WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

It was not eight oclock yet, my roommates were asleep while I went to the kitchen to get some hot tea with honey and lemon on a day like that. I looked outside of my window to see what was happening. It was superwindy, it rained hard, when I saw a huge flash coming from far away, like something went on fire and exploded. Later I found out it was a ConEd explosion, which caused a tremendous power outage. Giving the fact that I live in Harrison, NJ, and could see the explosion from there, it was pretty bad. I looked around and saw the water one house away from mine. It  felt like some idiot built all the houses steps away from the pond, and some houses inside the pond. I saw a couple passing by my house wearing flip-flops and winter jackets. They walked into the water towards their house, struggling with the water current all their way through before they got in. I rushed to wake up my roommates. By the time we came back to the window, we saw our house immersed into the water. Loud banging on the door. Our neighbor with a flashlight on his head, blinding us, asked us if we wanted to be evacuated. All three of us started panicking and running around collecting the most important stuff: documents, cash and some jewelry (that was mine). I also took a blanket and a book to read (how could I know we would spend a night in the library?). We had to put every precious item from the floor to the shelves in case of flooding. Two big firemen met us on our way to the bus, asking if there was anyone else in the house. They were evacuating people, but we found out about it from our neighbor. Chaos. There were only six people on the bus (including us). They brought us to the senior house which looked very neat and cozy.

Drying my soaked shoes and socks after walking through the water

There were a lot of people with big traveling bags,and it looked like they were on the way to the airport, and then got stuck there. They reminded me of the people who were forced into Nazi camps, who were allowed to take one bag per person and put there the most precious things. Many of them cried. A woman, a community worker, went over each and everyone with a cart full of sandwiches. There even was a choice: a white or a wheat bread with either turkey or ham and condiments on the side. When somebody wanted a juice or something she ran out of, she would go back and look for it and then bring it to that person. The whole senior center was divided into two parts: one was with the animals, another without. There were not only cats and dogs, but also rabbits and some types of big home rats in cages. It looked like the Noahs ark.

The shelters workers were apologizing for the warm water.

Some time later we were asked to move to the secondary school, which library kept me from going insane. The people who were in charge of taking care of the refugees gave us food and dusty cots. I had to take the last one that was broken and no one wanted to sleep on it. I felt this would be better than sleeping on the floor or on wooden chairs. The big TV in the cafeteria streamed the news about the Sandy.

The donated food we ate with pleasure

Children had the privilege in getting the food

I was not able to sleep well that night: babies who mostly slept on the floor with their parents were taking turns in crying, it was very cold, there was no ventilation, and the smell of diapers came together with the smell of sweat and food.

The library of the secondary school converted into a refugee center

On the good side, the government takes care of their citizens, and does all that is possible for better accommodation in emergency situations. After we came back to our house, we found out that the first floor got completely flooded and our floor was one step away from the water. Thanks god the grandmother who lived on the first floor was evacuated beforehand. Another plus was that I got to know all my neighbors after I lived in this place for three months. They are very nice and helpful people and I feel very sorry for their flooded basements and garages, but happy that we are all safe. God Bless America!