Dear Family and Friends,
A good many of you have asked about the earthquake of last week here in China. I thought I would take a moment to tell you all a bit more as today marks one week since the quake hit. My office and apartment are approximately 1,500 miles from the epicenter, yet the quake was felt significantly here. I’ve heard reports of it being felt all over Asia in fact.
As I said today marks one week since the quake hit. China has announced a three day period of mourning. This is the first ever national mourning period in the history of China! At 2:28 PM today China came to an utter and complete halt. We were to have 3 minutes of silence to mourn the catastrophe. What was interesting was while the people stood, hands behind them or bowing in thought the cars all literally laid on their horns. Others turned on air horns, all in all it was a near deafening! It was very powerful to watch and yet so different from the moments of silence I’ve been a part of in the US where you could literally hear a pin drop.
Upon getting home from work today I turned on the TV to have dinner and simply relax. Take a look at the attached photo and you will see what shows up on my TV. In this state of mourning China has put a stop to all entertainment – including TV, the torch relay, sporting events, etc.
While I do find it slightly amusing that they have blocked my TV for 3 days, the entire situation is certainly tragic. The death toll is officially above 34,000 and counting. The latest figures I have heard put the damage at over $25 billion! I highly urge each and every one of you to join me and consider any sort of financial support you can to the relief efforts. There are many ways to donate but to make it easier I’ve put a link to the American Red Cross page for the China earthquake relief.
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_china_relief_fund_0508&s_subsrc=RCOProfile_China&s_src=HomeLatestNews
I know that with the economy so tough right now that money might be tough and I understand that, so if you don’t feel comfortable donating now please keep the victims and survivors in your thoughts. I hope all of you are doing well!
You see since diapers are expensive for kids historically they were not available for everyone to afford. So as of a few months old the kids are given pants with a big slit or hole in the butt in order to make life easy. No diapers to change. In fact it is a common sight to see parents holding their kid up while the kid goes to the bathroom on the grass, cement or really anywhere. I've yet to take a photo of that but if I do I will pass along. So for those of you with young kids put in your orders now for split pants and I will be sure to bring some back on my visit!
This is another fairly regular scene in China. Early morning Tai Chi or group dance lessons. You will often find 50-100 people taking part in the class.
This park amazes me on so many levels. It is right in the middle of a major industrial city and you wouldn't know if you didn't see the occasional building over the top of the trees...
