Sharon Au On Why She Came Back To Singapore To Vote, Her COVID-19 Swabbing Experience, And The Story Behind Her Kitten’s Unusual Name

Fortunately, they were very apologetic and quickly made arrangements to get Sharon on the next available flight to Singapore, which was only three days later. “I looked at the date and went ahead since I saw that I would be back in time for the election. If not, I would have just been like ‘Ah, forget it’ and stayed in Paris.”

No diva tantrums were thrown over that huge blunder, by the way. Not that we would have expected the affable 44-year-old to do such a thing. “At first I was a bit lost, standing there with my three luggages, but I had already told myself to be ready for anything since it’s not a normal time to be travelling.”

If you’re thinking, why not vote in Paris? Well, there were no polling stations there, which came as a shock to Sharon. The nearest one was in London, so she could have actually just taken a two-hour-plus Eurostar train ride over instead of spending over half a day in the air. But why didn’t she?

“When I was reading the travel guidelines, I learned that at that point, London required all travellers from France to be quarantined for 14 days at their own cost,” she explained. “I did the calculations and while coming back to Singapore wasn’t necessarily cheaper, the prices were comparable. And besides, I would finally get to see my mum and satisfy my hawker food cravings!”

What’s more, as Sharon had left Singapore for Paris before the travel restrictions were implemented, her quarantine and COVID-19 test will be fully paid for by the government.

Sharon is now about halfway through her two-week quarantine and she had just gone for a COVID-19 swab test the day before which, as she recalled, was quicker and less unpleasant than she had imagined, no thanks to horror stories from some of her friends who had done it before.

“There was no pain, and I wouldn’t even call it discomfort,” she said. “It just felt ticklish when they poked the long cotton swab up each nostril, and it was over before I knew it. I was expecting some drama, you know, but it was surprisingly uneventful!”

In fact, the most interesting part was the questions she was asked before the swab test, which included “Have you had nose surgery?” and “Have you had surgery on other parts of your face?”

“I said, ‘Oh, no, I was born with natural beauty’,” she guffawed. As hilarious as ever.

While Sharon feels physically fine, she is aware that people can be asymptomatic carriers without knowing it, so she has mentally prepared herself for any bad news when the results are out after three or four days.

8 DAYS: How’s quarantine going for you so far?
SHARON AU: It’s very luxurious! Not only is there a view, but the three meals I get each day are so sumptuous and well-balanced. There’s always three different dishes with rice, fruits, snacks, and desserts, which is an even more complete meal than my usual intake. I even had to call room service to ask to reduce the quantity ‘cos I couldn’t finish everything, but they said, “Oh no, we cannot do that. The meals are intended to give you a balanced diet and keep you healthy.” So cute, right? And we get six choices for every meal: Chinese, western, local, vegetarian, and two halal options. I always go for local or Chinese ‘cos I’m deprived. (Laughs)

What’s the most difficult part of being under quarantine?
Actually, none ‘cos I have already been confined in Paris, so this lifestyle started in March and [staying in] has become the new way of life for everybody. I don’t even need to go out to procure food since it’s being delivered. So to me, it’s a luxury.

I also don’t get bored ‘cos I’m still working every day. I didn’t need to take leave ‘cos we’ve been working from home anyway. In the first place, a lot of my partners and clients are based all around Europe, so we’ve been conducting conference calls even before the pandemic. It’s nothing new and in fact, I feel like overall, productivity has improved. At least for me.

Tell us about how you voted in GE2020.
After I checked into the hotel, I asked how I could vote since I received my polling card, and they said not to worry about it ‘cos the voting committee would be going from room to room in their PPE gear with the ballot box, and true enough, that’s what happened! It was a very good setup and it was such an experience, and I’m very glad that everything went through without any hiccups.

View this post on Instagram

Just in time. Came back to vote. The election team went from room to room for us under quarantine to vote. Proud to be a Singaporean. #GE2020

A post shared by Sharon Au (@sharonau13) on Jul 10, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

So how long will you be in Singapore?
I’ll be here until the end of August ‘cos it’s the summer holidays in France. Initially, my plan was to drive from Paris to the South of France and spend a month by the sea, going to vineyards, and just chilling, since we can’t travel much anyway. But now that plans have changed, I’m just going to chill at home with my mum and at the same time, I get to spend National Day and my birthday here as well.

Have you thought of the first thing you’re going to do when you finish your quarantine?
I’ll visit my mum. My goal for this trip, other than to vote, is to spend some quality time with her ‘cos I was actually very worried when I was in Paris. A lot of worst-case scenarios kept coming into my mind like, what if my mum were to fall ill and I couldn’t visit her. I just felt like life is so fragile.

How is she?
She’s okay but I’m also worried about the dengue outbreak! My mum lives in a high-risk area where they do fogging every week, so on top of COVID-19, there’s also the threat of dengue.

Does that mean you won’t be meeting your friends?
Well, there won’t be the usual parties, events, and engagements to attend, so less socialising but more spending time with your loved ones and the more important people in your life. And I think I’ve seen this change in perspective among my friends during this period as well.

Just last month, I lost a very close friend of mine, Nigel [Woo, of Passion Hair Salon], who was my hairstylist for 15 years. He just passed away within a few weeks of his diagnosis of lung cancer, and that was like a trigger point ‘cos he was the last person I saw before I left for Paris in February. And that day, I promised him that when I come back, I would go straight to the salon to let him colour my hair before I go for any media events. Those weren’t even long-term plans, you know, and he passed away like that. It was a very difficult time.

We’re so sorry for your loss. On a happier note, I saw you adopted a new kitten! Where is he now?
My two very kind Taiwanese friends are staying in my apartment to help take care of him and we FaceTime every day… not that it matters to [the kitten]. It just makes me feel better, as if we’re bonding, but he doesn’t care. (Laughs) And he loooves my two friends, they’re so close now!

How does it feel to leave him behind so soon after adopting him?
(Sighs) It’s the timing. I never expected the call for elections ‘cos it was so last minute, right? But I definitely couldn’t bear to leave him. On the day I left, I was still holding them while waiting for the lift and my friends were like, “Are you going to leave him or not?”

Now, I finally know why my friends kept posting pictures of their babies on Facebook. (Laughs) I used to feel very annoyed by it, but now I completely understand. When I took the kitten home from the shelter at eight weeks old and was just looking into his eyes on the way home, I already felt like I was going to love him forever. So now I suddenly understand that unconditional love and whole motherhood mentality and how this baby is just perfect in your eyes.

What’s your kitten’s name?
Okay, so here’s the thing. I called him Udon, but in France, there is a system where, when you register your pet, its name has to start with the letter that’s been allocated for the year it was born for the purpose of making it easy to identify its age. In 2020, the letter is ‘R’, but I already called him Udon, so when I was registering him, I just added an R at the front and he became… Rudon. (Guffaws)

When my friends heard that, they wanted to kill me. They said, “How could you do this to your baby!? Just call him Ramen or something that makes sense lah!” but I said, it’s either Rudon or Rubbish, which were the only 2 R’s I could think of at the time!

My friend, whose cat I’ve been cat-sitting, is called Murphy, but he wasn’t born in the year of the ‘M’. He was born in the year of the ‘O’. So I asked why she calls him Murphy, and she said, “The trick is, just write the letter in front of the name on the certificate.” So he became O’Murphy! (Laughs) I’m like, 'Wah, your cat is Irish ah?' So actually my Rudon’s name is not very hilarious.

Photos: Sharon Au/Instagram