Bulletin No. 2, 2020

Coming Closer at a Distance: Snapshots of CUHK in the pandemic 7 Yerlan Turtayev Year 2 mechanical and automation engineering major I t was early afternoon and -15°C in Kazakhstan, while autumn still lingered in Hong Kong with whiffs of heat wafting in at the close of the day. ‘The weather is pretty harsh in my country, but I got used to it. It is where I was born,’ said Yerlan on the other end of Zoom with a guileless smile. Dressed in a deep navy hoodie jacket, the young Kazakh had a subdued demeanour. The thick eyebrows above his serene eyes, though, suggest fortitude and self- restraint that forge the soul of his people. With flights back home twice cancelled due to the pandemic, the 19-year-old finally arrived home in October last year after a 32-hour trip—in time for his mother’s birthday and ahead of the long dark winter that often causes flight delays. On his Zoom learning experience, he was markedly satisfied: ‘I get used to it. Education is knowledge transmission; I get quality education through Zoom.’ But the eerie time makes self-discipline even harder. Students were detached from real life and the pressure was lower. ‘After one or two months, I realized I won’t succeed if I have no discipline,’ he blushed, a timid smile coming to his lips. His days at CUHK were not a lifeless steppe. Stranded in Hong Kong over the summer, he was allowed to stay in Morningside, his own college. ‘I did not feel isolated, as there had been some Russian-speaking friends in the University, and friends from different countries as well.’ In the intervals when the social distancing rules were relaxed, he would work out at the University Sports Centre or play basketball with friends, observing the anti-pandemic rules and etiquette while having some quality time. When opportunities don’t come by according to plan, one goes after new opportunities. Urged to apply what he learnt and make good use of his time by his family, Yerlan wrote to Darwin Lau , assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering whom he had got acquainted with in the major allocation online briefing. He got a quick reply, and was invited to take part in the renovation project for the Yard for Environmental Sustainability. Thus he landed his first job in Hong Kong as a student helper, where he linked various robots to the system that was to build a brick installation at the Yard—a building process supposedly free of human intervention. The stoic youth thought the safety rules in the University logical and rational. ‘It is important to be active in community and at the same time to be aware of other people. Everyone is responsible for himself as well as others.’ His joy at the sight of snow outside while we talked, though, betrayed his innate playfulness. ‘The sun is out and there is snow all over the place,’ he exulted. ‘How I wish to go outside now.’