Friday I went for a walk around town to go get some work done at an ice cream shop. Down on Hong Xing (Red Star) 红星 road in the Chunxilu 春熙路 shopping district there were volunteers collecting for the Red Cross 红十字会 and loading donated supplies onto trucks destined for the disaster zone. Everyone here, in the province, in the country, seems to have been pulling together really well. That includes the government, by the way. No haters. They've been really on the ball and are clearly making concerted efforts, maybe as much as could be expected of any government, to get help to those who need it and information out to the rest of us.There's been a wonderful sense of community in the city since the earthquake. It started with everyone just sending text messages to everyone else (calls weren't going through) asking if they were ok, their familes, if they had a place to sleep, etc. and it's continued since then. The blood banks filled in two or three days, because people from here to Beijing were lining up to donate. There have been lots of other little closenesses too, like seeing friends again for the first time, volunteering together, being glad we're alive together. It's nice. The whole city feels very homey (and safe).
By the way, injured and homeless survivors are being brought here to Chengdu and Mianyang for treatment and shelter. If you can, please donate something to the Red Cross http://donate.ifrc.org/
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