Beijing Bunker: "We're 'Real Insiders' to the Coronavirus: We Stay Inside a Lot"

As Beijing enters its third 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.

And now... a double act! Regular readers will recognize Tautvile "Vee" Daugelaite as the author of regular the Beijinger columns like Trending in Beijing and Throwback Thursday. The Lithuanian expat has been living, studying and writing her own brand of delightfully vivid and colorful anecdotes in China for the last four years. Her boyfriend, Mads "The Danish Prince" Vesterager Nielsen farewelled the silver mountains and frequent rainfalls of the Nordics five years ago and has been a Beijing resident ever since. He works as the GM of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in between exploring far-flung corners of the PRC on his trusted motorbike.

What brought you guys to China?
Tautvile Daugelaite: As many millennials will understand, I was struggling with not seeing projects through to the end (a baker today, a musician tomorrow, and who knows what next week) and I was looking to get better at Chinese, which I had been studying for a year at university. Let’s just say it is still a work in progress. For the last few years, I have been writing about social media, trends, food, and travel in China.
Mads Vesterager Nielsen: A hopeless opportunist, I sought luck in the world's second-largest economy, but I stayed because of delicious Shanxi noodles and mouthwatering dumplings.

Would you consider yourself safe, sane, safe and sane, or other? Why?
Daugelaite: I would say safe and sane.
Nielsen: Safe, but the amount of in-jokes is reaching dangerous levels.
Daugelaite: Way too many. Otherwise, our humble hutong castle has been a great shelter in which to weather the quarantine.

Has the virus disrupted your travel plans or those of your loved ones? How has your life in general changed on account of the situation?
Nielsen: I literally wrote an article about how the virus obstructed my travel plans [Ed: Nielsen had to cut short a road-trip to conduct research for a musical project called “Songs of the Chinese Frontiers”], so yeah, there have been pretty significant disruption.
Daugelaite: We have definitely gotten more involved in the local affairs of our courtyard (or the locals have gotten more involved in our affairs). Now we have to send an SMS to the courtyard representative if anyone feels feverish or if we have friends coming over.

How have you been spending your time since the outbreak?
Nielsen: I finally got Tautvile to watch all the Star Wars movies – and fortunately, she liked them. We watched them in the only possible sequence: IV, V, VI, I II, II.
Daugelaite: Our kitchen has been transformed into the Great British Bake Off: cinnamon buns, Danish rye bread, burger buns, malatang – you name it. I don’t think we have ever cooked so many time-consuming dishes.

Has the situation affected your work?
Nielsen: Now I am running a steady 9-5 from our kitchen table interrupted by frequent snacks and the mandatory TV show watching.
Daugelaite: We actually switch offices every other day, the other one is on the sofa.

Have there been any unexpected "upsides"?
Daugelaite: I have written most of my master thesis in over a week. We both have also become a hot commodity for the TV stations and newspapers in our respective home nations because we're "real insiders" (as in, we stay inside a lot).
Nielsen: We speak fake Danish to each other.
Daugelaite: Oh, and I started making double-fermentation ginger-apple kombucha and it has been a very popular product in the household.

Which resources have proved the most useful to you during this time?
Daugelaite: The Beijinger, naturally. I was trying to get some healthy fear into Mads when he was driving back to Beijing from Sichuan in the early days of an outbreak by quoting the rising numbers.
Nielsen: My new Nintendo 64 that I bought when the mid-quarantine crisis hit.

What's one thing that you've done that has saved you a lot of hassle/time/insanity?
Daugelaite: Actually enjoying it. When is there ever a holiday where you can binge TV, organize clothes, and cook for hours on end guilt-free? Just trying to make the best out of it.
Nielsen: Hanging out by the courtyard gate and chatting with the local bird guy. I wear a mask, he doesn’t.

What do you most look forward to doing once all of this has blown over?
Daugelaite: Resuming workout classes. All this food is not doing me much good. I guess the average BMI of Beijingers will be slightly higher when all of this is over.
Nielsen: Driving into the sunset on the Mongolian steppe and getting more vitamin D since my ginger skin is longing for some freckles.

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

READ: Being Stuck in the States as the Coronavirus Unfolds

Images courtesy of Tautvile Daugelaite and Mads Vesterager Nielsen