The shoe is on the other foot

As fear of COVID-19 grips the rest of the world, China seems to have navigated the worst of the crisis and our lives are beginning to return to normal.  Parks and entertainment venues are gradually reopening, the school building is being prepped with a week-long deep clean (along with numerous other steps), and even the traffic is annoying again.  The girls have done well with balancing and handling their e-learning; we've been proud of their work so far and hope that can continue as long as needed.  On top of the school work, we've been trying to make sure Nina learns the times tables; she has now learned how to email her teachers with attachments.

Overall, while we are excited to be turning a corner here in China, it feels weird that what was once the eye of the storm is arguably now the safest place from the virus.  Through stringent measures and a strong collective mindset, China accomplished a great deal in order to help curb the spread.  They are fortunate to be able to miss work for 6 weeks, obtain healthcare for free, and need not worry about their neighbors hoarding toilet paper.  We often talked about how things would go if this happened in the U.S. and we were wrong about some things and right about others.  We are heartened to see that the vast majority of people in the states are doing what they can to contain the spread, and are trying to protect the immune-compromised and the elderly.  We are surprised that America has gone to such lengths as to cancel sporting events, schools, concerts, and other events.  Sadly, we were not surprised to see people purposely ignoring quarantine, getting on flights while infected, rioting in the streets, and we are concerned how the American people will cope if the school and work delays are as prolonged as they have been here.

 

Ultimately, we are hopeful that the U.S. and rest of the world can persevere through this as China and other countries have.  China has 1.4 billion people, and through concerted effort, only 3000 people have perished so far (any loss of life is sad and 3000 is not to be written off, but 3000/1387000000 is a percentage we can aim for).  Korea did not lock down in the same way, but after massive testing (a quarter-million in about a month), their numbers of cured patients are outnumbering the newly infected.  We are encouraged by the global support seen already as China is sending doctors and blood of healed patients to Italy to help their fight and Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, donating half a million testing kits and a million masks to America's fight.

While we were never overly concerned about our own health here due to our age and health, we are deeply sad to see this virus spread to places where we have friends and family with immune deficiencies.  So the shoe is now firmly on the other foot and we are rooting for you and hoping that everyone can remain safe.

Leaping into... our apartment

E-learning continues as it appears the Naks are giving up going to school for Lent this year.  While it's not a set schedule every day, we've gotten better at taking family breaks, going for walks, and playing games like cards, puzzles, bananagrams, frisbee and badminton baseball.

The girls have been working hard and having to use computers a bit more than we'd like.  They have "zoom" sessions throughout the day so they can see and interact with their teachers and classmates, and they have some fun during the calls.  PE lessons have been some of their favorites, nothing like 60 people all dancing and jumping together all over the world!

 

 

With all the device usage, we've had some struggles doing regular activities.  A funny end result occurred when Kara ordered groceries on her phone instead of the computer and we somehow ended up with 13 pounds of cucumbers.  As a school break, the girls had fun going to a bunch of neighbor's apartments and offering free cucumbers as a show of solidarity.  Many of the neighbors were happy and some even offered trades of other fruits and veggies.  The girls are asking for us to order too much next time so they can do it again.

While the number of cases in China is dropping significantly (4 new cases in Shanghai in the last 13 days), we are sad to see that the virus is spreading to so many other parts of the world.