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I didn’t talk to the taxi driver, and he didn’t start the conversation.U sually, once I sit next to the driver, I will start desperately trying to talk to them.My Chinese is quite poor.Even if my pronunciation is correct, they can’t understand the few words I know.Most Chinese people don’t even think I could speak their language.But I usually try hard.I know the only question they will ask me is, “Where are you from?” Of course, it is difficult for me to pronounce the three words “Lebanon”in standard Chinese pronunciation because I am used to speaking the country name in my native language, but it sounds like another word to the Chinese.Especially when people in Wuhan speak Wuhan dialect,the pronunciation of letter “N” sounds closer to “L”.I used to have very strong self-esteem.I didn’t want to be bullied by foreigners and didn’t want to speak their language, because some colonialists always thought that they are the center of the universe.The people in Wuhan are different.They accept us enthusiastically and try to accept our not-so-fluent language.They help us to say what we want to express in Chinese,and insist on repeated attempts until we give up.
Silence enveloped the taxi.In this quiet atmosphere, a mobile phone is the only way out of anxiety.Hundreds of points of information poured into my social software WeChat, especially in the university dormitory group.Each dormitory building of the university has a WeChat group,which can communicate with the housing management department,and they divide the students into undergraduate or graduate education according to the housing category.Of course, students have the right to live outside the university.For me, the dormitory where I live is reserved for doctoral students, and there are about 350 students from different countries in the world.Therefore, this group is the best source to track the development of events, whether it is true or rumor.
I searched the chat history in the group chat that I had not seen before,and browsed the conversations that took place a few days ago.“The gifts will be distributed on January 23．” The dormitory used to give gifts to the students studying in the school during the lunar New Year.Except for the gift notifications, most of the group chat was routine news.
Before New Year’s Eve, there was nothing unusual.“New Year’s Eve is gone”, this is an English message on December 31．This message came from a Tunisian friend, Raghad, who is a friend of my friend Gina.Raghad and other friends used to call me, Gina and Rodger the “Library Gang of Three” for a simple reason——we spend most of our time there.Raghad reposted a screenshot of a news report in the group, which appeared to be taken from the website of a Chinese official agency.Since the report is in Chinese, I cannot understand its content.So, I searched the English report with my mobile browser and saw the news from the official Chinese channel CGTN (China International Television Station) with the headline “27 cases of viral pneumonia have been reported in Wuhan”.Information published on other websites also confirmed the news authenticity.
The report mentioned, “According to the report of Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, 7 out of 27 cases are in critical condition, the overall vital signs of the remaining patients are stable, and 2 cases have improved and are expected to be discharged in the next few days.Most of the cases are in Wuhan.All the merchants of the South China Seafood Wholesale Market must now be tested for diseases.” The report quoted the Wuhan Health Bureau saying that many other cases of pneumonia have been found in Wuhan, the source of which is still unknown.