cce blog

Erin's in "jail"

As of 4pm tomorrow my friend Erin in Beidaihe (Qinhuangdao municipality, Hebei province, China) isn't going to be allowed to leave her campus or have any visitors for 3 weeks. She's not clear on exactly why they're implementing this harsh measure -- there haven't been any cases of SARS reported yet in Beidaihe -- but the decision came down from the powers that be in the educational bureacracy and that's that. Roadblocks are being established to allow only local residents into QHD. Apparently Jiang Zemin is already in town, relaxing by the sea, and Hu is rumored to have arrived too.

Erin's understanding is that migrant workers are fleeing Beijing for nearby provinces like Qinhuangdao and these measures are being taken to try to keep them and SARS out. But since there's no good information on what's going on, who knows? In any case, read on for her latest update!

[Again, this is all by Erin, QHD = Qinhuangdao municipality, BDH = Beidaihe]

Stories from "jail" (in the not-so Safest City)

As of 4pm April 30, I will no longer be able to leave my school compound, say nothing of the city limits. The spotty restrictions were originally more lax than I'd been told, since my friends living in QHD seemed able to come up, and could drive across. What I've been told now is that unless you have a residency permit for BDH, you won't be allowed in. Previously, buses had gone unchecked, but apparently now they're inspecting passengers. I'm planning to have friends test this weekend. Since I can't even go out to the beach or other public areas to see them, I'll try to have them come and talk through the gates. Since I'm essentially being held captive, I want to exploit the situation for all it's worth- passing letters and gifts through the wall. I'm going to hang a sign renaming the school, and then have my friends take pictures of the students all penned in behind the iron gate. I am accepting packages in the mail. If there were ever a moment that supporting substance use in order to slip into a different world were in order, this is surely the best I’ve encountered. Too bad they’re out of reach. If anyone wants to risk the mail system, that can be included in care packages. (yes, I’m kidding…sort of).

But I thought you live in the safest city in Asia, you say. It would appear that despite crazy lockdowns in BJ, at least that are being reported, it's a matter of language interpretation. We here of quarantines, and think that they've sealed the building off, so no one with possible exposure could come out. That would be the American interpretation though. The Chinese meaning would be that no one else can go in, but those living there are free to come out. This is the case at Beiwai University in BJ. Teachers living in a quarantined building where a family was apparently infected, are still going out every day to teach class. However, the problem gets worse. Having acknowledged that BJ was in trouble, yet other provinces were still relatively under control, one would assume that you would go out of your way to keep the problem there. That however, would once again be an American/Western assumption. BJ has a large migrant worker population, and with nothing to do in the city, and no money, and the government didn't want to support them (since that would cost more money), 3 million migrant workers left! Where did they go? Well, I've heard contradictory numbers, but one account says 130,000 came to QHD and the other says 10,000. But, given roads were closed and no one was supposed to be coming to the area, it seems that something went wrong. I've heard there's a complete lack of control in BJ right now, and it would seem everywhere else as well. I mean, for a country with one of the, in not the, largest armies in the world, and one in which the military has a lot of control, you'd think they might just send out armed people and enforce order. But, it's better to get them out of BJ. Now, if case you're wondering about train safety, here is perhaps the best story of all. (It also discusses more on the issue of language interpretation). The town of Nandaihe, located a couple km south (nan=south and bei=north in Chinese), is currently under siege with fear, and there they actually have potential for infection. A female university student who had a confirmed case of SARS had been isolated in an intensive care unit in a BJ hospital. She escaped, and ran away to her family in Nandaihe. First off, how do you escape from an ICU? The response I got was, “well, they can’t be expected to watch her all the time.” By definition (again American), the ICU is a sealed-off area with one door and a guard. I can’t imagine this girl was that healthy or strong that a guard would have been unable to restrain her? Does it make you wonder how effective these quarantines of hospitals and other people really are? As for the trains… I had heard that the train stations were inspecting all passengers- taking temperatures and retaining anyone that had symptoms. How did a girl with a confirmed case of SARS, who just fled a hospital, manage to get on a train and get all the way to NDH?

I’ll add in here, that after I wrote the past part, we had yet another administrative meeting. My favorite part of the conversation was when my boss told me that “we all have to comply with the government restrictions, because you know, it’s a very serious matter. It’s only third time in history that the world has seen such a wide epidemic. (She mentioned the Plague and Smallpox. Apparently HIV/AIDS and the other ones didn’t make the list. Which by the way, if you want to be really pessimistic and one of those what if people, you can look at the history of HIV in China, the history of the government leaders not talking about numbers, actually profiting off blood sales that spread it, an inadequate health care system, mix in SARS, and suddenly the potential fatality rate soars. I was thinking about this last week and then found an article that covered all of this.. but I’m not a worst-case scenario person.) The government has acted very quickly to make sure we’re all safe, and is doing a lot…” This is when in the middle of the meeting I burst out laughing, as did my Canadian friend. It’s one thing if you want to say all of this to the Chinese co-workers, but at least give me some credit for knowing what is really going on. We then had a discussion about heat. It’s getting warmer, but I live right by the ocean, so at night a very cold wind comes, and the buildings aren’t well insulated, thus I put the heat on low. Well, according to my other boss, the one actually in control, if I turned my heat on, I might get SARS. What? Yeah, because it would be warm and so if I went outside, I would feel cold and get sick. Thus, it’s better to be cold all the time and let your body work overtime trying to keep you warm, thus lowering your resistance, because obviously Chinese health beliefs and systems work so well. I’ve been sick more in China than anywhere else, and much of it was because the winter was so cold and there was little to no heat. Tomorrow we’ll have another battle because they want to take the remote that controls the heat in my apartment away on April 30. I guess as an American adult, I’m not responsible or trustworthy enough to take care of myself. The fact that he was arguing about all of this with someone who studied biology and has worked with doctors for years just made it worse, because none of his reasoning made sense.

Getting around to the topic of reporting. After the disaster in BJ, the government made the order that all governments had to report cases. Unfortunately, the way this works doesn’t actually encourage honesty and it also causes crazy actions. If someone in your area gets SARS, you lose power. Thus, my boss will lose his position if anyone at the school gets sick. This is from the QHD government officials, because that’s the mandate the Hebei officials gave them. Rather than accept the fact that there’s an incubation period, and that people could have been infected before they even came to the area, and rather than just treating the cases and encouraging honest, sound procedures, someone has to fall. And here I’d hoped this policy had been changed with the whole move to address HIV that got attention in the fall. I guess not, though. The end result is the prison situation I described before. There’s really no rational reason for us to be under lock and key with guards (I’ve been told the guards are coming, but I’ll find out tomorrow afternoon), but it’s for liability purposes.

Confusion and panic continues to spread. I’m sure everyone (well, not the Chinese) has seen the reports of rioting near Tianjin, which is 2 hours from here. The price of turnips has exploded to 18RMB/jin. Who knew? They’re apparently the cure to the virus. I don’t think turnips have ever seen so many ardent fans. As for health information, there appears to be none. I asked my friends what the government is telling them to do to avoid getting sick since I can’t understand the news or read the papers. The answer appears to be not much. Other than you shouldn’t exercise too much, because if you sweat a lot, you’ll get it. Here I always thought sweating was good, since it rid your body of toxins, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in China. They’ve suggested opening windows to get air, but this is causing further hysteria in naïve, frightened students who fear that if I close the door to reduce noise pollution, they’ll get the virus. I guess enough stress on the actual transmission means- from being in the presence of someone with SARS, and having them cough or sneeze on you- hasn’t been provided. Unfortunately for those less-informed, I’m definitely losing patience, and have taken to mocking the idea of a magical SARS bug flying in and infecting everyone. Ok, so I haven’t actually done that, but I’ve been really tempted, and I did give a lecture on disease transmission and how you actually get it. Finally, did you hear about how the US intentionally sent the virus here via Taiwan, and is selfishly hoarding the cure? That’s why the US has had no deaths… it’s apparently a secret ploy against China.

Anyhow, you all know where to find me since I won’t be going ANYWHERE for the next two weeks.

IM Conversation (follow-up questions)
Erin: i guess. i just talked to my dad and he asked if they'd cut off my internet connection yet
Chris: they'd do that?
Erin: they not only closed the internet bars, they actually dismantled them
Chris: dismantled?
Erin: no, i don't think they would...
Erin: yes, they're gone.
Chris: in BDH?
Erin: there used to be 3 and now they're empty
Chris: no computers or anything?
Erin: yeah, idont know why...maybe because there were no clients and they were closed they were losing too much money?
Erin: yes, nothing
Erin: they're empty
Chris: hmm, maybe
Erin: they'd been locked and gated since last week, but now they're open but empty
Chris: jeez
Erin: who knows... anyhow, i'm gonna go. i'm glad HK is returning to some semblance of normal. it's sort of funny in a sick way, that every other country has the situation under control, but here it's just getting worse
Chris: yeah, well, it's dalu
Chris: nothing works there
Erin: i'm only too aware of this fact
Chris: oh, man, that's nuts
Erin: i mean, i'm maintaining a sense of humor about it, and really, it is sort of funny... this is definitely outside the realm of any thoughts i had about my time here
Chris: yeah, i can imagine
Chris: what are the rest of the teachers doing?
Erin: jila is like a saint.. she's freaking out but is really calm. she's not a spoiled american 22 yr-old of hte me-me generation
Erin: and george is so out of it all the time anyway, but he mentioned jumping over a wall with me
Chris: haha. a joke though.
Erin: the others are chinese, and they weren't so happy. especially that they had to leave their husbands and stuff to move onto campus
Chris: wow
Erin: my friend's husband came up and we snuck her out to have dinner tonight
Erin: ugh, i'm not sure if he was joking or not
Chris: haha
Chris: but you couldn't leave even if you wanted to fly back to the US?
Erin: i'd definitely go hopping over the wall. i mean, i do it when i come home late anyway, except usually we don't have guradds and stuff
Erin: no, i think i could leave then
Erin: it's just that i can't come back once i leave.
Erin: i sort of have this sick/masachistic urge to stay just to see what happens next
Erin: by the day, the stories are getting better
Chris: oy gevalt
Chris: okay read your email
Erin: funny, right?
Chris: but, uhm, you don't actually say WHY you're not allowed to leave the school compound
Erin: oh, see, that would be becasue i don't really know why
Chris: that's what i was looking for when i read it ;>
Chris: is there a case on campus?
Erin: the education bureau decided that for some reason no one could go out or in
Erin: no there aren't even any cases in all of BDH
Erin: but becasue of the migrant workers, they're concerned? maybe?
Erin: the mandate came from above it would seem, but no one really understands. and if you ask questions, you are told that the mandate came from above. no one can question such things, it seems
Chris: yeah, that's what i was looking for
Chris: so ... are people in BDH coming and going as they please?
Chris: just the school is locked down?
Erin: so i guess since they can't rely on the boder checks that might be even stricter now, since they claim they're going to check IDs...
Erin: yeah, just the school. maybe all college campuses.
Chris: are you still going to have classes?
Erin: the rest of the town can wander around.
Erin: oh yes. in fact ,a neighboring school got in trouble with the government because they sent their students home.
Erin: the underlying fact is that none of this makes any sense, and you have so many conflicting versions.
Erin: last night my friend james called and said he was coming up to chill with me. i told him i thought no one could get in, that they were checking at the town border. he claimed he could take the bus and be fine. other friends had done this previously.
Erin: my friend's husband just drove in today, but his car plates are from the BDH/QHD area.
Erin: i was told today that as of tomorrow they'll inspect people on the bus. unless you have a residency card, you cannot come back into BDH.
Chris: hmm, weird
Erin: i'm going to have james try it out and see if he can get here.
Erin: basically i think my boss is freaking out. he doesn't no what to do, becasue if someone was exposed, he'd be in trouble.
Erin: so all of these illogic mandates are created becasue no one wants to take the fall. and someone obviously has to take the fall.
Chris: i haven't heard about these migrant workers
Erin: i know college students were fleeing bj since last week.
Erin: and i did read about rural people heading home and possiby increasing the risk
Erin: are you trying to figure out how they fit into this whole story?
Chris: uhh, yeah
Erin: well, my understanding is that the QHD people are concerned that they'll bring SARS with them from BJ, end up infecting QHD so there really is a problem, and then it could be taken up here.
Erin: and since jiang is already here, and i believe the others including hu have arrived, that would be bad, i suppose.
Erin: the migrant workers part was more about how absurd the policies are, since it was supposed to be impossible for anyone from bj toget out here, but apparently that proved not to be the case
Erin: another friend left bj to go back to tangshan and she's in quarantine in a hospital for a week before she's allowed to go home. so some places are acting better, but how 10,000 or 130,000 (a lot of fuckign bodies) just poured into QHD seems a little curious
Chris: wow crazy
Erin: that is what i've been told. there was a crazy run on stores with people stocking up on stuff. there's be no way to keep regular citizens locked up, but schools are easy.
Erin: i really don't understand the ICU patient escaping though. that's just ludicrous. especially given how they're patting themselves on the back for restricting 8000 people or something.
Chris: is everything just word-of-mouth?
Chris: in HK we have this website that has the names and addresses of every SARS case
Erin: no, i was looking at numbers and relative to other places it wasn't bad
Erin: oh, we definitely don't have that
Chris: but that's all western press reports?
Erin: they publish numbers by province here
Chris: oh ok.
Erin: no cities.
Chris: provinces are big though.
Erin: exactly
Chris: how many in QHD?
Erin: 1 possible case
Erin: and even that was confusing.
Erin: the problem is that there is no good information. everything contradicts. china's gossip chains are unreal.
Chris: is that in the countryside?
Chris: what, you just hear everything from your students & other teachers?
Erin: there's so much distrust, and the walls are so thin.
Erin: i heard a high of 20, but that was panic speaking.
Chris: but how would anyone know if they didn't work at the hospital?
Chris: how many hospitals are in QHD?
Erin: there was one man who was in bj in a hospital visiting someone. he was going home to the norht, but had symptoms, so the train conductor made him get off in QHD. i guess he went to the hospital, but then he vanished. i have also heard he was never a confirmed case.
Chris: this is just a story you heard.
Chris: or it was in the local paper?
Erin: no, that's from my boss who has daily meetings with the govt officials
Erin: i get my info from him, because he talks to the govt people all the time and gets the only numbers i'd give a whole lot of credence to.
Erin: the 20 and other numbers were all stories, but that just attests to the panic.
Chris: do you think the controls being set in QHD/BDH are stricter than other places in china because of the high-profile visitors, or is what's going on at your school typical of everywhere else?
Erin: the papers are saying 6 cases in total in hebei.
Erin: i think that we're stricter becasue of the high-profile guests.
Erin: i know that unis in bj are closed to visitors, but hte people can go off freely... that includes residents of the quarantined builidign
Chris: are students seen as dangerous or something? or is just because they're government-controlled so officials are trying to cover all their bases?
Erin: as for hospitals in QHD, i'm acutally not sure how many there are. my art school is down the street from the main one, but i believe there may be 3 or so in total.
Erin: i think it's the latter.
Erin: "the government takes extra care of students to ensure they remain safe"
Chris: that's nice to know.
Erin: that's the line i was given when i asked this question
Erin: how could you restrict regular residents though? unless you're going to start supplying food and other stuff.
Chris: like in "Outbreak"
Chris: just fence it off completely and make everyone go back to their homes and wait it out
Erin: the other thing though is that if we closes, kids woudl be taking trains all over china, so they're trying to restrict mobility
Erin: apparently the chinese don't like that so much.
Erin: anyway, the whole thing is absurd. i'm trying to see how it is in other cities for a comparison. the entire experiene is definitely a classic

back in HK

Back in HK and quite happy, despite all the SARS worries, to be in the land of shiny pointy skyscrapers, air conditioning, and no mosquitoes. I think I understand what they mean by "Asia's World City" (as corny as it sounds) now: Hong Kong is just so shiny, clean, Westernized, and vertical, and to a kid who grew up 10 miles from NYC that's how I imagine a city ought to look. Taipei, situated on an earthquake zone and not restricted for space, is much more sprawling and flat. And damned hot too. But I do miss speaking Mandarin already -- for lunch today I tried ordering "menu #8" with my rudimentary Cantonese and they brought me: tea.

Been catching up on the news. Now that the war's a fait accompli, even mainstream ABC News is reporting as "news" that perhaps WMD weren't the real reason for the war, that the Sept. 11 Attacks Changed Everything. That's odd, because I could've sworn PBS already did an hour-long special on the same story a few months ago. Registered myself on the Fox News Channel's site to watch their videos and see what all the fuss is about, and only one question: why does O'Reilly show his cuecards on the screen during his opinion pieces?

Today's SCMP proclaimed "WHO says outbreak has peaked in HK," and you can see the more relaxed attitude on the street -- less people wearing masks, maybe only half. So things are looking up: hopefully HK will follow Vietnam's example (when has anyone ever followed Vietnam's example?) and get rid of SARS soon.

returning to HK

I'm in Taiwan's CKS airport near Taipei right now. I'm not sure if it's usually like this on Mondays, but it's REALLY quiet here ... hardly any passengers coming or going, the check-in lines all nonexistent. I'm flying back to Hong Kong in 45 minutes.

There's a small medical staff checking everyone before they're allowed to board. They have one of those cool thermal infared cameras that can tell you your temperature plugged into a television and I just walked in front of it to check it out. It was pretty neat.

Okay, boarding soon. I just made two WMV's here at the internet cafe, check them out: airport 1, airport 2.

More on Erin in Beidaihe

It turns out the reason that no one is allowed into Erin's seaside resort town of Beidaihe is because China's political leaders are coming to town to relax and escape the crisis in Beijing. Beidaihe is a popular retreat for China's leaders and is known as the "summer capitol."

Erin says the policy seems to be that if you leave town, you can't come back in, though enforcement has been spotty. But she's stuck! Unable to have visitors on campus, leave, or congregate in groups larger than 20. Read more for her update ... it's REALLY worth the read.

[Note: QHD stands for Qinhuangdao and BHD stands for Beidaihe. The following was all written by Erin.]

SARS update

Before I relay my adventures in March, here’s the update on SARS, from my vantagepoint. (I’ve been getting a lot of concerned emails, which is understandable, and anyone who had originally promised to come visit is off the hook, since I can’t say I’d be flying to China right now.) First of all, SARS isn’t necessarily new here. I started hearing about this disease down in Guangdong right after Spring Festival, because I planned to go visit a friend in Guangzhou and my students were freaking out, and telling me that the PLAGUE was there. Obviously that wasn’t the case, or a large part of China would have died, but in order to get information, I did have to have a friend email me information from the US. At this same time, most of my access to American news was cut off-no NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times…the list goes on. We assumed the upcoming political conference was responsible, but for almost two months, my internet access was severely restricted. As of February, a new flu, or atypical pneumonia had infected about 400 people in Guangdong, but it was “under control.” When I was there March 2-4, people seemed fine. No one was wearing masks, and there was definitely no sense of panic. However, I did receive an email from the US Embassy warning me to avoid travel to that area around that time because of a mystery respiratory illness. By the time I was in Shanghai, I think is when things started getting a bit hairy in Hong Kong, and more information was coming out. My parents came over, and throughout our travels, up until April 2, the sense of panic wasn’t evident, although you could avoid travelers from Taiwan and other countries based upon the fact that they were the only ones wearing masks in Beijing at that point. The number of emails coming from the Embassy spiked as well, as the severity of things in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada escalated. By the time my parents flew back on April 2, they were greeted by people with gloves, masks, and they had to be checked in order to re-enter. I’ve heard things have gotten steadily more severe with visas being denied, talk of further airline restrictions and possible quarantines. If I get quarantined upon coming back, the good part is that it’s a week or two where I don’t have to worry about paying for rent or food. I just wonder where I’ll be put.

I am currently not wearing a mask, in fact, very few people in the Qinhuangdao area are. (Update: I saw some today but definitely still not many.) Those that are aren’t even wearing the proper kind for the most part, but rather wearing cloth ones that work for warmth or dust, but definitely not any coronavirus particles, even if they’re floating around in suspension. If you look at the numbers, they’re not that scary-800 to 1000 in Beijing out of 12 million. Statistically, that’s not that bad. Granted, as one reported asked in the news conference when they sacked the Beijing leaders, “they’ve lied to us all along, so how do we know they’re telling the truth now?” That ended the conference by the way. In reality, I never believed the numbers since it didn’t’ make sense, and the whole reluctance to allow WHO people in seemed to indicate the public story wasn’t likely. Since I was traveling, and the news was monopolized by the Iraq conflict, SARS had an opportune time to spread out of control. The frequent updates from the US Embassy gave me more information that the general Chinese public, and when I was in Beijing with my friend Sarah on April 3, her friends were calling and warning her with rumors and stories they’d heard. Offices started being sent home and people started taking all sorts of herbs that “cure or prevent” SARS. When I got back to work, there was some concern about the students from the south, but the school wasn’t originally planning to do anything until Jila and I said they should do a screening. In the past 2 weeks, reports of between 1 and 20 cases in my city have started spreading, but there’s not much panic yet. I haven’t seen any numbers for Hebei yet but that doesn’t mean a whole lot. (I’ve seen contradictory numbers here between the WHO and Chinese reports, but still have’t heard a lot).

Moving to the present. I’m sure you all heard about the Beijing sackings. I don’t give that much credence, since my understanding is that the Beijing leaders don’t call the shots. I’m pretty sure it was a whole act to avoid loss-of-face, and someone needed to take the fallout. Enough political heat from outraged trading partners, and even here they’ll finally face the truth. Unfortunately, the stories being told are neither as entertaining as the Iraqi Minister of Information’s versions of the war were, nor are they as benign. One of the WTO quotes came as close to sharing my sentiment as I’ve heard, when they said that had China spoken up in November or even January, perhaps much of this could really have been contained. Nothing is really certain yet, and I haven’t changed much of my usual habits, but my planned trip to Qingdao for my 5 day May 1 vacation is questionable at this point. The government cancelled the national holiday, but we still have 5 days off. Qingdao is thus far safe, but taking trains may be risky. I could possibly travel by ferry, which would have fewer people, and if I brought a blanket, I could camp out outside the whole journey and stay away from people. More likely, I’ll take all of the advice I’ve been getting and stay put here. Most of the other expats I know in my city aren’t too paranoid, but it seems that the situation in the US seems different. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it, and the concerns run from my safety, to the possibility of my getting stuck over here, either because I won’t be allowed back to the States, or all airlines will stop providing services. At this point, that seems a bit extreme, but I’m monitoring the situation. Ever an optimist, I’m hoping it clears by July so I can travel as planned. At this point, it looks like I’ll be coming home a month early because I may be banned from any of the SE Asia countries that I really want to visit. Oy.

SARS addendum- why I live in the safest city in China. (take one guess… Hu’s my neighbor)

Crazy paranoia has reached here. My travel plans for Qingdao are irrelevant since I’m essentially reverse quarantined to the QHD county. The education commission, or some government agency, decided that all universities needed to reduce Labor Day vacation to one day. First we were told that we had to stay in the area, or if we left, could only return with documentation showing us to be SARS-free. That grounded me, since visiting any Chinese hospitals isn’t high on the list of desirable activities right now. However, now they’ve decided we should just have class. The up side is that I finish July 3 now, and can leave a few days earlier. Besides that, they have restricted campuses. I cannot have visitors here, and I cannot get into my friends’ campuses. The only way to meet anywhere is to go to public areas. They’ve begun spraying some sort of chemicals everywhere numerous times a day, encouraging 18-layered mask use if we go out, and taking cabs rather than buses. You can imagine how much I’m enjoying being stuck here and told what to do and who I can or cannot do it with.. this is all making the departure that more appealing I guess at this point. The students are getting uptight. Today there was a lot of noise outside, so I closed the window. Two started freaking out that I’d increased the SARS risk because I was decreasing ventilation. First off, there is only 1 reported case in my area (if we’re to believe the numbers I’m being fed at this point after the whole political debacle) and it’s not in BDH, but rather involved one person in QHD who had been in a BJ hospital. 1/600,000 isn’t that scary. However, in an act of complete incompetence mirroring the fiasco in Toronto, this man somehow disappeared. Apparently they have no idea where he went. Maybe he’ll appear in the midst of class. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make light of the current situation, but I’m trying to remain sane about the whole thing. And yes, I am incredibly irritated that it’s gotten so out of control or whatever. If I do get sick, can I sue the Chinese government? They’re somewhat responsible since they intentionally lied thereby increasing my risk. Could I draw a really far-fetched parallel to a situation in which a sexual partner knowingly denied he was HIV positive and then put someone at risk? That individual would be legally responsible, so by not telling people about an epidemic and acting upon it to quell the spread, could I interpret the government here to be at fault? Probably not at all.. alas. I wouldn’t be surprised if an American tried it if we did have a fatality.

There’s always more, right? Apparently I’m not even supposed to go downtown to QHD anymore. I got called into my boss’ office this afternoon and told this whole story about keeping me safe and whatnot (safe from what, a 0% or 1% risk factor?) and therefore I shouldn’t even go downtown. You’re supposed to only be able to come to the school area from the downtown area with a specific certificate, but I can’t get one. I’ll admit I wasn’t particulary accepting of this information, but I’m tired of getting a condescending and bullshit response if I ask a completely valid question. Jila and I think they just don’t know how to handle us, because we’re not going to get scared and stay inside because MAYBE 1 person in the entire area was infected. I told him that I was going out because I was already on my way, and this new decree made no sense. I’m already taking some government-prescribed herbal concoction which tastes more bitter than any malaria pills I’ve had, and I don’t even know what it contains. Anyone want a sample to analyze? I’ll get an extra and carry it home. Oh, and in the name of SARS, they’ve closed all internet bars. Only internet bars. Isnt’ than an ingenious way to keep people from accessing real information? Restaurants, bars, and stores where even more people congregate aren’t a threat apparently- just internet bars. I’ve heard via the Korean Embassy circuit (and this may very well be a rumor) that one hospital alone in BJ has had 150 deaths, which is higher than the currently reported national total. Teachers at Beiwai in BJ are getting even less information than I am and it seems the diplomatic circle can’t even agree since some countries are advising everyone pull out, while others aren’t.

Here’s the explanation though. Despite the fact that the government cancelled the Labor Day holiday for everyone in the country, the leaders are still going to take some time to relax. I wouldn’t want them to tax themselves now that they seem to have a crisis, after a political disaster, on their hands. But, to make sure that they stay safe during this vacation, no one is allowed to enter Beidaihe. Police are allegedly monitoring the highways and turning back all cars and buses, and I don’t know how the trains are being monitored, but I might go down to the station just to see who’s arriving. This does, however, explain why everyone’s acting so fucked-up about things and we keep getting these “government orders” with further restrictions when they seem completely unnecessary. So family be reassured: I currently live in the safest community in China, if not Asia.

If I’ve observed anything from this, it’s how NOT to run a public health campaign. Restrict information, don’t tell people accurate statistics and preventative measures so that paranoia breaks out and destroys the local economy while destroying government credibility and creating many angry people. Currently signs are being put up everywhere that read “Beware of SARS.” That’s helpful right? For a country that has an incredibly low general-health standard, this isn’t the way to run things. But if you look at it the way they’ve historically handled HIV/AIDS, I think you’ll see a pattern.

alishan, taichung, taipei

I'm back in Taipei now after having been away from a computer for a few days, and lots of emails from concerned family/friends about SARS. SARS has made its way into big, big news here in Taiwan, especially with the quarantining of medical staff at Heping Hospital in Taipei. Hospital staff there were REALLY ANGRY and began protesting when they found out they couldn't leave the hospital; many of them have refused to even treat SARS patients for fear of infection, and four of them were videotaped making a daring escape out the window of the hospital. Taiwan has promised harsh punishment for those found violating quarantine.

Taiwan has still kept SARS pretty well under control, and one reassuring thing is that they've been showing a neat chart in the news detailing how each case was related to each other, something they definitely don't have for HK. Unfortunately, Taiwan hasn't been receiving any help from the WHO, because as a "renegade province" of China, it's not a member! What a great time to kowtow to the same leaders in Beijing who have royally screwed up on SARS. Taiwan was able to finagle its way into the WTO, so maybe there's some hope yet.

Open any newspaper right now and you'll find a big 4-page spread on just SARS news; TV news is the same too. Yesterday I only noticed two or three masks on my train, but today from Taichung to Taipei about half of the passengers were wearing masks. Today I put one on for the first time since I arrived in Taiwan. The smell reminded me of Hong Kong, actually, in a perversely nostalgic way. I checked my temperature this morning and I'm officially SARS-free, having been in Taiwan for an entire incubation period now without a fever.

Touristy stuff: Yesterday morning I woke up at 3:30am to go see the sunrise at Alishan. It was really nice apart from the group of Taiwanese tourists and their bullhorn-carrying leader, who kept a monologue going for the entire half-hour leading up to the moment of sunrise. After the sunrise they all raced to the next stop on the tour, pausing to take photographs of dandelions (these are rare in Taiwan I suppose) and look at moss growing on a tree stump and ask "What is this?"

Once I split away from the crowds, though, it was marvelous walking through the forests of great big 1000-year-old red cypress trees, with the occasional temple dotting the trail. It reminded me a lot of Muir Woods, and the temperate climate at 2000m elevation was a great break from the sub-tropical weather below. On the train ride up there was actually a sign delineating the border between sub-tropical and temperate climate zones, but you could just tell by watching the banana and palm trees give out to bamboo forests, which were then replaced by big evergreens and cypresses.

Taichung was nice but I only stayed the night and checked out the Tunghai University for lunch to see what Taiwanese college kids are like. One promising fact: many Taiwanese college boys are as skinny or even skinnier than me, and they wear t-shirts and shorts without any shame of exposing their lanky limbs. I watched a bunch of them play softball and basketball and they were, well, pretty bad, but what can you do.

Flying back to Hong Kong tomorrow. Sure, all the news has me scared, but apparently the number of cases is supposed to be going down or something. I'll take the necessary precautions and things should be okay, but I've got an eye towards getting out of HK soon -- I'll play it by ear right now.

Erin's "reverse quarantined"

My friend Erin is teaching English at a university in Beidaihe, a popular seaside resort town two hours from Beijing. She's currently having a lot of problems with the government and isn't being allowed out of the city. Read more for a recent chat transcript.

Erin: i've been reverse quarantined. i'm not allowed to leave my city. how much does that suck!
Chris: you're kidding
Chris: why?
Erin: becasue i work in a school and the education comission or whatever power that be are overreacting.
Erin: first they cut our holiday from 5 to 1 days
Erin: but if you leave the city, you cannot come back...
Erin: plus, i can't have any outsiders visit me where i live (since it's part of the school compound) and i can't get into any other campuses (where my friends live)
Chris: that's bizarre
Erin: they're trying to lessen the risk but it seems silly given that 1/600000 have actually shown symptoms
Erin: this was today's pronouncement and i was less than thrilled
Chris: that's crazy
Erin: i mean, i havent' been psyched about going to BJ anytime soon sicne they're inspectign everyone at train stations and my friends told me not to bother.. but come on.
Erin: my friends can't come over becasue they're deemed a threat?
Chris: crazy
Erin: indeed. i had a kid freak out today beaue i closed a window to reduce noise pollution and she got worked up that hte lack of ventilation might give her sars
Chris: at my school in HK they just instituted a very strict masks-wearing policy
Erin: are you back in classes now?
Erin: i heard HK reopened
Chris: yeah, but everyone who was taking class went back to their home countries so there were only like 2 people in class, and they cancelled exams too, so i just bolted
Erin: ah. yeah my parents and family started the paranoia campaign to get me home...
Chris: yeah, when do you leave?
Erin: i guess the BJ fiasco finally got them concerned. not that we ever doubted what the real situation was, but it's sort of annoying. they try to make me think i'm insane for staying. i'm probably safer where i am than going to BJ to get to a plane and sittign in possibly contaminated re-circulated air for 15 hours
Erin: my finish date just got bumped up to july 3... i can leave anytime after that. i planned to get back to ny around aug 15, but since i may not be traveling if i'm banned, i amy be back in early july.
Erin: i'm looking at the possibility of quarantine in ny as a good thing.. i won't have to worry about rent or food for a week or so.
Erin: but i'll have to postpone the "erin returned" fiesta a bit
Chris: quarantined where, in the states?
Erin: yeah, if they establish anything.
Chris: they're going to quarantine arrivals from china?
Erin: apparently canada has it... i'm not really clear on the details, but it's something like they quarantine you for up to 2 weeks if you've had a possible exposure or they make you document where you are and everything
Chris: wow, fuck.
Erin: i don't think they are yet. my parents and relatives seem really concerned about this possibility
Chris: my mom asked me if i wanted to be quarantined in the "basement or the attic"
Erin: i think a lot of it is just current hype right now. i mean the 24 hour sporting event that iraq provided is over, so the media needs something else to feed people
Chris: yeah, the hype blowing over from home is pretty big now
Erin: i know bush made a huge announcement like 2 weeks ago making it perfectly legal
Erin: my parents called me on easter and woke me up to have some truly bizarre interrogation about the situation. i think my mom's shipping me masks or something
Erin: as soon as the BJ sacking happend i got a sudden influx.
Chris: yeah, i've been hearing the same things
Chris: i'm trying to pick a nice place to head for may before i come home
Chris: like bali or something
Chris: can't stay in HK , it's just too fucked up there
Erin: will they let you in?
Chris: oh, god, i don't know
Erin: oy, our luck right? all i wanted was to travel freely for a year.. not be stuck and banned
Chris: yeah, all i get are daily emails from the american consulate about "don't travel, terrorists will kill you for being american b/c of the war!" and "SARS will kill you too!"
Chris: so, basically, don't go anywhere but home and remember to buy duct tape
Erin: so you can asphyxiate yourself..yes.
Erin: we should really just start wearing body condom suits with respirators all the time, forego any human contact at all, and live happily until we're 100 or more.
Erin: i better be highly entertained when i can look back in 10 yaers and answer the question "where were you during the SARS outbreak" and i can answer smack in china amid the chaos

tainan

I'm in Tainan now, on the south-west coast of Taiwan, having arrived yesterday evening after about 12 hours in transit. The bus from Taidong left at 6:30am and went from town to town at about 30 km/h on the narrow, winding road through the mountains. We (it was just the driver and I for most of the time) got up to almost cloud level, and the views were amazing (the route down is a popular hiking trail).

I chatted with the driver a bit, and of course SARS came up when I mentioned I was living in HK. He had an interesting viewpoint on it. "SARS ... well, they have that in Taipei and Kaohsiung, maybe, but not here in Taidong. Look around you," he said, waving his hands at the beautiful mountain landscape, "The wind comes in and blows everything away. In Taipei the air is dirty and contaminated and that's why people get SARS. It's an air pollution problem."

At Tianchih ("heaven's pond") I switched onto a local bus to Tainan which took an interminable amount of time stopping in every little village picking up little old ladies and carrying them 10 minutes to the next little village. Finally got into a hotel room in Tainan at around 7pm.

But enough whining. Tainan is great -- it's a smaller, more laid-back version of Taipei, but with enough trendy boutiques, tea shops and computer stores to keep the kids happy. The air is much better, too. It also seems like you can't go a couple of blocks without running into another big temple, replete with several vendors selling paper money to burn, monks with donation boxes, and a decent amount of worshipers "bai"-ing before the featured deity. They even have Tin Hau -- Hong Kong's favorite Taoist fishing goddess, and the name of our local subway stop in HK -- here, but she's called Matsu here (?).

The typhoon I was worrying about got downgraded to a tropical storm and never materialized, which is good. I'm heading to the mountain retreat Alishan tomorrow, and by all accounts it should be as nice as when I visited Huangshan on the mainland.

There are some army surplus stores here that I've been eyeing up. It would be pretty cool to come home with a Republic of China jacket or backpack, something with a big ROC/Taiwan flag on it, then wear it on my next trip to the mainland.

My hotel room is pretty nice this time, and I get 100+ channels of Taiwanese cable TV. They have this great commercial for monosodium glutamate (MSG) where the guy sprinkles a bit of white powder over his stir-fry, and then everything tastes better. And if you think professional wrestling is surreal in English, try it with a Chinese announcer translating everything: "ROCK shuo ta yao ... aiyah, GOLDBERG lai le!" And then Goldberg appeared out of nowhere! And sucker-punched The ROCK! Wait, I'm getting excited over wrestling. That's enough for now.

taitung

i'm further down the east coast now in taitung now. i couldn't figure out the trip west to alishan/taichung (either i missed the morning bus, or there isn't a direct bus at all because of the earthquake, or everyone at the bus station is crazy, or all three) so i'm going west across the island from here to tainan tomorrow morning. the bus leaves at 6:30am and i can't buy a bus ticket in advance for another unknown reason -- i have buy it from the driver himself at 6:30am tomorrow.

the further south i go, the thicker the accents get, and the thicker the mental fog gets that keeps me from understanding what the hell people are saying to me. the fog usually creeps in whenever someone starts talking in depth about a topic, and i realize my mandarin vocabulary and listening comprehension could be a lot better. the studying i've been doing in HK has helped my reading, though: i was able to extract a good-sized chunk of meaning from the front page of the china daily yesterday.

men here have red-stained teeth from chewing on too many betel nuts. it's disgusting. a taxi driver was trying to convince me earlier that there were no buses heading towards tainan tomorrow, that i'd have to take the train and of course he'd be happy to take me to the train station, and the whole time he had this broad, blood-colored smile where the betel nut juice had spread around his lips, making him look like some kind of homicidal clown.

the bus ride down here was really beautiful, driving down the coastal highway through the rain. waves crashed on the rocks behind cows grazing on terraced fields and, uhm, insert some more pretty descriptions of scenery here. i'm too tired to. i have to wake up in time for the 6:30am bus tomorrow.

hualien

i'm in hualien, on the east coast of taiwan, where big marble mountains meet the ocean and you can walk along the gravel beach picking up the occasional piece of jade. nearby is taroko gorge, taiwan's top scenic destination. yesterday i took a bus tour through the gorge with a few taiwanese, a danish family and 3 moscovites in taiwan for a trade fair. no time to describe taroko right now, so: it was really pretty.

the TV says there's a typhoon coming and i'm still not clear on how this will affect me. watching the weather report at my hotel, a nice mom 'n' pop establishment where the father settles down in front of the TV with a american 50's-style pipe each evening, i was told i should probably head to tainan or kaohsiung or somewhere to avoid the storm brewing in the east. i hope to make it to through the mountains to the middle of the island today.

i didn't check my email for a couple of days, and in going through the messages from my family, my tiny network of friends living in asia, and the american consulate in hong kong, the same topic comes up: SARS. did you hear about the beijing officials getting sacked? when are you leaving the country? what to do? i'm still not sure, but the current plan is to leave near the end of may.

last night it rained down hard, and i walked from awning to awning while locals gawked at me, looking for somewhere to eat until i found a pizza hut. they had a marvelous buffet and i gorged myself on corn- and shrimp-topped pizza. i picked up the taiwanese paper and strained to understan the articles. i think taiwan is upset they're not a member of the WHO. but SARS isn't as big a deal here -- they seem to be keeping a lid on it, even offering a cash reward for reporting on a feverish-looking neighbor, and people are surprised when i tell them about the school and work shutdowns in hong kong.

nina simone died today...

leaving taipei

it's really hot here. i didn't realize how different it'd be from hong kong -- walking around in taipei being a tourist in the heat and humidity, combined with the air pollution, leaves me sweaty and dead tired by late afternoon.

touristy stuff: went to the observation tower on top of the tallest building in taipei (only 40-50 floors) but the smog didn't really make for a nice view really. found my mom's old neighborhood yesterday, though i didn't know which apartment i was looking for exactly. went to lungshan temple and burned some incense while a bunch of monks and nuns chanted.

last night went out to a club the australian guy heard about -- you pay 500NT and then drinks are free the rest of the night. it seems like a good deal but is in fact a really bad idea. head hurt.

the club itself was a dark basement full of hip taiwanese, english-teaching westerners, and american college students on studying abroad. everyone seemed to get along pretty well, language problems aside, as the drinks flowed freely to the throbbing american hip-hop music. the music selection was pretty decent (basically, what'd you hear on NYC's Hot 97, plus some old-school too) and all the kids packed the dance floor until they turned on the lights at 4am.

i've noticed that the westerners here often say things like, "Y'know, I really like the Taiwanese; they're some of the nicest/friendliest people in Asia." i hear this a lot. i guess i'd have to agree, at least comparing them to hong kongers and mainlanders. cambodians and thais are pretty nice too.

on my way to brush my teeth this morning i found a little turtle in the hallway outside my door. he was facing my room and gave me a scared look. i took it to be an omen of some sort (good or evil, i wasn't sure), but then it turned out that a south african couple on my floor keep turtles in a little tank in their room and one of them broke free.

tired ... taking a train to hualien in half an hour. should be a nice scenic break. gotta go catch it now.

taiwan day two

Day two of my SARS vacation. Only 2% of people wear masks here, it's great. My body aches -- had a full day of nonstop sightseeing today. It might also have something to do with the night before spent drinking with the Australian bloke and an Irish lass last night.

It's a weird bunch, the kids living at the hostel. I've heard that back in the 90's, any native English speaker could go to Japan or HK and find work teaching English -- with little/no experience or TEFL certifications required. It seems that Taiwan is the new Japan, attracting dozens of scruffy 20-something Australians, Canadians, South Africans searching for a bit of adventure, cheap living and easy money.

Many conversations here center on different English-teaching jobs available, how many hours/week people are working (20-30 usually), and the hourly rates people are getting. People are getting paid pretty well, as far as I can tell, USD$10-20/hr, and there are always new positions opening up as teachers come and go.

One guy explained it to me like this: he was working in Australia, surfing every day, and sometimes he'd save up a bit of money, quit his job, and surf full-time. Then he'd get a new job when he needed the cash and start the cycle all over again. One day a friend of a friend told him that he could make a pretty penny teaching English in Taiwan -- and you didn't need a college degree or anything (which most people here don't have, as far as I can tell). A few weeks later, he found himself out of work again and simply thought, "Why not?" and bought a plane ticket.

Yeah, it sounds crazy to me, too, but from what I've seen so far his story is fairly typical of the crew here (except for the Irish lass, who doesn't teach English, instead she plays the bazouki in Irish pubs all over Asia). I can't really imagine any of my out-of-work American friends picking up and moving to Taiwan, though.

Touristy stuff
But I digress. Went to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial today. It was really big and impressive, blending the "fallen dictator hero" motif of the Chairman Mao memorial in Beijing with the "giant seated statue" stylings of the Lincoln memorial in Washington. The best part was the pictures of Generalissimo (yes, people actually called him that) Chiang Kai-Shek with various famous people: here's Generalissimo Chiang with Reagan. Here's the Generalissimo receiving a military award from Spain. Here's the medal he got from Mozambique. Here he's getting a medal from Nicaragua. Here he is with President Hubert of Dahomey. Dahomey? What??

Interesting tidbit (for me anyway): did you know Chiang Kai-Shek's son Chiang Ching-Kuo married a Russian woman named Faina Vakhreva and had a bunch of half-Asian kids?

Evidence of how much Taiwan has changed since Chiang's time was evident when I walked a couple blocks up to 二二八 (228) park. 228 stands for February 28, the date of a massacre of local Taiwanese dissidents perpetrated by Chiang's army when his forces retreated from the mainland to Taiwan. The park even had a 228 Museum that reminded me of other museums in Berlin, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. When my Mom was growing up the official history taught in schools was that 2/28 never happened; needless to say, times have changed here.

Took a clean-and-modern subway to the National Palace Museum, where all the art treasures of China's imperial past are kept for safekeeping. Chiang's KMT took the treasures out of the Forbidden City in Beijing when the Japanese attacked and moved them to Taiwan when the Communists won, which is good because the Communists probably would've burned them all up in the Cultural Revolution or something. The museum ought to be bigger because there's so much of the collection not on display, but it was really good anyhow.

Twice I've surprised Taiwanese people by speaking with my Western-accented Chinese and revealing I'm a foreigner -- they say, "Oh? Foreigner!" and look all surprised. I don't think I look like a local, so this is a bit strange. Taxi drivers guess I'm mixed right off. The English teachers all think I'm another white guy like them, and were surprised I knew any Chinese at all. My theory is that I'm neutral-looking enough to fit the expectations of my viewer -- people see what they want/expect to see. I'm developing a "post-Hapa" doctrine -- that your mixed ethnicity doesn't make you special/exotic/unique, and that the kids at EurasianNation should stop glorifying themselves -- so I don't really mention to people what my "background" is unless they ask me point-blank.

Finally, vendors really do sell chou dofu (fermented "stinky tofu", smells of rank ass) on the street here. I saw some yesterday and it smelled BAD.

arrived in taipei

Wow, this is crazy. I'm in Taiwan now. Quick rundown because I'm hungry:

Got to the airport and they took my temperature (from the ear) before IU was allowed to wait in the checking-in line. Then I had some time to wait at the Hong Kong airport playing with the email kiosk -- I took this 30-second video of people wearing masks at the airport. It's silly...

Anyhow, after arriving in Taiwan there was another wait while we queued up and they took everyone's temperature before getting to customs. I passed with flying colors, and am certifiably SARS-free. Next caught a bus to Taipei and found a cheap ($300 NT tonight, ~$9 US) room for the night.

The hostel I'm staying at is one of the most relaxed I've ever seen -- it feels more like a flatshare, with shared kitchens and a big common television room upstairs. I only met one guy at the hostel so far, an Australian who just arrived yesterday. He said he'd heard from friends that there were lots of jobs for English-speakers in Taiwan, so he came over here on a two-month tourist visa, looked through the classifieds yesterday, and now already has a job teaching English. He starts tomorrow. I'm amazed.

Taking the bus to Taipei from CKS airport was pretty strange. I guess I didn't really know what to expect what Taiwan would look like -- and I still don't -- but on my way into the city I felt more like I was looking at the streets of Thailand rather than China or Hong Kong. There's a weird sort of grey, polluted urban sprawl here and the buildings aren't all huge skyscrapers like in HK.

But then again I've only been here a few hours, so who knows. Gotta run now and buy mosquito repellent (yeah, one just bit me, argh) and food.

heading for airport

I'm just about to leave for the airport. Got an 11:35 flight on China Airlines 604 to Taipei. Should've slept more last night, argh. I think the news said that Hong Kong will be checking passengers' temperatures at the airport beginning today. I checked my temperature last night and it was fine...

elana joined the army!

my friend elana joined the army yesterday. she was picked up at 5pm and taken to basic training at a fort in alabama or arizona or somewhere. i called her the morning before she left to wish her good luck, because i couldn't find a "So You're Joining the Army!" hallmark card anywhere, and also because i wanted to know if she'd realized she was crazy yet for wanting to join the army.

she used to say that she was joining the army because she hated the boredom and office politics at her old job, and she wanted adventure and new experiences and flight training and stuff. she said she now thought her decision was maybe a little crazy, and that she was a bit scared about all the shouting and pushups and stuff she'll have to go through for the rest of the year. she doesn't finish her training (basic & specialized) until december, so hopefully it'll be too late for her to go to iraq.

i mentioned i was coming back to the states because i needed to get a job and stuff. she asked, "oh, what are you going to be doing?" and i said: "i don't know ... i'm a little bored at my current job, so i thought i might JOIN THE ARMY."

she didn't think it was that funny.

alone in hk

it somehow crept up on me sooner than i expected, but sophie's on a plane to london now for her dad's birthday. i'm sitting at home looking at a pile of emails, the latest issue of the economist, and some scarier recent news reports on my favorite disease. even folk dancing clases aren't safe anymore. Youth and Fitness Offer Little Defense Against Disease declares the new york times, but i'm still a dozen years younger than the five new SARS deaths "aged 35 to 52" last weekend. when a 23 year-old non-chronically-diseased person dies, i'll start getting really scared, but i'm still holding on to hemlock's view that a 4% fatality rate isn't so bad as long as i stay away from hospitals and infected areas. it's even easier to know where exactly those infected areas are since they published the addresses of SARS patients in this sunday's SCMP.

still, i don't wish to sound too cavalier about this (and get more concerned emails from my parents). i bought medical insurance last week, giving me a little piece of mind. it's been 10 days since i got the policy and i haven't had a fever yet, so i'm out of "pre-existing condition" territory now and should be fully protected against SARS (up to two million dollars) if it hits.

as i said, sophie's gone, and it seems a waste of the time i've got left in asia to just sit here in the apartment until she returns. hiking around the rural areas of hong kong seems iffy, and with SARS cases reported all the way from inner mongolia down to hunan, sichuan, and guangxi, travel to the mainland is right out. thailand and malaysia are blocked by restrictions on visitors from hong kong. taiwan, however, seems like a good spot for a 10-day getaway, and i've been reading my taiwan guidebook a lot in the past couple days, as well as eyeing the latest bargain fares for the quick 1.5-hour hop to taipei. tomorrow morning i'll figure out if the whole thing is feasible economically and get some suggestions on neighborhoods to poke around from the family.

in other news, the old 'hood was featured in another nytimes article for its wondrous ethnic diversity. it's weird reading a newspaper description of your hometown as having "cosmopolitan chic" and being a model of inclusiveness (races, ethnicities, gay families, etc). i suppose this explains in part why one of the first things that struck me when i got to college was how often i'd hear offhand racist remarks coming from my fellow suburban white kids. most of them had just never grown up around minorities, while my high school had a "Playa's Ball" in addition to the prom each year.

man, i should've gone to the Playa's Ball. that would have been phatty.

the future

The big question I guess for this week has been: when am I getting out of Hong Kong? I'm not quite sure yet myself. I didn't get into the graduate programs I was looking at for this fall, so I need to start doing job-seeking and figuring out how I can sustain myself for the rest of the year. I will probably be in New York again this summer, as I've been asked back and it gives me time to make money and plan my next move.

In order to keep eating, I probably need to get a job. I started thinking about all the places where I'd be happy living, and the list turned out to be pretty short:

• NYC - get a phatty pad in Brooklyn like everyone else I know from Cornell
  
• Bay Area - I could probably land a Silicon Valley job, and it seems nice there
  
• Boston - nice li'l city. Plus "Taiwan Cafe" in Boston's Chinatown is the best restaurant ever.
  
• Beijing/Taipei - I could probably scrounge up some scholarship money and teach English and study Mandarin in a real Mandarin-speaking place. Plus I really LOVE watching Taiwan MTV and I've heard so many good things about arts/culture in Taiwan. Mainland seems a little scarier because I don't like people who smoke cigarettes constantly and spit on the floor.
  
• Somewhere else foreign - y'know, because living abroad and pretending to be an expat is pretty fun.
  

Admittedly, this list is mostly just places I've lived before. The Midwest is a giant mystery to me: I've never been further inland than Pittsburgh, and even that was a bit scary. But what it probably comes down to is this: I'm old now (okay, not really), and I don't like to or find it to hard to make new friends -- I miss my old ones and would rather just chill with people I already know. That's why I'll probably head back East (from the, uhm, Far East) this summer to New York.

a bit better

Today I noticed the press is starting to get more hopeful on SARS. BBC is running a piece called Doctors confident of beating killer virus, NYTimes says Virus Called Mostly Under Control. Every time I've seen a WHO expert on TV inspecting some village in Guangdong, the inspectors aren't wearing masks, though many of the Chinese officials accompanying them usually are.

The SCMP ran a list on Thursday of the 27 SARS fatalities with the gender, age, and backgrounds of each person. I felt a lot better once I'd seen that the ages were mostly in the 70's and 80's, and the exceptions (35, 39, "40's", 49, 56, 62) either had a history of chronic disease or were admitted at a late stage of SARS. 13 of the 27 were aged 70+, 2 were 60's; 16 suffered from pre-existing illnesses; 2 were admitted in the late stages. The BBC in its "Doctors confident" story interview a young Singaporean girl who smiles and says getting SARS was no big deal; she fought it off easier than I did with dengue, it seems.

At the Hong Kong airport, they're taking people's temperatures before they get on the plane -- if you've got a fever you need to get an X-ray to prove you don't have SARS (I'm not sure if they have medical X-ray machines available at the airport, or if they're just going to use the baggage inspection X-ray machines).

I was thinking of heading off somewhere in Asia for a week, but Thailand's off my list -- they've been quarantining incoming passengers from Hong Kong. Malaysia isn't allowing in flights from Hong Kong. I've wanted to go to Aceh, Sumatra for a long time now -- oops, it looks like now isn't the best time.

ok, ok, i get it

My mother wants me home. My sister is afraid of coming to visit me in Hong Kong. I'm getting emails and IM's from friends I haven't heard from in ages, all politely asking "ARE YOU DEAD YET?" My boss even brought me up in a recent meeting back in New York ("we have to get Chris home before he catches SARS"). I'm starting to get the point.

I get it. I'm starting to believe the hype. SARS-mania has hit me. I'm taking ALL my vitamins now.

SARS got its fair share of press earlier this week and it got to me, too. All the news was bad: "WHO: SARS is here to stay", "Killer bug is next global threat", and nothing seemed to be getting better. This thing was not going to blow away like I thought.

SARS paranoia started to set in. Coming back to the apartment after a quick trip outside for food, I touch a glass on my way to the bathroom to wash my hands with antibacterial soap. I think to myself: that's the SARS glass. I better make sure to wash it thoroughly in the sink once I get out of the bathroom.

I'm eating at McDonald's and get a straw from the straw dispenser. There's already a straw in the dispenser though, waiting for me -- but THIS straw might have been sneezed on by an infected person. I hide the infected straw and press the button for a fresher one.

Sophie's aunt calls from her apartment, where she's been holed up for the last couple of weeks: "Sophie. I just heard from a reliable source that the Hong Kong government is investigating that SARS might be a biological warfare attack. Just see in a few weeks when it's in all the newspapers." She hangs up.

Speaking of Sophie's aunt, she's the one who told us that the Amoy Gardens outbreak may have been caused by contaminated waste water in the drinking supply. Even though there's a water filter built into the faucet, we've been drinking only boiled or bottled water since then.

There's a place a couple blocks away where you can rent a music practice room for $5/hour, but I'm to scared to go now -- what if some germy kid there coughs on his hands, then plays the piano? All those keys ... eugh ... so grimy ...

done!

... finished my taxes. i like turbotax, because they don't charge you for filing your taxes if they know you can't afford it. how do they know you can't afford it? they've got your gross income right there, so they know you can't lie and just say "i promise, i'm too poor to pay for your software" even though you really can. nope, you can use their service online for free if you make less then $30k or something.

man, if only everything else on the internet worked this way ... i'd fax my 1040 to RealNetworks if they'd let me watch all those ABC and CNN RealOne SuperPass video clips for free.

sorry, can't blog right now...

i'm doing my taxes.

weekend in macau

So, I wasn't around the past couple of days. SARS was getting scary, Sophie had a weekend off, I didn't have any more school, so we hopped a ferry and jetfoiled over to Macau (1 hour, ~US$20).

Macau (or, uhm, Macao) is great. There haven't been any cases of SARS reported in Macau so far; no one wears a mask (except for some shop clerks and the HK people in the casinos). The WHO is visiting Macau this week to inspect it, so hopefully it'll turn out okay.

Macau was a former Portugese territory until 1999, and in walking around Macau it's not hard to forget that you're in Asia. The beautiful architecture, pastel-colored buildings, and cobblestone squares with big Catholic churches made me feel like I was in Mediterranean Europe.

Macau's two official languages are Chinese and Portugese. All the buildings, streets, store signs, immigration cards, etc have Portugese as well as Chinese written on them (and English, but not always). I assumed that the Portugese was just a token gesture at first. Our taxi driver from the ferry only spoke Cantonese, and didn't know any of the street names in either English or Portugese.

But when we actually hit the Largo do Senado and started walking around, we immediately heard Portugese being spoken by a group of ... Portugese and Chinese-ish looking people. They were Macanese (explanation, article), mixed Chinese-Portugese people who have been living in Macao for many generations. And they were everywhere: Sophie couldn't get over how many mixed folk we saw on the street. Ethnic spectacles of the day included:

• a Portugese guy speaking fluent Cantonese to a group of (Portugese, Chinese, Macanese) friends in the square.
  
• a mother and daughter, both Eurasian, walking down the street (I've mostly only encountered mixed people from younger generations).
  
• a nice Portugese cafe where the waitresses all looked Chinese but spoke Portugese to each other. Sophie tried to order an orange juice in Cantonese and she didn't really answer in Cantonese, just switched to English because her Chinese wasn't so good.
  
• an 80 year-old Eurasian grandpa sitting on a bench. What I'll look like some day, I suppose.
  
• ... well, a lot more Portugese & mixed people than we expected.
  

We walked through Macau looking at various people, churches, and forts until it began raining and we got hungry. Luckily, the best part about Macao is Macanese food. It's got Portugese, Chinese, even African influences, and it's really tasty. The evening's restaurant was decked out in Portugese decor, but we were still brought two glasses of hot tea as soon as we sat down. I hear they serve a mean Brazilian feijoada here, but I settled on porco balichão, pork cooked with tamarind and shrimp paste and served in a clay pot. Must go back and eat more.

It was a rainy Sunday night and there wasn't much more to do that night so we went to see a cover band play at the Mandarin Oriental hotel "Embassy Bar". They were a group of 6 African Americans called "Project F" from Baltimore who had last been in Jakarta and were playing four nights a week at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong now. It's a crazy gig, just like the Chicago jazz musicians I met in Beijing, and I still don't understand how out-of-work musicians get recruited to come out to play the bars of Asia. They had the whole hotel cover-band thing down pretty good, doing all sorts of top-40 pop, R&B, and hip-hop music. They sang some Destiny's Child on our request and some big expat guy got them to do a Britney Spears song, which was depressing.

The next morning it was raining, but we found a really nice cafe for lunch that was full of Portugese people, language, and food. I had some weird quiche (with "Portugese prosciutto ham"). The museum was closed, so Sophie bought a deck of cards and showed me how to play blackjack in a cafe and then we set out for Lisboa Casino.

Macao's economy relies mostly on gambling. The casinos draw lots of Hong Kongers and, more recently, mainland Chinese -- I recognized one when he took a moment out of playing blackjack to spit on the casino's carpet a few feet from me. Lisboa seemed the be the gaudiest of all the casinos, and it was certainly very lively. We were still a bit scared to play blackjack (minimum bet HK$100/US$12.50) so after watching all the crazy games (how, exactly, does one play Baccarat?) I got a handful of HK$2-coins (US$0.25) and started playing the slots.

Playing slots wasn't at all what I expected. Right off it seemed easy enough to win 2 or 5 more coins, for some reason; I had heard that slots give you a few small wins to drain the money out of you slowly, but I kept winning 2 more coins and this kept me from having to go get more change. Sophie took a few of my coins and soon I heard bells: she'd won 100 coins, $200, and everyone around her began staring as the coins spat out of the machine. She quit right then, exchanging her winnings for two crisp $100 bills, but I wasn't satisfied and still had a few more coins left.

I played the slots, winning 2, 5 and 10 coins, but still not matching her. Finally, I said, "Just a few more and we'll go," and put in one of my last coins. Soon I'd won $200, too, and we got another bucket and I received my own two crisp $100 dollar bills. The ferry ride home was on me.

Got back to SARS-land ... er, I mean Hong Kong -- and they gave us all medical declaration forms asking us if we had any SARS symptoms, as well as our phone number & address so they could contact us if someone on the ferry turned out to be infected and they needed to quarant- ... er, interview us. We sighed through our masks, which were already on from the ferry ride, caught the subway home (glaring "Don't infect me" at everyone else in the train), and washed our hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap as soon as we got inside. Back in Hong Kong.

chinese opera next door

the apartment next door is a hong kong family and they're watching to chinese opera on the television, and someone is singing along with the TV.

not sure if there are less masks today, just came back in from running out to get shampoo & chap stick & food, and it seemed like pretty much 70-80% of everyone was wearing masks, which is okay i guess. sophie's office called her back in today, i'm relaxing after finding out i don't have to study for finals.

no exams, thanks SARS!

got another email from CUHK CLC. as predicted, they're closing the universities for an extra week, just as the HK government closed the primary schools. looks like i'll have more free time on my hands for another week.

Read on for the email notice I received.

The New Asia—Yale-in China Chinese Language Center
of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Important Notice
Class Suspension, Class Resumption, Examinations, etc.
(For CLC International Students)

The Chinese University has decided to extend the current suspension of classes from 29 March – 6 April

on Shatin Campus and Prince of Wales Hospital to 13 April 2003. All the classes held by CLC will not resume until April 14.

The relevant arrangements concerning classes and examinations are:

(i) Classes will resume on 14 April 2003.
(ii) The last day of teaching for this term will be 24 April 2003 for all CLC INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS..
(iii) Centralized final oral examinations and other final examinations for this term will be cancelled.
(iv) The final grade will be calculated based on students’ overall performance up to 28 March, which including class participation, homework, quizzes, teachers’ assessments as well as the results of the mid-term tests.
(v) Those who wish to take the final examinations on 16 and 17 April as scheduled originally should contact CLC general office by phone at 26096727 or by email clc@cuhk.edu.hk no later than 10 April, Thursday.
(vi) The deadline for submitting the “Re-enrollment Form” has been postponed to April 17, 2003.

Sincerely,

CLC

4 April 2003

香港中文大學
新雅中國語文研習所

緊急通告
關於CLC（包括IAS） 國際學生

停課、復課、考試安排等事項

中文大學原決定由三月廿九日至四月六日於沙田校園及威爾斯親王醫院停課，現決定將停課期延長至四月十三日。新雅中國語文研習所的所有課程的停課期也將延長至四月十三日。

有關復課及考試安排安排如下：

（一） 四月十四日復課。
（二） 所有本所國際學生本學期上課的最後一日為四月二十四日。
（三） 本學期最後口試及筆試取消。
（四） 本學期的最後成績是以學生到目前為止的表現計算出來的， 包括：課堂表現，作業，小測驗，老師評估以及期中考試成績。
（五） 需要在原定的四月十六及十七日考試的學生請於四月十日或以前與辦公室聯繫。聯繫電話 26096727，電郵 clc@cuhk.edu.hk.
(六) 遞交動向表日期已延至四月十七日。

新雅中國語文研習所謹啟

二零零三年四月四日

it's raining SARS-infected pee.

From today's SCMP (can't find this online). A must-read. So disgusting. I'm never going near a construction site again.

Construction site linked to Amoy Gardens outbreak by Ella Lee

     Medical experts investigating the rapid spread of atypical pneumonia at a Hong Kong housing estate believe they have made a breakthrough by linking the explosion in cases to a nearby construction site.
     Concern over the rate of infection at Amoy Gardens in Ngau Tau Kok, and the reasons for it, were a key factor in the WHO's decision on Thursday to advise travellers not to visit Hong Kong. A team of health officials and medical experts has been investigating the outbreak at the estate, where 270 people have now been infected.
     The Department of Health has taken samples from temporary toilets at the construction site, where one worker has been confirmed as having SARS.
     But medical experts believe the spread of the disease may have been accelerated by bodily waste from the top five floors of the site.
     They have discovered that as there were no toilets on those floors, workers were using the flor instead. The experts suspect infected particles may have been blown across to the nearby Block E of the estate, including residents. Block E has the highest rate of infection.
     The death toll in Hong Kong climbed to 17 yesterday. The latest victim is Lau Tai-kwan, 56, a paediatric surgeon. He is the first Hong Kong doctor to die of the disease.
     There were 26 new cases reported yesterday, two of them from Amoy Gardens. The total number of cases in Hong Kongi s now 734, while 98 patients have been discharged.
     The WHO said when issuing an advisory that travellers should not visit Hong Kong or Guandong. It said it was concerned about possible "environmental factors" causing the spread of the disease, and referred to the Amoy Gardens outbreak.
     A spokesman for the Housing Society revealed yesterday that a few construction site workers had been off sick, but refused to say if they were suffering from SARS.
     The Housing Society halted construction work on Tuesday with a view to resuming work next Wednesday.
     Meanwhile, a cat owned by a Block E family was reportedly carrying the coronavirus, the same virus found in some SARS patients.
     But University of Hong Kong virologist Malik Peiris said that did not necessarily mean there was an animal-to-human infection. "Pets in those families could also have been infected with the same virus," he said.

cabin fever

it's been 46 hours now since we last left the apartment and i'm getting hungry. we didn't intend to lock ourselves in like this, but on wednesday night after we bought some groceries, all the hype started to weigh in on us, so we decided to cook our own food. then on thursday sophie didn't have to work again, so she caught up on her reading while i did some more IBM work and we made PB&J.

(a side note: british people are weird. sophie had never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before, nor did she know what the acronym PB&J meant. and she thought the bread should've been toasted. crazy.)

the weather sucked all day yesterday, so we stayed in and then ordered KFC delivery, watched movies, didn't go outside, etc. today it's raining and awful again but we're starving and heading out now for food.

hong kong decided to close school for an extra week, so this means that CUHK might decide to close, too, for the next week and i won't have class for another week. not that i mind -- we're both enjoying this unexpected vacation SARS has given us. a bit strange, though -- it's like a snow day when school is cancelled back in the US, but something's still not quite right.

okay, heading out now. with masks on, of course.

The Birds of Baghdad

My blog is getting more visits recently. On Friday I got a comment from a minister who just got back from Baghdad. I'm reposting it here:

Dear Chris,

I returned from Baghdad just before the onset of the attack. The URL is to a story I wrote while there. It's posted on the website of The Cathedral of St John The Divine, a major social issues congregation here in New York City. When I went to google to check whether my publisher had posted it yet in the UK, I happened upon your blog. (Because you use the words "birds of baghdad") So I've been touring your website. And I was struck and impressed by the observation you made about birds chirping in the most 'evil nation' on earth...

Yes, there are birds in Baghdad - and it's a miracle that they're still singing.

Edgar Nkosi White
A.M.D.G.

more news bits

Sophie's job sent her home -- someone at the office had exposure to SARS and they are disinfecting her office.

There's a site called SoSick.org that lists reported cases in Hong Kong with their sources, including a few cases at school. Good thing classes are cancelled right now.

In the last two days we watched the Amoy Gardens residents moved to quaratine camps, with food, medical services etc brought to them by the government. It's a bit like "Outbreak" and pretty scary.

Sophie's aunt says she was the one who called the authorities to tell them to test the water at Amoy Gardens. She said that in old buildings in Hong Kong, the waste water often leaks into the fresh water. That would be a pretty disgusting way of contracting SARS. We're drinking bottled/boiled water now.

On April 1, a teenager's copied the design of the Ming Pao News website and started a rumour that sparked a wave of panic buying at the stores here when he sent out a false alert that Hong Kong was being declared a quarantine port. Later the government text-messaged everyone's mobile phone to let us know the rumour wasn't true.

The WHO released a travel advisory telling people not to come to HK or Guangdong. I guess no one's going to risk visiting me now ...

Everyone's still wearing their masks outside. Our building has a new clear plastic sheet covering the elevator buttons, to make it easier to wash I assume.

The newspaper made us scared of eating take-away, so I cooked spaghetti w/ chicken breasts last night, the first real dinner I've made since I got here. The spaghetti sauce they sell here for gweilos tastes too sweet, like bad American brands, but otherwise it was OK.

SARS tidbits

New SARS observations in HK:

• Some very popular and usually crowded streets were empty Sunday -- people are scared and staying inside. Sophie's aunt isn't leaving her home for the next few days. Affluent families are leaving HK altogether until things "die down."
  
• The laundry lady down the street is now offering to add a bottle of something marked "antiseptic" (looked like Listerine to me) in with the detergent to your wash for only a few bucks extra. I demurred.
  
• The sidewalk vendors that have been doing such brisk business selling masks, alcohol swabs and disinfectant are now selling latex gloves, too. I haven't seen anyone wearing them, though.
  
• Someone in a mask and thick gloves was scrubbing the elevator (disinfecting it, I assume) in my building when I came back. I bet they're going to do that more often now.
  
• This isn't SARS-related, but people in Hong Kong sure do like carrying cash on them. I was just at the ATM, and people there frequently make deposits/withdrawls using fistfuls of HK$1000 (~US$125) bills. All the HSBC employees wear masks now, and so did most of the customers.
  
• Sophie counted 572 masks today on her way to work.
  
• One cannot drink orange juice from a straw through the tiny airholes in one's mask. (I tried.)