Guling – Kuliang

Hello friends!   你好中国朋友们！

Friends on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have been asking me how our family is doing, and I wanted to post something so you can see what we are up to.

太平洋两岸的朋友一直在问我我们一家人的情况如何，我想发表一些事情消息，以便您了解我们的情况。

Writing in English is much easier for me, so I am going to write in English, and if you could please use a translation APP on it, then I won’t have to have a big headache from writing in Chinese characters.  There are so many of them!

用英语写对我来说容易多了，所以我要用英语写。  麻烦你们用一个翻译APP，会给我轻松多了。中文字有一点太多了！

Peter and I are in Arizona, far from home in Rhode Island, visiting with our daughter Char 爱华 and  her husband Josh 札西.  Their home is in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains in the Southwestern Desert, so the ecology, plants, mountains, and views are very different.

彼得和我正在亚利桑那，这里离罗德岛很远。我们来探望女儿爱华和女婿札西。他们的家在西南沙漠的卡塔丽娜山脚下，所以这里的生态、植被、山体和景观都很不一样。

And we have cactus – which are so much fun.  我们有仙人掌 —— 它们非常有趣！

It is not at all like Fuzhou 福州 or Jiangsu Xuzhou 江苏徐州 or our sweet Kuliang 鼓岭。 The good news is that there are not many people here, so it is easy to always keep a safe distance from other people.  Even at the grocery store.

这与福州、徐州和我们甜蜜的鼓岭完全不同。好消息是这里没那么多人，所以很容易保持安全距离，哪怕是在食品店里也是这样。

Our family members are all fine, staying at home, but my brother in New York City knows a number of people who have died from the virus, which is very sad.  One was a worker in his building, who was just 31 years old, and had just married last year.  So many New Yorkers have died. There have been many deaths in China, Italy, and other countries around the world.  Many New Yorkers who could leave town have gone to other places outside the city where it is safer.  Friends who have been in touch with me in Rhode Island have said they have relatives from New York City staying with them until the situation gets better.  My sister and her family went up to stay near Albany, where they could be alone easily, and the children could play outside all day.  Of course, they have school lessons to do, but they finish their work quickly, and then go out to visit the neighboring orchard filled with blooming trees and spend time down at the pond watching for birds.

我们的家人都还好。我在纽约的兄弟认识的许多人死于病毒，这令人悲伤！一位在他的公寓工作的31岁的年轻人刚刚去世，他去年才结婚。许多纽约人离开了；在中国、意大利和其他国家也有许多人遭遇不幸。不少纽约人选择到其他安全的地方避难。我在罗德岛的亲戚们说，他们在纽约的亲戚正与他们呆在一起，打算到形势好转再回去。我的姐妹一家去了奥尔巴尼，在那里他们能与外界隔离，并且孩子们还能在室外玩耍。当然，他们还需要上课，但他们很快就能做完作业，然后就可以去邻居家的果园玩——那里有盛放的树木，还可以在池边看着鸟儿们。

Someone asked me if there are food shortages.  Some shelves are empty, especially toilet paper.  It seemed strange that there was no toilet paper until a journalist figured out that in the US there were two kinds of toilet paper – the industrial kind, that you find in schools, offices, companies, etc.  and then the kind you find at home.  Industrial toilet paper and home toilet paper.  Two separate supply chains.  Once everyone quarantined at home, everyone was using the home-toilet paper supply all day, so they needed more than in the past.  All those big industrial rolls going to waste!

We miss China a lot, and find our happiness in eating good Chinese dishes regularly.  The night before Easter we ate jiaozi, and it was very good!  We even make our own jiaozipi  饺子皮。It is very comforting to have a big bowl of jiaozi for dinner, looking out to the mountains through the cactus and other desert plants.

We have masks which friends have sent to us.  You know who you are – and we are very grateful!  For a while the US government was recommending not wearing a mask, and it was awkward if you did, but now they have changed their instructions, so wearing a mask is necessary now.  We sent masks on to our family and relatives – one niece works as a respiratory nurse in Las Vegas, and she didn’t have enough masks until you sent them.  I think I can say that you may have saved her life.

Thank you all for your generosity!  The friendship of the Chinese and American peoples is very deep.  Love you!

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