May 21, 2008

By what we’ve been able to determine there hasn’t been a tremor for the last 34 hours. That’s been the longest span of time since last week Monday. We didn’t even feel that one so we’re beginning to feel relieved.
We are back in our 15th floor office today and it’s gone much better than Monday. Our staff is much more relaxed and seems much more productive. Perhaps having Tuesday off was a good thing. Mike, our translator, told us that he had listened to two earthquake experts on a television interview last night. Both of them live in Chengdu and feel very confident that they are safe in their buildings. Unlike many other residents they have spent every night sleeping in their own beds. This gave us a bit of confidence as that’s exactly what we’ve done.
After posting yesterday we met up with a friend from Louisiana for some pizza, (think ‘comfort food’). It’s good to spend time talking to someone that’s easy to understand, particularly after a stressful time. Walking back to our apartment we noticed that the streets were lined with cars and there were many more tents set up. It was much like the night of May 12 when very few people wanted to be in their apartments. Many of the tents are made from a frame of light pvc conduit and a sort of heavy duty woven plastic. According to our Australian friends the frames and plastic were being sold near the university gate very inexpensively. I’m guessing that most of tent-dwellers will return to their apartments tonight. Of course, this is an entirely separate group from the earthquake refugees.
Last week we downloaded Google Earth to our computer. It was helpful to give us a better picture of where all of the earthquakes were happening. As we explored we found a picture posted that had to be taken right from our apartment building, perhaps 100 feet west of our own humble abode.
This morning we spent a few hours with our students sharing the experiences of the past week. We hadn’t seen them since the morning before the earthquake and were eager to hear some of their stories. 6 of them had spent time helping in Mianyang and in some of the smaller villages further north. They brought supplies; helped clear areas for tents to be set up for refugees; cooked food; cleared up trash; and listened to people’s stories. They have also spent some time helping in local hospitals. It was good for us to hear the firsthand accounts. We’re a bit frustrated at ourselves as to how to help but glad that our students have been able to do some good. We’ll spend this evening doing the laundry and other routine activities. Our lives seem to be returning to a more normal style and that’s great. Our day, however, has been filled with reminders of the tragedy that has happened in this province. From the tent communities to the constant sound of sirens, from the looks on people’s faces to the pleas for contributions we’re very aware of the struggle going on all around us. Just moments ago a text message from the government asking for volunteers to drive vehicle to the quake areas came to our phone. It will be good to get on the plane for Singapore on Friday afternoon