One member of our development team lives in Northern Italy, which for a time was the alarming epicenter of the outbreak. The initial reaction among family and friends was skepticism. How could this be happening here?  

For Francesco, his wife Giulia, and their 18-month old son, Davide, life is still far from normal. Francesco has been working from home as he often does. Of special concern is that Giulia is a health care professional working in a COVID-19 designated hospital. At first, the personal protective equipment (PPE) was running low, but now things are better. Once fully suited she resembles an astronaut.

Very early on, they decided that they were not going to go to extreme efforts to isolate from each other. It just wasn’t practical to try to keep Davide away from his mother! In fact, if they were going to get into trouble it would be together. There was a very strict crack down on being outside. Giulia and Davide were walking together in a nearby vineyard when they were stopped by police! Luckily, they could point to the house and were not fined. Imagine!

Francesco reports that the disruption that is the hardest to bear is not being able to see family – especially when you have a toddler. But the more mundane tasks like going to the market or pharmacy are more difficult. You need a pass to go out on errands. Then when you get to the market they don’t have what you need, like flour. [Ed note: Francesco was the first to warn me about flour shortages – it hadn’t happened in the U.S. yet] “Of course we need flour,” says Francesco, “We are Italian!”

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Peter Sherman Crosby, Dotsub’s former Chief Revenue Officer returns to China

Twenty-five years ago, in 1994, Peter Sherman Crosby embarked on a life changing journey. After many years of reporting about China as a photojournalist, Peter found himself in love with the rich history, beautiful country, and the warmth of the people, especially in the countryside. He wanted to explore rural China and share it with the world, especially Americans, who were already beginning to fear the People’s Republic. It was the adventure of a lifetime!

Peter rode his bicycle from Beijing to Hong Kong, about 2000 miles, for National Geographic TV and Monitor Radio. See the National Geographic video here .

It was in 2015 that Peter went back to a much-changed China. Not only the stunning urban areas – modernity is reaching average citizens in the more central, rural, and rugged areas as well. This visit is documented here in episode 1 . Will Peter find the Lui family after so many years?? See episode 2 to find out.

So, after more than eight years with Dotsub, Peter is leaving to pursue another dream – to embark on a journey to rediscover today’s China and to reconnect with the warm and generous people he met there. Peter’s project is to bicycle the whole route again, all 2,000 miles, to find old friends and document the many positive changes. An adventure of a lifetime – again!

You can find out more about Peter’s Belly Of The Dragon project here . All of the videos are gathered here. All modern videos are captioned by Dotsub, of course!

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Please join the Dotsub family in wishing Peter a wonderful journey! We are very proud of Peter pursuing such a challenge – and at his age! We will be following him as he rolls through China!

Bon Voyage Peter!

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