Being seconded to Netmarks Shanghai under the COVID-19 crisis <Column 2nd of 3>

Greetings. This is Hideki Miyazaki of Netmarks Shanghai.

Netmarks Shanghai has been providing IT infrastructure services mainly for the Japanese companies in China since 2003. Many of our customers already have business relationships with Uniadex, Ltd. in Japan, so we are working at our best to provide the same level of quality services as in Japan.

I was seconded from Uniadex, Ltd. to Netmarks Shanghai in August, 2021. As I had to travel to China under the COVID-19 situation, I am sharing my experience in the preparation and after arrival of the transit. There will be a total of three articles on this & this is my second article. (Click here to read the 1st article)

The menu was basically the same for all meals. It was only the first day that I thought the food tasted good. Since I was unable to exercise much, I didn't get hungry to begin with. The volume of the meal was so large, I felt like I could never eat them all anyway.

By the 3rd day, I felt completely groggy. I brought with me some Japanese food such as furikake (seasonings to sprinkle on the rice), miso-soup, packaged curry and such, so I used them occasionally to motivate my appetite. When I had zero appetite, I just ate the fruits which were delivered with the meals. I made a good use of a peeler I brought from Japan.

I also brought some packaged frozen Japanese cuisine (i.e. cooked fish, simmered dish). However, most of them went bad as the hotel had no refrigerator in the room. It was my first time staying at a hotel without a fridge.

While food delivery is getting more popular in Japan, China also has a well-known delivery service called Wai Mai. Some of the people staying at the hotel obviously had the privilege of using Wai Mai. When I picked up my meal, I envied seeing some packages being left in front of other rooms. The logos on the bags were of the hamburger shops, coffee shops and so on.

One time, I found a package by Wai Mai in front of my room. As it wasn't my order for sure, I immediately reported it via WeChat.

Body temperature check-ups took place twice around 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM daily. An inspector with a gun-style thermometer went around the rooms. I heard that anyone with over 37.5c temperature were sent to a hospital, so I was terrified thinking I somehow have managed to get a high fever.

Not only the temperature check-ups, but 3 PCR testing were also necessary during the stay. The testing took place early in the morning between 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM. The officer told me when I should put a chair in front of my room to get prepared. In comparison to the PCR testing at the airport, the procedures were not as strict. The test results were told when the quarantine was completed.

Wi-Fi was available, so I could work from my room. However, the network often got cut off probably because the quality of the circuit was not so good. It troubled me a lot when I got cut off during a video conference.

I also brought some books to kill some time, ...just 2 books though. I finished reading them right away, so I ended up playing with my smart phone for most of the stay. I was able to access Yahoo! News, but unable to access Google related sites such as Gmail, LINE, YouTube and such as they were blocked by the Chinese censorship system called Great Firewall (防火長城). I used WeChat to communicate with my family.

Anyway, I felt like the time passed by so very slowly after-hours.

After several days of the stay, the people quarantined at the hotel started wondering exactly what time we would be let go from the hotel after completing the quarantine. I also asked the person in charge via WeChat, but there was no reply.

(to be continued)