I went back to my hometown for a week and got infected with the new coronavirus

Two weeks ago, I suddenly had the idea: why not work remotely in Xinjiang for a while?

Since the summer break of my junior year, I haven't been back to Xinjiang in the summer. Except for a week back home during the Spring Festival every year, I have also visited in early spring and late autumn in recent years. But it's been almost 10 years since I experienced summer in Xinjiang, ate watermelons for a few cents per kilogram, and saw the sky still bright at 22 o'clock.

Since we are working remotely now, why not go home for a few weeks, enjoy some lamb and fruits, and take photos of the starry sky in the oil fields!

So I took immediate action, installed the development environment on my iMac and sent it back, bought some coffee beans, and flew back to Xinjiang last Sunday.

Discomfort

But on the first day of work, I felt uncomfortable.

First, the internet. Even without considering the extra layer of censorship in Xinjiang, there is unavoidable physical delay. The latency in the direction of Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore is at least +50ms. This significantly reduced my efficiency in work that requires VPN every day.

Another issue is the weather. At this time, the daytime temperature in Xinjiang rises to over 30 degrees, and my bedroom faces the sun. Even with the air conditioning on in the living room, it's still a bit hot here.

Another issue is the working environment. In Chengdu, I have an ergonomic chair, a standing desk, but in Xinjiang, I only have a very uncomfortable chair and a cramped space. It's uncomfortable no matter how I position myself, and working every day is torture.

Mentality

The biggest discomfort might come from the mindset. I originally hoped to have a vacation mindset back home, not worrying about what to eat every day, and going out to take photos of the scenery after work.

But in reality, I just wanted to finish developing my blog backend as soon as possible, which is difficult with the devices and network environment in Xinjiang.

I thought I would be looking forward to desert shooting, but I actually looked forward to coming back and writing code.

First positive test

I stayed at home for three days and worked remotely, and on the third night, I had dinner with my childhood friend. When I woke up on Thursday morning, I felt a bit unwell, as if I had a fever. I took a day off, got tested for antigens, and found out that I had tested positive for COVID-19.

For over three years, this was my first positive result. I didn't get infected even when there were simultaneous coughs near the office before, nor during the so-called second or third waves. And yet, on my first outing after returning home, I got infected.

By the way, here's how I felt after testing positive. On the first day, I had a slight fever, but it wasn't too uncomfortable, and I felt better after sleeping in the afternoon. On the second day, nasal symptoms started to appear, with severe nasal congestion. My throat felt like it had tonsillitis. On the third day, my sense of smell was lost. On the fourth day, some of my sense of taste was lost.

Why do I say it's partial loss of taste? Because I didn't realize it when eating before. It wasn't until today when I was eating the popular dish Black Bamboo Fragrant Chicken that I suddenly realized - this popular restaurant is just so-so - that I suddenly realized: What if my sense of taste is gone? Upon careful consideration, I could only taste spiciness, and couldn't detect other flavors.

I tried some salt and found that I could taste salty. Sweet and sour flavors were also detectable. At the moment, I am not sure if it is a partial failure of taste or sluggishness caused by loss of smell.

Return

I booked a ticket back to Chengdu in the middle of the week because I felt that if I continued to stay in this environment, my back would be ruined, and my work efficiency would continue to decline.

This remote trip back home can be summed up in one sentence:

Round trip of over 5000 kilometers within a week, just to test positive for COVID-19 once.

After experiencing it firsthand, I also realized that I can't work like other digital nomads, starting with just a MacBook Air. My work efficiency is tied to ergonomic chairs, standing desks, two monitors, mechanical keyboards, and Mac Studio, these things are not easily portable. I previously wanted to spend some time in Dali, but now I have given up on that idea.