Back to Work

Monday, May 19, 2008. Today marks the first day of our return to work, one week after the earthquake struck. We began our day an hour earlier, as we usually do on Mondays, taking time to sing some songs of praise and spend some time ‘thinking’ with our staff. Asked to share a few words, Steve, struggled through tears to encourage and console the Chinese people, (more like family than co-workers), we work with. Some of them have lost relatives and friends and the grief was very visible. They all were in the office on the 15th floor when the quake struck. Unable to walk, convinced they were going to die, they spent the longest few minutes they’ll remember huddled under a table. How fortunate for the two of us to be on the second floor at that time.
Not much work got done this morning. We’re all stressed and feeling tired and a bit concerned about aftershocks. One was felt at 2:06 P.M. that had most of the staff on their feet. Being on the 15th floor is not exactly where we want to be today. We were actually looking forward to a long taxi ride to the NW side of the city to teach English this afternoon. Classes were cancelled so the business could catch up with work they missed last week, so here we are on the 15th floor.
Normally the two of us eat some fruit for lunch and take it easy. Today we went with five of our friends to a small restaurant behind a building. The seating is simple and covered by a couple of canopies. The seven of us had a feast of rice, a sort of grated potato, egg plant stew, sweet and sour chicken, and a couple of other dishes that were not recognizable nor recommended to our non-spicy palates. Claiming to be their adopted parents we paid the bill, a whopping $60 RMB, (about $8.40 US).
The government is using text messaging to let people know what’s going on and it seems to be very effective for most people. For us, well, we need to find a Chinese friend who speaks English to help us understand. One of the messages was a call for doctors to report to a local hotel which was offering 200 rooms to be used as a sort of hospital. Stories of generosity and kindness abound. So many people have gone to the hospitals to help with injured children that at one point each child had two people assigned to take care of them.
At 2:28 P.M. today, one week after the earthquake struck, the entire country spent three minutes mourning. Sirens wailed and horns on cars and trucks blew for three minutes while we stood silently with our staff. It was a moment we’ll not likely forget.