AI-FIRST
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AI Engineering
01.08.2021
⏱ 8 min min read
Diary of a VVer's days as an F2
V
Nguyễn Văn Minh — CTO / AI Lead
Vareal Vietnam
In the peaceful days
Before Hanoi was under lockdown, the hustle and bustle of life and the relentless work schedule swept me along day after day. Every morning I woke up early, prepared breakfast and packed lunch to take to the office. After breakfast, I rushed through congested streets, my mind rarely at ease as I worried about being late for check-in.
My company’s working hours were from 8 am to 5 pm. Luckily, my colleagues were not only talented but also enthusiastic and humorous. Therefore, the 8 hours of work at the company weren’t too stressful.
After work, I would rush back into the crowds to get home quickly. Evenings were a series of cooking, taking care of the family, cleaning until late at night, personal hygiene, and then going to bed to recharge for the next workday.
This routine continued, seemingly an unchangeable habit. Until Covid arrived, disrupting my life and everyone else’s.
I feel so lucky that the company made the decision to let us work from home before Hanoi implemented social distancing measures, so everyone had time to bring their equipment home and get ready to continue working. It would have been even luckier if there hadn’t been any COVID-19 cases in my building, and if I hadn’t accidentally run into a COVID-19 case when we passed each other in the elevator.
And so my 14-day quarantine began on a Saturday morning.
My entire apartment building was quarantined, with no one allowed in or out. Even households were prohibited from interacting with each other. Houses locked themselves in self-isolation. So, our whole floor created a group chat to check on each other. We’d never exchanged so much information before 🙂. We’d never known each other or cared about each other so much.
At first, I was very worried, because I was right in the epicenter of the outbreak, and moreover, this new Covid virus was said to be much more potent than the old one. F1 contacts could easily become F0 contacts, so I could easily become an F1 contact too. So many questions swirled in my head: Will my F1 contact become an F0 contact? Will the situation be under control? Will I be healthy enough to fight it off? What will I do if I have to stay in my room for 14 days?
But thinking and worrying endlessly won’t solve the current situation. It’s better to accept reality and plan to use the quarantine time to do something more useful, right?
Yeah! I have a series of plans that I haven’t been able to find time to do for a long time, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to complete them. And I immediately started working on them…
What to do during quarantine?
I’ve been researching more about a scientific diet. I’ve realized that only when the body is supplied with enough nutrients can it function correctly. Only when the body is healthy and has good resistance can it fight off viruses. Because I no longer have to spend time commuting, I can now dedicate more time before and after work to making meals more appealing and delicious. You see: during the pandemic, meals are served on individual plates, with people having to “isolate” each other, not sitting together at the same table like the age-old Vietnamese custom.
Despite being confined to the house and food supplies dwindling, especially vegetables, I still try to make the most of what I have to ensure my meals are as nutritious and colorful as possible. And here’s a little secret: I recently learned about the nutritional value of different colors of fruits and vegetables: White foods are good for bones, green for cells, red for the heart, orange for the immune system/eyes, and purple for the brain.
Besides a healthy diet, exercise is also a way to relieve stress, improve physical and mental fitness, and help me not only look better but also become more persistent and patient. I knew this before, but it was difficult to do it regularly. Now I have plenty of time to exercise every day, especially since I have a fantastic personal trainer right at home.
Some of my lovely colleagues also wanted to improve their health, so we started exercising online every weekend, encouraging each other to stay strong and resilient through our computer screens. This mutual encouragement and support while in isolation is truly a valuable source of motivation for everyone.
Besides my colleagues with whom I share daily experiences, I also have an incredibly wonderful source of motivation from my family. When only my wife and I were stuck in Hanoi, I felt fortunate that my parents and children had managed to move back to our hometown, a place that was still safe. At the end of each day, before going to bed, we spent an hour video calling each other, sharing our concern through the phone, and recounting the events that had happened around us. Just that alone was enough to end my quarantine day with small joys.
Conclusion
So, my 14 days of quarantine are gradually passing, work is still progressing well, I’m still “meeting” my wonderful colleagues through my computer screen at 8 am and 5 pm every day, and we’re still constantly in contact to discuss project work. If I feel like something is missing right now, it’s only those happy hour sessions on Thursday afternoons 🙂
And I realize that thanks to these 14 days of quarantine, I’ve gained so much: I’m developing a healthier lifestyle that makes me healthier, and I have a more positive mindset when dealing with changes. I have more time to reorganize my plans and care more about those around me. And I believe that with all of that, I and everyone else will soon overcome this pandemic.
Wishing everyone good health, peace, and the ability to turn any difficulty into an opportunity!
Author: T.L.Khuyên
V
Nguyễn Văn Minh — CTO / AI Lead
Vareal Vietnam
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