Living in the In Between

The phrase “third time’s a charm” does not apply.

There is nothing charming about serving 14-day hotel quarantine for the third time in a year. No elite club membership, no perks or bonus miles, no fanfare. The privilege is simply that we have been able to get off island so much, whereas others have not.

I call these two weeks Living in the In Between. It is the pause between our whirlwind time in the US and the resumption of our lives here in Singapore. The pace slows. There is plenty of time for working-reading-napping-binge watching-exercising-catching up with friends. Days are marked by milestones that denote where we are in our 14-day timeline:

Daily milestones: record our temperature morning, noon and evening; take a phone call from the government to answer the exact same questions as the previous day; wait for the doorbell to ring with our meal delivery; select the next day’s meal from two choices, Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian.

Weekly milestones: administer self-COVID test on days 3, 7 and 11; change towels every third day and sheets at the halfway point (yippee, fresh sheets today!!); and the most anticipated, leave our room for a PCR test the day before checkout. A reason to bathe.

What’s different this time?

For starters, Tom and I are quarantining together for the first time. It’s going better than I thought, but then again we only have plastic cutlery, so weapons are limited. I was able to reserve a small suite at the Intercontinental Hotel Bugis, the only option available on the list of 15 approved hotels with suite upgrades. No balcony, no stunning view, as I’ve had before. But, there is a door that closes between the bedroom and living room. Which means Tom can be on a conference call without risking a photo bomb of his pajama-clad wife walking by.

We’ve become savvier about what will make the stay more comfy. A friend arranged delivery of a number of items from our apartment: coffee maker, yoga mats, throw blanket, computer monitor. Amazon Fresh ensures quick delivery of fruit, snacks, and drinks. Deliveroo provides snappy meal delivery, if we ever get tired of what’s on the bento box rotation. Last night friends Basma and Karl delivered Happy Hour fixings, and this afternoon Robyn and Tony delivered champagne and eclairs. So we lack nothing except fresh air!

We also rented a stationary exercise bike from a company called – wait for it – Happy SHN (which stands for “stay at home notice,” the official government term for mandatory quarantine). Someone was bound to capitalise on our captivity. It’s been a game changer. Unfortunately for Tom, my favourite exercise playlist is Disco Essentials. The cycling sessions have unleashed my inner dancing queen. Bring it, Robin, Barry, and Maurice!

Tom spends his time working, while I punctuate my days rocking to Staying Alive, listening to Friends of the Museums lectures, and chatting with girlfriends. We’re both reading. I just finished the latest novel for my book club, The Burning, by Megha Majumdar (recommend it), and like other women of a certain age, am on to the next Louise Penny mystery (although she’s woven in a post-pandemic theme; much too soon for me). Tom is working his way through Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew’s memoir. We’re playing Scrabble, and I’ve agreed to learn cribbage. We’re watching Ted Lasso and can’t wait for the release of the next episode (what was it with that wacky Beard episode?).

Today is the halfway point. Trying not to think too much about how far we’ve come and how much we have left to go. Living in the In Between. See you on the other side.

Our Quarantine Life

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