That is a great post, Brian, I appreciate it. I don't see anything wrong with accepting help when you need it. Getting back on your feet and self sufficient again, is the best place to be, both for yourself and for the good of everyone around you. I've been through hard times before, like a lot of people....never quite anything like this, but things always improved. I'm hoping it's the yin and yang of life here, something that rectifies itself. The thing about the shop is that I do produce a sort of specialty product, and it isn't something that people can't live without, so it is sort of limiting when things are tight all around. No doubt that there are people still about with money to spend, just needing for them to be less conservative about it.
Paul, sure not closing myself off to any work options, and trying to pay attention to what is going on. Being a foreigner has some liabilities, but if I knew someone that was involved in the reconstruction, it could be an in for me. The country has some funny quirks the way things operate, having a connection is a real big deal in many regards.
A couple months ago I met a German guy who had moved here, he has a wife and young daughter, and carpentry skills. He was looking for a job and whenever he saw a house or whatever under construction, he was stopping in and asking if they needed help, with his wife, a Japanese lady, translating for him. Nothing ever worked out, and it wouldn't the way things are generally done, even if help was needed, unless someone was in an unusual dire situation and he happened to walk in at that very moment. His wife was from an island way down south, had lived abroad for many years, and was out of the loop. He found his way to my shop with his family in tow, and he seemed like a real nice guy who was eager to work and could be of assistance. I called around to some folks I know and got him a job the next day. The downside of that is if he messed up and turned out to be a flake, it would be a real bad reflection upon myself. It's a literal thing, people don't look at it abstractly, the person who recommends has a responsibility in the matter that everyone takes pretty seriously. I guess that to some degree it works like that everywhere, but here, referrals are like a weighty thing. That is how the system has evolved. i think it is pretty interesting, often encourages one to be more social, but you have to be careful too. After the quake he called me and said that they were going to skedaddle down to his wife's island to live, she has family there. I think his best option.
Yesterday, I borrowed a rototiller and started to put in a vegetable garden behind my shop, help to put some food on the table. Funny the way need will motivate.
He had turned his cattle loose when first evacuating, now there wasn't one there. They had all split to somewhere. Strange ghost towns now, with animals running around. Lots of bodies mixed in with the rubble where the waves came in. Not a pretty postcard.
