American COVID-19 Casualties Exceeded 100K (May 26, 2020)

The COVID-19 has been spreading like a wildfire in the U.S. with the confirmed cases accounting for one-third of the world patients. The pace of spreading has slowed noticeably in recent days, but the country has seen the casualties passed the original forecast of 100,000 - 200,000.

Here are the statistics as of May 26.

Initially, along with China, Korea was getting cold face from many countries, but now its numbers have been pushed down far below with only small number of cases and only a few hundreds of deaths. Korea has done a great job!

At the same time, a newspaper article showed Korea's economic standing based on the national GDP. Korea stood at the 10th largest economy in the world in 2019. It looked like a great achievement, but Korea was lamenting that this ranking dropped by two notches from the 8th in 2018. However you look at it, Korea's economic development to this standing from ashes and ruins from the Korean War from 1950 - 1953.

I just pray that the Korean left-wing extremists are not driving the country backward. - Jeffrey

Chic 39 Restaurant, Chiang Mai, Thailand (May 2020)

On May 26, Kristin and I had lunch with Ken and Myrna from South Africa. We go to the same church, CMCC and we live close by. They are the only people with whom we fellowship from CMCC.

The restaurant where we dined was called Chic 39. The way to the restaurant was a little tricky on the winding narrow roads, but when we arrived there, it was like a restaurant on a treehouse. It was truly chic.

Nearby was a bed and breakfast and more buildings were under construction.

The restaurant ambiance was quite enticing and the open-air surroundings were also refreshing.

Of course, the foods were delicious at a reasonable price. I forgot to take photos of other meals, but my spaghetti dish was beautiful and delicious with a shockingly spicy taste at the end. Yikes!

I took a selfie of us before we left.

I think we have found a nice restaurant which we want to visit again. Chick 39! - Jeffrey

Two Months of Staying at Home (May 18, 2020)

May 18 marks the two month anniversary of our return to our home in Chiang Mai. We struggled but successfully managed to fight off a seeming COVID-19 infection for both of us. It was relatively mild but still an arduous process. We thank God for His grace. Kristin has been cooking delicious home meals that have surely helped.

First, COVID-19 Update
Over the past month, the number of COVID-19 patients has increased by 120% to 4,8 million from 2.2 million, while the death toll also increased by the same percent to 317 thousand from 145,417 over the same period. Both numbers more than doubled over the past month. Astonishing...

By country, USA tops the list with 1.5 million confirmed cases while Russia ranked the distant second with 282 thousand cases. European countries seem to show slowing signs, but the fatality rates are still alarming. Brazil and Turkey seem to climb the ranks pretty fast. Korea keeps it under control despite a recent spike in cases due to cluster infection at gay bars in Itawon.

Several more detailed updates:

• USA, UK, Brazil, and Turkey have gotten worse fast. The speed of spread in the US has been somewhat slower, but still quite serious. It used to be 30,000 daily in confirmed cases and 2,000 deaths a day, now 20,000 confirmed cases and 1,500 deaths a day. 
• In the midst, they are trying to reopen the economy. Some people protest for the faster reopening of the economy against the health experts warning for dire consequences of the premature reopening of the economy.
• $2.2 trillion economy impact package was implemented, but not enough. Another stimulus packages are under discussion. Unemployment continues to rise to a level that clearly signals another recession, and potentially depression. A negative interest rate is being priced into the financial market. Under this scenario, people get paid to borrow and get charged to keep money at the bank. Yikes!
• Europian countries remain a significant challenge. Spain's lockdown is over 60 days. Italy seems to calm down and France seems to see a higher number of deaths than its number of confirmed cases. Germany keeps its death toll low.
• Russia's confirmed cases have surged while the death rate remains below 1%. People question the accuracy of the data and Russia defends it.
• Brazil, along with Russia, has seen a daily increase of 10,000 + in confirmed cases in recent days. The leaders of both countries downplayed the seriousness of the COVID-19.
• Korea has been praised for its early aggressive containment, but gay bars have become new sources of COVID-19 patients. No country is safe.
• Thailand extended its state of emergency and the ban on foreigners from entering the Kingdom through May 31, then once again to June 30. Oh no!!! Chiang Mai remains relatively mild, fortunately. Some businesses have been open and even the shopping malls opened yesterday.  We have settled for in-home exercises, but today we walked at the Central Festival for the first time in a long time.
• The WHO Director General has been in scandal and criticized for its excessively close ties to China. Whether true or not, Trump has frozen the US funding to WHO and has recently indicated the willingness to pay as much as China pays. 

SfK Ministries
My travel schedule has been disrupted, but the ministry needs to continue. The activities have included:

• SfK Life board meeting
• SfK Korea board meeting
• Joybells America monthly board meetings
• Publishing SfK newsletters
• Glen Africa board meeting
• Nanuri board meeting
• Talking to Riaz on several issues
• Talking to several other people on various issues.

Learning



But, the most effective use of my slack time has been learning. My learning has centered around the following topics:

• Our Planet
• Sacred Texts of the World
• Customs of the World
• America and Global Economy
• Understanding the inventions that changed the world
• Information Communication Technology - Now, I can add text to photos, make video clips with photos and add text, voice, sound effects and music to the videos, use One Drive for transferring photos and documents, make photos stream on PowerPoint slides and much more. It is exciting to learn and address many I-wish-I-could-do issues.

Virtual Travel



Also, the COVID-19 stopped us from physical traveling, it can never stop us from making virtual travels. Not the virtual reality shows, but on the internet.

I have been consciously traveling to places I have not been to yet, including Norway, Iceland, Umbria, Italy, Mongolia, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, and several cities in Korea. This virtual travel keeps my travel bug and wanderlust alive.

No one can tell even inaccurately what the post-coronavirus era may look like. But I trust God reigns over any and all challenges that may seem overwhelmingly too big to tackle. With His mercy, we shall overcome this pandemic and His goodness will be declared and proclaimed. Until then, I need to keep the hope in Him ever grow and be prepared for the next chapter of life afterward. - Jeffrey