At 7:00am I approached the ferry heading to Central. Outside of the ticket gate a primary aged school-boy leapt in the air. For sheer joy he shouted, “No school today. Alright!” I immediately reminisced to blizzards and other such momentous occasions when children are granted sudden freedom from daytime prison.
At the pier, a friend flagged me down. “Jenny,” she said. “Last night the government announced that all primary schools and kindergartens will be closed until after Easter break.”
According to this calculation, my Easter break would be extended by another 5 days! I almost jumped in the air like the young boy.
I rushed to call my company before the boat took off. The secretary of Language Tree told me to march my butt to school. “There might be a few children at the school”, she said. “The announcement was made last night at 10:45pm and schools are scrambling to make decisions this morning.”
She was right. My own school didn’t open until 8am. Even if I had the day off, I wouldn’t know for another hour. I watched the young boy skip farther away from the ferry pier as I headed toward the boat.
A half hour later, I sat on Citybus #1 with cell phone in hand just in case the school called with good news. In the other hand I held the newspaper. There was only a small article referring to the announcement. The schools were ordered to shut down because of a flu scare. I expected more news coverage considering that SARS swept through Hong Kong in 2003, claiming at least 121 lives. Since February of this year, three children have died and two were confirmed influenza deaths.
With both flu deaths this year, it was concluded that the virus was contained in their lungs. With the 2003 SARS cases, the virus spread to many organs in order to claim victims.
Out of the eight countries effected by SARS in 2003, China and Hong Kong were equally unable to contain the virus and were publicly scrutinized over the near pandemic. So my guess is that by closing schools, Hong Kong was being extra-cautious.
I arrived at school to see that the buses were all docked. My hopes began to rise. I sat at my desk and waited to be dismissed.
An administrative woman appeared by my side. Her English name is Fanny Pan. She said, “Have you heard the news? No children will come to school today.”
I said, “What should I do?”
“Prepare for your lessons,” said Fanny Pan.
I replied, “But I have already done that.”
Fanny Pan was not sympathetic. The look in her eyes said, “We are all stuck here.”
I later found out that Hong Kong issued school closings but all teachers were required to go to school.
It reminds me of the severe lack of benches and sitting facilities in Hong Kong. No one wants a lazy community. Work, Work, Work, damn it!
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