Tsai sprang into action in January, introducing 124 measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. At the time of writing, the country had kept infection and deaths from Covid-19 at an envious 393 and 6 respectively. Just look at Taiwan, which is led by former law professor Tsai Ing-wen. In fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, countries led by women appear to be doing a better job. Although being shot or beheaded by the Kempeitai sounds scary indeed, fighting an invisible enemy is pretty nerve-wracking too. So, long after we get “there”, we will have many “hardship” stories to share with future generations who may never have to live through this (fingers crossed).Īnd from anecdotes on social media, it seems this period under the Movement Control Order is harder to endure, mostly because we came into this from a comfortable position. I remember my late mother telling me stories about the Japanese occupation, the emergency and May 13. Apart from bonding with family members, becoming better cooks and breathing in cleaner air, you now have a story to tell your children and grandchildren. (Okay, the cabin fever got the better of me there.)īut every cloud has a silver lining, in this case a faint one. Except by then, will we still remember what it is like not having to queue one metre apart to get into a grocery store or not to shrink back in fear whenever someone coughs or sneezes? Or not having to wear a mask whenever we are out? Will we still have the freedom to travel to wherever we want? Will we still have jobs, will democracy survive? Presumably, when a vaccine is found, life will return to normal.
Meanwhile, we have to live in this purgatory-like existence, between then - let’s call it the pre-pandemic period - and the future, that is “the other side” or the new normal, until the human race is successfully inoculated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Well, you can’t practise social distancing within a limited space, can you? There will be no parties of more than a certain number of people. The question is, what does this “other side” look like? Most tellingly, we won’t be able to shake hands or hug, unless they are people who already live with you in the same house. The reality is, most of us will get there - this place in the future that the government and health experts tell us to stay home, duduk diam-diam and wait patiently for, and we will get there soon enough. Many have provided feedback that has gone back into improving the course material and review tools.If you have been watching the news, like I have, you will keep hearing the phrase “getting to the other side” as if it is a destination that we can book a train or air ticket to. Over the years, the lessons have been downloaded millions of times by learners from nearly every country on this earth. I designed the course material with the help of teachers at a local university here in Taiwan. Chinese Learn Online (CLO) is what I've created. Have proper review tools- to help me remember key vocabulary and concepts. This way I would be forced to review what I'd learned earlier in context. Ideally I'd like lessons to increase in difficulty as I learned more and incorporate more of the Chinese I'd already learned within the lesson. Whereas others are all in Chinese that I haven't learned yet that I find too difficult. Some of their lessons are all in English with not much Chinese actually being taught. I found I remembered things better if I heard it and saw it.īe progressive- This was the key that was missing from so many of the other programs I found out there. Have transcripts of everything ever said- In many podcasts I heard vocabulary that didn't make sense to me until I saw it written down.
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