We are out of the 3 day restaurant quarantine now! I wanted to spend a little bit explaining how it all worked. Before leaving Minneapolis, we needed to take a rapid test 24 hours before departure on Thursday and fill out a long and confusing health questionnaire that I messed up twice and had to redo for both Joanna and me.

Quick story on how my Chinese family ended up in Minnesota: My mom was born and raised in Hong Kong and decided to study abroad at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis for her senior year of high school.

Covid protocols here in Hong Kong are in one word: Strict. Yesterday, it was 75f with 80% humidity. We were walking outside on the way to the subway to meet my cousin Tim and his husband John for lunch and noticed that everyone kept their masks on even after leaving a building.

Earlier this year, my sister Kimberly and I were discussing the possibility of going to Hong Kong to visit our Popo (maternal grandmother in Cantonese) considering Covid restrictions around the world were loosening up.

I haven’t seen my eldest cousin Amy in probably 25 years, since the 2nd to last time I was in Panama visiting family. Her, her husband, and their daughter moved from Panama to the UK about 20 years ago. I was planning on taking the 2 hour train up to see them in Birmingham but unfortunately the rail workers announced earlier this week that they were going to go on strike on Saturday.