I am in Pudong, Shanghai, and these are the real daily lives of ordinary families under the epidemic

In 2020, I was still in New York. At the beginning of the outbreak of the epidemic, we tried our best to rush supplies overseas to Wuhan. Later, New York went through a period of more than 10,000 new diagnoses a day.

Who would have thought that at this moment, at the beginning of 2022, we would face another battle with the epidemic.

I thought I was ready, but I wasn't.

The last few weeks, I've had a few sleepless nights. I wake up every day feeling like I've fallen right into the plot of The Beginning:

-- Staring at the mobile phone to check epidemic data, expecting the inflection point;

-- go downstairs and do nucleic acid, take online classes, work, cook, do housework;

- grab food;

And then another round, and the cycle repeats, never knowing when it will end.

Plus see the news of the air crash, that day, the state of mind really collapsed, cried a field. Or little D gave me a hug, and said to me, tomorrow will be fine.

Rest assured, I now find the strength to face again, which is why I chose to write this article.

These powers come from the most ordinary people and the most ordinary things around me.

01

Take care of yourself and eat well

When Pudong announced its closure, we were most concerned about the elderly.

D's grandparents and the community where they live have entered the second round of "2+12" day lockdown.

Video with them every day, for fear of lack of food at home; I'm running out of heart/diabetes medication I can't cut; Repeatedly told, go downstairs to test nucleic acid to wear a mask to keep a distance, remember to wash your hands when you go home...

Results my father-in-law said to me with a smile, oh yo yo, you can also buy broad beans and bean seedlings ah, oh, but this is a good thing, won't burn waste.

He used the words "how to make green onion oil broad beans delicious", "how to fry the bean seedlings will be a little more tender", comforted the other end of the video, my husband and I worried about the children's heart.

He said: eat, sleep, do not go blind, this is also the ordinary people of Allah fighting the epidemic.

Call my parents, ask my parents, are you scared? Are you worried?

Dad said without thinking, don't worry about it, what haven't seen ah. The hepatitis A outbreak when you were young, the SARS outbreak later, and the new coronavirus this time, they will all pass and get better. Now, we need to take care of ourselves so that we don't get into trouble before the epidemic is over.

I have an aunt, who is almost 80 years old. She also told me in the video that in those days, Ala was a ashram made in a screw shell. Now, there are fewer dishes, just a little less.

Grab the food is peace of mind, will also want to share, we take a uniform

Suddenly it is very healing, I think this is the Shanghai people often say, "clear" it.

This time, it is not good enough, is to criticize, but the real war is under the city, only the first war, we immediately adjust the mentality, positive face.

The best way to face it is to take care of yourself first, eat well and sleep well.

02

How are you? A neighbor

The new neighborhood, where I lived for more than a year, was all single-family. It had completely disappeared the way Shikumen neighbors used to visit each other when I was young, and I barely knew each other.

For the first time in a few days, the next door neighbor came to ask if there was any extra A4 paper.

With the development of the epidemic, the whole building is ripe up, but I remember such code name: strawberry group, vegetable group purchase, pizza order, three yellow chicken order......

In less than a day, the community's owner group "fission" dozens of different themes of the group. And all this is in everyone's default rules, methodically.

This group (owner group) is to release important information, in order to avoid missing information, strawberry group can be directly scanned into the new group.

Group solitoring, group announcement, group live broadcast, all kinds of new media means, have been used to the extreme.

Neighbors, who used to float away when they saw each other, now greet each other when they go downstairs to do nucleic acid every day.

There will always be people who sigh that yesterday's numbers are not scary, and then immediately there are several voices in the side to say, "What's wrong, it will get better."

We also began to get used to asking each other, is your XXX enough? If you don't need it, you can get it from me.

And there's always someone who takes the lead in pointing out a few small blessings:

You look at your daughter ah, smile how beautiful ah, every day to see the mood is happy;

Oh, it's such a nice day today. Look, the cherry blossoms are blooming over there.

Your suit always looks good together.

Therefore, every time the nucleic acid finished, always can harvest a little bit of good mood, continue to return to the home squat.

Shanghai people are said to be "indifferent";

Indeed, in those ordinary days in the big city, in the rush of corners where everyone has his or her own boundaries, the phrase "It's my business, it's your business" has become a mantra for many.

However, Shanghainese are also enthusiastic and optimistic. When they are really in trouble, they will take the initiative to help others when they are starving themselves.

"It's not easy for everyone," is our mantra.

03

Shanghai Spirit Chinese spirit

Smart phones and the mobile Internet have unleashed the "boundless creativity of folk experts", and the three years of fighting the epidemic have been filled with countless stories, big and small.

I have a friend who will compile a wave of jokes every day and post them on moments. Everyone clicks like, laughs at each other, and goes by.

A few days ago, that friend said in a solemn message on the moments of friends that those who want to see the failure of the epidemic prevention in Shanghai do not need to talk about the ineffectiveness of China's anti-epidemic policy.

Some people say that it is not the case that Shanghai blew some epidemic prevention myth before, and now it is slapped in the face. Some foreign media also hyped it up, and many people jumped on the bandwagon, saying that despite all the costs China has paid for its "zero zero" policy, the virus is still fighting back.

When I see such comments, I want to tell these people that there is no myth about Shanghai, and even less about China's fight against COVID-19. These so-called "myths" are not deliberately created by us, nor are they what we want.

Under the epidemic, Shanghai is not so good, and China's epidemic prevention will not be perfect. We will see, say and complain, but the premise and foundation of all this is that we will work together, give it time and solve the problem.

Thank you, Baymax!

These days, with the daily increase in the number of confirmed cases, my circle of friends, everyone like an appointment like in the forwarding of each brother provinces of the rescue information.

Thank you to Yunnan, to Anhui, to Dujiangyan, to Zhejiang, to...... As long as we can see the help, everyone will turn.

Just like these days, when my parents and little D video always ask, did you say thank you to Baymax when you tested nucleic acid?

This is the Shanghai spirit in my mind of "Shanghai Nannan" : be clear in your thinking, be open to criticism but not to "watch jokes", and always remember every bit of kindness from others.

I have been drifting north for eight years, received praise, often a sentence: "you do not look like Shanghai people."

I have been working around the world for ten years and heard many foreigners praise me: "You don't look Chinese at all".

In my previous work, I rarely revealed the words "Shanghainese". I also tried to avoid prejudging anyone and anything with the words "region", "country" and "race" in life and in the epidemic.

But this time, in the most difficult moment for Shanghai, in the midst of another battle against the epidemic in China, I want to say: "Yes, we have the Shanghai spirit, we have the Chinese spirit."

As long as the Shanghai spirit and the Chinese spirit are alive, we will surely survive this, the next, the next and any difficulties.

This is a spontaneous light show at a house that was still under lockdown last night, and as the fine print says:

Shanghai is made up of countless anonymous families, as shown in the alphabetical arrangement below. They're not perfect, but they're open to everything. This is for all the organizers, health workers, grassroots workers, volunteers, supporters, and others for whom we have not been able to put words.....

(Photo from Moments)

04

The end of the

Some time ago, my own energy is low, write a public number article, will also think, do not deliberately reduce some parenting dry goods, you may also like me energy is not high, or talk about easy.

But in the last day or two, I've figured out that the best way to deal with uncertainty is to be normal. Let life go normal, let parenting go normal, let their growth go normal.

When I was in detention at home, I looked at Little D's smiling face as she pointed out the window and said, "Mom, it's beautiful. It's spring."

I will be moved by her smile, and also can't help but feel that spring is coming, this "cold spring" will be over soon.

It'll be all right, huh!