Return to School Delayed!

So, as the scene unfolds on media, so also our circumstances are changing. Peking University, our Beijing employer, has informed us that the start of the semester is being indefinitely delayed. It was to have started on Feb. 17 and our tickets are for Feb. 11. We were told not to cancel our tickets yet, but it seems inevitable. There is discussion about conducting classes online, which I suppose can be done from almost anywhere. (Rick is contemplating how one can teach oral English with required oral presentations online. Haha) Personally, I am finding this delay very hard to accept. After this long ‘vacationing’, I am quite ready to return to my home and hold still and unpack. I am ready to return to my very meaningful work. But then I have spent most of today realizing what an ungrateful wretch I am. The Lord orchestrates it so that we are out of harms way, and do not have to go through the uncertainties of lock down, lack of supplies, and maybe even evacuation….and instead I a...

New Year and Coronavirus

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the beginning of the ultimate Chinese holiday. It means traveling home to see relatives, eating delicious food, handing out red envelops full of money as gifts, and generally relaxing. Many big cities are usually almost closed down as people gladly return to their villages of origins. ….except there is a coronavirus outbreak. 12 cities around the epicenter have been closed down and people everywhere are being told to just stay in place. One could easily wonder how a government could close down 12 cities with a cumulative population of about 35 million. However, having lived in Beijing for 3 years, I have no doubt at all that it is quite possible. Transportation will simply stop running. If there are no airplanes, busses, and trains, that pretty well leaves only cars, and although the number of cars has greatly increased they still are not usually used for long distance travel. So I have no doubts at all that the citizens in the Wuhan area are simply s...