Day 4

After a quiet night we spent a good portion of the morning catching up on laundry and doing some cleaning. We were also able to talk to quite a number of our relatives back in the states. Using Skype has made it so much easier for us to get along.

We really feel that things are returning to normal although everyone is understandably a little jumpy. We do hear and see many ambulances coming from and going to the north where the damage you are probably seeing on television occured. Chengdu is the largest city in the province and is well equipped to deal with the crisis. There is a large medical university here with a hospital that has 6,500 beds, imagine the logistics of a hospital that size.

Relief efforts remind us what happened in the states after Katrina. There are many collection points for food and other supplies all over the city and, just like in the states, people are donating generously. We met some students from Israel who organized a campaign of their own to help out with supplies at the hospitals. We've also seen several army convoys and also some heavy equipment heading north.

We're doing well but are very tired, a bit stressed, and a little on the jumpy side. We did take a long walk to a department store that has a wonderful bakery that makes raisin bread as good as we've ever had. We'll probably eat them over the next few days.

In the meantime we appreciate your concern and are grateful to be able to communciate in this way.