As far as I know, everyone in Xi'an is fine.
In fact, the city feels more alive than ever before. Since the earthquake, there have been tons of people outside. This has been a little disconcerting, as I'm sure they know things I don't. We received cryptic warnings last night of a second earthquake to hit between 10 pm and midnight. I tried to find more info online, but all I could find were a few foreign news articles saying that there had been a warning posted on a Chinese news site, but it had been taken down and the government wasn't saying anything.
Here on campus, there were people camped out on the badminton courts, in the gardens, seemingly anywhere but inside. I found Lily studying for the GRE in the hotel lobby, but when I asked her what she knew, she said she'd heard from her dad in Shanghai that the rumors were false. She was mostly in the hotel lobby because it was a quiet place to study away from her jabbering roommates, though she figured being on the first floor wouldn't hurt in the event of more aftershocks. She recommended that I stay up until at least midnight, but I was far too exhausted to feel that paranoid.
If there were aftershocks at 4 am, I definitely didn't notice them. Further proof that I can sleep through anything.
My morning survey from my bedroom window reveals that there are STILL people camped out on the badminton courts, though not near as many as last night. Lily said that one of the boys dormitories on campus never seemed especially structurally sound in the first place; her labmates decided to sleep in the lab rather than on the 17th floor. Otherwise, things look mostly normal. It appears to be a nice sunny day, and I am about to be late for Chinese class.
But first, a message to the commenters on my last post: Hello strangers! Where can I find these street painters? I just graduated from college a year ago with an art major, so I can't sit around on campus all day while there are street painters somewhere in the city. I'll be at Chinese class all morning, but Mission: Street Painters will commence at 1400. I'm more than happy to ferry messages between you and your loved ones if I can find them.
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Hi Shelby,
I wrote earlier...I was supposed to be there in Xian and couldn't make it. But I think it would be wonderful if you could go visit the group if they're still there. They were going to be street painting outside of Century Ginwa Shopping Center. Please tell them Brenda says "hello" and she wishes she could've joined them on there amazing chalking journey! Please let me know if you had any luck finding them...and don't forget your camera :)
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