This article is from Tencent News “periscope” , author: Liu Peng, Li Ru Chao, Guo Xiaofeng, Tang Yuan, Wu Chuan, head Picture from: IC photo
“Returning home has become the choice of most parents. However, a large demand makes it difficult to get a ticket for an international flight. A 13-year-old mother of international students Shi Xin told Tencent News” Perspective “that many parents spent tens of thousands or even Hundreds of thousands can’t buy a ticket to go home, and many countries have canceled their transit to China, making it impossible to make a connection. Children who have already bought tickets also face a high degree of uncertainty. Airlines such as Air China suddenly canceled flights. A glimmer of hope has also come to nothing. “
The epidemic was rapidly erupting in overseas countries, and caught off guard, millions of international students became a sandwich.
A month ago, they were still raising masks to help the country, reminding parents not to run around, and the roles instantly reversed. When walking on a foreign road, the eyes of passers-by also began to look different. The yellow skin became the original sin. Wearing a mask and a scarf to cover the lower half of the face became an essential skill for foreign students to go out. The surge in the daily epidemic trend is even more worrying.Dangling, if you want to stay, you may have to be careful in the coming months to have a nervous breakdown.
But the choice of returning to China has also become tricky. The price of air tickets has jumped in recent days, and with the temporary cancellation of a large number of flights, the return to China seems to be a long and winding road. . Even if you board the flight, eating, drinking, and rest along the way will be a problem. Be prepared for the same unfortunate situation as the case. What worries them even more is that the risk of overseas importation caused by the tide of returning home, combined with the sensitive emotions caused by the exceptional behavior of individual returnees, makes the return home far more complicated than buying a ticket.
Before going to stay, an international student studying at the University of Birmingham said with emotion:
“In fact, we do not want to return to the country to affect the people, and to stabilize the overall situation of the epidemic situation, but we are so scared here, it is more secure to stay with your family in crisis . “
Tencent News “Perspective” dialogue includes groups of international students and parents from Britain, Italy, Australia and other countries, recording their panic, panic, and strength.
Twenty thousand undergraduates studying in the UK, parents cry out: my child is only 13 years old
Send children to study primary school, junior high school, and equestrianism in the UK, and acquire a pure London accent, which has become a new educational choice for many middle-class families in China in recent years. The ageing population is increasing.
But in the face of the global spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, when Italy blocked and the United States declared a state of emergency, the UK ’s epidemic prevention policy was marked by a “Darwinian” The imprint is controversial. Younger students are more helpless than adult students in the face of the epidemic.
According to the data provided by the Chinese Embassy in the UK, there are currently a total of 220,000 students in the UKAmong the students, there are as many as 20,000 minors. How can young students who have not enough self-care ability to survive the public crisis safely?
It is dangerous to stay in the UK. Shi Xin, a 13-year-old international student mother, told Tencent News “Perspective” that the UK’s current guardianship system for young students is mainly To cope with personal problems under normal conditions, facing the emergence of public events, the chain is facing collapse.
Specifically, younger students in the UK rely on boarding schools and guardians (or commercial guardianship companies) to take care of them daily. They live in school dormitories during the semester, and usually return home or live on holidays Guardian’s or host family’s home. Homestay families need to be booked in advance, and most of them are operated and maintained by retired elderly people in the UK. They are also susceptible people. At present, many host families have explicitly refused to accept Chinese students.
Returning to China is the choice of most parents. But a large demand made it difficult to get a ticket for an international flight. Shi Xin, a 13-year-old mother of a foreign student, told Tencent News “Perspective.” Many countries have canceled their transit to China, making it impossible to achieve a transit. Children who have already bought tickets also face a high degree of uncertainty. Airlines and other airlines suddenly cancel their flights, and the original hopes have also fallen through. There are also children younger than 11 years old, some airlines have cancelled the unaccompanied service, and they can’t board the plane when they buy a ticket.
Even if you buy a commercial flight ticket, the return journey for elementary students will not look easy. Parents Solitaire in a group formed by Shi Xin, telling about their children’s problems: those who need a transfer and are unaccompanied, those who transit to Hong Kong but cannot enter due to the New Deal, and whether there are any protective equipment. Greater exposure.
Shi Xin joined hundreds of parents to sign a letter to the British Embassy and applied for charter flights to return these underage students to China. As a parent, he is willing to pay the corresponding fees, and is also fully willing to obey the Chinese government’s epidemic prevention measures to allow the child to live at home or be separated in isolation.
On the evening of March 17, Shi Xin received a reply from the embassy. The embassy’s demand for 20,000 charter flights is currently unable to respond, and it is recommended that it continue to seek commercial flights. However, the embassy also reported to the Civil Aviation Administration and passed on the parents’ opinions on the restoration department.Sub-flight opinions.
On the evening, some parents were pleased to find that Air China had already resumed a small number of flights, but because they were based in Chengdu, they needed to make a connection after landing and cooperate with the epidemic prevention policy. 20 hours.
“To be safe from eating, it takes 20 hours, and the baby is too tired.”
She made another crying expression.
Another mother comforted her, and it was always nice to be home. “Yeah, it’s a good thing that the child has also been trained!” Another cheer up.
Affected by insults and discrimination, Australian student Aya’s bumpy road back home
In the evening of March 14. After more than 20 hours of long-distance bumps, Australian student Aya returned to Yinchuan, a long absence.
Everything goes back two weeks. When she and a friend entered a local Australian pharmacy, the pharmacy security accidentally insulted them. “He covered his mouth and coughed deliberately, deliberately. We ignored him.”
What Aya didn’t expect is that this is just the beginning. Soon after, when she went to another pharmacy near her home to find a mask, two children around the age of ten yelled at her in the elevator and the Chinese got out.
“I was shocked at the time and asked them why they said that. Then, they took something out of the bike helmet and hit me on the knee.”
This is like the last straw overwhelming Aya. In the past month or so, she was quite anxious because she was worried about her parents in China, and she was studying abroad. Discrimination against the Chinese has brought new personal safety issues.
She couldn’t sit still.
“It’s not safe here,” Aya said. In Australia, except for Asians, almost no one wears a mask. Moreover, it is really difficult. I bought a mask. “There are no pharmacies, and hospitals do not allow them, except for infectious diseases. No doctors or nurses wear masks.”
“They said it was to avoid panic among the masses.” Aya is helpless. Must return home as soon as possible. The obvious positive trend in China has formed a sharp contrast with foreign countries. Returning to China has become Aya’s strongest idea at this time. However, the school’s unwavering attitude has become the first barrier that must be passed to implement this idea.
Aya ’s Queensland was not a serious epidemic at the time. At the beginning of March, there were only 100 cases in Australia, and there were only a few confirmed cases in Queensland. No school believes that new coronary pneumonia can be a reason for suspension.
The wrong perception dominated their decision. “I talked to the school teacher about the epidemic situation, and he told me that wearing a mask was useless, and while talking, he picked up the disinfectant, hit it on his hand, and rubbed it quickly.” I couldn’t understand the droplet infection, and naturally I would not understand the suspension importance.
Unsurprisingly, after consulting the school’s International Student Management Center, Aya got the same answer. Fortunately, after hearing Aya’s experience of being discriminated against, school staff advised her to see a campus psychologist.
This also turned things around.
“The advice given by my psychiatrist that I can take a proper semester break and return to school next semester”, Aya said, the direct consequences of this proposal Yes, Aya can rely on the advice document issued by the psychiatrist, and she can take a break without going to school.Take a semester.
The suspension of study is a means that Australian students are unwilling to take. Although it is easy to apply for suspension of school, it is difficult to secure a student visa; even if the visa can be maintained and returned to Australia to study, whether or not the student visa expires, you must reapply for COE Australian Electronic Admission Confirmation) .
“Even so, 90% of the international students I know have applied for a break from school.” Aya told us that it is okay not to go to school, and it is a problem to die. This multiple choice question has almost no choice difficulty for the Chinese.
Although lucky Aya avoided the tedious suspension of school, her graduation time was helpless from the middle of this year to the next.
After completing the school’s formalities on March 11, Aya successfully booked the ticket. From Brisbane to Taipei, Taipei to Shanghai, Shanghai to Yinchuan, a total of 16,000 yuan. Aya smiled bitterly, not expensive.
The question is no longer a question of how much money is, but whether you can come back. “We are facing the risk of flight cancellations at any time. Many friends have obviously bought tickets, but the flight was cancelled the next day because Australia has now cut 90% of its routes.”
Many flights have been oversold. Prior to this, some domestic airlines have suspended some Australian routes. This has made this journey home more difficult than ever.
Because Aya returned relatively early, she was lucky to avoid the peak of return. But the real test has just begun.
At 8 pm on March 13, Aya arrived at Brisbane Airport. As expected, the airport did not have any anti-epidemic measures-neither had any body temperature testing, except for Chinese students, and no one wore a mask.
Aya with full body protection is like a stranger, standing in a familiar and unfamiliar airport.
Everything seems to move forward smoothly. Until entering the cabin, the earband of the expensive mask that Aya bought suddenly broke off. “A 10 Australian dollars, converted into RMB, almost 50 yuan a.” Aya only bought five, but during more than 20 hours of the journey, Aya changed the mask three times for the same reason.
Aya is sad and flustered. In her back row, a man had been coughing and had hardly stopped, Aya comforted himself, he might just have a bad voice. The drowsiness was not too strong, and the purring sounds in the cabin seemed louder than usual. Aya curled up in her seat began to think wildly.
“It may be a psychological problem. I always feel that I have a virus on my body, and I always wash my hands with disinfectant. From the plane, I went there in total. The toilet was cleaned twice, and the toilet was cleaned with a disinfectant spray every time. After washing the hands, spray a little or two times to disinfect the seat.
Probably the problem of air pressure and humidity in the cabin, Aya’s throat started to feel a little uncomfortable. Looking for a stewardess to drink a glass of water, still no relief. She swallowed hard to relieve her saliva and prayed that everything would pass as soon as possible. At 11 o’clock, the plane landed in Shanghai, and most of the worrying journey ended. The usually busy Pudong Airport is now sparsely populated, which inevitably makes Aya sigh. But when he saw that the staff were wearing isolation clothing and the passengers were wearing masks, Aya suddenly wanted to cry.
“I know, I’m safe”.
at 8 in the evening. After going through a series of epidemic prevention procedures, Aya finally boarded a bus arranged in Yinchuan. Soon she arrived at the designated quarantine hotel. Because I wanted to reduce the frequency of taking masks along the way, when I arrived at the hotel, Aya hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. “The stomach was so hungry that I had to eat something hot beforeMuch better “.
Slightly organize your mood and comfort your parents. A few hours later, she wrote something like this in her little red book note:
“If I am unfortunately infected, I hope my protective measures can minimize the chance of infecting others. As long as it is not transmitted to others, everything is Okay. Now I even think that I have nothing to fear when fighting the virus. Maybe I can still lose weight? “
Of course, in addition to every attempt to return to China, some students choose to stay in the local area.
Choose to stay: Coax your parents and everything is fine
Due to a large number of demands, the price of return air tickets has jumped, and domestic policies on epidemic prevention of overseas imports have been tightened. More international students wait and choose to stay there.
Li Hengtai, chairman of the University of Milan ’s academic federation, described Tencent ’s “Perspective” that after Italy ’s blockade across the country, there are almost no flights back to China, even if they can go back, in the airtightness of the plane For more than 10 hours in space, there are more uncertain factors.
“Then I faced the problem of isolation after returning home. Most students need to change planes when they go home, but some provinces need to be isolated after landing. After 14 days, they have to go home and be on their own. The regional segregation, and the delay on the road may be more than one month, so it is better to stay in Italy to observe the situation for the time being considered. “In order to help these students staying in the country, Li Hengtai’s Milan University Student Union also previously purchased 1500 masks were distributed.
“Everyone ’s mentality remains okay, and we will overcome difficulties together.” He said that the biggest problem that students often face is how to persuade parents and families in China. Coax their emotions.
“