Earthquakes, Birthdays, Sickness, School and Moving House

So exactly two weeks ago, at 4.35am on the morning of the 4th of September, we had an earthquake. A pretty huge earthquake as well, measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, and the same as the devastating one in Haiti that killed so many people.

I was feeling incredibly sick and had welcomed Mum and Dad home from their European trip on Friday afternoon, with a fever and general unwellness. I took my sorry body off to bed. I was feeling incredibly happy that I had had my 30th birthday party the week before, as I really was too sick to have it on my actual birthday, being the 4th September. I slept fitfully, and woke up several times during the night.

I was jolted out of bed however, at 4.35am, to the biggest and scariest earthquake I had ever felt. I ran into Mum and Dad's bed, and stood in a doorway with Mum for what felt like minutes, but was probably only 40 seconds or so. And then it was over. Our power went out, and we spent the next wee while listening to the transistor radio to find out what had happened.

Quickly we found out that the epicentre was in Darfield, a mere 30 km away from Christchurch and had occurred on a fault line that no one even knew was active! Our power came on at 9.30am, and I spent the rest of the day glued to the special news coverage and wrapped in a blanket, looking at the scenes of destruction in my city, and feeling incredibly spacy and surreal. Our house wasn't damaged so it was weird to see the complete chaos and damage around the city. Christchurch was put into a state of emergency, and the city centre completely closed off. Schools were announced closed, and although they came live from the same damaged shop, and showed the same few photos in those early hours, I just couldn't tear my eyes off the screen.

Of course, I was feeling terriblly ill, and when Mum finally took my temperature (boy was I glad I was staying there and that they had come home the night before) it was 104 degree celcius.

My birthday of course kind of got swept under the carnage a little. Mum and Dad gave me a fabulous present of 2 helicopter rides which is absolutely amazing, and a couple other of my siblings gave me some presents as well. It was just, what with the earthquake and me feeling so sick, I kinda forgot about it.

The next day, the family came over for lunch, for Father's day and also my birthday, but I was too sick to get out of bed, so I just stayed in my room, still glued to the news.

My fever went down over the next few days, but I was bedbound for 10 days, developing early pneumonia and generally feeling quite rubbish. I was quite happy schools in ChCh were cancelled for a week, because there would have been no way I would have been there anyway.

Last weekend I was supposed to move into my new flat (which is also my old flat as this will be the third time I have moved into this place) but I postponed it til tomorrow.

So slowly, little old Christchurch has been getting back on track. The damage to the city is extensive, but in patches. Some areas have no damage at all, and some are completely wrecked. We're all thankful that it didn't happen a few hours earlier or later, when lots of people would have been on the street. No one died, and that in itself is a miracle, as the same disaster killed so many in Haiti.

So there we have it. One more week of school placement left. I have absolutely loved it and I will really miss the kids quite a lot. I have liked the age level (age 5-7) so much more than I thought I would. I'm completely shattered at the end of the week, but I have come through it with a sense of real achievement and pride from what I have achieved.

So onwards and upwards. I've become a bit of a social recluse recently, because of the pressure of the course. I miss hanging out with my friends and sister as much as I did, but it's only for a year.

So that's me. Caught up in a nutshell. I have been terrible at updating this recently, so hope that catches up anyone with what I have been up to recently.