The Last Ten Days

Posted by Michelle Ross on 05/23/2008

Hello all! This is my official check-in blog. This last ten days have been incredible in so many ways.

With that said, let me tell you about the last few days here. Thad and I live just north of the Sichuan border and as earthquakes don't stop for politically drawn lines on the map, we have been impacted. The earthquake hit at 2:30 on Monday afternoon. Thad was with his friends (4 high school classmates were in town visiting) on a nearby mountain and they watched the landslides come down in a circle around our town. (We live in a bit of a bowl.) Luckily, they made it off the mountain with no problems. As for me, I was on the fourth floor of our apartment building, talking with two other foreign teachers. We were sitting at a table when Rachel said she was moving. We initially thought it was a big construction truck driving by, as they can make things rattle a bit. After a second we realized this was much bigger and made a run for it. (Chinese buildings do not have earthquake safety built in and the concrete structure was not a good place to be.) We headed out the door at a sprint, yelling down the hallway to get others going. The hallway was just shaking, but it was the stairwell that was the scariest. Cement chunks were dropping around us as we ran. I felt like I was in one of those carnival funhouses where the stairs go back and forth and you giggle as you try to climb them. But, there was no giggling. Just terror. Once we made it out of the building, the ground continued to move. I don't know how long it is officially being reported as having lasted, but I am estimating close to an eternity.

Once the ground stopped moving, we hauled all of the students to the football field for a head-count and then we stayed there for the afternoon and night. We all slept under a beautiful, cloudless sky, but it was COLD! Throughout the night there were strong aftershocks.

On Tuesday we were up early as the school continued to deal with the situation. Students were not allowed to go home. We have been given conflicting stories about how safe the buildings are. Provincial leaders came down yesterday and said all foreigners must leave town. We have been evacuated to Tianshui, a town about three hours north. That is where I am now. We have been here waiting for permission to go home, although we do not know if we will be able to live in our building again. After a week and a half of calls back and forth from Peace Corps to the provincial government, it was decided that we could not return to our site. It has been deemed "unsafe" and there will be no foreign teachers at our school at all next year.

Last week, as leaders went back and forth on our future, it was really rough to sit and wait. Peace Corps was wonderful in backing us up and trying to get us back to our site for the last six weeks of our service in China, but yesterday, the Chinese requested that for our safety we return to our site to get our belongings and say goodbye to our students. We went out for the entire day and it was both a wonderful and horrible experience.

My students are living in tents all over campus, as their buildings are not safe. It is like a refugee camp, except made of only students! It was an odd sight to behold. Packing was tough, but saying goodbye was tougher. It was hard to leave, even though we were going soon anyway. After spending the day with the students, we were to meet the school car at the gate at 7 to return to Tianshui. When we got there with our stuff, there were 200+ students waiting to say goodbye. The tears that I had held back all day came coursing out at that point. I couldn't believe this was the end of our Peace Corps service. It was wonderful to have so many students there, but difficult as you can imagine.

Now, we are getting ready to go home. Peace Corps has granted us an early Close-of-Service since leaving was by no means our choice. Thad and I will spend the rest of this week doing medical and final paperwork and then it looks like our tickets to Boise leave here on Friday morning.

I am sad to be going, sad it is over, but trying to look at the good parts. I have loved living in China. I have loved my students. I have made friends that will last a lifetime. I have memories forever.

Wo ai wode Zhongguo!

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This webpage expresses the views of Michelle Ross. It does not express the views of the United States Peace Corps.

Last updated Sep 29 2008