Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to you,
 
In response to Mondays earthquake the school quickly gathered the teachers and students together and they all decided the quickest, easiest and most fun way to raise money for those in need was to simply bring 'things' to school and spend two afternoons buying and selling.
 
So beneath a cloudless deep blue sky we all gathered in the playground with money in hand and bargained our butts off for several hours. The stalls were news paper pages set upon the ground and upon these were placed the 'goodies'.
 
I was asked to 'donate' money 'the normal way' and I think I surprised some staff by saying no! You see, I had a better idea in mind! I figured that if all the money was going to go in the same basket and be sent to the same place I would not do it in front of a camera for the local news media team with a known total.
 
What fun is that!
 
I withdrew 'many many monies' (as the students say), had it changed into small notes and spent a wonderful two afternoons bargaining my butt off with the students. But to the students surprise I didn't bargain them down, instead I bargained for them to double or even triple the price. Once I had paid the money and they had entered the sale in their log I would then either say 'hey, look over there' and when they did I'd place the item back on their newspaper OR I would walk to another stall and put it on theirs.
 
It really did make the afternoons a wonderful occasion!
I had students chasing me all over the playground trying to return either my money or my purchase!
 
Poor Canadian Rob chose to do things the 'normal' way and was put before the local media circus for both his donation and for when he auctioned off his guitar. Poor bugger, where's the fun in that? It was all over in a few minutes.
 
So below are some photos of our wonderful afternoons raising money for charity beneath the big blue!
Most of the students are my students and most of them are my favourites!
 
ON A SAD NOTE
 
After chatting to Luo Wei on the phone last night and today there sadly hasn't been contact from a single student friend who went to the earthquake area to work at the end of last term. What their parents must be going though at this time.
 
The same goes for countless other families from all over both China and Myanmar.
The same goes for countless families throughout history.
 
ON ANOTHER SAD NOTE
 
I've been doing a lot of reading on the net about it over the past week and to my horror the world really is shamed by countless people who really don't give a damn about any one but themselves. Some of the disgusting things people write in response to some news articles are.....
 
I guess I really don't have the words to describe how these people make me feel.
These replies have been directed at victims in both China and in Myanmar.
 
But what makes me even angrier is the fact that they are printed and the fact that others post even more replies agreeing with them. In both countries tens of thousands of people lay dead or dying beneath what were once cities, towns or villages. Most of these people will die and they will die alone trapped within a tomb of silence and pain.
 
What really pisses me off is the fact that these replies come from Canada and Australia.
Isn't it strange that they are countries with a small population and sweet bugger all natural disasters!
 
Yes, both do suffer some natural disasters but neither of us has ever had to live through something like this. Yes Ben, Bill and Bob lose their farms due to fires and Jill and Kate lost their house in the last Queensland flood and yes it is sad but the fact is we have insurance and bugger all people die.
 
Many of the people in the earthquake area will have come from small cities, towns and villages.
Most in the small towns and villages probably had a dirt floor and a pig next to the kitchen.
Most will have had a small if any salary and not much else to speak of.
 
The last few nights as I've been on my afternoon rides, I have been riding through the exact same towns and villages that would be levelled if it was to happen here. If you look at most of my 'bike ride' photos these are the same areas that have been levelled in Sichuan Province and if you will notice one main thing, they are all very poor. I have travelled a lot of China and most locations are very much the same, towns near a river and villages beneath a mountain near a stream and all have no insurance and most have no money.
 
So Australia and Canada, amongst you are people who in response to what has happened, have replied with such kind hearted and caring things such as:
 
They deserve it!
They are Chinese!
They are communist!
Does anyone really care?
There are too many of them anyway.
China is now one of the richest countries.
Who cares about the Chinese, they can all die for all I care.
 
And one of my personal favourites for the week....They can't even speak English!
My other personal favourite for the week would be this one...
They probably did it to themselves to take the attention off the Olympic Torch.
 I hope it hits Beijing next!
 
SO A LAST HAPPY THOUGHT FOR THE NICE PEOPLE ABOVE. 
 
Maybe next it will be you and your family and late at night as you lay in your tomb full of pain the silence will be broken by the sound of rats coming to feast upon you as you lay trapped. Sadly like those buried here in China, you won't be able to move to make them go away and you won't be able to scream in fear due to lack of water and dust built up in your throat.
 
There are a million other gruesome things that can happen to people who lay waiting for help that will never come and right now they are happening to these people and all you can offer are disgusting, mindless and racist thoughts like above.
 
I wonder what the general population would say to saving to people such as those above if they were given a choice between leaving them for the rats or saving their worthless racist butts. Sadly 99% of the population are good people and they would save them without a single thought as to whether they actually should or not.
 
Maybe we should simply say:
 
Isn't he/she the one who wrote that comment!
Does anyone really care about them?
Here, add some pepper and salt!
Oh, I have some lemon grass!
Let the rats feast!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
 
PS: OK, no more blogs from me about the earthquake as you have enough of it from the media in what ever country you live in. But I will let you know about what is happening with Luo Wei's friends who are the students who accepted jobs in the area in my next blog. That is a more personal and 'in my face' happening. I know that the phones are still maned and hope is still there.
 
Remember, communication is still down in all areas and will be for a long time.
There is still hope for all of them.
 
But if we were to ask the same for the above mentioned 'people' who left such wonderful comments?
I would say all hope is lost for them.
Nice with lemon sauce!
Squeek Squeek!
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The soundtrack to this entry was Portishead
The album was the awesome "Roseland NYC Live"
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