Today many family members and friends who are living in Europe shared their Covid-19 story with me on social media. Everyone is in panic mode. My family and friends told me that there is no more food on the store shelves, no masks, or hand sanitizers. Now, they have to work from home and the worst part......schools are closed and kids are at home. As my family and friends across the world seem to be in shock, all I can think of is that my family and friends in Hong Kong have been dealing and trying to cope with this, as well as many other things ever since the moment we started living in Hong Kong..... Moving to Hong Kong... Our family decided to move to Hong Kong at the end of 2017. We decided to live in the Tung Chung area and we loved it. It was near the airport, which is convenient for my husband (since he is a pilot). The train station and shopping area are also near our apartment, which is great. Furthermore, we live close to Disneyland. Well, that is the happiest place on earth, so who would not want to live near to that? My oldest daughter is living in the Netherlands because she studies there. The first time she came to visit us she said that we were living in a "bubble". She said, there is a swimming pool.... right down at our apartment. There is a clubhouse... right down at our apartment. You could also find a health clinic and a dentist... right down at our apartment. Maybe she was right, but I loved our "little bubble". From our apartment, you could see the swimming pool, barbecue area, boats sailing and the airport. So I could see my husband's aircraft departing and coming in. My children were able to go on the MTR by themselves, as it is pretty safe for them to go around Hong Kong independently. One thing we did not expect was the high pollution. There were times where we could taste the metal in our mouths or where we decided to just stay indoors.
Demonstrations... In 2019, the demonstrations started due to the proposed legislation of the Hong Kong extradition bill. It started peacefully. However, not long after demonstrators started vandalising Hong Kong and it became world wide news. Again we could not reach certain parts of town and public transportation and schools were affected by it. It just became safer to stay at home, because you did not wanted to end up in the middle of a tear-gas war zone or a sea of people. During this time, friends and colleagues in Hong Kong monitored the news closely and it was a stressful time for all of us. Looking around town and seeing it being vandalised made me sad. People died during the demonstrations and made me even more sad. Many small business had to close down shop. You could see that people were not smiling that much anymore. I have always felt that living in Hong Kong, everyone walks and does things in a fast pace. It almost seemed as wherever I went, I had to move faster to avoid any demonstrations that might be around the corner. Nevertheless, whenever things were vandalised, people would still go out the next day and tried to fix things. Picture from www.france24.com COVID-19...
For a moment, it almost seemed that the end of 2019 brought some hope. There were not so many demonstrations. We were able to go around the city again and everywhere we went it, people were smiling. Everything just felt right again. For our Chinese New Year break, we went to Bangkok and that is when the outbreak started. As it got worse, the Education Bureau decided to close schools for a little while. At first, our kids were happy...Yeayyy no school!!! Wrong! Online schooling replaced normal schooling. I noticed that it is not easy for my children to wake up early morning for an online class, and to stay focus behind their computer for a long time. The Education Bureau announced school closing early February and we will continue till the end of April. Being at home for 3 months is a long time, and because this is a tentative date, it might even be longer. As a teacher, I also had to do online schooling for my students. I am thankful that the government made the decision early on. Again, Hong Kong citizens amaze me. The people here would wear masks as soon as the outbreak started. Offices were closed and people were working from all. Train stations were empty, Hong Kong looked like a ghost town for the greater good. However, I cannot lie...so far I must say that it has been challenging and a learning curve at the same time. Challenging because here we are, 5 family members, stuck in a small apartment. I am trying my best to combine work with home. Every day I am trying to juggle my zoom classes, my children's zoom classes, research for my activities on Seesaw, lesson planning, my children's homework, communication with school and parents, communicating with colleagues, online meetings, taking my second Masters online, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. While worrying about the health and future of my family and others. Learning curve because, I had to figure out so many online platforms at the same time, in such a short time. Further, for me, it has been a time for self-reflection. People are losing their jobs and small businesses have to close shop. A few months ago, I could see many airplanes coming in and out of Hong Kong. Now, I can barely count them on one hand. I know in my heart, this too shall pass and I am trying to stay positive through it all. Nevertheless, it is crazy to think about how fast things change and how fast Covid-19 has spread all over the world. I just hope that everyone will do their best to maintain their health and the health of others. I am praying for you, I am praying for me, I am praying for us, and all that is around us. Stay healthy!
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Dear Lauren,
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AuthorMargie Dayana Archives
March 2020
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