Earthquake Diary 107

 Still working as a volunteer, I helped move boxes out to the waiting trucks. Because at my age my muscles are not as strong as those of the younger guys, to say nothing of how they feel the next day after a workout, I pushed a large cart between the place where the boxes had been stored and the trucks that would carry them to the disaster area.

 The contents of some of the boxes was rather surprising. One of the things we loaded was about 20 large boxes of coffee that had been made for Delta Airlines. It was right at the end of the usable period according to the label, not yet out of date but almost. This was true of many of the other things, too. The usability date was either just up or about to be up.

 Some of the boxes contained teddy bears.

 There are some of the trucks from other groups that were also working there. I did not take any pictures of my groups because we were trying to get the trucks loads so that the drivers could start the long trip home, where they would have to unload them. Because we were working, I did not take any picture of my group in action.

As expected I was sore the next day, but I would gladly do it again if necessary. On the second day after volunteering, I walked to Izumi-Chuo with my wife to go shopping. As I have said, this week is Golden Week and one of the holidays is Children's Day, actually it is boy's days and latter there is another day for girls but it is not a national holiday. On the way, we pass our local Kentucky Fried Chicken shop.

 The Colonel was decorated for the holiday. He is wearing a suit of Japanese armor modeled after that of Masamune Date, a local ruler, who is considered a hero.

 Here is another place where the sidewalk cracked. Someone had placed a long metal rod down into the crack. I could not see the bottom.

 This is along the river near my condo. I have shown the wall that collapsed as well as the large pile of dirt that was brought in. Now, they have started construction and are building a new, reinforced wall to replace the one that was destroyed by the quake.

I went to Sendai Station to have lunch with my friend Keith. This is one of the flights of stairs on the outside of the station building. The scaffolding goes up the stairs and then up the wall all the way to the top of the four story building.