Amoy Wanderings

For the past month, I have remained silent for a couple of reasons. For one, there really has been little change to our situation, so there has been little to report. The other reason is that from all I could gather, the rest of the world is now experiencing various forms of quarantine and lock down, so that most of you have had your lives upended and need to focus on what you are experiencing. But after receiving some questions from friends, I thought I should give you a basic update. First off, we are doing very well, staying healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually. Yes, we are mainly in a self-imposed lock down, meaning we mainly stay at home, but we do get out almost every day and meet with friends a few times a week. Our compound has been opened back up (mainly); we are free to come and go, and Sandy even had a guest over the other day. We have also been meeting with a group of friends at the beach (which is a 15-minute drive from our house) on Sunday morning for ...

Girl flying a kite at the beach. It has been four weeks since the shut down began here in Xiamen, and we are healthy and doing well though we are in the dark as much as ever. We are still encouraged to stay at home, cannot have visitors into the compound, and need to wear a mask whenever we go out and will be in close contact with people. However, businesses are slowly re-opening and some restaurants and coffee/tea shops are allowing people to sit together (although even then they prefer people to sit in pairs at most). Schools in our area still have no projected start date. Here is a recent article that shows China’s current plan for re-opening schools . At this rate, I’m guessing our schools at the earliest will open in mid-April.  Sandy flying a kite. With the closing of all public meetings, people have been using alternatives to maintain contact. Our foreign fellowship has been posting weekly messages and songs so that people still can have connection. Sandy,...

It's only been a few days since my last post (What else am I supposed to do with all this free time?) but the situation here has already changed -- and not for the better. I could never even imagine the situation we are experiencing here could ever happen in the US or any other democratic country. You may have heard how people are basically stranded in their houses, and if you haven't, here's a good article that discusses it. Housebound Chinese Cope with Being Cooped Up Bleach water streaks on the elevator door -- as if we needed one more reason not to touch things in public. On it's face, being stuck in the house doesn't seem too bad; many of us have experienced a bad snowstorm accompanied with power outages -- a little frustrating and an inconvenience but usually short lived. But let's expand the situation a bit. Now imagine that all the public spaces have been shut down -- parks and malls in particular. Add to that your housing is an apartment in a...