Truth be told...

...I remember very little about living through SARS in Hong Kong. Like every other sane person, I wore a surgical mask on my way to and from work everyday. And since I was working as a teacher, I had to keep the mask on during most of my workdays as well. Updates on confirmed cases and death toll then read like news on the Hang Seng Index last September. And with the exception of maybe a few bars in Lan Kwai Fong, a giant black cloud hovered over the city.

What I do remember is how I lost my job. I had handed in my resignation in December 2002 when I realized I wasn't going to make a career out of my first full-time job. But because another teacher had given her notice around the same time, and the owner is a friend’s friend, I offered to stay on till they found replacements. I was subsequently given some administrative duties that were supposed to give me hands-on experience outside of teaching and get me interested in staying longer. April came and schools faced mandatory closure for a month in an effort to contain SARS. However, all of three teachers including myself, along with the receptionist, were told to continue going in full-time even though there was no class to teach. With the endless amount of time we had every day, we prepped for classes through to the end of the decade, we played Scrabble, we exchanged life stories. No class, no income, someone had to go. And since my resignation letter was already conveniently in the owner’s hands, they didn’t even have to compensate me. My extended notice period was repaid with an order for immediate departure. The only thing more ridiculous than that was the owner calling me up a few months later asking me to go back to work for her. I had to suture my lips shut just so I wouldn’t tell her to put hers on my buttocks.

I was never one to stock up on canned goods when the typhoons hit, or rice before the price hikes, but for the past two days I went on a hunt for surgical masks. Mannings was out of stock. A staff at Park n’ Shop told me though they don’t normally carry surgical masks they just might start selling them in a few days. The local pharmacy downstairs my place had a waiting list for individually packaged masks selling at $100 for 60. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the last box of 30 adult-size surgical masks at Japan Home, which I’m ready to resell to good friends in need ― for a small profit, of course.

My travel plans have been put on hold since the announcement of confirmed swine flu cases in Canada. But since it's only a matter of time before there'd be confirmed cases in Hong Kong too and this is going to be a global pandemic, does it really matter where I spend my summer?