Well, I can officially say that I'm over the dread of the impending doom of continued earthquakes - at least after what happened today. This is a story that I plan on telling my grandkids.
People all have daily duties to attend to and my daily constitutional for the day was a bit later than normal. Rather than being bright and early, I made my way to the facilities shortly after 3pm local time. As I was sitting there on the throne, Mother Nature threw me a funny - one that you can only laugh about. At 3:11 pm local time, a 5.6 aftershock rumbled away from Chincha Alta (the epicenter for most of the quakes we've been having) and shook the ground quite nicely here in Lima. A nice little side to side saunter, gently massaging my posterior with the plastic seat that I was sitting upon.
Normally, this should be terrifying. Sitting down to do one's duty, pants around the ankles, and having an earthquake strike. But all I could do was laugh. And I mean like gut-busting laughter, laughing so hard you cry - its the only thing that you really can do. I mean, if you take it too seriously, you end up going insane. Instead, just laugh it off and chalk up another wonderful moment in life. Pardon my crass language but I look at it this way - I can literally say that I've experienced having something "shaking the shit" out of me!!! LOL Life is back to normal...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
taletell signs
Life has the look of being back to normal here in Lima but as I talk with many people, I am finding that we are all still dealing with the stress of life. Even though we all know that the majority of the energy was released back on Wednesday, the rather frequent and powerful aftershocks still remind us of the two minutes we endured just a few days ago. I will admit, the frequency and magnitude of the aftershocks does worry me slightly, more than 4 days after and we are still having quakes in the 5.0 - 5.8 range. I expected there to be more of a drop-off than this with the aftershocks and I'm sure that the surges of tectonic plates that we are feeling right now are the main reason for the tension that hangs in the air.
As I noted, Lima has the look of being back to normal but every conversation you have is laced with an air of uncertainty and doubt as people still wonder about their safety. A friend of mine from FDR showed the pictures of her apartment (major cracks running through the interior walls) and her hands began to shake as she relived the terror of the moments she felt. It didn't help that about 5 minutes after showing those pictures, we had another aftershock (5.8) shake us again. Her signs are more visible than the rest of us, but if we were poker players right now, our tells would be quite visible.
For me, my tell is the fact that I've been wearing a baseball cap for the last 48 hours and eating like there's no tomorrow. The mood I feel at the moment reminds me of how I felt after 9/11. While the scope of this situation isn't as intense as that day was, I still have that pit in my stomach. For me, I know my reaction to mild/moderate stress is eating food - for others, their reactions are a bit different.
My friends are bonding together as friends do but we are also coming together more in small groups rather than large gatherings. Conversations still focus on the fact that there are aftershocks and the fear that cracks in walls will lead to a structural failure when the next big aftershock hits. People talk about the rescue and repair efforts in Pisco and Ica yet you can hear in their voice that they wonder if soon others will be sent to Lima to rescue us. Stories of rioting and looting in Pisco and Ica worry many here as they know that if Lima does take a hit like those towns did, there would be the same problems on a massive scale. Lima is a city of 8 million and there aren't enough police/military in all of South America that would be able to maintain the peace if a more damaging quake strikes. And those are the stories I hear from cabbies...
I started to feel a little more normal today as I helped a friend put up some bookshelves. These didn't collapse in Wednesday's quake but were ones that were going up new. For me, it was a signal that my life was back to normal and I should start living that way. It was therapeutic to not think about what has been on my mind for the last 96 hours, a chance to put my energy and focus into something else (notice how both people and earthquakes can have energy and focus?). So as I go to sleep tonight, I head off to slumber with a more relaxed state of mind. While not free of the anxiety that goes along with being in a major seismological event just yet, I feel like I'm a whole lot closer to being back to normal - thanks in part to building some bookshelves.
As I noted, Lima has the look of being back to normal but every conversation you have is laced with an air of uncertainty and doubt as people still wonder about their safety. A friend of mine from FDR showed the pictures of her apartment (major cracks running through the interior walls) and her hands began to shake as she relived the terror of the moments she felt. It didn't help that about 5 minutes after showing those pictures, we had another aftershock (5.8) shake us again. Her signs are more visible than the rest of us, but if we were poker players right now, our tells would be quite visible.
For me, my tell is the fact that I've been wearing a baseball cap for the last 48 hours and eating like there's no tomorrow. The mood I feel at the moment reminds me of how I felt after 9/11. While the scope of this situation isn't as intense as that day was, I still have that pit in my stomach. For me, I know my reaction to mild/moderate stress is eating food - for others, their reactions are a bit different.
My friends are bonding together as friends do but we are also coming together more in small groups rather than large gatherings. Conversations still focus on the fact that there are aftershocks and the fear that cracks in walls will lead to a structural failure when the next big aftershock hits. People talk about the rescue and repair efforts in Pisco and Ica yet you can hear in their voice that they wonder if soon others will be sent to Lima to rescue us. Stories of rioting and looting in Pisco and Ica worry many here as they know that if Lima does take a hit like those towns did, there would be the same problems on a massive scale. Lima is a city of 8 million and there aren't enough police/military in all of South America that would be able to maintain the peace if a more damaging quake strikes. And those are the stories I hear from cabbies...
I started to feel a little more normal today as I helped a friend put up some bookshelves. These didn't collapse in Wednesday's quake but were ones that were going up new. For me, it was a signal that my life was back to normal and I should start living that way. It was therapeutic to not think about what has been on my mind for the last 96 hours, a chance to put my energy and focus into something else (notice how both people and earthquakes can have energy and focus?). So as I go to sleep tonight, I head off to slumber with a more relaxed state of mind. While not free of the anxiety that goes along with being in a major seismological event just yet, I feel like I'm a whole lot closer to being back to normal - thanks in part to building some bookshelves.
Friday, August 17, 2007
return to normal, kinda
Its Friday morning now and school is back in session - at least for the teachers. We came back today to do some safety inspections and training, to prepare for the return of our students on Monday. The mood was a rather somber one as we all gathered in the auditorium for a short message from Carol Klusnik, the superintendent of FDR.
We did what you would expect us to - we talked about it. Each of us chatted with our friends and professional peers with a genuine interest in how each experienced the 25 earthquakes that have rattled Lima over the last 36 hours. Those who live in high-rise apartment buildings got a bigger ride than those of us closer to the ground. Tim, who lives on the 13th floor, had water slosh out of his toilets. Troy and Sam's apartment has cracked interior walls. Jeff thought his windows were going to implode. Claudia was in a store where things on the walls and shelves were flying off, smashing when they hit the ground. Blake and Laurie had their water heater explode and flood their bedroom. I feel lucky to have gone through this all with the small amount of shaking (relatively speaking) I felt.
After our meeting, we were instructed to go back to our classrooms and do an assessment of structural damage. While in the process of doing my inspection, another 5.9 aftershock hit, causing some concern among certain staff members. I figure that most of the energy was released some time ago and the aftershocks are going to be relatively mild. Others are a bit more alarmist in their attitude and are a bit more panicked than I am. I'm not being critical of them because I know that we all react differently to stress, we all need to express our fears in different ways. I've sought the comfort of a baseball cap today, although it is unprofessional, because of the feeling it gives me as I begin to deal with the stress of the events that have unfolded.
The morning came to a conclusion with the entire school (meaning faculty and staff) having an earthquake drill and reassuring ourselves of the procedures we need to take when the students come back to us on Monday. If we do have another quake during school hours, we all need to be mentally prepared for the scenario so that we can be calm if the students begin to panic.
The routine is starting to return and along with it, a sense of familiarity about what is normal. While the aftershocks are still present, the fear of the moment is passing and we in Lima are getting back to something that resembles normal. As for the residents of Ica and Pisco, I can't even imagine their plight and my heart goes out to them. I wish I could go there and help although I don't know what I could do. Maybe donating some food and blankets to the Civil Defense is all I can do. Another feeling of helplessness...
We did what you would expect us to - we talked about it. Each of us chatted with our friends and professional peers with a genuine interest in how each experienced the 25 earthquakes that have rattled Lima over the last 36 hours. Those who live in high-rise apartment buildings got a bigger ride than those of us closer to the ground. Tim, who lives on the 13th floor, had water slosh out of his toilets. Troy and Sam's apartment has cracked interior walls. Jeff thought his windows were going to implode. Claudia was in a store where things on the walls and shelves were flying off, smashing when they hit the ground. Blake and Laurie had their water heater explode and flood their bedroom. I feel lucky to have gone through this all with the small amount of shaking (relatively speaking) I felt.
After our meeting, we were instructed to go back to our classrooms and do an assessment of structural damage. While in the process of doing my inspection, another 5.9 aftershock hit, causing some concern among certain staff members. I figure that most of the energy was released some time ago and the aftershocks are going to be relatively mild. Others are a bit more alarmist in their attitude and are a bit more panicked than I am. I'm not being critical of them because I know that we all react differently to stress, we all need to express our fears in different ways. I've sought the comfort of a baseball cap today, although it is unprofessional, because of the feeling it gives me as I begin to deal with the stress of the events that have unfolded.
The morning came to a conclusion with the entire school (meaning faculty and staff) having an earthquake drill and reassuring ourselves of the procedures we need to take when the students come back to us on Monday. If we do have another quake during school hours, we all need to be mentally prepared for the scenario so that we can be calm if the students begin to panic.
The routine is starting to return and along with it, a sense of familiarity about what is normal. While the aftershocks are still present, the fear of the moment is passing and we in Lima are getting back to something that resembles normal. As for the residents of Ica and Pisco, I can't even imagine their plight and my heart goes out to them. I wish I could go there and help although I don't know what I could do. Maybe donating some food and blankets to the Civil Defense is all I can do. Another feeling of helplessness...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
life goes on
Surreal. That's the only word that really describes the last 24 hours. Since the first quake hammered its way through about 27 hours ago, I feel like I've been having an out-of-body experience. Even though I know that its me going through this intricate set of events, it doesn't feel like it.
At 6:40 pm on August 15th, 2007, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake exploded from the ground and changed the surface of the Earth and the lives of many people that live around it. It affected me as well but not in the life changing (or life ending) way that it did for those that live in the cities of Ica and Pisco. For me, the earthquake took me out of my routine and made me examine more closely what it is that I am doing here in Peru and here in life. Only the experience wasn't truly mine, as I noted that it feels like a completely surreal event in my life - one that is more like a dream than anything else.
This morning I got an email from CBS News saying that they wanted to interview people in Peru about their experience with the quake. I agreed to be interviewed on camera but told them that I doubted my insight would be anything different than what the other 8 million people in Lima went through. In fact, my experience would probably be less dramatic since I live in an affluent neighborhood and damage here was rather minimal. But they said they wanted to interview me nonetheless and as I sat down in front of the camera, I noted how I felt an absence of emotion. It was though I knew what I had lived through but that my experience wasn't a real one. There was no Hollywood soundtrack, no explosions going off in the distance, or fantastic acts that had to be accomplished by the person occupying my body. And as I answered the questions that Miguel asked me, I felt a strange disconnect to everything that was my life for the 18 hours before the camera crew came to my apartment. To this moment, I still feel strangely disconnected from what has happened and the reality of it all is still so surreal.
My interview didn't make the CBS Evening News and I can't blame them for not putting my soundbytes in the segment. I wasn't traumatized, I had no extreme stories of survival, I was just an average person who lived through a large seismic event - just like the other 8 million people in Lima. I also didn't want to sensationalize what I had been through as it wasn't that sensational. All I did was stand in a doorway and wonder when the shaking was going to stop. The feeling of helplessness was shared by each and every person who lived through the quake; I was just one of millions that were reminded of just how powerless we are when dealing with Mother Nature. It has been noted that in news, "if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead" and I definitely didn't give them any ammunition to lead their broadcast with. What can I say, I didn't want to give the main stream media an inaccurate representation of what I went through - no sense trying to make my life look bad when it really isn't.
So as today went on, life in Peru took a different turn. Traffic dropped off dramatically as people stayed at home and tended to the frayed nerves that we all share. Those that I did see wandering the street today had the same blank expression that I did; I imagine they were feeling the same surreal moment that I was. Even tonight when I went to dinner with friends (we wanted to be around fellow "survivors"), we each described our day in relatively the same way. We each stayed in and tried to come to grips with the ground shaking and how it affected our lives. We each noted that it made us appreciate our friends and family a lot more, at least for the moment, as it reminded us what truly matters in life.
I've been surfing around the internet, seeing reports of how bad things are in Pisco and Ica, and finding myself grateful for the hand I've been dealt. I know the main stream media is doing its best to make it "bleed" for the viewing audience back in the States but I also know that within a week, the story will be off the headlines and people will have forgotten about it. Its sad really, that life events need to be sensationalized to get coverage but that's the media for ya.
In any case, tomorrow the teachers return to school for an attempt to return to the routine that makes life more real and less surreal. We will get things back to normal and go on because that's what you do. Life goes on...
At 6:40 pm on August 15th, 2007, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake exploded from the ground and changed the surface of the Earth and the lives of many people that live around it. It affected me as well but not in the life changing (or life ending) way that it did for those that live in the cities of Ica and Pisco. For me, the earthquake took me out of my routine and made me examine more closely what it is that I am doing here in Peru and here in life. Only the experience wasn't truly mine, as I noted that it feels like a completely surreal event in my life - one that is more like a dream than anything else.
This morning I got an email from CBS News saying that they wanted to interview people in Peru about their experience with the quake. I agreed to be interviewed on camera but told them that I doubted my insight would be anything different than what the other 8 million people in Lima went through. In fact, my experience would probably be less dramatic since I live in an affluent neighborhood and damage here was rather minimal. But they said they wanted to interview me nonetheless and as I sat down in front of the camera, I noted how I felt an absence of emotion. It was though I knew what I had lived through but that my experience wasn't a real one. There was no Hollywood soundtrack, no explosions going off in the distance, or fantastic acts that had to be accomplished by the person occupying my body. And as I answered the questions that Miguel asked me, I felt a strange disconnect to everything that was my life for the 18 hours before the camera crew came to my apartment. To this moment, I still feel strangely disconnected from what has happened and the reality of it all is still so surreal.
My interview didn't make the CBS Evening News and I can't blame them for not putting my soundbytes in the segment. I wasn't traumatized, I had no extreme stories of survival, I was just an average person who lived through a large seismic event - just like the other 8 million people in Lima. I also didn't want to sensationalize what I had been through as it wasn't that sensational. All I did was stand in a doorway and wonder when the shaking was going to stop. The feeling of helplessness was shared by each and every person who lived through the quake; I was just one of millions that were reminded of just how powerless we are when dealing with Mother Nature. It has been noted that in news, "if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead" and I definitely didn't give them any ammunition to lead their broadcast with. What can I say, I didn't want to give the main stream media an inaccurate representation of what I went through - no sense trying to make my life look bad when it really isn't.
So as today went on, life in Peru took a different turn. Traffic dropped off dramatically as people stayed at home and tended to the frayed nerves that we all share. Those that I did see wandering the street today had the same blank expression that I did; I imagine they were feeling the same surreal moment that I was. Even tonight when I went to dinner with friends (we wanted to be around fellow "survivors"), we each described our day in relatively the same way. We each stayed in and tried to come to grips with the ground shaking and how it affected our lives. We each noted that it made us appreciate our friends and family a lot more, at least for the moment, as it reminded us what truly matters in life.
I've been surfing around the internet, seeing reports of how bad things are in Pisco and Ica, and finding myself grateful for the hand I've been dealt. I know the main stream media is doing its best to make it "bleed" for the viewing audience back in the States but I also know that within a week, the story will be off the headlines and people will have forgotten about it. Its sad really, that life events need to be sensationalized to get coverage but that's the media for ya.
In any case, tomorrow the teachers return to school for an attempt to return to the routine that makes life more real and less surreal. We will get things back to normal and go on because that's what you do. Life goes on...
surveying the damage
Its the "day after" the big one, although we are still experiencing aftershocks here that are powerful in their own right.
SHIT! Why is it that I we get aftershocks while I'm blogging?! As I was writing that previous sentence, another one rumbled through. It was pretty small, I'll check on the USGS website to see how powerful it was. Hold on... That was a 5.2
Its 10:15 am and Peru is starting to come to grips with the aftermath of the series of quakes that we've had over the last 18 hours. It was a relatively easy night for me, considering what others endured in this country. I got up this morning and did a survey in my apartment to see any damage in the daylight. There is a thin crack in the wall that starts at the ceiling and runs a jagged line down towards the floor that is about 1m (3 feet) long. There is some concrete that crumbled off from where the ceiling and walls come together - evidence of the shearing effect the building withstood. My building was put together pretty darn good and I'm very grateful to the guys who put it together for the wonderful job they did. Unfortunately I fear that the workers who did construct this building may have suffered a lot more than I did as they can't afford to live in places where the brick or concrete is reinforced.
After my tour of my apartment, Lupe (my maid) came in to work for the day. She described some of the damage in her neighborhood and it sounds rather extensive. Not as bad as pictures that I see on the internet of places like Ica, but still a considerable amount of damage. A few houses crumbled to the ground, several houses lost walls, roofs slid a meter or two from where they were placed, etc. It makes me realize just how lucky I was to not only survive such a big series of quakes but come out relatively unscathed.
I hopped on the internet to see what happened throughout the night and found out that the USGS upgraded our 7.7 (what I initially thought) up to an 8.0. The aftershocks were powerful in their own right - as you can see by the list below. (Sorry about the formatting issue - the table seems to have dropped down WAY on the page. Scroll down - I swear its there!)
*all data courtesy of the USGS website*
And in case you were wondering - yes, I woke for each and every one of those. It wasn't really a night's sleep as brief moments of rest in between waking up thinking I was going to need to rush out of my building. I slept with my clothes on, shoes next to my bed, and keys, wallet, and passport in my pockets (ya never know what you might need). I estimated that the majority of the energy stored in the tectonic plates was released during the 8.0 quake but you never know just how powerful the aftershocks are going to be and prepared for a worse case scenario of needing to flee the country with what was on my back. After seeing scenes of utter devastation in places like Pakistan and Iran, you never know what might happen when you live in a 3rd world country.
Am I justified for being perhaps a little paranoid and thinking the worst? If you've felt Mother Nature unleash her fury on you without any warning, than you know that I probably am justified. There's something that just makes you a little jumpy when the Earth shakes for 2 minutes and the structures you think are rock solid move back and forth by as much as a meter - so thanks for the latitude with my paranoia.
Its now 10:53 am and I've gotten through the emails from friends and family, all are glad to hear that I'm ok (as am I). Phones and cell reception are back in working order for Lima although I doubt it is for the area of Ica that was hit the hardest (and is still getting these wonderful aftershocks right under them!). With school being canceled by Alan Garcia (president of Peru), today is a rare day to get your nerves back to normal and check out the damages that have occurred to buildings - especially school buildings. I'll venture out here in a little bit to see how the rest of Miraflores faired, I'll update more after I go for a walk.
Thanks to one and all for reading and taking the time to send your best wishes. Its nice to know that you are thinking of me in this time of uncertainty. More news as I know it.
SHIT! Why is it that I we get aftershocks while I'm blogging?! As I was writing that previous sentence, another one rumbled through. It was pretty small, I'll check on the USGS website to see how powerful it was. Hold on... That was a 5.2
Its 10:15 am and Peru is starting to come to grips with the aftermath of the series of quakes that we've had over the last 18 hours. It was a relatively easy night for me, considering what others endured in this country. I got up this morning and did a survey in my apartment to see any damage in the daylight. There is a thin crack in the wall that starts at the ceiling and runs a jagged line down towards the floor that is about 1m (3 feet) long. There is some concrete that crumbled off from where the ceiling and walls come together - evidence of the shearing effect the building withstood. My building was put together pretty darn good and I'm very grateful to the guys who put it together for the wonderful job they did. Unfortunately I fear that the workers who did construct this building may have suffered a lot more than I did as they can't afford to live in places where the brick or concrete is reinforced.
After my tour of my apartment, Lupe (my maid) came in to work for the day. She described some of the damage in her neighborhood and it sounds rather extensive. Not as bad as pictures that I see on the internet of places like Ica, but still a considerable amount of damage. A few houses crumbled to the ground, several houses lost walls, roofs slid a meter or two from where they were placed, etc. It makes me realize just how lucky I was to not only survive such a big series of quakes but come out relatively unscathed.
I hopped on the internet to see what happened throughout the night and found out that the USGS upgraded our 7.7 (what I initially thought) up to an 8.0. The aftershocks were powerful in their own right - as you can see by the list below. (Sorry about the formatting issue - the table seems to have dropped down WAY on the page. Scroll down - I swear its there!)
| Local Time | Magnitude | Distance from Lima |
|---|---|---|
| 6:40 pm | 8.0 | 150 km SSE |
| 7:02 pm | 5.6 | 145 km SSE |
| 7:19 pm | 5.8 | 255 km SSE |
| 8:02 pm | 5.8 | 145 km SSE |
| 8:35 pm | 5.4 | 225 km SSE |
| 9:17 pm | 5.0 | 205 km SSE |
| 9:54 pm | 5.0 | 165 km SSE |
| 11:04 pm | 5.6 | 175 km SSE |
| 11:16 pm | 5.0 | 140 km S |
| 11:23 pm | 5.2 | 215 km SE |
| 12:16 am | 6.3 | 260 km SSE |
| 1:10 am | 5.0 | 225 km S |
| 1:43 am | 4.5 | 155 km S |
| 2:46 am | 4.7 | 125 km S |
| 4:02 am | 4.9 | 240 km SSE |
| 4:43 am | 5.3 | 240 km SSE |
| 6:35 am | 6.0 | 270 km SSE |
| 10:11 am | 5.2 | 150 km SSE |
*all data courtesy of the USGS website*
And in case you were wondering - yes, I woke for each and every one of those. It wasn't really a night's sleep as brief moments of rest in between waking up thinking I was going to need to rush out of my building. I slept with my clothes on, shoes next to my bed, and keys, wallet, and passport in my pockets (ya never know what you might need). I estimated that the majority of the energy stored in the tectonic plates was released during the 8.0 quake but you never know just how powerful the aftershocks are going to be and prepared for a worse case scenario of needing to flee the country with what was on my back. After seeing scenes of utter devastation in places like Pakistan and Iran, you never know what might happen when you live in a 3rd world country.
Am I justified for being perhaps a little paranoid and thinking the worst? If you've felt Mother Nature unleash her fury on you without any warning, than you know that I probably am justified. There's something that just makes you a little jumpy when the Earth shakes for 2 minutes and the structures you think are rock solid move back and forth by as much as a meter - so thanks for the latitude with my paranoia.
Its now 10:53 am and I've gotten through the emails from friends and family, all are glad to hear that I'm ok (as am I). Phones and cell reception are back in working order for Lima although I doubt it is for the area of Ica that was hit the hardest (and is still getting these wonderful aftershocks right under them!). With school being canceled by Alan Garcia (president of Peru), today is a rare day to get your nerves back to normal and check out the damages that have occurred to buildings - especially school buildings. I'll venture out here in a little bit to see how the rest of Miraflores faired, I'll update more after I go for a walk.
Thanks to one and all for reading and taking the time to send your best wishes. Its nice to know that you are thinking of me in this time of uncertainty. More news as I know it.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
big fuckin' earthquake!
Well, here's something that I don't write about very much - the way the Earth moves under my feet. Literally. And it was a big honkin' earthquake at that, my biggest ever. Having a 7.7 magnitude earthquake roll through while you're eating dinner can sure change how your night goes. (an aftershock just hit while I was writing that last sentence)
The time is currently 7:20 pm local time. My land line and cell phone are both dead but amazingly my internet connection is still working. Its been an eventful last hour. At 6:40 pm local time, the earthquake started to shake the ground beneath my feet. I was reading some worthless article on the internet and eating dinner at the time. At first it was a gentle swaying from side to side, progressing more and more as the seconds passed. Eventually it got to the point where I started to get worried, the world was really shaking in a big way and I was sitting at my computer doing nothing about it.
The time is now 7:52 and I'm not normally a person who types slowly but I've been a little preoccupied with contacting others and seeing how my friends are doing. So here's how things happened next.
As the shaking got more and more violent, I decided that sitting at my computer wasn't the best place to be. I got up and stood in the doorway, thinking that it really wasn't the safest place despite what I remembered from living in California. I noted how the apartment building was REALLY shaking and I felt extremely vulnerable (AFTERSHOCK NOW!!!) while standing in the doorway.
I could hear from outside the breaking of glass from other buildings and car alarms going off. While standing in the doorway, I heard a loud pop and the saw a blue glow emanating from my living room window - a transformer on the street had succumb to the quake. But as I stood there, the shaking got more and more intense. Doors were swinging back and forth while the water I was drinking (next to my computer) was sloshing up and out of the glass. I went and grabbed the water - I didn't want it to spill on the computer - and returned to the protective cover of my doorway.
I stood there for what seemed like forever, what I now estimate to be about 90 seconds. I don't know if my approximation of time is correct, for all I know it could have only been half of that but it did feel like forever. All I did know is that the world was moving quite a bit and I was on one heck of a rollercoaster ride.
Its now 8:22 and I've settled down a little bit - answering a few phone calls on Skype from friends and family in the US but still no phone connection (land line or cell) to speak of. I wonder how long it will take to reestablish those lines of communication. In any case, I can at least tell my family and friends that I'm ok and that my building hasn't sustained any noticeable damage.
After the initial earthquake was over, I grabbed my phones and tried to start calling fellow expats to see how they were doing. I was amazed that my internet connection was still up so I got online and went to the USGS website to see how big it was. Initial reporting said that it was a 7.7 magnitude quake that originated about 160 km (100 miles) from Lima and fairly shallow - 10 km (6 miles).
Initially CNN originally reported that there were 3 earthquakes, a 7.7 and two 7.5s, but that has been since cleared up as a computer glitch at the USGS. Good thing they came out and amended that because I don't remember feeling 3 separate earthquakes, I'd hate to think that I'd lost my mind during the rumbling. ;-) As the night has progressed, there have been a few aftershocks to grace my evening - as you could tell by when I noted them during my entry. I went through and checked about them on the USGS website and they list the aftershocks as 5.9 and 5.8. Hopefully the worst of the evening is behind me and I can calm my nerves for a somewhat normal night's sleep.
Which brings me to now - 8:40 pm, exactly two hours after the initial rocking of my world. Its reminded me of just how exciting life can be - even when you aren't really wanting it to be. I know that being an expat has a certain sense of adventure to it, tonight is just another part of that adventure... right?
The time is currently 7:20 pm local time. My land line and cell phone are both dead but amazingly my internet connection is still working. Its been an eventful last hour. At 6:40 pm local time, the earthquake started to shake the ground beneath my feet. I was reading some worthless article on the internet and eating dinner at the time. At first it was a gentle swaying from side to side, progressing more and more as the seconds passed. Eventually it got to the point where I started to get worried, the world was really shaking in a big way and I was sitting at my computer doing nothing about it.
The time is now 7:52 and I'm not normally a person who types slowly but I've been a little preoccupied with contacting others and seeing how my friends are doing. So here's how things happened next.
As the shaking got more and more violent, I decided that sitting at my computer wasn't the best place to be. I got up and stood in the doorway, thinking that it really wasn't the safest place despite what I remembered from living in California. I noted how the apartment building was REALLY shaking and I felt extremely vulnerable (AFTERSHOCK NOW!!!) while standing in the doorway.
I could hear from outside the breaking of glass from other buildings and car alarms going off. While standing in the doorway, I heard a loud pop and the saw a blue glow emanating from my living room window - a transformer on the street had succumb to the quake. But as I stood there, the shaking got more and more intense. Doors were swinging back and forth while the water I was drinking (next to my computer) was sloshing up and out of the glass. I went and grabbed the water - I didn't want it to spill on the computer - and returned to the protective cover of my doorway.
I stood there for what seemed like forever, what I now estimate to be about 90 seconds. I don't know if my approximation of time is correct, for all I know it could have only been half of that but it did feel like forever. All I did know is that the world was moving quite a bit and I was on one heck of a rollercoaster ride.
Its now 8:22 and I've settled down a little bit - answering a few phone calls on Skype from friends and family in the US but still no phone connection (land line or cell) to speak of. I wonder how long it will take to reestablish those lines of communication. In any case, I can at least tell my family and friends that I'm ok and that my building hasn't sustained any noticeable damage.
After the initial earthquake was over, I grabbed my phones and tried to start calling fellow expats to see how they were doing. I was amazed that my internet connection was still up so I got online and went to the USGS website to see how big it was. Initial reporting said that it was a 7.7 magnitude quake that originated about 160 km (100 miles) from Lima and fairly shallow - 10 km (6 miles).
Initially CNN originally reported that there were 3 earthquakes, a 7.7 and two 7.5s, but that has been since cleared up as a computer glitch at the USGS. Good thing they came out and amended that because I don't remember feeling 3 separate earthquakes, I'd hate to think that I'd lost my mind during the rumbling. ;-) As the night has progressed, there have been a few aftershocks to grace my evening - as you could tell by when I noted them during my entry. I went through and checked about them on the USGS website and they list the aftershocks as 5.9 and 5.8. Hopefully the worst of the evening is behind me and I can calm my nerves for a somewhat normal night's sleep.
Which brings me to now - 8:40 pm, exactly two hours after the initial rocking of my world. Its reminded me of just how exciting life can be - even when you aren't really wanting it to be. I know that being an expat has a certain sense of adventure to it, tonight is just another part of that adventure... right?
Friday, August 10, 2007
tale of two meanings
My students and I were working through a problem the other day in class - one where a sign is hanging on a building - and an interesting question came up.
"Mr. Nomad - did you mean SIGN or SINE in your last sentence?"
"SIGN. While we have to take the sine of the number, we are looking for the tension of the wire on the sign."
"OK, just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing."
English just happens to be a language where one pronunciation can have more than one spelling. Like their, there, and they're; read and red; and as noted above - sign and sine.
So I turned the question to my group of expert Spanish speakers and asked, "Are there any words like that in Spanish?" I got a response that is quite intriguing.
The verbs casar and cazar in Spanish sound virtually the same but have interesting differences in meanings. Casar is "to marry" while cazar is "to hunt". Now there is one to ponder! Is it pure coincidence or is there a reason why the two words sound extremely similar?
"Mr. Nomad - did you mean SIGN or SINE in your last sentence?"
"SIGN. While we have to take the sine of the number, we are looking for the tension of the wire on the sign."
"OK, just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing."
English just happens to be a language where one pronunciation can have more than one spelling. Like their, there, and they're; read and red; and as noted above - sign and sine.
So I turned the question to my group of expert Spanish speakers and asked, "Are there any words like that in Spanish?" I got a response that is quite intriguing.
The verbs casar and cazar in Spanish sound virtually the same but have interesting differences in meanings. Casar is "to marry" while cazar is "to hunt". Now there is one to ponder! Is it pure coincidence or is there a reason why the two words sound extremely similar?
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
dual personality
In an effort to speak more about the things that I notice here in Peru as compared to other places, I took notice of something that happens to me on a daily basis - a taxi ride home. It is an eye-opening experience if you've never taken a cab ride in countries outside North American or Western Europe - mainly because of the way that traffic flows in these locations. Peru is no different in the fact that traffic lines painted on the road as mere "suggestions" as to where to drive and the rules of the road aren't the same ones that appear on the driver's exam.
A cab ride home for me from school is usually around S/10 (10 soles) or a little under $3. Considering the ride is somewhere in the vicinity of 18 km (12 miles), the cost of transportation is fairly cheap - even for a gringo. If I were a Peruvian, prices would be roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of what I pay but I'm not complaining, I can handle paying a little extra on my salary. The cost of the fare is arranged in advance, before you get into the taxi. You and the driver negotiate on a price and when a major difference of opinion occurs, one party or the other can walk (drive) away from the transaction. It's a rather unorthodox way to do things but good in the sense that it doesn't matter the route, time, or traffic involved - what you bargain for it what you pay. It puts a price on your ability to haggle for a deal and I'm not known as being the best negotiator in my circle of friends - mostly because I don't mind paying an extra dollar for going somewhere when they need the money more than I do and $1 extra for a cab ride is pretty good, considering that I'm always paying less than $4 for wherever I go.
But once you get in the car, the typical Peruvian (or Latin) image goes out the window. Latins in general are known for their laid back attitude and ambivalence for being on time. Heck, last year the Peruvian government issued a formal decree to the people to start being on time because business was starting to hurt from the fact that people were late for meetings and losing out on money from cultures where timeliness is a virtue. I've not seen a change in the timeliness of Peruvians since this decree, but at least the realization is there and they are thinking about doing something about it. *Side note - when the average Peruvian was asked about being late for meetings, 93% said that it was always the other person that was late.*
As I said, that image of the Latin/Peruvian goes out the window as soon as the car door closes. Drivers are always hell bent to get in front of the other person at whatever risk it takes. The machismo culture takes over when on the road and the internal fire starts to show. Racing to the front, honking all the time, flashing of the brights - all in an effort to get the car in front of them to move faster. Yesterday my cab driver employed all of these tactics as I headed home. During rush hour. In a traffic jam.
What did he think he was going to accomplish by honking his horn and flashing his lights at the car in front of him when we were all going about 5 km/hr (3 mph)? Did he think that traffic was somehow going to magically move faster because he wanted it to? I dunno - I didn't ask.
So he became frustrated and tried to maneuver around the car by cutting over a lane (and another car in the process) when he got the chance. As Murphy's Law dictates, when you are trying to move faster in traffic, you always end up going slower. And sure enough, the car he was trying to pass eventually ended up getting way ahead of us (because he kept trying to pass other cars) and we made our march to the rear. Latin fire only managed to do two things - get him more irritated at traffic and slow our progress.
In any case, I made it home with no battlescars or near-death experiences, so no worries there. But taking note of the small things is what I'm aiming to do and this is just one of those small things that I noticed. :-) Until my next tidbit of Peruvian culture...
A cab ride home for me from school is usually around S/10 (10 soles) or a little under $3. Considering the ride is somewhere in the vicinity of 18 km (12 miles), the cost of transportation is fairly cheap - even for a gringo. If I were a Peruvian, prices would be roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of what I pay but I'm not complaining, I can handle paying a little extra on my salary. The cost of the fare is arranged in advance, before you get into the taxi. You and the driver negotiate on a price and when a major difference of opinion occurs, one party or the other can walk (drive) away from the transaction. It's a rather unorthodox way to do things but good in the sense that it doesn't matter the route, time, or traffic involved - what you bargain for it what you pay. It puts a price on your ability to haggle for a deal and I'm not known as being the best negotiator in my circle of friends - mostly because I don't mind paying an extra dollar for going somewhere when they need the money more than I do and $1 extra for a cab ride is pretty good, considering that I'm always paying less than $4 for wherever I go.
But once you get in the car, the typical Peruvian (or Latin) image goes out the window. Latins in general are known for their laid back attitude and ambivalence for being on time. Heck, last year the Peruvian government issued a formal decree to the people to start being on time because business was starting to hurt from the fact that people were late for meetings and losing out on money from cultures where timeliness is a virtue. I've not seen a change in the timeliness of Peruvians since this decree, but at least the realization is there and they are thinking about doing something about it. *Side note - when the average Peruvian was asked about being late for meetings, 93% said that it was always the other person that was late.*
As I said, that image of the Latin/Peruvian goes out the window as soon as the car door closes. Drivers are always hell bent to get in front of the other person at whatever risk it takes. The machismo culture takes over when on the road and the internal fire starts to show. Racing to the front, honking all the time, flashing of the brights - all in an effort to get the car in front of them to move faster. Yesterday my cab driver employed all of these tactics as I headed home. During rush hour. In a traffic jam.
What did he think he was going to accomplish by honking his horn and flashing his lights at the car in front of him when we were all going about 5 km/hr (3 mph)? Did he think that traffic was somehow going to magically move faster because he wanted it to? I dunno - I didn't ask.
So he became frustrated and tried to maneuver around the car by cutting over a lane (and another car in the process) when he got the chance. As Murphy's Law dictates, when you are trying to move faster in traffic, you always end up going slower. And sure enough, the car he was trying to pass eventually ended up getting way ahead of us (because he kept trying to pass other cars) and we made our march to the rear. Latin fire only managed to do two things - get him more irritated at traffic and slow our progress.
In any case, I made it home with no battlescars or near-death experiences, so no worries there. But taking note of the small things is what I'm aiming to do and this is just one of those small things that I noticed. :-) Until my next tidbit of Peruvian culture...
Sunday, August 05, 2007
change in focus
Ok, so I know that I've been a bad blogger this year - my posts have fallen off considerably from when I lived in Holland but that's the way things go sometimes. Its not that I've been completely ignoring the fact that I have this place to chat with whomever what to read, I actually have been thinking about posting here, its just that I've always found a way to distract myself after coming up with a good idea.
So with the time that I have today, I thought that I would sit down and write something since I've not done so in a long time. At first I thought I would write about the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS 118, in which Barbara Morgan will finally be the first teacher in space. She was the backup to Christa McAuliffe on the Challenger mission in 1986 but never got the chance as the program was canceled after the accident. Since I am a NASA junkie, this seemed liked the way to go...
But then I realized that I should be doing something else with this blog. Plenty of people can go online and read about the launch that is going to take place on August 8th and the AP and NASA can do a better job of talking about the launch and this mission than I can. So I decided to focus on a different topic - the idea that goes into the name of this blog - the fact that I am an expatriate.
An expatriate is someone who is born in one country and lives in another. I am an American by birth but have spent many years of my life (almost 10) living in countries other than the US. This is something that most of the world doesn't have the opportunity to experience and I figure that it is here that I should focus my thoughts more often. I've been known to go on rants in the past and while I still will rant from time to time, I should start going with a more unified theme. So the theme is now going to reflect more about the life that I've led as an expat and how that differs from the culture that most people recognize on the TV as being American.
But that brought me to a mental block to start off with - just what exactly should I talk about? There are so many things that are different about living in another country that its hard to put your finger on one specific topic to talk about. And I've not had anything too "Peruvian" happen to me in the last 48 hours or so that I can comment on so I decided to go with something else - what it feels like to go home.
As an expat, we all get the opportunity to go home to our native culture sometimes and when we do, it can be a mixed bag of emotions. For me, my 'round the US tour that I did in July on my motorcycle was an interesting experience for me. I spent 3 weeks riding from California to Ohio and back, spending the time riding on small highways and seeing old friends. As I did so, I tried to get back in touch with my American roots as I will be leaving Peru at the end of this academic year. I didn't want to be too much of a stranger in my own country when I return.
The trip was magnificent and I can hardly wait to do something like that again. Riding on the open road is more a zen experience than anything else. You are so concentrated on riding and the road that most of the mundane things that float through your head when driving a car just don't exist. The problems I had in my head made their way back to my subconscious for processing there while I spent my time making sure I didn't get hit by any cars or fall off the twisty roads (like Colorado) I was riding upon. A truly cleansing time for me.
What I noticed and remarked upon my return to Lima was the ease of which I had with being in the US. I even felt a bit guilty for how easy it was; I don't know why, I just did. I made sure to challenge myself a little when I was in Manitou Springs, CO by speaking in Spanish to a Peruvian whom I met there - just to refresh myself as to the language I was going to return to and also to let this vendor feel a little more at ease by speaking in his native tongue. I know I appreciate it when people speak English to me here in Peru, so I thought I would return the favor.
But when I got back to Lima, I chatted with some of my friends who had returned to their places of origin and they made the same comment that I did - being home was very easy. In a way, being an expat is difficult in that there is a challenge to the way you live on a daily basis. You are immersed in a culture that is foreign to yours, speaking a language that isn't native to you, and dealing with people who have a different set of norms and values. It can be a little scary at times and I will admit that it can be overwhelming occasionally in trying to deal with that every day. But in another way, we all get into a rhythm and tend to forget about the differences we feel day to day. You get accustomed to a new routine and that's what makes this all feel so normal even though its so different. Its when you return to a place where you don't have to think about the differences that you begin to realize just how easy life can be.
My life has been enriched as a result of being an expat and I cherish the fact that my father had the gumption to leave rural Illinois and make a choice to try something different. I hope to give my children the same opportunity (when I have them) and allow them to see what the world has to offer. There's something gratifying about knowing that you've been able to experience and grow from something that most would dislike and can't even fathom trying. I'm not trying to pat my own back and say how wonderful I am; rather I'm saying that I feel lucky to have had the chances to make the choices that I have over my life so far. And from those choices, I've become a more knowledgeable person who has a set of unique experiences to share. My goal for the next year is to share more of these expatriate experiences with the world, wherever my readers may be. So tune in for "Life in Peru" over the next 10 months, I'll see what I can share with you.
So with the time that I have today, I thought that I would sit down and write something since I've not done so in a long time. At first I thought I would write about the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS 118, in which Barbara Morgan will finally be the first teacher in space. She was the backup to Christa McAuliffe on the Challenger mission in 1986 but never got the chance as the program was canceled after the accident. Since I am a NASA junkie, this seemed liked the way to go...
But then I realized that I should be doing something else with this blog. Plenty of people can go online and read about the launch that is going to take place on August 8th and the AP and NASA can do a better job of talking about the launch and this mission than I can. So I decided to focus on a different topic - the idea that goes into the name of this blog - the fact that I am an expatriate.
An expatriate is someone who is born in one country and lives in another. I am an American by birth but have spent many years of my life (almost 10) living in countries other than the US. This is something that most of the world doesn't have the opportunity to experience and I figure that it is here that I should focus my thoughts more often. I've been known to go on rants in the past and while I still will rant from time to time, I should start going with a more unified theme. So the theme is now going to reflect more about the life that I've led as an expat and how that differs from the culture that most people recognize on the TV as being American.
But that brought me to a mental block to start off with - just what exactly should I talk about? There are so many things that are different about living in another country that its hard to put your finger on one specific topic to talk about. And I've not had anything too "Peruvian" happen to me in the last 48 hours or so that I can comment on so I decided to go with something else - what it feels like to go home.
As an expat, we all get the opportunity to go home to our native culture sometimes and when we do, it can be a mixed bag of emotions. For me, my 'round the US tour that I did in July on my motorcycle was an interesting experience for me. I spent 3 weeks riding from California to Ohio and back, spending the time riding on small highways and seeing old friends. As I did so, I tried to get back in touch with my American roots as I will be leaving Peru at the end of this academic year. I didn't want to be too much of a stranger in my own country when I return.
The trip was magnificent and I can hardly wait to do something like that again. Riding on the open road is more a zen experience than anything else. You are so concentrated on riding and the road that most of the mundane things that float through your head when driving a car just don't exist. The problems I had in my head made their way back to my subconscious for processing there while I spent my time making sure I didn't get hit by any cars or fall off the twisty roads (like Colorado) I was riding upon. A truly cleansing time for me.
What I noticed and remarked upon my return to Lima was the ease of which I had with being in the US. I even felt a bit guilty for how easy it was; I don't know why, I just did. I made sure to challenge myself a little when I was in Manitou Springs, CO by speaking in Spanish to a Peruvian whom I met there - just to refresh myself as to the language I was going to return to and also to let this vendor feel a little more at ease by speaking in his native tongue. I know I appreciate it when people speak English to me here in Peru, so I thought I would return the favor.
But when I got back to Lima, I chatted with some of my friends who had returned to their places of origin and they made the same comment that I did - being home was very easy. In a way, being an expat is difficult in that there is a challenge to the way you live on a daily basis. You are immersed in a culture that is foreign to yours, speaking a language that isn't native to you, and dealing with people who have a different set of norms and values. It can be a little scary at times and I will admit that it can be overwhelming occasionally in trying to deal with that every day. But in another way, we all get into a rhythm and tend to forget about the differences we feel day to day. You get accustomed to a new routine and that's what makes this all feel so normal even though its so different. Its when you return to a place where you don't have to think about the differences that you begin to realize just how easy life can be.
My life has been enriched as a result of being an expat and I cherish the fact that my father had the gumption to leave rural Illinois and make a choice to try something different. I hope to give my children the same opportunity (when I have them) and allow them to see what the world has to offer. There's something gratifying about knowing that you've been able to experience and grow from something that most would dislike and can't even fathom trying. I'm not trying to pat my own back and say how wonderful I am; rather I'm saying that I feel lucky to have had the chances to make the choices that I have over my life so far. And from those choices, I've become a more knowledgeable person who has a set of unique experiences to share. My goal for the next year is to share more of these expatriate experiences with the world, wherever my readers may be. So tune in for "Life in Peru" over the next 10 months, I'll see what I can share with you.
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