Almost a month we have been in quarantine, working out of our homes, raising our children in small apartments, afraid of the great unknown that president Trump called ‘The Chinese Flu’. I don’t blame the mainland Chinese — anyone with an open mind would admit that there is always a possibility that they were the first victims of a virus of yet-unknown origin. And anyone who claims to know where Covid-19 came from is frankly, full of crap. Either way, we mustn’t jump to conclusions and start a witch-hunt for now.
However, the free world IS pointing the finger at China’s government for attempting to cover-up the extent of the damage done by the virus from both its citizens and the rest of the world. It’s the classic scenario: Those of us who grew up around the theory that governments should be open and transparent clashing with those who grew up without that luxury. Same conflict, different decade. And in our eyes, the idea that China’s great economic machine continues to turn as our wallets shrink is an unforgivable offence. The Chinese have lost their reputation far and wide due to this incident. The world will never look at them the same way ever again for the next decade, I suspect.
But this has been a lesson for us all who live in the alliance of liberal democracies: Do not depend solely on China for our economic and material prosperity. Local industries need to be maintained, strict regulations set in place to limit Chinese investments into our streets and lives. Sometimes, we need pain to learn valuable lessons as individuals and societies. We need to do business with the Chinese but ensure that we are not entirely dependent on them — and yes, there is a big difference. As the buddhists suggest, we can still have good relationships with the various different people around the world without having to rely on them for our happiness.
But here in Siberia, I see life slowly but surely returning to normalcy. Just today, I was in central park — sitting by the fountains with my girlfriend watching children learn how to ride bicycles as the sunset. Oh that red, red Novosibirsk sunset. I shall miss it as my time in this city comes to an end. Soon.
My girlfriend from Voronezh asked me an interesting question today: What is the difference between: I will vs I am going to?
Well it’s rather simple. In theory, ‘I will’ is generally used when making spontaneous decisions. For example:
A: I am going to the supermarket.
B: I will go with you.
‘I am going to’ — the present continuous tense is used to make future plans. As you can see in the example above, speaker A had plans to go to the supermarket. Speaker B merely made the spontaneous decision to go with him/her. However, can you do this?
A: I am going to the supermarket.
B: I am going with you.
Absolutely. Why? Because over time, native English speakers themselves ignored this grammatical convention to the point that they have become in many contexts, synonymous. So please put this theory in your pocket as a reference, but don’t be shocked when natives ignore it. Because rules of a language always change through time.
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