Let the Final Cut begin!

Written Tuesday afternoon (it's now Wednesday evening):

I've been tediously applying subtitles to my interview clips for the past four hours, so it's time for a break while the video renders.

Yesterday (Monday here in Thailand), we covered the tsunami drill all over the area. The goal was to cover it like a breaking news team, so we planned ahead to have people in all different spots to capture different angles. Then we had to turn everything in as soon as we got back and finish the whole piece on deadline (by the end of the night).

We set out at 7:30am in two vans headed for two different locations. My van went to a village nearby, but we didn't see much going on or any areas to catch the action. We went to the pier and asked around, but it seemed like there wouldn't be much happening. Then Pat asked if I wanted to get on a boat and go to the island. What kind of a question is that? So I boarded a small rickety wooden boat with one of the local project leaders/translators, Mustafa, and sailed across the sea.

Me on the boat, taken by Mustafa

We got to the island and Mustafa talked with some people that looked important. Then he rented a motorcycle and we rode it about 5 km to the evacuation shelter where some town leaders and volunteers were having a meeting. Back on the motorcycle, Mustafa decided to go to a school. A 1st and 2nd grade class was learning english and the teacher made them all come out and say "Good morning, my name is ___, how are you?" etc. It was absolutely adorable.

Me on a moto

Then we went back to the pier and waited for the alarm. The fictional earthquake occurred at 9:20am and some guy announced it on a megaphone to everyone around. The first alarm sounded at 9:45. Some men came out of a shop with a little red crank alarm, stuck it in the back of a truck, and started cranking as they drove toward the evacuation sight. There is no way that the sound was loud enough to alert anyone who wasn't standing around at the pier. I didn't hear any more alarms, but apparently there was one coming from a water tower somewhere.

So they're cranking away at this alarm while the group of people from the pier follow behind on foot, motorbike, and car. Most of the people going to the evacuation sight were volunteers from an organization that helped coordinate the drill. They started running when I pointed the camera at them, but strolled and laughed the rest of the time. No one seemed to take it too seriously, especially the villagers who watched from their porches as the alarm drove by.

After about 2 minutes of cranking, the handle broke off the alarm. They tried turning what was left of the handle, but it made a sad little sound. So about half a mile from the pier, there was absolutely no alarm. There were supposed to be alarms at 9:50 and 9:55 also, but I never heard them (other group members in different villages heard them). It started raining and apparently the rain completely drowned out the sound of the water tower alarm.

So we get to the evacuation site and there was a woman selling food right in front. Everyone was standing around or sitting in the little shelter. Almost all the people in there were volunteers in blue shirts. Everyone had to sign their name on a piece of paper so they knew who was "safe." An emergency squad messed around with a backboard. A little boy peed all over the table.

Cute little baby at the evacuation site.

After a few minutes, people stopped showing up to the evacuation site (the volunteers walking from the pier had all made it and few villagers came). Then around 10:15, they made an announcement and everyone left. They brought a guy in strapped to a backboard and another guy with his arm bandaged up. They were the fictional injured people, along with 1 dead and 1 missing (again, fictional).

Then Mustafa brought me to a government building where we got a copy of the schedule and info for the event. Then we motorcycle-d back to the pier, got on a boat, and went back to the rest of the group!

Monks on a moto!

As you can tell, the drill got very little attention and no one really took it seriously. Other group members reported that even less happened where they were. Schools were pretty organized though; they had drill practices in place before it ever happened. Despite the lack of cooperation and resources, I guess it's better than not having any warning system at all. It's a work in progress.

We stopped at a tsunami memorial on the way back to the resort. It was really nice...a long tall curved cement wall to resemble a wave, and a tile wall on the other side with memorial inscriptions. You walked down between the two walls. Through a cut-out in the cement wall was a boat.

Then we stopped for lunch in a beautiful area that looked like a park. Right next to the water, everything green, hammocks hanging from trees. Pailin ordered a ton of food and we ate family style. Mmmm soft shell crab! They had ladders on the trees that said "tsunami climb up" and a couple of us climbed up. I got a Thai iced coffee (served in a plastic baggy with a straw!!) and lounged in a hammock.

Amy, Mustafa, Julie, Pat, Nacho, and Zach

Many drinks are served this way, in a plastic bag

Loungin.

Back at the resort, I sorted through photos and handed my selects over to Steven so they could start putting it all together. Then I worked for a really long time on a short audio+photos clip and then on putting subtitles into my video interview. Then the subtitles got messed up, which meant break time.

I went down to the beach around 6pm and read a book while sitting up on a tall rock. I've been meaning to read a lot more, so it was nice to get back into the book I started at home. I stayed for about an hour, all the while watching a huge storm cloud roll in from across the sea. I could see the rain coming down from the cloud even though it was miles away. As I watched it get closer, I kept wondering how much longer I could sit there before getting poured on. I would read three sentences and then look up to make sure the cloud wasn't above me yet.

I got back to the workroom just in time...it started raining when I sat down. Then I went out to dinner with 15 or so other people, family style again. Pailin ordered two fish dishes, which come as a whole fish here...I tried some and it was really good. We got fried bananas in coconut milk for dessert :)

We got back to the resort at 9pm sharp, just in time for the nightly meeting. It was a short one because the coaches did not show any student work. We watched the final cut of the drill story, though, and they used two of my photos toward the end. We end the meeting every night with revelations and things we learned, which is a thing I really like. If anyone experienced something that day, they can speak up and tell everyone about it.

I spent the rest of the night working on my intro text, title, and pull quote. The internet wasn't working all day, which is why I haven't blogged until now.

Today (Tuesday) I was planning to sleep until 8:30am, but Pat banged on my door and then called my cell phone at 8am because he needed Selket's computer. I used the extra time to finally use the big bathtub we have in the room and took a nice relaxing bath. Then I talked online with Sarah and Alex, and then spent 4 hours doing subtitles. Jinda just checked over my subtitles and I got some more reading done.

Now I'm going to get dinner in town with Selket and then come back for some more editing and the nightly meeting. Then sleep, then repeat it all over tomorrow.

Even though editing is long, tedious, and boring, I would so much rather be here than in Phuket. At least here I can take a break and walk down to the sea or go get food in town. And here I can sit in my comfy bed in my air conditioned room. And here I can actually talk to people, and they can see me!

I've been meaning to write recently about the crazy bugs here. A few days ago, I started to hear this high pitched ringing sound and thought "there must be some alarm going off around the resort." I asked Jinda and Pailin, both of whom informed me that the sound was not an alarm, but was actually insects. It is SO loud and constant. There is also a lizard that makes a crazy noise at night, but I have not seen the actual thing.

Now it's Wednesday night and I am about to go to bed. I didn't do much of anything today besides edit, read, and eat. And that's exactly what I plan to do tomorrow, except a LOT more editing. They expect us to have a final draft by Friday.....I think they're crazy.