronavirus. They fear they will lose their grandmother. She fears she will lose her whole family. She is a person. She is not to blame. I urge you to remove this post. Stories like this contribute to some pretty awful actions. Right now, we need to come together. We don’t need to spread hate…”

She responded immediately, apologized for offending anyone and removed it!

I’ve also had some weird experiences being in Vietnam. There was a new outbreak in Vietnam last month, which originated from a passenger on a flight from the UK. A Vietnamese woman had coronavirus and infected a handful of British tourists who went on to travel around Vietnam, infecting others along the way. So for a couple of weeks, there was a lot fear of Brits in Vietnam.

Aaron and I are both white, so I guess people just assume we are British. We were yelled at once by an elderly Vietnamese man for no particular reason (nothing like that has ever happened to us in this country). And a lot of Vietnamese people distanced themselves from us as we approached – this was before social distancing was a thing. We’ve also had a lot of parents literally pull their children away from us. That only lasted a couple of weeks. Nowadays, I think everyone is just scared of everyone!

Catching up with family and friends

Clearly I have a lot of time on my hands, which means I’ve been spending an unhealthy amount of time on social media. While that probably isn’t a good thing, it has been nice catching up with so many people. I’ve started chatting with people I went to elementary school with, who I haven’t talked to since. I’ve been emailing with more family members. I’ve been talking to my sister on the phone way more than usual.

The time change makes it really hard to talk to my family in the US — we’re 14 hours ahead of California — so social media is really coming in handy. I’m also super grateful for this blog and the virtual connections I’ve made through it. Connecting with these people through Instagram every day has really helped to boost my spirit and help me get through each day.

It’s a weird world we’re living in right now. Stay healthy and safe out there everyone!

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