[BACK] [NEXT]
English Version 44
Thursday 15.05.08
Maoxian
Another night in Maoxian. Two quakes during the night. One of my new
friends Gerard thinks there were 4. He`s dreaming of moving to the US
where his sister is living, so he`s good at speaking English. Senior 3
class 4 has got kitchen just beside my tent, so they keep an eye on me
and I don`t miss anything. Twice breakfast and I now have: an egg, an
apple, a mango, a bottle of water and a milk, besides what I had in my
bag already. The "stunt" of the day is dropping of 2 x 25 containers
with parachutes, they are clever not to hit the centre but the
surroundings even they`re dropped from high altitude. 4-5 helicopters
arrive probably to carry injured people to hospital in Chengdu.
Now I`m just waiting for the teachers meeting to end because I`ll try
with the help of Xia Wei to find out if the Danish embassy has been in
contact with the local authorities. If so they should know that I`m safe
back in Denmark.
After the teachers meeting there`s a meeting for the students so it
lasts long. And later Xia Wei is busy but late in the afternoon I get
hold of him and he thinks it`s a possibility.
 |
 |
 |
| The students are applausing the speech of the vice chief | No buildings were broken down completely | Grade 3, class 4 |
Before getting further on I suddenly see a westener in the street
together with two Chinese. The school gate nearby has just been locked
so I have to go all the way to the main entrance where I take my bike
that`s in a room there and reach them down at the big bridge. It`s a
Canadian and two Chinese Americans. There are also some Australians and
more Americans so we are around 10 totally. We exchange "news". I think
they are thinking too bad about the Chinese authorities. Tell them about
my plan of maybe getting a letter with a helicopter. Yes, that might be
a possibility. In two days it should be possible to walk 28 km up north
and catch a bus for Jiuzhaigou Airport where there is air connection
with Chengdu.
When I return and have had something to eat Mr. Xia arrives with two
soldiers and ask if I can write a note they can give to the helicopter
pilot in the morning? He`s a real Chinese this Mr. Xia! He had tried to
talk to the headmaster but he was busy and didn`t have time, and then
he`d met with the soldiers and asked them if they could do him a favour.
If it succeeds I don`t know but I am forever grateful for his help which
I regard as very Chinese: If the official channels don`t work you use
connections and favours. So now I owe him one!
It`s been told that one of the parachute soldiers was killed when his
parachute didn`t fold out. It must have been in the first group where
you only saw 7, cause in the last group I followed one with my
binoculars who had trouble with his parachute but at last succeeded
clearing out the "threads".