Beijing Bunker: A Canceled Wedding, Weight Gain, and Optimism Through Accepting Fate

As Beijing enters its fourth week in self-quarantine, the stories of how people have been dealing with the coronavirus outbreak – by staying, leaving, or watching on from afar – are many and varied. In Beijing Bunker, we quiz Beijingers on what approach they've been taking to stay safe and sane through the ordeal.

This February was meant to be one of the happiest moments of Richard Brandon and his partner's lives. After 15 years together, everything was set for them to fly to New York and tie the knot, instead they were forced to postpone everything they had dutifully organized and remain in isolation in their Beijing home, foregoing family, friends, and wedding. For many, that experience alone – with or without the backdrop of a virus sending the world into chaos – would have been crushing. However, the couple hasn't let forced seclusion put a damper on their time together or their hopes to eventually get married. Here Brandon (pictured above right) tells us how they've been staying busy and sane.

Can you first tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
My name is Richard Brandon, 43 years old, from the small town of St. Albans in England. I have been living and working in Beijing since November 2009. My work brought me to China – I work for Beijing Haidian International School. I personally like it here because the lifestyle is great; it gives me superb flexibility and quite frankly the cost of living is reasonably low compared to back in England. I enjoy my close set of Chinese and foreign friends and how we share a similar set of values. I also enjoy the speed of life here; new stuff is happening all the time, new activities, new things, and new challenges for me. It seems that when one door closes about five doors open and the opportunities here are far greater than back home. Beijing is my second home, and I really love living here. My partner is from Beijing and we’ve been together for quite a few years. 

Would you consider yourself safe, sane, safe and sane, or other? Why?
Oh, I absolutely feel safe in Beijing, much safer than anywhere else in the world. Honestly, I don’t think there's anywhere comparable in the world where the same sort of measures to contain the virus have been taken. I am quite happy the way things have unfolded. It’s just the amount of time we all have to spend in self-quarantine is way too longer than we expected, so it does sort of get on your nerves but there’s nothing much we can do.

We were due to fly to New York on Feb 3 for our wedding and all the arrangements were made when two days before our flights we were told that they were canceled due to the travel advisory from the United States. We were sad for a while but then soon realized that things worked out for the best. Now we spend most of our time at home, cooking, playing board games, and going out for food shopping every four days. Other than that, there’s not much we can do. Starting Feb 17, I have been teaching online so that keeps me busy and after four weeks of self-quarantining, we're more used to it and don’t feel as crazy as we did in the beginning.

Has the virus disrupted your travel plans or those of your loved ones?
Oh certainly, yes, this outbreak has definitely disrupted our wedding plans. We’ve been planning our wedding for almost a year now and we had already bought our rings, arranged the wedding, bought air tickets, and when we were told that we couldn’t fly, it was extremely heartbreaking and saddening but there was nothing we could do but wait for the better opportunity. So living together for 15 years and finally when we about to get married and it was all canceled, we were quite disappointed. I guess it was meant to be that way. 

How have you been spending your time since the outbreak? How has your life changed or not changed on account of the situation?
I guess like most people, we have been cooking at home since the outbreak, we play board games and have watched loads of movies and catching up with friends online. We've probably put on weight in the last four weeks. 

Has the situation affected your work or business? If so, how?
I don’t think it has affected me personally since I have been working online, however, my partner’s business has been affected since he’s involved in the media industry. 

Have there been any unexpected “upsides” to this whole situation?
Not really, though I accept the situation we are in. I now work online, which is not the best way to teach and I'm unable to buy masks, but other than that, it's ok.

Which resources (online or real-life) have proved the most useful to you during this time? 
Most of our information comes from official channels and local TV. We’ve also been following official sources like Beijing government websites, and obviously the Beijinger. We are also following the BBC and CGTN. 

What's one thing that you've done that has saved you a lot of hassle/time/insanity?
Both of us have been doing lots of exercise at home, cooking, and reading books, which has kept us sane and optimistic.

What do you most look forward to doing once all of this has blown over?
We are looking forward to meeting our friends once this is over. I don’t know how it will feel to go out without wearing a mask. Though we mostly use our own car, it will likely take some time for us to feel normal since this has affected many of us mentally, however, we definitely look forward to going out and living a normal life again.

Want to share your story? Send an email to editor@thebeijinger.com.

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Photos courtesy of Richard Brandon