earthquake relief

Please click on the link above if you would like to help with the earthquake relief. This group is based out of our local Bookworm (library, restaurant, cafe, bookstore, hangout) and 100% of donations goes to the relief effort - no administrative costs. Everyone is volunteering their time and paying their own way to collect and deliver needed items to the devastated areas.

There are also links on the site to other organizations if you feel more comfortable donating to one with a bigger name.

Thanks!


As for us - we are still doing fine. There was another big aftershock yesterday (well, at 6.0 it felt more like another earthquake than just an aftershock!) that went on for a pretty long time and seemed to increase in intensity. Very unsettling. A few light things fell from the shelves, but no damage here. Many people evacuated their buildings again (we did not) and there were sirens outside immediately afterward. Now there is lots of news of the risk of dams bursting and flooding... as if this area needs any more disaster!

If all goes well, we should be flying out of here on Wednesday. I've been watching the weather in Beijing, and while Wednesday was the coolest day next week with a forecast high of 80 - now the forecast high is 88, and if United in Beijing is strict about it, they won't let us fly out with the dogs. (No flying if it's over 85F.) So, keep your fingers crossed for us. Thursday is supposed to be cooler, so we should still be able to get out, but I don't even want to think about trying to get kids, dogs, crates, and luggage to a hotel!!! There is only one hotel that takes dogs... so that will be our only option. Hopefully I would be able to hire a driver to come and pick us up...

We're headed home for a 10 day R&R. The dogs have to fly out before the end of the month because in addition to not allowing Boxers (and other snub-nosed breeds) to fly if it is over 85F, they also have an embargo from June 1 - Sept 30. So, since Washington denied my request to leave for good on May 30, I have to fly home with kids and dogs, leave dogs home, get passport and visa for Meimei, then fly back to China for an additional 18 days of work, and THEN they will let us leave. Great plan! (can you feel the sarcasm???) We'll be in VA for 1o days now, and then flying directly to California later in June. My parents (wonderful parents!) will then drive the dogs across the country for us!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

and the most beautiful 3.5 year old girl I know is...

AngelBaby! Is she stunning or what?

nothing major to report

...and that is a good thing. No more big aftershocks over night. We had a few light ones before I went to bed, but nothing strong enough to wake us up after that. I can't get CNN.com to load right now and my TV is broken, so I haven't seen the latest news on the damage in the region. It's sure to be grim. We are very lucky here in Chengdu. It could have been far, far worse.

earthquake

The earthquake was very scary but we are fine. Kids were outside playing when it hit so they weren't even that scared. In the apartment, both our TVs, and lots of books, toys, DVDs all hit the floor. I think only one other thing broke (a crystal flower I had on the windowsill).

I took all the frames off the walls in our bedrooms and we slept inside last night. There were several aftershocks, one quite long at about 4am, but we stayed in and were fine. I have a bag of stuff for the kids packed and in the car in case we have to get out of the building in a hurry. Not that we'll drive anywhere, but that's just a good place to put it.

Thanks for checking in. We're fine and I'll try to keep you posted. Internet access is out at home (I'm posting this from my work computer).