H1N1 Quarantine

[Momind]

My son was unlucky enough to sit next to a hot case of H1N1 on his flight to Beijing. He was "taken" shortly after arrival at BNU, and now he is quarantined in Beijing at Yanxiang Hotel. He is missing his first week of class at BNU and has been assigned a "telephone tutor." Any advice??

[roddy]

Not much - he'll probably just have to sit it out. You could get in touch with your embassy if you haven't already. Does he have the Internet? If so, get him on here, we want to hear all about it . . .

[Meng Lelan]

Good heavens. Yes, get him on these forums, he can browse through topics that might be of help to him. Does he have Internet access?

[roddy]

Looks like this is the hotel he's in if you want to see the facilities he's enjoying. Apparently it's 'garden-like' - hope he can see that from his window.

BNU's just up the road from me and I'm on campus a few times a week. I'll keep an eye out for mass panic.

[imron]

And if you're concerned about your son's health, if it's any consolation, it would appear that in the majority of cases H1N1 is no-worse than regular flu and does not require hospitalisation or even any special medication.

[roddy]

Any travel insurance? I guess this doesn't fall under health as there's nothing actually wrong with him most likely, but it's certainly a curtailment of sorts . . .

[Momind]

Thanks for the speedy replies!

Yes, he has notified the US embassy. And I will tell him to log on to this forum. He does have internet, and maybe they won't censor him.

Anything else? I'm especially concerned that his course work at BNU is going to suffer because he'll lose one entire week. He's a student with a summer abroad program through the University of California.

[roddy]

His course work will probably suffer, not really much you can do about that. Basically the Chinese government has sent him to his room for a week. Will make a good story to tell, but he's not going to have a very interesting seven days.

[Meng Lelan]

I don't know but does he have a webcam? Microphone? Textbooks? Maybe he can access BNU classes that way and get more out of his first week of classes? There are lots of folks in and outside of China who take Chinese classes online like that, even private lessons, so maybe they can try something for him at BNU. Anyway try to get him in here because folks here are super speedy when it comes to study questions - vocabulary, grammar, online dictionaries, etc.

I would guess by now University of California has been notified. Make sure you notify the campus study abroad program coordinator if there is one.

[roddy]

BNU doesn't do online training though, as far as I know, and by the time they've figured out how to make Skype work the week will be over. A week of online training with an existing provider might be a good way to make the week pass faster and make up for some of the missed classes, but I wouldn't expect anything great from BNU - which is no fault of theirs, they're a university, not an online training provider, and I don't think they can reasonably be expected to do much on short notice, short term.

Remind your son that it's raining heavily today, so he would be stuck inside anyway. I'm sure that'll help

[imron]

At the very least, I would see if the university can get him the study materials (books/handouts etc) he would be using normally. It's unlikely he'll be there in quarantine alone, and with any luck there will be a bunch of quarantined Chinese speakers with nothing better to do all day than help him out.

[Momind]

There are two other UC students from that flight in quarantine with him, but they aren't necessarily enrolled in his study subject.

We have just set up Skype. Hope it works when he gets back from chow-time.

I'm not too worried about him coming up positive with the virus. He's hale and hearty. But it isn't any fun to lose your first week abroad to a quarantine.

Yeah, I hope he does meet some good friends there. Altho, from what he's said in our only brief phone call, they aren't supposed to "fraternize" with the other detainees.

[hidden12345]

It would be awesome if he comes out spouting Marxist rhetoric and decides to dedicate his life to the revolution. Get him to log on here ASAP.

[Xiao Kui]

It would be awesome if he comes out spouting Marxist rhetoric and decides to dedicate his life to the revolution. Get him to log on here ASAP

Especially awesome since I've never even heard a Chinese like that before. Stop trying to scare his mom!! It is an interesting concept though, re-education whilst quarantined - good way to kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone.

[zerolife]

seriously, I wouldn't be too worried. He will probably learn Chinese faster in quarantine with all the Chinese people than if he is out free partying with his American friends at Houhai or Sanlitun. A lot of the summer study abroad programs (as opposite to direct enrollment into Chinese university) are a joke anyway. You get study and live with your American colleagues in China. Why not take Chinese classes in the US?

[jbradfor]

Oh, that is so awesome!

I know, I know, that is hardly the response you wanted. And it's not at all helpful to boot.

IMHO, most of the point of a summer (or semester) study abroad is to get new experiences and stories to tell when you get back. [Next important is to get more familiar with the culture. If his Chinese improves that's only gravy.]

And that is a great story to tell.

Oh, and tell him to "fraternize" with the other people as much as possible, unless they really mean it. Remember, in China, 90% of the rules are meant to be bent/broken. [Just be careful of those last 10%!!!]

[Meng Lelan]

Why not take Chinese classes in the US?

Actually that's what a lot of folks are doing, according to someone I know who is a program director at a study abroad program in Harbin. The program isn't doing great right now because of H1N1, because more people are studying Chinese in their home countries this summer.

[gougou]

Oh, and tell him to "fraternize" with the other people as much as possible

I'm not sure you should be giving this advice unless you were a medical doctor familiar with the circumstances...

[zerolife]

Actually that's what a lot of folks are doing, according to someone I know who is a program director at a study abroad program in Harbin. The program isn't doing great right now because of H1N1, because more people are studying Chinese in their home countries this summer.

I find that quite interesting .... I thought it would be more logical to move to China since H1N1 is actually here in the US

[Meng Lelan]

She told me that the H1N1 thing is similar to SARS in a way because students do not want to go to China for fear of finding classes canceled, having to wear face masks, quarantines, restricted travel, uncertainty, etc. The program lost a lot of money during SARS. Now they're losing money because of H1N1.