Sichuan Earthquake From Xi'an III.

The last of 3 posts written during the aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake and which i have chosen to include here.

I recently bought an American hybrid bike, though ofcourse it was made here in China, the price of it was incomprehensible to the elderly generation living in my apartment block.  I had been riding traditional old steel stand-up framed bikes since arriving in China but wanted a bit more agility around town. The second of my old bikes was designed for farm work, I think with the weight of it it could quite reasonably have been used to pull the ox while the ox was still pulling the plough! However the point of this reference to my preferred choice of getting around, helmet-less pillion on a motorbike-taxi excluded, was that the recent weather reminded me why last year I ceased riding for a while.

The muddy rain is an annual event here in Xi’an, where cars are not simply splattered with water droplets but splashed by mud dipped rain drops, it is from the Loess Plateau dust coming in from the North. The worrying aspect I occasionally dwell upon is I am breathing in the dried version of this! I did however stop cycling for a while because of the wider causes of pollution, I just couldn’t get rid of a constant soreness at the back of my throat. Xi’an’s pollution is something I am used to, locals say it is getting better but probably more we are just getting used to it. It is improving, but there are still days when I can’t see the buildings on the opposite side of the road clearly.

When I was living in Britain I didn’t really watch much television so I watch especially little here, this has meant that I have not seen too much reporting on the earthquake this week. However, the teachers and children within the schools I work in are on constant alert, to the point of nervous obsession. The lamps hung in the ceiling swaying from the wind are being looked at as if a signal for escape, peeling paint and cracks in the walls previously un-noted now have attentive eyes kept on them, even the fun and games emanating from my classroom scared the children in the classrooms below.

Since the earthquake it is compulsory to leave all classroom doors open, this means that more than just my 60 kids get to experience a simple English dialogue shouted in operatic tones while emphasising individual syllables, first by me and then by the whole class! I hope the earths crust can soon steady itself and allow my children to get back to their rambunctious best, or worst depending on how one looks at it. One of the wonderful things about teaching Chinese children is their openness, their cheerfulness and lack of inhibition, they are at present a little more inhibited and ofcourse down right scared!  I, less than those in Sichuan itself, look forward to life returning to normal. This note does not continue. .