Blogaround

1. Behind viral photo of Rep. Andy Kim cleaning up at midnight after riots (posted January 8) "When he finally did walk around the rotunda — his favorite and arguably the most storied room of the building — the disarray left him speechless. Water bottles, broken furniture, tattered Trump flags and pieces of body armor and clothing were strewn on the marble floor as if it were an abandoned parking lot."

2. 'If I would have known then what I know now, I would have never stepped foot in the NFL' (posted January 17) "The Raiders settled for $1.25 million in September 2014, paying cheerleaders from 2010 - 2014 what they were owed back in wages." 

3. Chinese New Year- the biggest holiday of the year here- is the week of February 12. This year, the government is recommending that people don't travel, due to the pandemic. China has been doing extremely well this whole year, close to 0 cases on a day-to-day basis (not counting the imported ones- but all international travelers are required to quarantine, so those cases get caught before they can spread), but with a few outbreaks here and there. (For example, I am in Shanghai- Shanghai had 7 locally-transmitted COVID cases in November, which was a BIG DEAL, and then none since then.) The authorities respond to any COVID case with very strict lockdowns and quarantines, and so we are doing well and life is mostly "back to normal" except that we have to wear masks, and can't travel.

Schools in Shanghai have requirements that students can't come to school if they or their family members have come from other cities within the past 14 days. HR at my job sent an email about what kind of quarantine and COVID-testing you need to do if you travel to a "medium risk" or "high risk" area within China during the new year holiday.

So yeah we are staying in Shanghai.

It's new year, it's the biggest holiday in China, so I think there will be people travelling, but definitely less than a normal year.