EARTHQUAKE!!!!
We all woke up early, around 2:30 a.m., when the casa was shaking and rocking from a big earthquake. My bed felt like I was in a sleeper car on a rough train, shaking back and forth, fairly rough. Being asleep, it took a while to figure out what was happening, but when I realized all the furniture was moving and I was not really on a train, I figured it was a real earthquake. The house was shaking and creaking very loudly and sounded like it was going to cave in so I and decided to get out of the house with the boys. It was a little tough trying to walk and the power went out so there were no lights so we never actually made it out before the thing stopped about 30 seconds after I woke up. The boys were way more excited than scared, wanting it to start again. Each of us thought at first that the others were in our rooms moving the bed as a joke.
Lamps and books and things fell off shelves, but we did not have any damage here, maybe a few cracks in some walls. All the laundry fell off the line. The doors to our closets all opened. Most of the kids in the main casa were scared by it, but a few like Isaac and the smallest children, slept through the whole thing.
The worst thing in our casa was the power went out for about an hour. It has been one of the hottest weeks of the year this week and sleeping with out a fan is nearly impossible. We were fortunate with the power though because most of the people who came to work this morning still did not have power. The kids all got a day off school.
I have not been out to see around town. The bridge on the road connecting San Pedro to Tela and the northeastern coast collapsed so travel that direction is going to be difficult for a long time. I have heard that several people died when homes collapsed but we have been without internet, radio or T.V. all day so I have not seen any reports of that. No one here or that we know personally was hurt, thank God.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
I'm Still Here
As Mark Twain reportedly once wrote, reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
It's not very interesting for me to write about routine daily activities and the past month has been nothing much but routine. The kids are all the same and still doing well physically, still struggling with school. Mauricio got all A's & B's but the other three in my house are all on TV restriction, for failing classes or behavior problems in school (you know who). I've gotten to know Jaime's teacher fairly well after having numerous conferences with her. She says there is nothing we can do to change that boy other than pray for him. She is very patient, probably more than me with him. Teachers had a week of strikes this month but the kids are back now.
Last weekend I went with Mauricio to visit the family of his oldest uncle in Quimistan, which is a little more than an hour from here. It is always a good expierience for me to go places like this so I can remember that most of the people in this country do not live like we do here at the casa. They live in a small house in the outskirts of a small town: no running water or plumbing; small unfinished house with dirt floor and occasional chicken wantering through; No kitchen; campfire outside with a piece of metal above it is the stove; meals are very small portions; they bathe outdoors standing on a stone next to a large bucket of water - no shower curtains here. Their electricity is extension cords running through the house. They walk to the local store before each meal because they don't have refrigeration to keep food. We went fishing in a little stream and pond near by and they caught a few 2" long fish.
Sister Eva is in the final countdown to her departure, June 15th. She is leaving the casa after 12 years here. She is still planning on doing fund raising for the casa, but she will be doing it from her new home in RI where she is from. The two summer interns from Notre Dame arrive in a couple of weeks so I will not be the only English speaker here after Eva leaves on the 15th.
It's not very interesting for me to write about routine daily activities and the past month has been nothing much but routine. The kids are all the same and still doing well physically, still struggling with school. Mauricio got all A's & B's but the other three in my house are all on TV restriction, for failing classes or behavior problems in school (you know who). I've gotten to know Jaime's teacher fairly well after having numerous conferences with her. She says there is nothing we can do to change that boy other than pray for him. She is very patient, probably more than me with him. Teachers had a week of strikes this month but the kids are back now.
Last weekend I went with Mauricio to visit the family of his oldest uncle in Quimistan, which is a little more than an hour from here. It is always a good expierience for me to go places like this so I can remember that most of the people in this country do not live like we do here at the casa. They live in a small house in the outskirts of a small town: no running water or plumbing; small unfinished house with dirt floor and occasional chicken wantering through; No kitchen; campfire outside with a piece of metal above it is the stove; meals are very small portions; they bathe outdoors standing on a stone next to a large bucket of water - no shower curtains here. Their electricity is extension cords running through the house. They walk to the local store before each meal because they don't have refrigeration to keep food. We went fishing in a little stream and pond near by and they caught a few 2" long fish.
Sister Eva is in the final countdown to her departure, June 15th. She is leaving the casa after 12 years here. She is still planning on doing fund raising for the casa, but she will be doing it from her new home in RI where she is from. The two summer interns from Notre Dame arrive in a couple of weeks so I will not be the only English speaker here after Eva leaves on the 15th.
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