We met Patrick from Euclid; he was gracious enough to e-mail our husbands and let them know we were safe.
Our money was spent on tickets since they would not take cards or US dollars. Our meal of the day consisted of Sandi's moon pies, one shared fruit and nut bar.
Trying to get tickets back to Beijing.
The employees at the hotel were unbelieveably helpful.
Cathryn was a customer service representative at the hotel located across the street. She gave us newspapers to sit on, shared with us in English the information she had, and was very attentive.
People begin to gather at the government square.
Outside of our hotel IN Xi'an, just after the earthquake. People were starting to gather.
We cannot prepare the blog as Tim did for us before, however will try to give a summary of our day, 5-12-08, in Xi'an. Pleae disregard the rush in which this is prepared, as we were able to exchange our tickets and will leave China today, Tuesday, 5-13-08.
Leaving the hotel in Beijing at 5:15am, landing in Xi'an and taking a taxi to the hotel, the driver, who was Chinese speaking only, called someone and handed Sandi his cell phone. The person on the phone explained that the driver could take us to see the Terra Cotta warriors for a much cheaper price than we could get at the hotel. It sounded risky but we've viewed this trip as an adventure and decided to accept. All seemed well until he pulled into an apartment-like area, then we thought things went awry. However, he was true to his word and took us to the Warriors. Mr. You met us and gave us a personal tour for about 2.5-3 hours.
We bought some things, and twice Vicki either decided against something she wanted to buy or changed her mind and paid by credit card after paying cash. These actions helped us to have the 2,400 yuan we needed to pay the airline tickets later. Mr. You asked if we wanted to stop for lunch, but we were tired and declined. Another decision that put us where we were when the earthquake hit. We got to the hotel, checked in and and went to our 9th floor room. We had only taken one suitcase between us, plus backpack and purse. Sandi set down the items but Vicki was still wearing her backpack. We went to the end of the room near the window to look out. At that time, we felt movement. Sandi asked Vicki "is the building shaking?" Vicki remembered something about having to be under a doorway, although we weren't sure what was happening. We went to the door, and people were leaving down the stairs. We decided to follow, but Sandi remembered to run back and get her passport/money bag. As momentum carried, she picked up everything on the chair including the gift she bought from Terra Cotta warriors store. By then, Vicki was at least a flight of stairs ahead, not realizing Sandi wasn't right behind. She was yelling back, but Sandi couldn't hear and due to the loss of voice, couldn't yell. Running down the stairs was exahusting and challenging. Dust from plaster coming off the walls was impeding our breathing to a slight degree. Someone passed Vicki and Sandi felt she was holding up those behind her who might have liked to pass. Many thoughts crossed our minds but we continued down to the first floor. There was a woman who helped Vicki along the way by directing her where to go. Sandi didn't see which way Vicki went on first floor, but eventually saw her in the lobby running ahead. The lobby was empty of hotel employees with the exception of the bellhop at the door motioning people to hurry.
All in the streets gravitated to the large square in front of the govt building, where confusion set in. We walked around looking for anyone who spoke English and found several, including lovely Cathryn, a hotel customer service girl who had only started her first job 3 months ago. Although concerned as well, she was endearing in her calmness. Sandi's cell phone still had one bar or power, but no service in the area.
After about an hour,we decided we needed to see what our hotel had to say. While walking back we saw what might have been a TV crew, thus Sandi tried to see if we could get televised so our families might be able to see us. We felt we knew we were okay but our families might be worried. We had decided we would not stay and try to make it back to Beijing, thus asked our hotel to go back to our room for our luggage. They were more than accommodating, even though they assured us that it was over and all was well. There is something about being on the 9th floor of an old hotel while it's shaking that led us to believe otherwise. We could not find a taxi, as two hotel workers stayed with us, so they offered their hotel van to transport us.
After a ride on very busy streets, we got to the airport only to find masses of people who were somewhat frantic. Vicki tried to get to the Air China desk to exchange our tickets but after 10 minutes of pushing and shoving, on top of the language barrier, we nixed that idea and went to info desk who sent us to the booking desk. They found a flight on Eastern airlines, so off to that desk. We were able to confirm two seats leaving at 8:45pm, only to find out they would not take a credit card or US dollars. We needed 2,400 yuan(about $175 each) and didn't feel we had it. Vicki then found a few extra yuans she had from a side stash for purchases for the FAC fundraiser, thus we came up with 2,433. We later found more as we dug through our bags. We were relieved to have had a ticket.
We met Patrick Wallen, who works for Lincoln Electric in Cleveland and was using his laptop when he overheard us stating that we needed to find someone who speaks English. We could not figure out how to use the pay phones or our calling cards, so he e-mail our husbands to let them know we were okay and on our way back. As noted above, we eat only the snacks we had on us, as we didn't want to spend any money, not being sure the money exchange deskk would be open when we landed in Beijing. Although very tired, we enjoyed the company of Gorka and his sister Lorena, who sat with us on the plane.
Once back in Beijing International Hotel, we then learned the devastataion of the earthquake, which we believe was about 200-300 miles from where we were. Throughout the day we had heard "4 people were killed", "about 100 people were killed", never imaging 9,000-10,000 were killed. We are so sad by this, as these people are not just "Chinese people" to us, they have become our friends. The kindness and generosity of the strangers this day is so heartwarming, we will never forget their actions. We hope to remember this when it is our trun to serve others in need.
We can't tell you how many times we prayed for ourselves and others, and how many times we felt God's guidance in the decisions we made. For one, we were glad this occurred to just the two of us and not our entire group (our friends will understand that one). And we were glad to have had each other throughout the day.
We don't want this piece of the blog to sidetrack the purpose of this trip. As a group of volunteers, we had one of the most unique opportunities imaginable. We got 'into'the culture of the Chinese as no tour group could have ever taken us. We met amazing people and felt the trip was exceedingly beyond our expectations. The focus is the children in need.
Finally, we thank God for allowing us to have this opportunity to open our minds and hearts to those who share this globe with us. And for the new friendships we found with Bill, Louie, Young Isaac, Tim, Art, Kathy, Karen, Elizabeth, Brett, David and Cai. We know our paths will cross again and hope to continue to serve as we are called.
