Hello readers!

I am not writing this entry from 隔离 (quarantine) but rather in a country that has had its first 案子 (case) of the notorious 猪流感 (swine flu).  I have seen jokes about the 猪仔流感 (“piglet” flu), and read up on the regular 流感 (flu) itself.  What’s interesting is that type A here is called 甲型 (type A, see below).  In Chinese, people don’t use A and B (of course not) but rather 甲, 乙, 丙 etc to denote markers.  On your next 航班 (flight), don’t be surprised if everyone around you is wearing a 口罩 (mask).  Whenever I see people wearing those, I usually think “is it me they’re worried about or should I be worried about them?”  Has anyone ever been quarantined before?

Words

隔离ge2li2 – quarantine
案子 an4zi3- case
猪流感 zhu1liu2gan3 – swine flu
猪仔 zhu1zai3 – piglet
流感 liu2gan3 – flu
甲型 jia3xing2 – type A or 1
乙 yi3 – B or 2
丙 bing3 – C or 3
航班 hang2ban1 – flight
口罩 kou3zhao4 – mask (worn over one’s mouth)