International Students: Quarantine Days in Wuhan

By Jodie Wang, Rice Ilunga Kajila, Kante Nabila Chouaib & Baba Imoro Musah

Since 10 o’clock on January 23, the city’s buses, subways, ferries, and long-distance passenger train stations have been suspended. Wuhan University of Technology also began fully enclosed management of international student dormitories since February 11. What was the status of these international students studying and living in Wuhan, and how did they spend this period of isolation?

1月23日10 時(shí)起，武漢全市公交、地鐵、輪渡、長(zhǎng)途客運(yùn)站暫停運(yùn)營(yíng)，武漢理工大學(xué)也自2月11日起對(duì)留學(xué)生宿舍進(jìn)行全封閉管理。這些在武漢學(xué)習(xí)和生活的留學(xué)生們的現(xiàn)狀如何，他們是如何度過這段隔離的日子的呢？

01 賴斯：抗疫生存戰(zhàn)記

Rice Ilunga Kajila: How I survived during the quarantine?

The most common question my overseas friends have asked me is how I’ve survived the quarantine. Most people cannot imagine being quarantined for this long and still be sane, but it is possible.

When the quarantine measures were first passed in Wuhan, we were able to move around and purchase things in the major supermarkets (Zhongbai, Walmart, etc.) and those nearby. Then the moment came when the rules changed and we weren’t allowed to get out of our communities. It was frustrating since the major question on everyone’s mind was how we’d be able to get access to groceries.

Teachers from the International Student’s Office delivers food packages to students國(guó)際教育學(xué)院的老師們?yōu)閷W(xué)生送去物資

Rice I. Kajila (right) and Xiong Fei 賴斯（右）和菜鳥驛站工作人員“熊哥”

To understand how we managed the problem, let me give you an overview of how the communities are organized. In each community there is a Wechat group that allows the administration of that particular community to communicate with all the residents. This powerful organization of each community can go as far as communicating when there is a stranger visiting the area. Through the community’s service, all residents were able to buy groceries using Mini Apps on Wechat, such as 美菜 and 十薈團(tuán). Being the only foreigner in my community wasn’t easy, especially when it came to understanding how to buy using the Mini Apps, because at first there was only a specific time you could buy. My condition didn’t go unnoticed by the administrator of my community. Soon, I had the delivery manager contacting me individually, he would call and take my order and provide extra services whenever I needed anything from the market.

I can recall the day I couldn’t get rice even after trying for two days on the Mini App, so he came the next day, brought a box of noodles for free and helped me purchase more groceries. His name is Xiong Fei, and I call him Xiong Ge, which means “ Big Brother Xiong.”

Besides the help from the community, the International Student’ s Office (ISO) via its head Mr. David Hu and my teacher David Gong, also managed to get the necessary permissions from the local government to deliver food to students who lived off campus. Being the off-campus student manager, I knew there were more than one hundred students living off campus and we were all locked down in our communities. However, each student living off campus saw the joyful faces of the school teachers moving mountains to bring groceries and masks to them, and that included bringing packages of vegetables, meat, fruits, and snacks to everyone.

The final set of surprises came when someone from the community administration delivered some vegetables for free, as well as letting me know I could get meat from the community office at a very low cost.

我究竟是如何熬過武漢封城抗疫這段非常時(shí)期的呢？這是我的海外朋友最常問我的問題。多數(shù)人無法想象隔離這么久還能保持十分理智，但這是完全有可能的。

武漢封城之初，我們還可以到各大超市（中百、沃爾瑪和附近的社區(qū)超市）去采購(gòu)各種物資。沒多久社區(qū)也被封禁，這令人非常沮喪，因?yàn)樽畲蟮睦щy就是如何采購(gòu)生活日用品。

我們?nèi)绾谓鉀Q這一困難呢？要解答這個(gè)問題，首先，讓我來介紹一下社區(qū)的組織結(jié)構(gòu)。每個(gè)社區(qū)都有一個(gè)微信群，社區(qū)的管理人員和所有居民可以借此互相聯(lián)系。外來人員來訪時(shí)，可以通過社區(qū)與居民聯(lián)系。通過社區(qū)服務(wù)，所有居民都能夠通過微信上的小程序（如美菜和十薈團(tuán)）來購(gòu)買生活物資。作為我們社區(qū)里唯一的外國(guó)人，這真的很難，尤其是在那些小程序上買菜對(duì)我來說很有難度。原因是，在團(tuán)購(gòu)初期，每次團(tuán)購(gòu)開始都只有一個(gè)特定的時(shí)間下單，需要我和其他居民一起組團(tuán)來完成。我的情況很快得到了社區(qū)管理員的關(guān)注，他們開始讓送貨經(jīng)理單獨(dú)聯(lián)系我。他會(huì)打電話單獨(dú)接我的訂單，并在我有需要的時(shí)候提供額外服務(wù)。我還記得那一天，我在小程序上努力了兩天都沒有買到大米，我給他發(fā)了信息，第二天他就免費(fèi)送給我一包面條并且?guī)椭屹?gòu)買了更多的糧食。他的名字叫熊飛。我叫他熊哥，因?yàn)樗翊蟾缫粯诱疹櫸摇?/p>

我得到的不僅僅有社區(qū)的幫助。武漢理工大學(xué)國(guó)際教育學(xué)院辦公室的胡雄斌老師、龔建明老師，申請(qǐng)到了通行證，為住在校外的學(xué)生提供必要的食物。而作為校外學(xué)生管理員之一，我了解到有100 多名國(guó)際留學(xué)生住在校外，他們的社區(qū)也都封閉了。每一個(gè)住在校外的學(xué)生都看到了學(xué)校老師的笑臉，老師們辛苦為學(xué)生們運(yùn)送生活物資和口罩，給每個(gè)人都送去一大包蔬菜、肉、水果、零食。

It has been a season of both panic and receiving love and care from the Wuhanese. Staying indoors not only kept us safe but also kept our neighbors safe.

更讓我感到驚訝的是，社區(qū)管理部工作人員會(huì)經(jīng)常來敲我的門，免費(fèi)送給我一些蔬菜，并通知我去社區(qū)辦公室買超級(jí)平價(jià)的愛心肉。

在這個(gè)讓人恐慌的時(shí)期，我感受到了武漢人的愛和關(guān)懷。我衷心地感謝大家，我親愛的鄰居們和武漢理工大學(xué)國(guó)際教育學(xué)院的所有老師們。我的心也與世界上所有與新型冠狀病毒肺炎作斗爭(zhēng)的人們同在。宅家不僅保證了我們的安全，也保證了鄰居的安全。

02 帥伯:開發(fā)了很多新技能

Kante Nabila Chouaib: Developed many new skills

I was too scared at first because of the news about the increasing number of deaths, infections, and so on. However, when I started to think about my future, my goal of learning the Chinese language, and why I came to China, I found that the only solution to permit me to continue was firstly to adapt to a new reality in a positive way.

I quickly started to focus on ways to keep safe, watching good news instead of bad news or rumors, keep praying, listening to music, dancing, and continuing with my study plan. So there was no time to think too much or care about other things.

Seeing medical staff fighting, people dying and Wuhan citizens who kept to their duties, affected my faith deeply and positively. Then I found that the only thing I could do to help these strong and courageous people on the front line was to keep calm, follow authorities’ requirements, and allow them to be focused on the disease.

I achieved 90% of my goal in my studies. For instance, I passed HSK 3 during this period. I developed many new skills like avoiding crowded places. Those support activities (talking with friends, dancing, watching motivational movies, listening to music, learning etc.) permitted me to forget the bad time I was facing. The way I considered the problem was totally different from my parents’ views regarding the news they received everyday about our situation in Wuhan through France 24 and BBC. They were more scared than me, even though they gave only two advices: Don’t panic and keep praying, you will survive.

What I retained from this was that in emergency case like this, we must keep a good mentality by being positive, build up confidence by keeping track of good news, and follow rules in order to know how to keep safe. Only by so doing will we be able to survive the hardest time as heroes do.

起初，隨著新增感染人數(shù)和死亡人數(shù)的增長(zhǎng)，我感到十分害怕。我開始思考我的將來，我的語言學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃以及我為什么要來到中國(guó)。我發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我繼續(xù)下去的唯一解決方法是，使自己保持良好的感覺，因?yàn)槟壳霸摿餍胁∵€沒有疫苗。

我很快開始重視保障安全，看一些好的消息而不是壞消息或謠言，繼續(xù)祈禱、聽音樂、跳舞，并繼續(xù)我的學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃。

戰(zhàn)斗的醫(yī)護(hù)人員們、危重的病患和那些堅(jiān)守崗位的武漢市民，對(duì)我的信仰產(chǎn)生了深遠(yuǎn)而積極的影響。我發(fā)現(xiàn)唯一可以幫助這些最堅(jiān)強(qiáng)、最勇敢的人的方法就是保持鎮(zhèn)定，遵守當(dāng)局要求。

在此期間，我達(dá)到了90%的目標(biāo)，比如通過漢語水平考試三級(jí)（HSK 3）。我在很多事情上都開發(fā)了新技能，例如避開擁擠的地方。這些活動(dòng)（如與朋友聊天，跳舞，看勵(lì)志電影，聽音樂，學(xué)習(xí)等）使我忘記了自己過得不好的時(shí)光。我每天通過法國(guó)24 小時(shí)和BBC 了解到的有關(guān)我們?cè)谖錆h的情況和武漢真實(shí)的情況完全不同。雖然他們意識(shí)到“不要驚慌并繼續(xù)祈禱，您會(huì)順利度過困難的”，但他們其實(shí)比我害怕得多。因此，有時(shí)我會(huì)質(zhì)疑自己是否真的在武漢，在那個(gè)他們所認(rèn)為的最不安全的地方。

我認(rèn)為，在這樣的緊急情況下，保持積極樂觀的心態(tài)，適當(dāng)關(guān)注新聞可以增加你的信心，遵守規(guī)則才能知道如何保持安全，只有這樣才能像英雄一樣擺脫艱難的時(shí)光。

03 夏博健：學(xué)術(shù)生活在繼續(xù)

Baba Imoro Musah: Academic life continues

I have lived in Wuhan for cumulatively about 4 years now. I first came here in September of 2015 for my postgraduate studies and successfully graduated in June 2017 with MSc in Environmental Science and Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology. Now I am a second-year PhD student in the same major at the same university.

At about 11:30 am on January 23, I had a task to perform in the laboratory as a research student. I went to the roadside to get a public bus to go to lab. However, after few minutes of waiting at the stop, no bus showed up—apparently, the lockdown had started already. I honestly thought it was because of the New Year holiday. I couldn’t wait any longer, so I opted to make good use of one of the public bicycles available nearby. Upon my return to school dormitory later in the evening on bicycle, I read in the news about the lockdown in Wuhan that was already going on.

Subsequently, our university authorities notified us about the suspension of all public transportation in Wuhan. Our school further provided safety guidelines for all of us on campus to abide by in order to protect us from getting infected by COVID-19. Then notice came again advising all international students on campus to stay indoors as much as possible, and wear a mask when it is necessary to go out at the initial stage.

On the night, the Chinese government announced its plan to build a 1000-bed emergency hospital in one week to cater to cases of COVID-19 in the city. This news came to many of us as great news.

The provisions of medical masks, some foods such as vegetables, rice, oil, and water from our university within this period came as great relief to many of us on campus and it was deeply appreciated. I want to say thanks to our university, especially to the ISO for assisting some of my colleague students to renew their visas/residence permit during this lockdown. The decision to disinfect our dormitory, kitchens, and corridors in our dormitory was a good move, too.

I must admit that curtailment or restrictions on human movement anywhere was not easy at all. However, since the surest way to help contain COVID-19 is avoid as much as possible human contact with many people, I think it is worth it.

During this period, everyday I tried to find something positive to engage my attention as a research student. I read scientific articles relating to my research work and did mini reviews—this lessened the pressure on my mind about COVID-19. I am sure many other students did the same.

Initially, we started free Chinese learning in our dormitory initiated by Ms. Dai Yuli during the first two weeks of the lockdown but we subsequently stopped it in order to avoid human contact as recommended by health authorities. I’ve been in touch with Professor Lai Peng, my supervisor, regularly, whom I’m grateful to for he kept checking on me and giving me tasks to perform which diverted all my attention to academic study.

For those who will be graduating this year in June, I wish you the very best in your thesis or dissertation preparations. Let’s all continue to make good use of the time we stay indoors by attending to our academic needs as much as possible.

Let’s all continue to stay strong, and abide by all safety guidelines and instructions from our school authority as well as the Chinese government. I know China will certainly come out victorious at the end of the COVID-19 fight.

This is just a microcosm of the life of international students studying in Wuhan during the lockdown period. Like all the other people who live in Wuhan, they started from fear and worry, and slowly adapted to the life in lockdown. Slowly they mastered new skills, and even learned to comfort, encourage, and help other people around them. Thank you all for your bravery! (Source: Official WeChat of International Student’s Office, Wuhan University of Technology)這只是在漢的來華留學(xué)生這段時(shí)間生活的一個(gè)縮影，他們和其他所有生活在武漢的人一樣從開始的恐懼、擔(dān)心，到慢慢適應(yīng)封城的生活，調(diào)節(jié)自己的心態(tài)，掌握新的技能，甚至是安慰、鼓勵(lì)和幫助身邊的人。謝謝每一個(gè)勇敢的你們！（來源：武漢理工大學(xué)國(guó)際教育學(xué)院官方微信）

我在武漢已經(jīng)生活了大約4年。我于2015年9月第一次來到武漢開始研究生階段的學(xué)習(xí)，并于2017年6月成功畢業(yè)于武漢理工大學(xué)環(huán)境科學(xué)與工程專業(yè)，獲得理學(xué)碩士學(xué)位?，F(xiàn)在，我繼續(xù)在這所大學(xué)攻讀博士學(xué)位。

2020年1月23日上午11:30左右，我必須去實(shí)驗(yàn)室里完成一項(xiàng)研究工作。我去了路邊，打算乘坐公交車去實(shí)驗(yàn)室。我到公交車站，經(jīng)過幾分鐘的等待，依然不見公交車來，我并不知道封鎖已經(jīng)開始了。我以為是因?yàn)榕R近新年假期車變少了，但是我有點(diǎn)等不及了，所以我選擇騎公交車站旁的共享單車。當(dāng)我晚上騎自行車返回學(xué)校宿舍時(shí)，我才得知當(dāng)日上午10:00 武漢封城的消息。

隨后，學(xué)校通知了我們武漢市所有公共交通被暫停的情況。為了保護(hù)我們免受感染，學(xué)校還立即為我們所有人提供了安全指南。并再次發(fā)出通知，建議所有在校園內(nèi)的國(guó)際學(xué)生盡可能多地待在室內(nèi)，并在必要時(shí)戴上口罩。

當(dāng)晚，中國(guó)政府宣布，計(jì)劃在一周內(nèi)建造擁有1000 張病床的急診醫(yī)院，以應(yīng)對(duì)武漢市的新冠肺炎疫情。這對(duì)我們?cè)S多人來說都是個(gè)好消息。

在此期間，為保障我們的安全，學(xué)校采取了各項(xiàng)措施，給我們提供醫(yī)用口罩和各種食品（例如蔬菜、大米、油和水等），大大減輕了我們?cè)谛W(xué)生的焦慮，因而倍受贊賞。感謝我們的學(xué)校，尤其是留學(xué)生辦公室的老師們，在封鎖期間盡力協(xié)助學(xué)生續(xù)簽簽證/居留許可，并對(duì)我們的宿舍、廚房和走廊進(jìn)行全面消毒。

我必須承認(rèn)，限制甚至禁止任何地方的人員活動(dòng)絕非易事，特別是被要求待在室內(nèi)。但是，人際交往可能使我們面臨許多風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，而通過待在室內(nèi)來盡可能避免與許多人接觸是遏制疫情最可靠的方法，我認(rèn)為這是值得的。我堅(jiān)信，中國(guó)武漢和世界其他地區(qū)肯定會(huì)擊敗COVID-19。

我必須贊揚(yáng)并向中國(guó)政府表示敬意，毋庸置疑，他們?cè)趹?yīng)對(duì)COVID-19 方面表現(xiàn)出強(qiáng)大領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力和堅(jiān)定承諾。迄今為止，中國(guó)政府在遏制疫情上取得的巨大進(jìn)步反映了其強(qiáng)大的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力，令我印象深刻。

在此期間，我每天嘗試找一些積極的東西以吸引我的注意力。我閱讀了與我的研究工作相關(guān)的科學(xué)文章，并進(jìn)行了簡(jiǎn)短的標(biāo)注，這減輕了疫情對(duì)我的壓力。我敢肯定，很多學(xué)生也跟我一樣。

封城后的前兩周,代玉麗老師發(fā)起了免費(fèi)的中文學(xué)習(xí)活動(dòng)，我們?cè)谒奚嶂袇⑴c，但隨后為了避免人員的聚集和交往我們停止了活動(dòng)。我定期與我的導(dǎo)師賴鵬教授聯(lián)系。他定期檢查我的學(xué)習(xí)進(jìn)度并布置任務(wù)，因此我經(jīng)常無暇顧及其他，對(duì)此我十分感激。

對(duì)于那些將于今年6月畢業(yè)的人，祝愿你們的論文工作一切順利。讓我們所有人充分利用我們待在室內(nèi)的時(shí)間，盡可能地滿足我們的學(xué)術(shù)需求。

讓我們繼續(xù)保持堅(jiān)強(qiáng)。讓我們繼續(xù)遵守學(xué)校和中國(guó)政府的所有安全指南和指示。我知道中國(guó)一定會(huì)戰(zhàn)勝新冠病毒。