Bund to Brooklyn

Episode 12: Shanghai COVID Lockdown with Jenny Tang and Kayla He

Episode Summary

On Episode 12 our Shanghai-based correspondents Kayla He and Jenny Tang join Lucia to share their experiences amidst the city-wide Shanghai COVID lockdown.

Episode Notes

Kayla and Jenny introduce themselves and how the lockdown started for each of them. (0:31)

COVID in America vs China (5:37)

The evolution of the Shanghai lockdown (11:05)

The bartering system that's emerged during the food shortage from the lockdown (14:45)

How does the situation compare to what is shown in Western news? (22:57)

COVID memes and internet trends in China (26:24)

 

NOTES

 Viral WeChat video on the Shanghai lockdown

Bund to Brooklyn's Guest Food Map

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Episode Transcription

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.

[00:00:00] Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of been to Brooklyn. Today. We are actually going to chat with our new correspondence, Kayla and Jenny, about their experience during the Shanghai lockdown. So Kayla, , do you want to introduce yourself first? Sure. Sure. so hi, I'm Kayla. I am born and raised in China and I went to the stage for high school and college, spent a year actually in New York.

[00:00:43] So got a little bit of Brooklyn connection. And before I came back to Shanghai and crony working at radio as a staff writer, I primarily write about social issues because I'm very passionate about women's empowerment and social justice. So yeah, currently I'm experiencing the Shanghai lockdown situation.

[00:01:01] I'm really happy to share about my experience with. awesome. Slash not awesome that you're in lockdown in Jenny. I know that you're also locked down in Shanghai, in a different part of Shanghai. And I know that you joined me in the last episode, but would love to get another intro from you cause. thank you for the quick introduction. So basically, I'm Chinese Australian. . I was born in China, but I immigrated to Sydney when I was young. And I came back to China to do my masters.

[00:01:29] and I've been based in Shanghai for over a decade now. So it feels like my second home. And right now I'm working in content creation. So in documentaries and in short videos, mainly about China to the rest of the world. Um, yeah, I would love to discuss and talk and share more about my experiences of this lockdown, which is actually my first lockdown.

[00:01:50] So I has been quite a journey to settle. Yeah, it's, it's definitely something that I've never had to experience in China. so, I think as both of you guys know I was born in Shanghai and then I was raised in the states and I went back to Shanghai for high school. What was, I guess, somewhat unique was during high school, in ninth grade, that was when SARS hit.

[00:02:13] But the scale of it was nowhere near this. I think we came very close to being quarantined because this one kid in my school had a fever and they had to go to the emergency room and it turned out, it was just like the normal flu, but we had this big scare cause like, you know, we thought it would be, uh, SARS and our whole entire school would have had to quarantine.

[00:02:37] If it was like . A positive case. Um, but we were pretty lucky and like, I think we just like every, period, after class we would like wash our hands and everything. So that was like the extent of my experience of a pandemic in China. Uh, but obviously you guys are in like the thick of it. So, today, what is, April 26th, and.

[00:02:59] I'd love to hear, I guess just like how many days you guys have been locked down and what that experience was like,

[00:03:04] So Ashley, the official lockdown official Shanghai lockdown happened, I think starting April 1st. I have a little bit fun story because on international women's day, I think it was actually my last day working in office. the next day I actually was notified by my coworker.

[00:03:22] She was kind of like identify as a close contact. I think someone at her gym tested positive and because I was sitting next to her, I was considered as a close contact. I mean, that also had to be put in quarantine, Huertas, Shanghai regulation. I got a call from like the healthcare people and they're like, no, you have to stay at home.

[00:03:41] They first wanted to kind of like bring me to a hotel and quarantine me for 14 days, but it was, I can only negotiate a little bit. So I had been staying at home in mid March, and then all the way to now, probably like more than a month right now. That's kind of like how long I have been staying at.

[00:03:58] Wow. That's intense. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. For me, it's actually officially day 27 of my currency. And from my understanding, I'm probably going through the shortest quarantine. Anyone could go to Shanghai right now because I started on April 1st. I like, Kyla started a little earlier. I have heard of people starting in late February.

[00:04:22] So maybe they're on the 60th day or something. So, everyone had different experiences in length with this crime team because, obviously as you know, it's a bit staggered, the, the lockdown, but official one was April 1st. So I guess I have a lucky because I started on April 1st, but like everyone else, I thought initially it was going to be a five day lockdown.

[00:04:44] And hence I prepared only for five days. So that has been. I'd be able to shop for everyone. The fatty lasted into, I guess technically fourth week now or more that's crazy. Like, did you ever run out of food? Yes, I think I lost some weight and the first two weeks, because I'm like everyone else, I couldn't get any like fresh fruits or vegetables.

[00:05:06] And I ended up kind of rationing a little. I had also, I have to cook myself, which also made me lose somewhere. but now everything's stable because I think we realized after like a really hot, tough teething period of how to get food with a group buys and neighbors sharing, it has kind of stabilized in terms of food suppliers.

[00:05:27] So no one's really starving, but at least initially in the first two weeks of the lockdown has been tough on it. Yeah. I kind of want to take a step back, right. And talk a little bit about like how this all sort of started. So Shanghai was this bastion of comfort and safety from what I understand during COVID right.

[00:05:50] So, I lived in Manhattan when the. Pandemic first hit. And this was like March of, 2021, I believe. Is it March of 20, 21 or, sorry. March of 2020, I think was when the pandemic really hit New York. And, by that time, you know, I was already really aware of COVID because my parents were experiencing it and, it was.

[00:06:18] You know, a lot of, folks from high. Like my, my uncle is actually from HUD and so a lot of his friends had gotten it and there was like this big hubbub around like, you know, this, new SARS virus coming from one, back in January and even like December of 2019. Like there was already news about it.

[00:06:40] Right. And so, like, I remember just like worrying a lot about my parents. Like, Hey, like, make sure you like wear a mask when you go outside, et cetera, blah, blah, blah. And then when March hit and it got really bad in New York, it was done in China. Like it felt like, you know, people in China were kind of going about their business, doing whatever they wanted versus in New York.

[00:07:01] our hospitals were getting overwhelmed. Like the biggest issue was doctors were running out of medical supplies. People were, overwhelming the hospital. So like all these people who are getting COVID, we're taking up beds in the ICU. Whereas people who are truly, truly sick, like people who had cancer, et cetera, like couldn't get a bed in the ICU or they couldn't get into the hospital, which is actually something that I'm hearing.

[00:07:25] That's happening currently in Shanghai right now. So like, it's so interesting to see the cycles, right? Like where I'm now looking at, you know, New York and America. COVID. At least in America, not that people are dying and not that people are not getting it. I think that just, no, one's really, the government hasn't really cared about it.

[00:07:49] The CDC just lifted mask mandates. Right? So like, I think, elementary school kids are no longer required to wear masks. airlines are lifting these mask mandates. People are going back to work. I'm at my office. Like nobody's really wearing a mask. Yeah. Like in Shanghai, it feels like it went backwards right?

[00:08:08] From like this complete freedom to now this like complete shutdown. So I'd love to hear, what you guys are hearing about, like why this is happening and like, why there's a lockdown and how like, where did it all . Stem from?

[00:08:20] I personally think, how Kobe is being treated right now. It's. bit of a two extremes, like with the west kind of saying, Hey, COVID is over. And we China with the extreme lockdowns, I think it would be really great if we can be a bit more kind of science driven, rather than I think it's quite political right now with, with what's going on with, with Cobar.

[00:08:41] Um, having said that obviously we are. policymakers, but we are basically, you know, normal people and it has affected, I think the citizens that normally people who are being affected by it. I understand why China is, still keeping with a zero COVID policy. there's a lot of factors behind it, including the low vaccination rates in the elderly, but I think there needs to be a balance, especially with the economy, Shanghai being one of the, you know, highest, riches and the highest, GDP, cities in China.

[00:09:12] And, and the fact that a lot of people are not able to work for a month now that has really affected the economy. but at the same time with the west, you know, saying, dropping the mass mandate, when it's proven that mask do work against. infection rates. I think that's also another extreme.

[00:09:28] just to add on that. I think, so you always shall high in a host city was doing so well before our Macron was a thing. And then I think he starting, I mean, I'm not trying to like throw shade or anything. I think it started, there was an outbreak in Hong Kong and it kind of like transferred to and then.

[00:09:46] I feel like sooner or later it was going to get here in Shanghai. And I think the official, the rumor, because nobody really knew how you really started, but the common understanding was that because there was an all breaking Hong Kong, um, Kind of like come here in a way. but also I think it's worth mentioning that before Shanghai was actually quite famous for its way to handle COVID because it's not really crazy because they are trying to be very precise in the sense that they're trying to avoid like city testing.

[00:10:15] They're avoiding lockdown. They're saying that there's no way Sean is going to be putting a lockdown. they only tried to like, make policy. With things to most small areas. So they're only going to target, for example, one building or that one street. But, I think also because of that, the situation got so out of hand, in a way, because they were trying to experimenting you ways of handling COVID in a way backfire, but I do feel like it's worth trying because it's just very unrealistic to kind of like go through citywide testing every single day for people living here.

[00:10:47] Yeah, I'd probably heard those sort of rumors as well. I . Think long story short is that clearly. Oh, Macron is a lot more contagious than previous versions of COVID and people have been, getting it. And so now, like Shanghai is in this state where it's like completely locked down. Do you guys feel like, the situation's getting better maybe help me understand like the stages that you guys went through and, Kayla, why don't you start?

[00:11:15] Yeah. So for. I remember on the first day, like Jenny was saying earlier, there was saying that it was only going to be four days, because people didn't really expect it was going to be this that, you know, I think on the, after they did a test on the first day, they in fact announced that they were going to push back the second.

[00:11:33] I think people were saying that all probably did number the data was so horrible. They didn't expect so many people tested positive. Um, which I think probably was part of the reason why they pushed back. And then like you just saw it a number really blow up on way block because they really updated people every single day.

[00:11:50] And I think yesterday we had. 10 more than 10,000, something like that. I feel like that number itself was quite misleading away because those are two people already tested positive putting quarantine center, but I think what's was the really scary part is that on the society level, there are still like probably around 200 people testing positive every single day, even after late pudding lockdown in 20 days.

[00:12:17] So theoretically, scientifically. You're supposed to be fine already in lockdown, but still every single day you see like 2200 people testing positive, another 200. it does. I think it is getting better. The numbers slightly going down slowly, but we just don't really know when we're going to be able to get out of here, at least for my side.

[00:12:39] I think this whole lockdown has been like a roller coaster. there are good days and bad days, obviously the good days where you think everything's under control, you know, looking forward to being released, the bad days, when your neighbor tests positive.

[00:12:55] Accidentally, uh, saw a very negative viral news or video. And there has been a lot that came out of, obviously I don't have to say it. You can find on internet, and obviously bad days, including not getting enough food and good days is where you successfully group bought something and your veggies arrived.

[00:13:13] So it has been, is this a feeling of answer to seeing a loss of control? I think. It's been the general theme of this lockdown. and yeah, by the second week, I try not to look at any of the numbers because I can't do anything about it. So, I also hold a healthy dose of skepticism towards it.

[00:13:33] The numbers . Report. because all I know is I'm in my beauty, my compound, I can see what's happening. People are testing positive after 10 days of lockdown. No one's going out. Where is this coming from? So, you know, it feels almost impossible. And scientifically I have seen, and I've read that, you know, army, crime, super contagious.

[00:13:55] As contagious as measles and even the common cold. So how do you try to control that in, in the sense in, in a society where basically in Shanghai, people will live in each other's pockets, kind of in a sense, like there are some parts of Shanghai there's a super, you know, not very spacious, so.

[00:14:11] It's really hard to control this, but I know personally it's been like a rollercoaster for me, and I know a lot of people has this feeling of loss of control and certainty in them as well. and to answer your question, I do think there is a bit more hope in a sense, I guess we're kind of used to this feeling now, so it's not as stressful as before.

[00:14:31] And it seems like there is, we are going to the right direction in terms of slowly opening. So maybe in the next . Week or two, hopefully something will go back to normals. So we'll see. Yeah, I mean, I hear a lot about like this group buying stuff. my mom, she's been like group buying as well. And just the other day she sent me a picture of, I think it was like five kilos of Kiwis.

[00:14:58] And she bought and she would go and like, there's this like bartering system in her building. So there's this, basically like two bookshelves full of like different things that you can barter for. And so she's like, yeah, I exchanged like, she's like exchanged 12 QEs for like 10 eggs. And, and then I like gave three cans of beer.

[00:15:21] and then like some face mass and she's like, I got a, I forgot what else she got, she got like some eggs and then she got some, like other types of veggies and maybe like some noodles. So she like just going downstairs and like putting stuff into this like little. Bartering exchange system. And I was just thinking back to like, you know, when I first went to Shanghai in like 2002, I'm like, there's no way that that would have happened.

[00:15:50] Like people would have been kind of like all that stuff would have been gone or like, I don't know, but it's kind of interesting to see how like neighbors are helping each other out. And there's this like little community and slash like for you bartering system that's happening inside. These different communities.

[00:16:07] I don't know if you guys are seeing that within your communities or where you guys are living. Yeah, for sure. I think. The key different of what's happening, Shanghai lockdown, compared to like log downs happening probably America or other countries that you can't really go out and buy grocery yourself.

[00:16:25] so what's going to happen was you're going to organize group buying, which means now you kind of have to probably make like 30 to 50 orders starting at that number. And then you're going to get your neighbors coming together in, but kind of grouped by the whole thing. And in a way, kind of force us to kind of get to know each other.

[00:16:44] And I really genuinely think group, I saved my life or to whole quarantine cause otherwise I wouldn't know how I would be able to make it. And there's also a term called Punjab, meaning like the person who organized a group by, and usually I think there has to be just so many names in Shanghai about like Shanghai, plunger, like.

[00:17:04] I don't know how to probably translate the English. but people have been really respecting the person organizing group buying and, just giving a lot of like response and like appreciation of people helping each other out. Um, I also noticed a lot. Product exchange or food exchange like you were saying, and it just feels so surreal.

[00:17:24] Cause we're in 20, 22 and still, you know, I'm just exchanging like, can I have some like vegetable and it's sounds like funny, but I think you saw how kind people are and it really is. the good side in the way out of this.

[00:17:41] Yeah. I have lived in my compound for almost three years and I don't know any of my neighbors. I never feel like I need to, you know, but because of this locked down, we have a duty group. We chat group and we share a lot of information. also like, like I said, also bothering, I was lucky. By a lot of Coke, like Coca-Cola at the beginning.

[00:18:04] And that itself is like very good bartering, a currency, so to speak because I could use a Coke suffer anything. So I ended up slapping for rice, being simple things like, Dishwashing liquid because I ran out, there isn't a mean people like using the cats, like, you know, you can spend some time my cat for three eggs or something.

[00:18:27] And I saw that on the, on the online. So it's not, it's not even limited to two items anymore. It's like, other, other things, and it has been. This human connection with our neighbors it makes me feel really good. And it's been great that they are going through this with me. And we're in this together because if our building our compound space negative, Then we, we can go out.

[00:18:51] So it's like we're in this together. Like, you know, it's, it's, we can't think about individually. We think about us, the whole building as a cohort, and then we try to help each other, you know, buying set us sanitizers and, and buying eggs, helping each other out, helping our old neighbor downstairs, who don't use.

[00:19:09] Oh, online payments. So they'll give us cash and we'll help them order stuff. So it has been a really nice sense of community. I just realized there are so many old people we might compound. There is a lot of families as well. two people in my compound are pregnant and I'm like, oh, okay.

[00:19:23] That's interesting. you finally put a face to your neighbors, especially in the big city of 25 million, 26 million. Usually we don't really know our neighbors and that's very common, but it really brought us together. I think that. Yeah. I mean, speaking about like collectivism, right?

[00:19:38] Like in working as a unit in order to like, get through all of this, like Kayla you've been in the states. Right. And then Jenny, like you've been in Australia and, imagine if this were to be happening in the states or in Australia, what would the situation look like? I actually. where the Shanghai locked on, show me, is that Chinese people are genuinely, I don't know.

[00:20:05] I think people are just so kind in helping each other.you don't like China plays a very heavy emphasis on family, and in a way I really feel that that shines through this. Because people were kind of like thinking of each other as a unit. And to be honest, I couldn't really imagine that happening in America.

[00:20:21] Uh,if that happened in my building in New York, I just feel like people would probably work as a protest first, not really necessarily group by, but organism against the policy. in a way, I guess it's kind of like collective action, but, um, yeah, so I think it definitely is much less likely to see this kind of group buying stuff working out in America.

[00:20:46] Yeah. I'd like to echo, taught us. About this also happening in Australia. Uh, firstly Australia is a very spacious country. so a lot of people live in houses. yes, maybe in the urbanized areas there'll be apartments. but I don't think they'll go so far as not letting you go out to buy any groceries.

[00:21:06] When, even during the peak of the pandemic, they can go out once a day to buy groceries. and also if you live in houses, it's easy to horde, I guess, because you can store things in your spare bedroom. and they're a bit more self-sufficient in that way, but in Shanghai where space is very precious and not many, I don't have a hoarding habit.

[00:21:31] The only thing I buy in bulk is Polly toilet paper, just because I don't want to keep on going to the supermarket. So I have nothing prepared when this lockdown happened. because you can go out and it's so convenient to buy anything with a delivery. You know, you're in it, you're in an urbanized area.

[00:21:48] So everywhere this restaurants and wet markets and supermarkets, there's no need for you to, to hoard or to buy extra. So when this happened, no one has anything to home. So with a group buying, it's basically out of necessity, and sharing is because we know we can't get. That's I think it's really because of the condition where we're forced to be in that's what happened.

[00:22:09] But obviously I always believe that Chinese people are super nice. I obviously believe in humanity. I think everyone's really nice, but I think especially if the reputation of Shanghainese being a bit cold and cold towards outsiders, I think has definitely be broken this time. Like they are actually very friendly and very warm, you know, when, when.

[00:22:31] I'm proud of my, my, Shanghai brethren, I guess in that sense. I mean, I think you touched upon something like super important, which is like, I think there's just a cultural difference between Americans and people in China. And like, I think specifically, even like Shanghainese people are its own kind and Lincoln's own kind of people, but, Like in America, I think there's so much emphasis on individual rights.

[00:22:57] And so when you're looking at the news, like, you know, every day when I like scroll through my newsfeed, I always see some sort of article being like Shanghai locked down, people are going crazy. Or like, this is the video that China's government doesn't want you to see. and it's like people protesting the.

[00:23:16] The lockdown or like people getting fenced in and all that stuff. Like, I guess, do you guys get a sense of that living in Shanghai at all? I don't really see it, I guess I first hand, cause I think first of all, I'm kind of stuck in my permanent. but also, but I do think because of working media, I have been like actively trying to like get her what has been happening.

[00:23:38] And also, I think there a lot of similar tragedies happening besides was psych reporting in Western media. you know, like people really running out of food. People really couldn't seek medical attention. And those of articles also being re posted on Weechat. And you also hear listed on the stories from your friends.

[00:23:57] I have a friendly being pooled on, which is quite not a place you want to beat right now. because have really bad COVID. And also the cases are quite high in poodle. And I think in key's compounds, it was just quite hard because you're just so many people testing positive and sort of like the government kind of gave up on your compound and nobody really regulated it.

[00:24:18] they ran up a supply and yeah, so I do think I am lucky and privileged enough to not really being that situation. Just by seeing our social media and also hearing stories from your friends, you do. Yes, they do. There are some unfortunate situations happening for sure.

[00:24:36] I think we need to remember that Shanghai is a city of 26 million and they are, you know, 26 million voices out there.

[00:24:44] And some of them, I wouldn't believe everyone said this is fine. Everyone is fine. Everything's under control. I think it's very normal to have voices of dissent, people who are very unhappy or, disadvantaged completely by this lockdown, including the, the ones with families or with elderly. And also I was affected in the sense I have pets.

[00:25:06] And at the beginning we were very worried. There's a pet group where that if we were tested positive, where were our pets go? You know, there are cases and, and stories of pets being killed, by the. you know, by the authorities and that caused me a lot of stress and there was one time, for at least a week, there were reports of, children who tested positive by the parents.

[00:25:30] Didn't they could be separated, including as young as. Two years old. So that has caused a lot of stress and I believe it's true and . It's very inhumane, but I think, you know, these voices need to be heard otherwise, how can we reflect to the authorities that this is not okay? I think this is part of a healthy civil society.

[00:25:49] As much as people say China don't have individual rights. you know, they do get heard if they are reported out in social media, and people do help. We posted a lot of, Chrysler help w my, my groups, and then people reposting, reposting it. Eventually they do find people who can help them.

[00:26:07] And that is the beauty of, of, you know, society, you know, who's willing to help each other, especially when it seems like the authorities are overwhelmed, which I think they are very overwhelmed and caught unaware by the scale of this. Yeah, controlling a city of 26 million people. Sounds like a nightmare.

[00:26:25] It's like the size of Canada, right. In the radius of, much less than Canada. some of the things that we talked about prior to our recording, we're just like, kind of on the bright side, right? Like different memes that are happening in China either. It's because people are in quarantine and they're bored and there's like nothing to do or, Yeah, there's just these like funny trends that are popping up.

[00:26:50] And I think, people are just getting fed up with this situation and when she's like coming up with like these different things. So like one of the memes that I've heard of that my mom talks about is, when you do the COVID test, and, you have like one line, she calls it , which is, like small prefect basically like the lowest rank, like the secretary general of the student government, something like that. Right. So, in China, like there's three ranks. There's like the secretary general who has like, you know, usually in their, uniforms, Patch that they have on, I forget the left or right side, but like it's one red line, a one horizontal red line represents like you're the smallest rank.

[00:27:30] And then like you have two red lines. It's like the medium rank. And then three of the red lines is, the highest rank, which is like, I don't know, class president. so now they're just like calling COVID like, if you test negative that like, you know, the secretary general shows up, right? So like it's a funny meme where you like, get this visual and it's like, oh yeah, everything's good.

[00:27:53] Everything's fine. If you have like, you know, the secretary general it's really bad if you have the vice-president right. Like when you have two lines and you're positive, so just wanted to hear from you guys, like what other kind of memes or trends that you guys are sort of seeing, that,his Shanghainese people are coming up with to really alleviate all the stress and, help diffuse some of the board.

[00:28:13] Definitely I think was the first thing on my mind was that when the whole thing just started, vegetables are something that people just can't really get. and there was a really popular ROPs that went viral and we chat. Has Jenny heard about it basically made a song out of like, how do you fly for a vegetable in that?

[00:28:32] It was actually very, I think I would play this, like, I'm my next party. they kind of like made a video of it and then putting like the, seeing of people at grocery store before the lockdown, trying to fight for vegetable.

[00:28:43] And it was definitely a very interesting song and a lot of people will repost it. I think that just spoke to how much. Really resonate with it and really how much people really eat vegetable. besides that, I think I also seeing people, you know, like the antigen test is kind of like this shape, like a rectangle shape and it's white.

[00:29:07] And then like in a way it just looks, it looks like a pregnancy test. Yeah, it does. there are also meetings about that as well. And there's actually some artists, because you're just, we got so many of those. They kind of like making them into jewelries. Then they make earrings, like not clothes and they're like making videos up at like, be very fashionable.

[00:29:26] Um, yeah. So I think those sorta seeing things that people really resonate with and kind of like take a more lighthearted approach to the situation here. Yeah. What about you? Oh, wow. There are so many, I guess I like to kind of say two things that made an impression, cause I like to exercise and being stuck in my apartment has been tough, but I realized there's this viral trend of home workout video by this sky called yoga home.

[00:29:55] and there's this, there's a meme saying like, yoga. like, I guess it's translated as a, you know, The girls of Logan Hall in a sense like, you know, we are basically. Doing workout videos. It's like the eighties. No. Where you have like, you know, doing workout videos at home. And, there's a lot of memes about that.

[00:30:14] A lot celebrities are going to what kind of was like an ice bucket challenge where everyone kind of have their own version of it. you know, I saw a girl doing an upside down. Uh, Google home, which is incredible. I also saw like a ballerina doing a ballet version of local home, workout videos. So that was really fun because it's very interactive.

[00:30:33] Right. But it also allowed us to move in our tiny little. Which is, you know, we don't have the luxury of going around to different rooms. And the second one is a, there is an artist I believe in Beijing, that he has, is doing a performance art where he's inside this tiny cube for 14 days. And it's 24 hour life of footage, you know, so he has a water bed and he, he actually has to go to toilet in front of the camera as well.

[00:31:03] So it's interesting because he's doing like performance art and he's art imitates life, because that's kind of what, like a lot of people's going through in Shanghai right out. But the good thing for him is that it ends in 14 days. but that was interesting. Cause people were like, oh, let's look at what this guy's doing, but that's what we're doing.

[00:31:19] Anyway, it's a bit meta.

[00:31:25] We are watching this, that we actually experienced things as well, So these two are, I think, just light entertainment because, we've mentioned before there's negative news coming out and there's nothing we can do about it. But, having this kind of make us forget a little bit about what we're going through and it's great mentally too, to have that. Yeah. I mean, speaking of something to look forward to and like mental, um, stressors, we always like to end the podcast with asking our guests restaurants that they recommend, but in your guys's cases, I'd love to hear, which restaurant you guys would probably run to.

[00:32:06] If it were still open, which restaurant would you run to? If you were set free from the lockdown straight up to a hot pasta, right? Like no negotiation. I'm going to go get hot pot. And actually, can I pick two? Like you can take as many as you want. Girl you've been in lockdown for so long. You can pick whatever you want to craving, like Korean barbecue as well.

[00:32:33] Actually, I feel that this is such a brutal question for us. Now we have to think about it, but it's okay. I think gave us hope. yeah. I gave us something to look forward to when this is over. So how about in barbecue can complain. Sounds amazing. What about you, Jenny? right now I'm happy to go to any restaurant, but I'm really looking forward to Western. when I say Western food, like burgers, that I don't know how to make, myself.

[00:32:57] So there is really good restaurant called green veggie cafe that has really good, vegetarian Burgas and they're really delicious, like kind of like comfort vegan food in the sense. So I'm really looking forward to, to go to that one when this, or. Lovely. Amazing. Well, thank you guys so much for sharing.

[00:33:15] Just your experiences in Shanghai. It must be really tough, but I feel like there's, hopefully the silver lining is that it's going to end soon and then you guys can go get all the food that you guys want, and have lots of freedom to be able to, visit friends and okay. For sure. Share. I think you said definitely also nice for us to talk about it and hopefully you can also inform me and fun to listen to.

[00:33:41] So before we finish this episode, uh, be sure to follow us on social media, where at Buntu, Brooklyn, on Instagram and Twitter, you can subscribe to our podcast wherever you get your podcasts, mostly on Spotify and iTunes, and anywhere you listen, and also be sure to email us if you have any questions where@b2batnineteenninetyinstitute.org. All right. Thanks guys. Thank you so much.