Anyone who knows me will know that I'm in Christchurch and doing just fine. My English-teaching friends in Japan and I used to make fun of the simple sentence structures that they teach to Japanese students. For example, they teach the weather by saying "It's" followed by the type of weather (sun/rain/wind) and adding "y". We sometimes took this to the next level and made our own sentences like "It's lightningy", "It's typhoony" and "It's earthquakey". This last one is actually quite apt for the last week and a half since the big 6.4 earthquake in Christchurch. Especially the days afterwards, the ground didn't feel solid. Apparently there were over 200 aftershocks in the first week.
University is going to be closed for at least another week as they figure out how to deal with the logistics of getting the classes up and running without 4 buildings which are not safe for use at this stage. I'm sure it will all end up working itself out, and I am very much looking forward to starting again. I'd spent about 4-5 weeks just waiting for school to start, and on the 2nd day another 3 weeks have been added to that total.
If you've seen any of the destruction on TV, you'll be pleased to know that we suffered hardly any damage. There was only really the damage as seen in the photos below. It was mainly broken glass, toppled plants and cracks in the walls (which are the landlord's problem).
Sure it took a while to clean up, but nothing compared to what I have seen lately. I've been volunteering most days for the Student Volunteer Army which sends out people to clear silt which has buried streets, backyards and in some cases even the insides of homes.
I used to complain that the University of Canterbury is not in the city centre anymore. I'm now sorry that I ever did. Sure the old university buildings are/were beautiful, but that would be the last thing on your mind if you saw it falling down on top of you.
I'm not going to resort to the stereotype of how lucky I am, because that is demeaning to the people who weren't lucky. But in a way - the Dutch way - I am lucky. Hopefully soon things will be back to what I presume normal would have been if I could have began a routine, and I'll be back to my usual condescending self.
Take care one and all.
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