Lunar New Year is coming soon, and since the beginning of the new year, COVID-19 cases have started to rise again in Taiwan. However, the situation is not as serious as in Europe or America, where there are several thousand cases each day (Poland, for example, has over 40,000 cases daily). Initially, we had very few cases, less than 10. It slowly grew to 20-30 cases per day, until last Saturday (01/22) when there were 82 local cases, with other days still around 40. These case counts only include local cases, not those coming from abroad. So the total number of cases in Taiwan is close to or over 100 per day.
The government still states that everything is under control, as all local cases can be traced back to their origins. However, with the upcoming long holiday of 9 days for Lunar New Year (01/29 - 02/06), the number of cases could increase, and there may be more restrictions for us. Some schools have already switched to online learning, and some workplaces have implemented split shifts to limit contact between employees, with some even adopting work-from-home arrangements. My husband's workplace has divided employees into two groups working in shifts from 8 AM to 4 PM and 5 PM to 1 AM.
Unfortunately, on 01/25-01/26, we also had two COVID-19 cases in Shanhua. I was just playing in the park with my child when two people on scooters arrived and sprayed the area with alcohol. Due to this, in the last two days before the holiday, my husband decided to work from home. Hopefully, after the holidays, life will return to normal and not be like May 2021 when everyone started working from home, which lasted for three months.
It's only January, but this year already seems challenging. It's not just COVID-19; our fridge has also broken down, just a week before the holidays when I had some cake orders. The landlord won't fix the fridge as it's too expensive, but we will be getting a new one in a few days. Initially, the shop told us they could deliver it on Sat 01/29, which is already a holiday, and I would have had to cancel all my orders. We asked our neighbor for help to store our food, but he's going back to Hualien for the New Year holidays, so if the fridge arrives too late, we won't have a place to keep it. Luckily, we negotiated, and our fridge arrived at the beginning of this week. We had planned to buy our own and had already made a reservation at the shop. However, once the landlord knew her fridge couldn't be fixed, she offered to pay for the one we bought, as she wouldn't need to do the shopping herself.
And just like every year, when one thing breaks, others seem to follow suit. Our mixer is also on the verge of dying. It started making strange sounds, just like last year when it reached the end of its warranty and stopped working. I feel like there aren't many options when it comes to finding a more powerful hand mixer. Most of the ones available in Taiwan are not very powerful (around 100-150W, sometimes even less). The one I bought was 350W, which is why we keep buying the same one when it reaches the end of its lifespan. Some brands have enough power, but their attachments are very fragile. I had one mixer that survived, but the strip beaters broke. Unfortunately, attachments cannot be purchased separately.
At the end of 2021, we also wrote our business plan as part of a government program for foreigners. We could only participate once and had to use both my name and our son's name. There are four categories to choose from, and we opted for the business category. We had to provide our story and explain our plans to grow the business. We also had to specify what we needed to purchase and why, including the amount of money required. Everything had to be written in Chinese, but if you are in Taiwan, you can inquire at your local foreign bureau for more details. There is a limited number of subsidies available, so we are unsure if we will be lucky enough to receive it or not. We would like to have a bigger fridge, an oven, and a more powerful mixer, but what I need the most is a bigger kitchen 😂 and, of course, more people ordering cakes. It's not an easy time for my business, as sales have decreased while costs have increased. With higher prices, there are even fewer customers than before. I wish life could go back to what it was like two years ago.
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