Job Discussion Forums

[kathleen]

This just in from the New York Times:

Today, as newly reported SARS cases dropped to 48, only about half the recent daily average, a health official said there was growing evidence that the city's epidemic had plateaued and might soon start to decline.

[hubei_canuk]

[Joe C.]

[hubei_canuk]

Yes, "youse"
as in:
"Youse English teachers are a pain to talk to"
..
Excuse me, time to go out and play bowling.

[Roger]

'plateaued' in the article mentioned by kathleen seems to mean 'peaked'.
Since when do peaks have anything in common with plateaux?

[Freaky Deaky]

Yeah, that's great guys. Highly enlightening. But what do you reckon about the original subject? Is Sars going to get much worse - first death in Shanghai. Uh oh...

[Hamish]

[hubei_canuk]

[Hamish]

ANYWAY, we do seem to be experiencing a change in conditions (Perhaps a lull before a storm?).

If the information we are getting is correct, and if the little bug has not gone home with those folks who have been walking for days from Beijing to return to their villages, maybe this is the edge of the �mesa.�

Along with all of you, I hope so.

I have been impressed with the way in which my Chinese friends and colleagues have carried themselves during this crisis. Among my limited circle of Chinese contacts there has been none of the crying out over new burdens that has been expressed by some writers on this forum. Everyone I know has been seriously inconvenienced, at least, by this emergency, and some have had their lives completely disrupted. The Dean of our Department has been sleeping in his office for several weeks. The Secretary of The CCP was quarantined with a building full of students when we thought they had been exposed to SARS. Neither man has lost his sense of humor.

Chinese members of the staff have been directed, particularly CCP members, to make great sacrifices for the good of the school. They have been directed to spare no effort or expense to protect my wife and I from danger. This has meant that several teachers and administrators have contacted us on a daily basis to offer help in any form we may ask. We don�t have to lift a finger to have whatever we may want or need brought to our sixth floor apartment. The tasks that we ask to be done are ALWAYS done graciously, and with a smile.

It embarrasses me, frankly. I know for a fact that my country, the US, would not take care of foreign nationals in the spectacular way that the Chinese have supported us. There are problems galore here, as many know better than I, but in the place where we live, China has come through this to the present moment with extraordinary grace and style.

Regards,

[hubei_canuk]

My commies are good to me too.
Their apartments are better than mine. but we are all high class. I guess we are close comrades.I put up a poster of Mao so we can toast our mutual economic success. I teach them to say in English "I'm all right, Jack".
.....
I couldn't possibly get embarrassed sharing the wealth and attention.
I guess that's coz i know about the human misery they cause. I know about the human slavery and repression even within 15 min drive of my school. I would get in trouble if i talked about it.
God, i wonder what i don't know about because there's no reportage nor accountability anywhere..no investigative journalism, no journalism, no calling the authorities, no calling the cops, the bad guys are the cops in most places.
But i don't really have to look outside the schools in my city. From the putongban's or common classes only 1 student in 500 will make it to high school because they didn't have enough money to go to the shiyanban (experimental classes). And then out of the richer core they don't have the money to go to high school and then the next level not even middle school.
So no, i never feel embarrassed by the commies. They can give me a million bucks but it don't buy my love.