Sachs Away

地震

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      不那麽潮湿而且阳光明媚，星期一的厦门是美丽的。更重要的是这个拥有200万人口的城市能在这样的好天气里迎来火炬传递，这实在不错。虽然院方并未批准，但大部分的课程都取消了，许多孩子都已经准备好到传递路线附近去看圣火，因此，当外教和许多中国老师一样决定取消下午课程的时候，孩子们都很高兴。

      如果有一天你告诉自己的孙子，在一个阳光明媚的下午，当火炬传递来到你所在的城市时，你却只能呆在教室里上一堂无聊透顶的课。可以理解，这会显得很愚蠢。

      作为主要交通工具的公交车上塞满了人，大概到中午，进岛的路才被封闭。火炬传递在大约2：30时达到高潮，当地的电视台进行了转播。Nobody felt a thing.

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      我不知道是什么样的地质结构阻止了这个海岛感觉到地震，因为据我所知，在台湾、河内、东京和北京都有震感，而在厦门，我所认识的人什么也没感觉到。

      你们应该已经看到了新闻……因为灾后的天气很糟糕，而且大部分的桥梁和道路都已经被损毁，所以他们还在努力进入更多的受灾地区。受灾的人数还在不断上升，这里的很多孩子也受到了影响。我认识来自灾区的两个学生，他们告诉我，他们的家人都很安全，但是他们的家以及那个城市已经在地震中毁于一旦。来自灾区的学生当然很了解那些被摧毁的学校，我想对他们来说，这是个艰难的时刻。

      CNN/杰克·卡弗蒂的粉丝们，当地的媒体和北京的媒体一样，实时报道着发生在灾区的一切细节……好的以及坏的，一切都不加掩盖。这让我觉得卡特里娜飓风像是发生在第三世界国家的灾难。我想知道卡弗蒂是否已经对此有了评论。

      学院正在尽其所能：他们要求老师统计家乡受灾的学生名单，并且像往常一样继续为救援机构募捐，就像你在其它地方见到的一样。所有孩子在用他们的手机和网络保持联络，而且他们请求学校不要在晚上11点后断网----这是这里的惯例，晚上11点后断网，这样孩子们就不会整夜的玩线上游戏或者聊天了。

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earthquake

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Monday was a beautiful day in Xiamen; low humidity, bright sunshine and a perfect day for running the Olympic Torch through town which in a town of almost two million is a pretty big deal.  Most classes were cancelled since while the administration didn’t sanction it, many of the kids had arranged to go see the torch somewhere along the route.   Every body was pretty happy when the foreign teachers did what many of the Chinese teachers had done.

It would be silly to tell your grandchildren that you sat on your butt in some silly class when the Olympic Torch was making its way through town on a beautiful day.

Busses, the principal means of transportation in these parts were packed and finally stopped running by noon when the roads into Xiamen Island were closed.  The run hit the peak areas of town about 2:30 and was televised on local stations.  Nobody felt a thing.

I’m not sure what geological structures prevented the coast here from feeling the earthquake in Sichuan Province when it was felt in Taiwan, Hanoi, Tokyo and Beijing, but no one I know sensed anything.

You’ve probably followed the news………they’re still trying to get to many areas since the weather was terrible in the aftermath and most of the roads and bridges are out.  The numbers keep going up and many kids here are affected.  I know two in particular who are from the area directly involved and they report that their families are safe, but that their towns and everything they had there is destroyed.  Of course a college student from those parts knows the local schools pretty well, so they’re having a hard time of it.

For the CNN/Jack Cafferty fans, the local media is covering all the details in real-time as is the Beijing media………good and bad, warts and all.  It makes that business with Katrina look like the efforts of a third world country.  I wonder if Cafferty has commented on that yet.

The College is doing what it can and has asked the teachers to check with students who are affected and is taking up the usual collections for aid agencies.  Nothing you wouldn’t see anywhere else.  All the kids are using their phone networks and the Internet to keep in touch and they’ve asked the school to keep the Internet in their  dorms up after 11 PM — it’s practice here to turn it off at 11 so kids aren’t up all night playing online games or chatting with each other.

All is well in Xiamen, but its a terrible time for China.