Yesterday my boss decided to close the stores.
On Saturday we had our last event: what was supposed to be the opening reception for the newest art exhibition. However, with coronavirus fears we decided to make it a virtual tour via Instagram live. I was nervous that people might show up, not having gotten the message that the in-person reception was canceled, but no one did.
Originally the curator was going to have an after-party at a nearby bar, but obviously that was canceled too. Instead she was kind enough to treat a small group of us to dinner. The bar was super cute and also super empty. We were the only ones there, and it felt all weird. However, it was still fun in a way and the food was yummy.
I went to work yesterday and everything was strange. The area was just deserted and of course we had no customers. Finally that afternoon my boss decided it would be safer to close up shop temporarily.
I was anxious to stock up on groceries. The Whole Foods and Duane Reade near me were pretty much cleaned out. I heard that the Chinatown grocery stores were well-stocked because, well, racism so I went there after work. They had a lot but not as much as I was hoping. I wanted to get a zillion bags of frozen dumplings, but there were only three left. I snagged those and also got two boxes of Japanese curry (cheaper than at the Japanese grocery store I like), one big bag of instant matcha latte (also cheaper than the Japanese grocery store), and four pork zongzi. Anxiously I hightailed it back home.
I’m a little worried about not seeing anyone for a whole week. I’ll have to make an effort for a change to stay in touch with people.