Note: This post is a continuation of the story started in the previous post. You can read it here.
At last, a lift arrived for me. I was bid goodbye by the handsome hotel manager and had the level two button pressed for me by a gloved and masked hotel employee. I journeyed upwards alone.
I glanced around the small box on my short ride and noticed some friendly artwork taped to one of the walls, created perhaps by a fellow isolator, perhaps by a hotel employee. It made me smile.
The doors opened on level two and I was immediately greeted by another hotel employee. She showed me where I could leave my luggage and then pointed me through a pair of doors on my right. As I moved toward them, she returned to her post by the elevators and started greeting the next arrival.
Aside perhaps from the guy pushing the lift button, she had the least complex job of anyone I encountered throughout the whole process. Still, I was impressed with how well she did it. She greeted me cheerfully, despite the late hour. She communicated very clearly and took care to ensure I understood her, even though I must have been the hundredth bedraggled traveler she’d directed that day. And she made me feel exceptionally welcome, all while performing a job that put her at risk of being exposed to Covid-19.
Anyway, through the doors was a spacious ballroom with high ceilings. Along one wall were four tables, each with a transparent plastic screen in front so that isolators could be safely consulted by hotel staff. Along another wall was a station for the nurses, who were taking everybody’s temperature. In the centre of the room there were four rows of four chairs each, spaced about four metres apart. I was given a clipboard with three sets of papers on it and led to one of the chairs.
The first set of papers was for the Ministry of Health. It asked where I’d come from, where I planned on going after my 14 days of isolation, and how I would get there. The second set of papers was about our meals. There was a menu for each of the seven days of the week that offered three options each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dare I say I had fun filling in this one? At least, in a whole day of form-filling, it was definitely the most enjoyable.
I handed both of those forms in to an employee at one of the screened tables. He talked me through what to expect during my stay, gave me a booklet detailing all of the rules, and then handed me the keys to my room.
The third set of papers was to be my health record for the 14 days I’m here. I filled in some basic information about myself and took it over to the nurses, who took my temperature, noted it in my record, and then filed the record away to be updated on subsequent visits. They informed me that I needed to come back to level two every day for a temperature and general health check.
I left the ballroom with a little bounce in my step, eager to pick up my luggage and head straight to my room.
However, another Ministry of Health employee was blocking my path. She was apparently used to dealing with tired and frustrated people at this point as she apologised for stopping me and promised me that she was the very last step in the process. I tried my best to give her a smile that said, “Don’t worry. I’m not upset at all. It’s not your fault. I get it. You’re just doing your job. I appreciate you.” I was a bit tired to attempt such a verbose smile but she seemed encouraged.
She informed me that I’d need to come back to the ballroom for a meeting with the Ministry at 4pm the following day and handed me a little paper with instructions about what to bring and a reminder of the time to be there.
Now, if you’re tired of reading about all of this tediousness, imagine how tired I was after going through it. Also, if you’re tired of reading about this, you can blame my family for telling me that this was a fascinating story that I should write about. Also, thank you for reading this far 🙂
Future entries will be more interesting, at least in my humble opinion. I mean, you at least want to come back to hear about the food don’t you?