Day 13: Nearing the End
Ever since I first arrived in my quarantine room twelve days ago, one of the things that I have been steadily acquiring has been various food and drink items. I receive three meal deliveries each and every day, and as you can see from the pictures that I have included with every one of my blog articles, that has amounted to a whole lot of food that I have no choice but to accept. In addition to all of this food, one of the things that must be kept in mind is the fact that I do not have the ability to get out of my room and burn all of this energy that I have been constantly consuming. Admittedly, I have been doing stationary exercises in my room where possible, but this is hardly enough to burn all of those calories, much less make me work up any amount of hunger in between meals. This has resulted in quite a few food items piling up in my room.
Shortly after arriving in my quarantine room, within the first couple of days, in addition to receiving the three meals for that day I also had received an additional snack package which had various snacks as well as some cup noodles. Even almost ten days after receiving that snack package, I still have a few of the items left, which I am struggling to eat in between my regular daily meals. One of the other things that I have accumulated several of are the cup soups that I regularly receive with the majority of my meal deliveries. Since yesterday, one of the things that I have been making a point of doing is eating two of these with each meal so that I can have any hope of finishing all of them before I leave just after midnight tomorrow night. Tonight and tomorrow, I will be eating overtime just to make sure that I have to bring as few food items home with me as possible. I packed lightly when I came on this trip in anticipation of staying in quarantine, so my luggage was already packed full with my computers and clothes when I arrived here. As a result, I do not have much additional space available in my luggage for a bunch of food items.
Admittedly, one of the biggest concerns that I had when I arrived at Incheon Airport and was waiting for my shuttle bus to the quarantine facility was having enough things to drink during my quarantine period. I was quite sure that I would generally only be receiving bottled water with my meals. Since I am generally not a fan of simply drinking plain water, I was not looking forward to this part of the quarantine experience. As a result, I bought a few drinks at the convenience store at the airport before I left on the shuttle bus for the quarantine facility. Although I appreciated having the drinks that I bought, I realized a couple days after entering quarantine that my concerns about having enough things to drink were entirely unnecessary. I have accumulated a huge amount of bottled water in the refrigerator in my room, as well as a number of other drinks like juice and soda. Another thing that I have been working hard to do over the past couple of days is consume as much of these drinks as I can, because once again, I do not really have much space to carry them with me when I leave based on the available space in my luggage.
Basically, the point that I am trying to get across in this blog article is the fact that anyone having to enter quarantine in South Korea should not have any worries about having enough food and drinks. The South Korean health department has been extremely generous and thoughtful in the food and drinks that they have provided me with during my quarantine period. I am extremely grateful for all of the thought that they have put into my daily meals, and if for some reason I am forced to go through this quarantine process in South Korea again, I have no worries about this part of the quarantine experience. If anything, the only worry that I would have regarding the food and drink during the quarantine period is the one that I have right now, which is being able to actually consume all of the food and drinks that I have received. But this is a much better problem to have than an empty stomach and the hunger pains that that would bring, which would most definitely force me to watch the clock more closely and constantly remind me how much time I have left until the end of my quarantine period.
