three minutes of something

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Monday was the first day of three days of mourning for the earthquake victims. At 2:28 there was supposed to be a nationwide three minutes of silence...except...anything with horns was supposed to blow said horn. Cars, boats, (trains and planes?). So a very loud three minutes of silence.

The result was one of my more bizarre experiences here. We went outside with thousands of other of office workers in the area, and sure enough right at 2:28 on the dot the various security guards and police around removed their hats and the cars, all of which had stopped in preparation, honked their horns. There was some speculations as to whether they could keep it up for the entire three minutes, but they did. One cab driver nearby was honking already because of all the stopped cars. Or maybe he was just overeager. Most people bowed their heads and at least a few were crying. It was strangely impressive.

Our maid, like many in the big cities in China, is from Sichuan. Her family is alright apparently, though she said their house was something, then made a kinda wobbly motion with her hand. Which probably means they've had to move out.