Aftershocks

Aidan is sitting on our bed and telling me about the earthquake. He holds his hands our in front of him and shakes them side by side. He says the ground moves like this. Then he raises his hands face level and says the roof falls. And that many, many si le 死了 (dead). Schools where hit the hardest and after my last post I looked at pictures of small children lying side by side in the rubble and one picture simply of their backpacks. And if that doesn't get to you, nothing will.

Later that morning I took Aidan and Lydia to the playground in our new complex. Lydia on the swing, asking me to push her higher and higher. Aidan climbing on top of the play set, asking me to look at him.

Yang and I then got on our bikes, kids on the back, and made the 10 minute ride to the 798 art district. We had a leisurely lunch sitting outside of a cafe, Lydia occasionally picking a flower. Aidan liking the spaghetti bolognese. Me thinking it tasted a bit like chef boyardee. We then wandered into a few galleries, modern art mostly. Some paintings, some sculptures. It was fun to watch Aidan and Lydia's reaction, some of the colorful paintings they really liked, especially ones with exaggerated faces.

Later in the day we had northwest china food, in a quite nice restaurant near the Olympic center. The problem was Yang had shared a pearl tea with Aidan and Lydia prior to the dinner, and man where they hyper from the sugar and/or caffeine. Yang said #3 was kicking up a pretty good storm too. I had to restaurant take Lydia, then Aidan, then Lydia and Aidan out of the restaurant and onto the street where we ran sprints. When we run sprints, Lydia bends over, touches right fingers to left food and yells "ready, set go!" and we are off. Lydia is more of a runner than Aidan and left unhindered she will race over and over. After a few up and back races, Aidan says he will be the referee and that Lydia and me can race. Smart boy that Aidan.

Eventually, the effects of the peal tea wear off and we make our way home. Aidan and Lydia and Yang and #3 all resting peacefully. Under our new roof in a building I'm confident is well build, but this being China one never knows. And far away from here there are backpacks that will never be used again.