Earthquake

So in Valdivia, it was not super strong, I talked to two friends who slept through it. The earthquakes epicenter was two regions to the north by Concepcion. It happened Saturday morning the 27th. I was sleeping wonderfully when I woke up to my bed shaking, I laid there for a little waiting for it to pass. I heard la senora Silvia call out for her daughter, Marianaaaa. Then I heard Mariana get up and walk in the hallway. It didn't stop shaking so I got up and opened my door. I said, ummmmmm, while thinking, it is still shaking after this long. Then it began to shake stronger. I was in my doorway, Silvia in hers and Mariana in the hallway. I was hugging the door frame, with my legs bent to keep equilibrium, meanwhile watching how the walls were swaying from one side to the other, luckily the house is made of wood. The house was creaking, swaying an amazing amount that I did not know was possible. I was amazed that a house that is that flexible can still remain standing afterward.


So things were shaking, rocking, Silvia started to cry, her other daughter of 40 some years old was traveling to Santiago by bus at the time, and her grandson was home alone in their apartment. Things started to fall from shelves in the living room, glass and ceramic things breaking. After a little while it stopped. The house took a few seconds to stay still though. So Mariana tried to calm down her mother, they tried to call the other daughter but cellphones didn't work, some companies sometimes, others not at all. I tried to text a girl from my internship who lives to the north a little, but it didn't send. So I put my arm around the shoulders of Senora Silvia and I told her it is okay, it's okay. She said, si si mi amor. Then I walked into my room and found that the bookshelf that was right by my side where I was standing fell over, it is short about up to my ribs. So I set it upright and started to grab things and put them back in the dark, there was no electricity. A desk like bureau in Silvia's room fell over as well.


I sat on my bed for a few minutes. I grabed Peluche, my stuffed animal dog and he kept me company :) My legs were still shaky but everything was fine. Except we had no idea that there was a much bigger earthquake further north, we didn't know if it was just here or what. So, we went to go get the grandson of 17 years old that lives a few minutes away by car. And when we got him they brought the little dog as well of course, Luna, and she was hysterical. So we came back here, to the house and listened to the car radio, then we found out that Concepcion was the center, the other regions effected, how big it was here in Valdivia, it was about 6 they said. It shook every once in a while but not very much, but when it did my heartbeat rose every time.

So this weekend was my last few days of my internship, two days left... saturday and sunday. I closed the office on Friday so I had the keys to open it on the weekend. The earthquake was early Saturday morning, after the earthquake happened, I got dressed, jeans and a shirt and I went back to bed like that, just in case a quick escape was needed. So I went back to sleep about two hours after it happened at 6 am. Then a little later Mariana woke me up and said that the program director of the study abroad thing at the University here was on the phone, I talked to her she asked how I was, she said the news of CNN looked scarry so I should call my parents. But of course. So I went back to bed, then woke up at 8:45 to get dressed and eat then go to the office to open at 10.

I got there and Cristina was waiting outside, she works with me on the weekends. We went inside checked everything out, only papers and binders fell really. Part of the floor inside was cracked, or seperated a little more. The electricity didn't work, the phones did... but not to call some cellphones, and international calls didn't work. So I was getting nervous because I couldn't reach my family. I tried calling my friend's house as well, but there was the same problem. So we were sitting in the office, calling people, some tourists came in asking for maps or where they could go. That night there was supposed to be the Valdivian Night with a parade of boats in the river with fireworks, but that was canceled. Large events were canceled on a national scale. The Song Festival in Vina del Mar was canceled, it was finishing up. I was supposed to go to Valparaiso the next night, but it was impossible to arrive there and I was definitely not feeling up to traveling there alone, to a port city... next to the sea. No thank you. I was going to go to an international convention of the Spanish language and I was very excited about it, listen to speeches and have them discuss what I am studying, that would have been highly useful to me and interesting. But no. That event also got pushed back a week. It is going on right now actually. School also got pushed back a week. So I have two weeks to do nothing. One week has already gone by.

The chileans had a telethon to raise money, there were lots of young teenage volunteers in the plaza collecting things for towns in the region above us that were hit hard by the tsunami and earthquake. Chile made a big mistake by not sending out a tsunami warning, because the sea was calm :/ I went and bought some powdered milk and crackers and gave that to the people collecting food and supplies. Another day while leaving the supermarket, there were people there collecting stuff so I bought some toothpaste and toothbrushes and gave that to them. But the thing that is surprising is that I gave blood.

Never in my life I thought I would. When I was a little girl and my mom gave blood I thought, I am never ever going to give blood. But I was thinking about how my surgery was way worse than giving blood, even though I was unconcious during it.... the poking things into my arms, and numbing the nerves in my legs.... that was exciting! My leg was jumping around like crazy when they hit the nerves in my hips, they held it down and I my leg would do a kicking motion, now that was the weirdest thing, and that was the last thing I remembered before going into surgery. So I went and gave blood with my friend Raul. He wanted to go with me but wasn't sure about the whole giving blood thing. But he ended up doing it. But he didn't eat breakfast so we signed up and then we went to a store where he bought some things to eat. There were a lot of people there to give blood. We waited two hours and then it was our turn, they poked my finger before to do the blood test stuff, and I made a sound, the guy said sorry. He better be. Kidding.

I then went to the donating blood section, sat in the chair, then the lady poked the thing into my arm and started taking my blood. I am not going to say it was a pleasant experience, it hurt a little having the thing in my arm, mainly the entry. Then after a while the lady told me to relax, I didn't feel tense, except for the making a fist and releasing it part. But apparently my body was unconciously nervous because my veins contracted and made it hard to get more blood, and it didn't help that I could feel the thing poking inside my arm. I was thinking, ok just a little while ago I couldn't feel this poking me like this and now it hurts. And meanwhile my friend Raul walks in and he sees me, and apparently blood ran down my arm and he saw that and was like ooh my. And he didn't even want to give blood. But I finished, then drank some vanilla flavored milk and a cereal bar. Raul came out then we went outside, then Raul said he didn't feel so well, and so we went back inside to sit down. He didn't leak like I did. But he saw some spots afterwards. And now I have a bruise on my arm.

Ok so that is it for now. Long story I know.