Hangout Online!!

Dear Family,

It’s been an intense last couple of weeks! We hope everyone is coping with this mess the best they can. We have been in quarantine… I don’t even remember for how many days now.

All the parks in Marin are officially closed due to last week’s influx of tourists from the Bay Area. In case you didn’t know yet, our Marin Public Health Officer, Dr. Matt Willis, last Friday started having fevers with a worsening coughs, and he is now confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. He’s the 39th case in Marin. He does not know where he has gotten it from. He’s been out in the public space a lot. He’s now quarantined at home with his family. His symptoms are getting better.

I want to share an image of a waterfall with you. A waterfall is a large body of water coming from a higher place to a lower place in the mountains. This large body of water is formed by little drips of water, and they all converge became something larger, more powerful, and beautiful, than each individual drop. As Zen Master, Shunryu Suzuki, puts it, if each single drop of water needs to come down the mountain by itself, the journey would be difficult. But if they all come together, then a large force can be generated, and the trip would be a lot easier.

Sifu and I have been talking about the best we can do for our community. We all have been isolated from our regular activities. We all feel isolated. This is the time, more than ever, we need to stick together.

Sifu and I both agree that we need to keep our community’s spirit and good health together. We are currently working on live streaming technical aspects, and we have some good progress. We will be able to conduct live lessons streaming, possibly, this week!! Rather than recording each individual’s lessons, we feel that it’ll serve everyone better if we all check in each class, have some social time, share some good news, and then we all workout together. Sifu will have different workouts each class. This will allow us to check in, have some social time safely and keep our spirit up, and support one another during this time of crisis.

Any thoughts and suggestions? Any technical, online platform suggestions? Please do share.

Please do not take this lightly, only go out when you need to get food or necessities. Please wear masks and gloves.

The following tips are published by the Taiwanese government for Coronavirus infection prevention:

• If you can avoid being in the public space, avoid it.
• Wash hands often – crucially important. This is not your usual quick wash. Wash your entire palm, rub soap on the back of your hands, interlace your fingers, rub some more, and clean your nails, too.
• Avoid wearing your contact lenses if you can.
• Eat cooked food. If you get takeouts, avoid salads or raw foods around this time. Eat lots of veggies.
• Keep good bowl movements. Make sure you release your toxins everyday.
• Drink lots of warm water.
• Before you enter your home from a public place, hang your outer layers- jacket, pants, hat, shoes outdoor for at least 2 hours before bringing them into the house. We have plenty of sunshine, the sun is your natural sanitizer.
• Stop wearing your jewelry around this time.
• Keep a clean plastic bag handy if you have to go to a store. When you get your change back in dollar bills or coins carefully put them in this plastic bag. Wait a day before you take your money out of the bag. Use electronic payment if you can.
• Do not use other people’s phone. Sanitize your cell phone, and home phone. (How much time do you hold and touch your cell phone each day? Imagine being in the public around this time? And how close do you keep it to your face when you talk to your friends on the phone?)
• Avoid peak time to be in public transportation.
• Exercise regularly.

All for now, please continue to stay safe and well.

This Tuesday, 3/24, 5:30PM, let’s check in and vent on Google Hangouts. I will be sending an invitation link tomorrow around 5:00PM.

Please let me know if 5:30PM work tomorrow. Do we need to push it back to 6:00PM?? Please comment below.

Let’s hangout online!!! We miss you all!