Chad in China

4/20/13

I hadn’t planned anything for that Saturday afternoon except to get the mountain of grading midterms done. I’m pretty sure I was having a bad dream when it started. At first I thought it was just the construction going on outside. I’ll be honest the last time we had one, I thought my stomach was rumbling. The shaking had only lasted about 20 seconds. I was too dumb/confused to realize an earthquake had hit. 7.0. I looked outside my living room window and saw my neighbors waiting outside still in their PJs or lack thereof. They were smart, they had experienced the much larger earthquake in 2008 which had a delves rating death toll. I slowly showered and grabbed my school work. I took it real slow. That day also happened to be the day our school was testing high school students for admittance. It’s confusing enough to see a foreigner stroll around campus but most if them were still coming to terms about what happened to notice me. I went to my regular coffee ships but they weren’t open yet. I decided to send texts to friends to let then know I was ok while I waited. I spent most of the day grading. When I finished I met a student who didn’t have to go into work because of the earthquake despite her place of work not being physically affected. We just sat and talked. I had taught them for 3 semesters but rarely saw them this term because of my schedule. We ended up eating dinner together and afterwords I taught them the basics of frisbee on the schools track and field. As the night wore on, more students gathered there bringing with them bed rolls. My students confessed that they were scared. 2008’s earthquake was still fresh in their mind. I stayed out with them through the night greeting more students who I hadn’t seen in a long time. Eventually, I needed to go to bed. I said goodnight and wished them wellness and safety. Some criticized them for being so superstitious and scared but I could only feel bad for them. As their teacher, I try my best to protect my kids against bad influences and poor life choices so I wanted to be around them as ling as I could to let them know, it’ll be ok. Yet, underneath the stars I knew they’d be safe, surrounded by friends and classmates.