Quarantine Day 4: The Age Gap

My roommate is 23 years old. She’s a Korean American from New Jersey. She’s spunky and restless. Sure of herself and smart. Knows the answers, refuses to follow the rules. A singer. A chain smoker. A potential candidate for law school. Hasn’t had a real job yet. I wanted a room to myself, but she spends so little time in here that it hardly matters that we must share space.

Richard is the bald white guy who says very little. He must have been a teacher somewhere before. He’s older – maybe 40 or so. He grabs a chair in the common area on the second floor and reads and reads and reads. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t join the masses in our bitch sessions or our movie groups. He probably doesn’t feel like there are many people to relate to here.

They are the two extremes: there are the recent college grads who adamantly declare their maturity. Then there are the 30+ wanderers who are here because we know that we know nothing. The younger crowd outnumbers the older, but not by a lot. I’ve gotten this reaction a lot: wow, you’re 30? You don’t look like it. I can’t say I know what I should look like at 30.

It’s spiky blonde Andrew’s 30th birthday today. He’s been teaching in Korea for a while with his girlfriend. He didn’t want anyone to know about the big Three-Oh. Someone made him a birthday hat out of masks that read “I’m 30. Kill me.” I couldn’t tell if he was really amused or really wishing everyone would have ignored the day. Andrew has been responsible for calling the American Embassy and imploring them into action. Today a woman - with a suspiciously British accent - from our embassy called my room asking questions about our circumstances, asking if they can call my parents, saying they can do very little to help, saying they can’t even get inside.

So our circumstances: the medical staff wants us to stay in our rooms. We don’t want to. Most of us aren’t sick. Most of us aren’t going to get sick. This is overkill. Our rooms are hot. The internet in the rooms still isn’t working. The older are more willing to comply than the younger, and also more willing to take productive action. Andrew and his girlfriend posted signs around the building, advising quarantine-ees to have their family and friends call the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. I emailed the “On Your Side Investigators” at KATU. Investigator Thom Jensen to the rescue. Is the situation that bad? Probably not, but it doesn’t even appear that the public is aware of 50 Americans being quarantined. I think that’s news. I think. It’s hard to tell. When you’re quarantined, it’s easy to believe that you have the biggest problem in the world. I suppose I can understand why people are more concerned about North Korea’s nuclear bomb test. That story is consuming CNN International’s entire A-block. Maybe the media will be contacting me about something far more tragic in this part of the world one day soon? Let’s hope not. At least the embassy is now involved in our cause. The food has improved. A representative from our school was also on site today answering questions about our schedules and money and infectious disease response.

We were about to gather to watch a pirated copy of the new Star Trek movie. Then the doctor ordered us to go to our rooms. The doc is setting new rules and distributing some kind of medicine. I’m here. My roommate stayed put for about 50 seconds. I’m not sure where she is now.