1 minute read
margins team editing design
$3 $3 design leads: elayna lei & rachel qu judy chen | marie cheng | emily dieu aida guo | sebin jeon | vicky jin | aj kochuba miriam shams-rainey | ei ei swe | erika wang ruby wang | celine wei | ellen zeng | nichole zhang
$3 $3 outreach leads: carina lei & celine wei aida guo | elayna lei | amber park rachel qu | hannah zhang | annie zhang
Advertisement
$3
The sudden and unprepared change of Covid policy in China took away my grandpa. Being on one of the first flights under the new policy back home in mid January, I witnessed a historical moment after three years and counting of death, pain, and absurdity.
After 30 hours of travel from Chapel Hill, I reunited with my grandma in Hefei. She suffered from every long-COVID symptom and the grief for losing her partner of 60 years. I planned shopping adventures to distract her from thinking about grandpa.
A fancy supermarket, 盒马, was one of many stores that immediately opened after the policy turn. There, my grandma wandered between shelves filled with fancy packaged goods, besides thrilled kids who grew up during COVID lockdowns. She relied on my mom to navigate and was confused by the self-checkout system. To save 1 yuan on a plastic bag, grandma insisted on carrying a heavy bottle of beverage all the way home. I was heartbroken for capturing her helplessness.
Then we went to her “natural habitat” — a traditional market — before 立春 (the beginning of spring) to get spring roll skins. When we witnessed an elderly customer failing to pay with a mobile app, I thought about the elders who weren’t able to leave home, order groceries in lockdowns, or even get on buses due to technical problems. One of the last messages my grandpa sent on WeChat was: “We need to do PCR tests every day [to maintain a green health code], unstoppingly. When will this ever come to an end.” But all of those suddenly lost their meaning.
When the previous customer’s app payment finally went through, grandma paid with cash delightfully. Then she held her friend’s hand, and strutted away.
With the fresh veggies and skins, she made me the best spring rolls.
