Ocean of Morality
  • Blog
  • Family
  • Relatives
  • Countries
  • Gallery
  • Guestbook

COVID free

6/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
China continues to try and maintain a COVID-free country. Any small outbreaks are clamped down on immediately with lockdowns (sometimes of whole cities like Shanghai, pop 26m) and mass testing. Here in Kunming, we are far from the current cases in the East, but last week a single infected air passenger arrived from Shanghai. It caused a panic and everywhere suddenly started insisting on QR health code checking and mark-wearing all over again. My own University organises regular tests of all its students and faculty. It's free, unless you want to avoid the queues and get the test done privately. And so far our city still has just the one case, but....

0 Comments

COVID-free?

22/3/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
It's good to see Kindergartens in Kunming
taking COVID prevention so seriously!
0 Comments

On line

16/3/2022

0 Comments

 
I'm amid a second week of online University lessons. Not ideal at all. There are significant COVID outbreaks in various places in China, but mostly in the East - far from us. I think the latest figure for Kunming is 10 cases (in a city of 7 million).
Picture
But the authorities here continue to pursue a "no-COVID" policy, trusting that lockdowns and mass testing will eventually prove more effective than Chinese vaccines and abandoning all preventative measures. That remains to be seen.
0 Comments

March 08th, 2022

8/3/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
I was just about to leave for work at the University yesterday when a text message came through saying, "Do NOT come to YUFE. All lessons this week are to be conducted online".

There was no immediate explanation, but later I heard that a student in another University in Kunming had tested positive for COVID and so all Kunming Universities had to close for 3-4 days.
​This presented me with some problems:
(1) My afternoon lessons were meant to be students doing "debating",
(2) I don't have the software used by the students for online work,
(3) The first lesson was in one hour's time.
So I switched the content to a different - less interactive - lesson, tried to access the relevant software but, after an hour of technical issues, gave up on that and finally sent materials and work tasks to the classes directly to complete by themselves. Not sure how things will play out for the rest of the week....
0 Comments

Testing, testing 1-2-free ...of COVID

8/4/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Had my first COVID test earlier this week (negative) - surprisingly uncomfortable! I am now all clear to travel to PuEr (7 hours by bus) at the weekend to run a workshop for the city's English teachers there.
0 Comments

Happy Moo Year

12/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
So a new year starts in China. We celebrated with a big meal (cooked by Jiajia - Ma is "dying with cancer" again i.e. she has a sore throat),  a visit from Druncle, and JD's fireworks. This time last year we were returning from our holiday in Vietnam and hearing news of a possible new pandemic in China. How things move on....!
0 Comments

Seventh heaven?

12/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Good to see China in the top ten "safest countries to
be living in at this time in the COVID19 pandemic"...
Picture
Picture
...bit worrying to see the UK limping in at number 68.
0 Comments

Mask do better

30/5/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
I've finally finished my first week back at my University doing face-to-face lessons. And I've I managed to overcome all the various hurdles associated with that such as; 
  1. Getting to 7.40am classes on time despite dropping JD off at his school at 7.20am, some 10km away.
  2. Passing temperature checks when entering the University AND every new office or building within it.
  3. Teaching speaking lessons while wearing a mask with 40+ students also all wearing masks.
The students handed in their first proper essays this week. About half were acceptable - the rest had seemingly listened to nothing I've been banging on about online over the last two months. The simplest thing like "having FIVE paragraphs" seems beyond some of them!! Ho-hum!!
Picture
It's hard enough distinguishing students at the best of times, but now...?
1 Comment

Testing times

14/5/2020

0 Comments

 
While the UK Government had to resort to dubious accounting and underhand redefinitions to reach their April target of 100,000 COVID-19 tests a day, the Chinese Government casually announced today that they would be testing all 11 million Wuhan residents in just ten days. That's over a million tests a day! 
Picture
Love them or loathe them, sometimes you've got to admire the Chinese Government's "can do" attitude. When they say they'll do something, they just get on and do it. 
0 Comments

Term returns and germs

6/5/2020

0 Comments

 
JD finally returned to school today after four months of holidays and home-schooling. I've quite enjoyed teaching him English and Maths most mornings, but Jiajia has found it difficult to get him to focus on his Chinese (a subject he finds difficult) and there have been quite a few stressful moments. So we're happy to see the professionals taking over again!
Picture
Some schools in China are helping students to understand social distancing by using home-made hats. Fortunately, no sign of JD having to make one, but he does have to take a handful of masks to school each day. 
0 Comments

Time's zooming by

28/4/2020

0 Comments

 
The global lockdown does have a few positives. We've been meeting together as a family on Zoom every week for a month or more now. It's proven a good way to keep in touch and support each other.
Picture
'Today's meet-up coincided with Andy's 51st Birthday! 
0 Comments

High recognition

22/4/2020

1 Comment

 
This was part of a long and very "Chinese"  speech which appeared on my phone yesterday. It gives an idea of the narrative now being promoted by the Chinese Communist Party as the COVID-19 outbreak here gradually comes under control:  

Picture

1 Comment

Komplete Food Carnage

18/4/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
We treated ourselves to a huge feast today to "celebrate" our 12th week of lockdown. Delivered to our door and dispatched within half an hour - very tasty!
1 Comment

ClassZoomRoom

14/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Like many people these days, my job now involves hosting Zoom sessions. In my case, this is with a few dozen University students at a time, spread across China. It's hard enough to get them to talk face-to-face in a classroom but, when they have various technical excuses at their fingertips, "classes" can end up with an awful lot of silence!
0 Comments

Stick in to the rules

6/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Although we are still largely confined to our neighbourhood, when we do occasionally venture outside, we are starting to see signs of restaurants, parks and museums reopening. Schools and university are still shut though as are half the shops. But the "Fried dough stick" snack bar down the hill from us opened yesterday, so there are definitely some signs of life returning to normal.
0 Comments

Over a million...

4/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

Free at last!

16/3/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
After nearly 8 weeks of self-isolation, we have finally seen the end of the COVID-19 virus in our Yunnan Province (pop: 46m) as the final two infected people were discharged today. Now we watch as the rest of the world faces their own viral challenge.
1 Comment

Advance to Go?

6/3/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
Things are slowly picking up here. We're still supposed to stay at home (or within our neighbourhood at least) but buses and the subway have started up again and there haven't been any new confirmed infections within Yunnan for a few days now. So, maybe some small Advances towards being able to Go out! Meanwhile, JD has been getting homework projects sent through from his school and I've been keeping him busy with Monopoly, making dens and sorting drawers, cupboards and CDs/DVDs. 
1 Comment

Mask do better

29/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
We're in our 4th week of self-quarantine. We venture out into our neighbourhood occasionally to pick up food deliveries or do some exercise, but otherwise we are stuck at home waiting for the worst of COVID-19 to be over. Our Province of Yunnan is one of the least affected places in China, but that doesn't stop my good wife worrying about every possible "one in a million" chance of us catching anything! And to be fair, the advice from police, local government, hospitals and my University is also a pretty strict <STAY AT HOME>. So here we are for now, slowly going crazy!
Picture
JD/Jiajia painting for school
[P.S. Our school entered the above (Jiajia /JD) painting
in a Provincial Competition and, to our surprise, it won!]
0 Comments

Stomach cake

24/2/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
An afternoon spent making a chocolate cake
​which looked better than it tasted to be honest!
Picture
1 Comment

Home work

22/2/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
JD's daily routine throughout this extended virus outbreak "holiday" involves doing 1½ hours of homework each morning (Maths and English with Daddy) and 1½ hours more each afternoon/evening (Chinese with Mummy). He doesn't like it, but he's getting used to it!
1 Comment

Multiple Marble Machine

18/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Two days of junk construction! We have four different routes for the marbles to roll down, all ending in the same collection box. The kids in the neighbourhood loved playing with it once it was finished! This is the sort of thing which happens when you get quarantined for three weeks!!
0 Comments

Plane and simple

16/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Keeping JD occupied and entertained during our weeks of self-quarantine is a strain on the creative juices sometimes! This activity was a board game we made up all about planes and their possible mechanical failures (...JD's current passion!).
0 Comments

See? Seaplane playing

14/2/2020

0 Comments

 
JD's junk seaplane designed and made all by himself!
Picture
0 Comments

Crossing a line

12/2/2020

1 Comment

 
Some parts of the city are slowly opening up again after the Spring Festival break and the Coronavirus shutdown - a few restaurants are open, supermarket shelves are being stocked again, more cars on the roads, even lines being painted down the middle of streets!?
Picture
But the prevailing feeling among the local Chinese here is that the outbreak will get even worse, that it can be spread in almost any way you can imagine, that businesses will go bust, and that we're all going to die....!!
​
Among the foreign community, it is a lot more measured - Yunnan is one of the least affected Provinces, the mortality rate is similar to flu, infected numbers are stabilising, businesses will bounce back and the worst is largely over. Trouble is, despite that attitude being based on facts, you really can't say it! You get accused of downplaying the emergency, of being cavalier in your actions and of not understanding the severity of it all. And it's all tied up with the differing cultures too, which is always a tricky one here. As I've said a lot recently, "Fear wins over Facts"!
1 Comment
<<Previous
    paul hider

    Author

    Paul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there.

    Past blog entries

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009

    Tags

    All
    April Fool
    Basketball
    Birthday
    Blog
    Cal
    Car
    Cataract
    Cemetery
    China
    Chinglish
    Chippenham
    ChongQing
    Christmas
    Competition
    Construction
    Countryside
    COVID
    Crystal & Family
    Dancing Lady
    Dave & Esme
    Den
    Dentist
    Disaster
    Dorta
    Druncle
    Earthquake
    Ebike
    Education
    Everton
    Exams
    Exercise
    Family
    Film
    Fishing
    Flashback
    Food
    Forest
    Fossils
    Friends
    Furniture
    Games
    Geese
    Gym
    Halloween
    Hamsters
    Health
    Heijing
    Holiday
    Home
    Homework
    IELTS
    IKEA
    Illusion
    JD
    Jiajia
    Kindergarten
    Kunming
    Language
    Laos
    Lattitude
    Leaf
    Lego
    Lexulous
    Life
    London
    Ma
    Mandarin
    Me
    Merton
    Minority
    Molly
    Mountain
    Movie
    Museum
    Nancy & Family
    Nanny
    Neighbourhood
    New Flat
    Olympics
    Painting
    Parents
    Park
    Party
    Paul
    Pets
    Police
    Pregnancy
    Primary School
    Private Tuition
    Random
    Random Bus
    Relatives
    Renovation
    R.I.P.
    R.S.L.
    Running
    Schools
    Shenzhen
    Shopping
    Ski
    Sport
    Spring Festival
    Sri Lanka
    Swimming
    Temple
    Tesol
    Thailand
    Theme Park
    Traffic
    Training
    Transport
    Travel
    TV
    UFO
    UK
    University
    Vietnam
    Violence
    Visit
    Vso
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wildlife
    Xishuangbanna
    Yufe
    Yunnan
    Zoo
    Zoom

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.