Last Monday at 2:28 pm the earthquake hit Sichuan. Today at 2:28pm there were three minutes of silence all over the nation of China. When 1.3 billion people go silent, the silence is deafening. I have some updates to share on the situation here.

With more bodies discovered, the confirmed death toll rose to 32,476 and the injured numbered more than 220,000 as of today. A 6.0 aftershock hit again on Sunday and more people died and were injured in the region of Sichuan.

I read somewhere today that the magnitude of the earthquake is equivalent to 790 nuclear bombs. That is so much more intense than I can imagine.

Something I realized yesterday that I hadn't thought of yet was how tragic this has been for families in the South of China. Most families here only have one child. Several schools collapsed because of the quake so I can only imagine how many children died in because of this. These parents must be experiencing incredible amounts of grief over losing their only child.

There is still a lot of grieving happening here as rescue crews continue to clean up the affected areas. Another emotion is starting to emerge though- anger. Parents are asking why the schools collapsed so easily- why were they not built better? People are asking what the government will do to help people rebuild their lives. And mourners are wondering why something so terrible happened.

I've felt rather helpless here the last week because I'm so far from the disaster and I didn't know what I could do. But now I know and I'm asking you if you want to get involved too.

This coming Sunday, May 25th, a large Beijing organization is taking up donations that will be sent directly to aid the affected area in Sichuan. I'm planning on contributing to this and I'm wondering if any of you would want to do this also. If so, you can email me (valeriedolby@gmail.com) this week and let me know how much you want to donate and I can front that on your behalf and then let you know how to send the money to me in America.

 

 

Thanks for all your concern about me this week because of the earthquake that happened in Sichuan. I've heard that some people in Beijing felt the quake but I'm 1,000 miles away from the epicenter so I didn't feel anything. But I do have some updates on the situation over here as I've heard this week from friends. One of my good friends is from Chengdu which is about 50 miles from the center of the earthquake. The last news she had was that they are having major shortages with food and clean water down there. They are also short-handed when it comes to medical care since so many people have been injured.
One of the hardest things about the situation is where this quake hit. This area of the country has lots of mountains so it was difficult at first for rescue teams to get in and its been hard to get people out of the damaged areas. The other thing is, this is a lower class area of China. A few emergency rescue groups have set up refugee camps where people can sleep and get food but it isn't enough for all the people who have lost their homes. For these people, it will be difficult to rebuild their lives. They do not have the resources to deal with such a traumatic experience.
 
Another problem is that it's been wet in the area lately. There were several mudslides that killed people and have blocked off access to places. Early this week I heard from some teachers in the south and they said things were pretty intense at their school. They are in the neighboring province and they had felt the quake but it hadn't been as extreme. Yet, the students were sleeping outside because the leadership didn't know if they should trust the stability of the dorms. Another friend told me that some students she knew were sleeping in their school canteen because dorms had been damaged. Classes have been cancelled this week for most universities in that area and the students aren't sure what to do with themselves. They can't offer much help but they don't have their school routine to keep them busy and distracted from what is happening around them.
I heard today that they think the death toll may rise to 50,000 by the time they get through all the rubble and affected areas.
Two positive things have come from this so far though. China has been accepting aid and workers this week from Taiwan and Japan. Their relationships have been a little rocky but it's been awesome to see these two neighboring islands get over that and come to help the Chinese people. Also, there has been so much drama and hype about the olympics since it's now less than 100 days away. There has been a lot of negativity against China and a lot of anger from Chinese people against those who are boycotting the olympics. This was a wake up call that there are more important things in life....like the people of the country. Hopefully people from other countries can take a break from knocking China for certain policies and actions and start caring about the common people.

Living in a foreign country means that you dont have easy access to things you are used to having in the States. Living in a big city in a foreign country means that you have access but it'll cost you an arm and a leg. There are still things that I have not been able to find here (despite the rapid globalization happening) no matter how hard I've looked. But, I am happy to report that i found BBQ sauce this past weekend! I couldn't have been more excited as I stood in the aisle of Jenny Lou's (a beijing western import store) and saw a handful of Bull's-eye bottles. This was a piece of home that I've never been able to find here.
I have learned to be appreciative of many things while living here, but I think it's the small things that still bring the biggest excitement.

This week marks the 100 day countdown until the Olympics. I'm certainly glad I won't be anywhere around Beijing during the olympics time. If there is a hype about the countdown...then there will certainly be too much excitement and action during the actual games.
In order to celebrate this, my school had a sports day and each class represented a different sport that will be in the summer olympics. They each did a little performance for that sport and it was pretty amazing how creative some of it was.

It was so fun to watch my kids compete in races and the tug-of-war. It's good to see them enjoying themselves rather than just seeing them in class.

A lot has been going on around here lately concerning the Olympics. Because of the drama concerning the torch relay in Paris, people are spreading word to boycott Carrefour here (a french supermarket). I often find myself frustrated at the news I read from around the world concerning the Olympics this year. People think they can change China by boycotting the summer games or by making statements about the country's policies. Yet, that isn't going to make a difference. I think the best way to see change in China right now seems to be through support. As China builds relationships with the west, some things may change because of those relationships. But bullying or criticizing them isn't going to lead to anything good. If things do not go well at the summer olympics this year, then it could be damaging for this country's economy and the spirit of its people. It's hard for me to understand things like the situation in Tibet and I've even lived here for two years. Life is complicated here. If people don't know what they're talking about, they shouldn't be saying anything. Thankfully, the people here are still excited for the olympics to come, despite the setbacks that have occured throughout the world in regards to the summer games.

my teammate, george, is a balloon artist and made me this hat for my birthday. i had to wear this the entire evening. we went to pizza hut in our town and everyone everywhere stared in wonderment at the crazy foreigners. thankfully, my teammates all wore little party hats so i wasnt the only one like this.
 
i dont really eat cake, so joel made chocolate chip muffins which tasted more like really dense biscuits because his baking powder expired 2 years ago (which cant be useful). we only had three candles so thats what i used.. each one representing a 100  months i've been alive...so now i'm a whole quarter of a century old!

last weekend we went to the beijing acrobats. i'd been once two years ago but some of the stuff was different this time. we ended up paying way more than we wanted to because we got there late. i thought i would remember how to get there because i'd been there once before. i DID remember but at one point i questioned my memory so we stopped and asked some locals. the one guy misunderstood where we wanted to go and we ended up at the post office. the words for theater and post office have one word in common but i dont know how he thought we wanted the post office at 7:00 at night after its closed. anyway, we did make it there but only like 15 minutes before showtime so we ended up with expensive seats in the front. it turned out to be amazing seats though so it was totally worth it. i put a bunch of pics in my photo album: http://photos.valeriedolby.com

 
This past weekend was a pre-olympic event in Beijing. The Padres and Dodgers played a two game series at one of the olympic venues. It was interesting. The field was pretty small compared to a standard MLB one. It felt more like a high school or college field. There were certain things that made if feel like home, but it felt pretty Chinese...

 Number One: dancers? How is this guy supposed to appropriately warm up for the next inning with those girls shakin' their barely clad selves in front of him? Cincinnati must have told someone in Beijing that cheerleaders at MLB games are a cool idea (even though no one else in the US agrees).
Number 2: Port-a-potty SQUATTIES??? I have no words.
Number 3: Duh.
 Number 4: In cincinnati, it's the skyline chili shuffle with the ball hiding underneath... in Beijing it was the "pagoda shuffle" ...nice.

Part of the idea for bringing these teams to town was to promote baseball in China. It hasn't been played here over the last few decades very much. There were a lot of groups of young boys at the game but I think they were more interested in the food and free souvenirs than the baseball game. It was strange to have so many ex-pats in one place. And I was surprised by how many Chinese people where there. When the 7th inning stretch came and we (americans) got up to sing the familiar song, the Chinese sitting around us just watched in amazement. They were probably wondering what Cracker Jacks are and why we were so excited to sing this song. Oh, they also had a few times where it was "educational" game time between innings. They taught people how to say "single, double, homerun" in English and explained what they meant. And the ridiculous dance team performed 3 times. Oh, and they RAN OUT OF FOOD in the third inning. But they made up for it buy getting tons of beer and selling that once the food ran out (that made it feel more American having some guys in front of me that had enjoyed a few too many).

It was a beautiful day and one of the first blue sky days we had in a while (its sandstorm season in Beijing so the weather has been weird). It was a little chilly but at least it was pretty. I think there are a few more pre-olympic things going on this spring so maybe I'll get to enjoy a few more!

this week for our team night we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. (yes, we can be a little spoiled as beijingers sometimes with the things we have here!) this was our first time to pizza hut so we were pretty excited about it. we figured it would take a while for our three pizzas to come so we ordered some onion rings and this is what they brought us......

seriously, 8 tiny little onion rings (which was an unfortunate number since there were 5 of us). now, these were good so i'm not arguing about the quality. but perhaps we were expecting a "little" bit of a larger portion. things are always a little different than you would expect here...

also, i would like to ask if you have THIS gem of an item on the menu at your local pizza hut:

a 'harem sweetie' ?????? what does that even mean?


we might have "western" places here but they are often not very similar to the ones back home.

it may be a little hard to read... but this is "MEATFLOSS CAKE BREAD" ... found at walmart last week. hmm.... what exactely is "meatfloss" ????????? it's less than a dollar though so at least its a good deal. but no i did not buy this and try it. in my opinion, this type of bread should not involve meat.

I was just saying how i was surprised that it was december.. and now its march! it's amazing how time flies when you're keeping busy. i'm so glad to be back from my travels. i love vacation and the places and people i saw made it a fantastic time. but it's just nice to be back in a routine. although, this week i'm feeling like i don't have much to do to keep myself occupied. that's actually a nice change from last semester though!

i have a new chinese coteacher this semester. i'm hoping she lasts. it's been very up and down so far with her classes. she's a good teacher, the students just have some attitude issues. the one class made her a card though to apologize so that lifted her spirits today. it's been so good getting to know her over the past week...she's SO OPEN which is so strange. she's quickly befriended nicole and i so we're asking for opportunities to encourage her and be a light to her.

the university friends i have are meeting in a new place this term. it's great because this has opened opportunities for them to get to know some older nationals who are very wise and strong in their faith. already they've both been mutually encouraged so we're lifting them up and hoping that it will be a growing experience for both sets of followers.

things with the team have been good so far this term and i'm excited about continuing to grow together in our community. i really want them to dig in deep with each other so hopefully i can encourage that even more this semester. i can imagine that my job is much easier the second year because it already feels easier the second semester. i had no idea what i was getting into last term and i feel like i sank pretty quickly when i tried it in my own strength. but now that we had a month away and some refreshment and rest i feel like i'm ready to thrive this semester. (which is great because last semester was a severe low point for all of us so its great to be on the other side of that storm)!


so today i went to the post office and it was all kinds of trouble. it used to be easy last semester. you walked in with your letters, handed them to the person and they gave you the stamps and you paid and off you went. but for some reason this semester they ask all these questions i've never been asked before and dont understand. today i handed the lady my four letters. she looked at them and then asked me something i didnt understand. after a few more tries she gave me an airmail envelope and told me i had to use those and not my envelopes (why? who knows...). so i had to rewrite all the addresses (not the first time this has happened. it seems to happen at random times though). then i gave the letters back and said i wanted stamps and she asked me several more questions i'd never been asked before. sometimes i feel like i know a lot of chinese and sometimes i feel like i dont speak a word of it. i guess i just know things i need to know.. and post office lingo is out of my realm of 'need to know' chinese. so anyway, she asked me tons of questions and i told her i didnt understand and she must've either given up or just made choices for me eventually i was able to pay and go on my way.

so next time you are at the post office... you should be friendly and interact with them just because YOU CAN.

okay, i just uploaded pictures from Prague! check out my album: http://photos.valeriedolby.com