Chinese whispers
Thursday 26th March – 7pm
Word arrives from China. Last Summer we hosted an English teacher from China. It was lovely. She was a delight. When things went coronavirus-shaped I got in touch to commiserate, to hope she and her family were okay and to wish her the best. They were rather overwhelmed. Very touched that we should have remembered them and asked after them. They live, it turns out, in a town just down the road from Wuhan, the very epicentre of the outbreak. I had not realised. Furthermore her husband works on the front line as a public health doctor. They have one daughter.
After a few exchanges there was a sudden hiatus. Everything went quiet.
I feared the worst, but finally things sprang back to life. It seems their internet is intermittent. Some of their replies have been tardy, some have not got through at all. However, this latest message, sent on their 50th day of lockdown shows them to be in good shape. Politics is never far away and the anti-Trump sentiment is not hard to miss.
She says: "It's really frustrating that we won't be completely safe until the vaccine is available." She adds: "...don't be too nervous." "You know, immunity is very important in fighting the virus, so it's important to have a healthy diet and enough sleep. But social distancing is really important. It's better to remain at home as much as you can before things get much better." The government here would obviously go along with all that.
She goes on: "Actually, during the past 50 days we stuck at home, buying daily necessities online, except going to see a doctor. Since all the cities in Hubei were under strick lockdown, people from all over the country kept donating all kinds of things to Hubei, especially Wuhan, where the situiation was the worst. They got all kinds of donations, ranging from medical equipment, sanitation supplies, vegetables, fruit, to milk, meat and so on. So during such a long lockdown period, we weren't short of daily necessities."
Then there comes a bit where she takes Donald Trump to task.
"The disease was first found in China, but where the virus came from is indeed not clear. Many victims in America who were thought to have died from the flu are now believed to die from COVID-19. It's outrageous that Trump and his group chose China as their scapegoat for their incompetence and irresponsibility in containing the pandemic, still labelling COVID-19 as Chinese virus even now and his politicians asking for China's compensation and claiming all the products from China are contaminated."
Finallly, with rant over, she ends with one final dig at the US and warmer sentiments for the rest of the world. "It's hoped that the whole world can work together for a better world instead of keeping a country great at the cost of the suffering of others. For the moment, let's pray more lives can be saved. Take care of yourself and best wishes."
A day or so later she sent an audio message that was 9 minutes long, but arrived as six seconds of silence. Interfered with? Or just a computer glitch? Who knows. It is just good to know that they are all okay at the moment, and that they are feisty as hell. That's the best news that's come out of the coronavirus event so far.
Word arrives from China. Last Summer we hosted an English teacher from China. It was lovely. She was a delight. When things went coronavirus-shaped I got in touch to commiserate, to hope she and her family were okay and to wish her the best. They were rather overwhelmed. Very touched that we should have remembered them and asked after them. They live, it turns out, in a town just down the road from Wuhan, the very epicentre of the outbreak. I had not realised. Furthermore her husband works on the front line as a public health doctor. They have one daughter.
After a few exchanges there was a sudden hiatus. Everything went quiet.
I feared the worst, but finally things sprang back to life. It seems their internet is intermittent. Some of their replies have been tardy, some have not got through at all. However, this latest message, sent on their 50th day of lockdown shows them to be in good shape. Politics is never far away and the anti-Trump sentiment is not hard to miss.
She says: "It's really frustrating that we won't be completely safe until the vaccine is available." She adds: "...don't be too nervous." "You know, immunity is very important in fighting the virus, so it's important to have a healthy diet and enough sleep. But social distancing is really important. It's better to remain at home as much as you can before things get much better." The government here would obviously go along with all that.
She goes on: "Actually, during the past 50 days we stuck at home, buying daily necessities online, except going to see a doctor. Since all the cities in Hubei were under strick lockdown, people from all over the country kept donating all kinds of things to Hubei, especially Wuhan, where the situiation was the worst. They got all kinds of donations, ranging from medical equipment, sanitation supplies, vegetables, fruit, to milk, meat and so on. So during such a long lockdown period, we weren't short of daily necessities."
Then there comes a bit where she takes Donald Trump to task.
"The disease was first found in China, but where the virus came from is indeed not clear. Many victims in America who were thought to have died from the flu are now believed to die from COVID-19. It's outrageous that Trump and his group chose China as their scapegoat for their incompetence and irresponsibility in containing the pandemic, still labelling COVID-19 as Chinese virus even now and his politicians asking for China's compensation and claiming all the products from China are contaminated."
Finallly, with rant over, she ends with one final dig at the US and warmer sentiments for the rest of the world. "It's hoped that the whole world can work together for a better world instead of keeping a country great at the cost of the suffering of others. For the moment, let's pray more lives can be saved. Take care of yourself and best wishes."
A day or so later she sent an audio message that was 9 minutes long, but arrived as six seconds of silence. Interfered with? Or just a computer glitch? Who knows. It is just good to know that they are all okay at the moment, and that they are feisty as hell. That's the best news that's come out of the coronavirus event so far.
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