Sunday, May 18, 2008

A State of Mourning and Alert

A State of Mourning
The faculty and staff received this email shortly after lunch today, along with some earthquake survival tips:

各位同仁:

根据中国政府的公告,从5月19日起到5月21日,是中国的哀悼日,以悼念四川汶川地区大地震死难的人民。为此学校决定哀悼日中全校降半旗致哀,5月19日下午2:28将和全国人民一起默哀三分钟,今天下午2:25时,全校将通过广播告知各位,请大家组织好学生在原地肃立、低首、默哀。我们公司凡是工作上许可的,一律参加全国的3分钟默哀,
请大家做好准备。在此期间将全校停止一切娱乐活动,特此告示。

校长 郑延定

2008.5.19

Dear all:

The government announced an official three day mourning period starting Monday (May 19-May 21) in memory of people killed in the powerful earthquake in WenChuan Arean SiChuan Province. The national flags at our school will fly at half-staff and join the three minutes of silence at 2:28pm with the whole country today. We will announce the event at 2:25pm through school PA System. Please organize all your students to Stand up, Bow and Keep Silence for three minutes while horns of vehicles, trains, ships and air raid sirens wail in grief. All public recreational activities in School will be canceled.

Principal Yanding Zheng

May 19, 2008







Today is exactly one week after the earthquake struck the nation of China. Please keep our country in your thoughts*.


A State of Alert
Children under 8 years old are facing a scary time and heightened alert as an epidemic called Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is showing up in Kindergartens across this city and in others.



From the International Herald Tribune --
"BEIJING: The death toll rose to 43 from the hand, foot and mouth disease virus that has sickened tens of thousands of children across China, a report said Friday.

A 22-month-old girl from eastern Jiangxi province died Thursday in a local hospital, health officials told the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

As of Wednesday, the hand, foot and mouth disease virus had sickened more than 24,934 children in seven Chinese provinces plus Beijing, Xinhua reported.

The number was expected to continue rising after the state Health Ministry last week ordered health care providers to report cases within 24 hours.

The virus has been yet another major concern for Chinese authorities as they prepare for the Beijing Olympics in August. Cases have been reported from Guangdong province in the south to Jilin province in the northeast, and in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

Three people in Jiangxi province remain in critical condition from the virus, Xinhua reported Friday.

Most cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in China this year have been blamed on enterovirus 71.

The virus spreads through contact with saliva, feces, nose and throat mucus or fluid secreted from blisters. There is no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children with mild forms of the illness recover quickly after suffering little more than a fever and rash.

The disease is expected to peak in the hot months of June and July."


As a result of this, sinks have been placed outside of our Kindergarten. All students must wash their hands (using a detailed procedure that even the faculty and staff had to be trained on) and visit the nurse for a quick morning check-up before attending class. Teachers must also wash their hands at these sinks before entering as well. The Shanghai Government Authorites have requested that all major functions that involve the gatherings of parents and children in a small compact space be cancelled. Our classroom observations by the parents were scheduled for last Thursday, but have been postponed indefinitely. We have an annual International Day scheduled for Saturday, May 31. No news yet has been given as to whether or not it will still be taking place. We are assuming as of now that this event will continue. Logic tells us we should cancel it, but the way the Chinese teachers are still busy with decorations and planning, we are assuming it is still scheduled as normal... We are yarping* that the children can still participate in Kindergarten graduation on June 12th.

Children over the age of 8 years apparently have a stronger and more developed immune system to fight off the virus. This disease is very uncommon in adults, though one may contract it.

For more information on this disease, please visit the Center for Disease Control and Protection website at: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/hfhf.htm.

So much is happening in China right now...

*As I was ending this entry, the three minutes of silence began. It was such a chilling feeling to hear the car horns outside as they were the only ones wailing in mourning for those who lost their lives last week. It's a hard thing to describe, the fact that I am being able to experience some of this first hand... wow.

One more quick piece of lighter news -
The Olympic torch will be ran a few blocks away in ZhangJiang tomorrow afternoon (this is the suburb of Shanghai where I teach)! However, the teachers and I won't be able to see it since it will be ran during the school day... bummer.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

I love birthdays!

Did you know that when you add the four numbers of my birth year together, you get 23? 1+9+8+5 = 23 (some of you may have seen the movie The Number 23... if you haven't, you should).

I looked online for some interesting things about the number 23. It just so happens one website gave me 23 interesting things about the number 23. Here are a few of them.

1. 23 is one of the most commonly cited prime numbers.
2. The number has been the subject of not one but two films: the 1998 German movie, 23, and The Number 23, starring Jim Carrey, released (naturally) today. Each has a main character obsessed with the number.
3. Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859 - 1+8+5+9 = 23. Two divided by three makes 0.666 recurring (allegedly - actually it makes 0.6666666667). The Hiroshima bomb was dropped at 8.15am - 8+15= 23.
4. The Ancient Chinese believed numbers conveyed sexuality - evens for feminine and odds for masculine. They considered prime numbers to be the most masculine, conferring special status on 23 which is made up of two consecutive prime numbers and the only even prime number - two.
5. The terrorist attacks on America on 11 September 2001 have been held up as one of the most portentous examples of the disturbing power of 23. The figures in the date (9+11+2+0+0+1) add up to 23. The independent US commission which investigated the attacks found the date had been chosen randomly by the hijackers and had originally been planned for later in the year. Alternative explanations for the date included the taking over of Palestine by Britain in 1922 and the fact that 911 is the US emergency code.
6. Each parent contributes 23 chromosomes to the start of human life. The nuclei of cells in human bodies have 46 chromosomes made out of 23 pairs. Egg and sperm cells in humans have 23 chromosomes which fuse and divide to create an embryo.
7. The Birthday Paradox states that a group of 23 randomly-selected people is the smallest number where there will be a probability higher than 50 per cent that two people will share the same birthday.
8. "W" is the 23rd letter of the Latin alphabet. It has two points down and three points up. White supremacists use 23 to represent "W" as a mark of racial superiority.

I can't believe I've made it to 23. I remember when my cousin Rachel turned 23... My 19-year-old brain thought she was gettin' pretty old. Now, here I am. And to have a birthday in China! How exciting! I was so thankful to have spent my birthday with my new friends. We had a great time -- bowling a couple of rounds, with a game of speed bowling to wrap things up; heading to dinner down the street at TGI Friday's; finally, the remaining friends and I went to Whisk (an amazing little dessert place).

So, how will things be on my 24th birthday? Quite a lot can happen in one year. Last year at this time, I was closing a big chapter in my life with college graduation. This year, I am closing yet another big chapter, though short-lived. I'm excited to see how this next year pans out.

On a rather sad note, while I was celebrating my birthday, thousands of others were mourning and grieving the loss of loved ones, their homes, and their lives. I encourage all of you to please keep those cities and those people in your thoughts*. It is such a sad thing to see so many people in need...

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PS - random piece of information: Some of you know how I've been bombarded with hints of Spanish as of the past few months... I found out today that the kindergartners will be doing a salsa dance (to a Spanish song, of course) at the Kindergarten Graduation ceremony. Just thought I'd throw that out there for ya. Oh yeah, one more thing... I've been assigned the country of Spain for International Day at the end of May.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Good, The Bad, The Beijing Trip

Well, friends... to be quite honest, I'll never go back to Beijing. Heh.

I'd rather not spend my time complaining about the polluted air and the unfriendly locals. I'd rather not discuss my near nervous breakdown due to the crowds of people in tiny cramped spaces. I'd really like to refrain from a rather long discourse on how I feel the city of Beijing, both its people and the buildings themselves, is in no way ready to host the Olympic games (for various reasons that I will not discuss, like I've discussed).

However... Even though the experience itself was not quite what I had expected, and even though I wore a bare face and am in desperate need of a tan, I was so thrilled to have stood in some of the most famous places on the planet. How insignificant I felt when I walked the Great Wall. How intimidating to stand in a section of the 980 buildings that make up the Forbidden City. How chilling to view the body of one of China's most notorious leaders. How naive I felt to have walked through the Summer Palace, not knowing any of that beauty existed. How athletically inspiring to stand near the Olympic Stadium. I even witnessed these things at a very pivotal point in China's history. Who am I that I would get the chance to do this? And to think, none of the splendor and beauty of these things will last. All of this fades and will perish in light of Him! He is more famous than any of the places where my feet were planted. I thought of this as I was standing in line to see Mao's dead body. I thought, why am I wasting my time to see a man, a man who is called the Son of Heaven?? I know the True Son of Heaven, and this guy ain't him... What an incredible perspective to have in life; to know that we are here for His glory and not for our gain. He chose to allow me to see these things last week so that I might have a greater understanding of who He is and how He is working. If only I could have been thinking this way in my frustrating times last week (sheepish grin).