Days of Mourning

This afternoon Myles and I were at Jusco, grocery shopping. I had just that morning read in the SCMP.com about the days of mourning in China, but somehow had forgotten about the moments of silence scheduled for this afternoon (also sometimes referred to as a time of "wail of grief" to describe the car horns, sirens, and other cacophony that makes the moment of silence, not). In the store I heard some sort of announcement which I thought was for some sort of J-Card special in aisle something or other (yeah, Mandarin lessons are really paying off). The muzak shut off. Then I saw most of the other shoppers frozen in their tracks, eyes cast downward. It took me a few seconds, and a glance at the time on my phone, and I remembered. I explained to Myles, who was a little freaked out by all the shoppers and employees in the dairy section standing like statues, that everyone was taking a moment to, um, pray for the people in Sichuan.
Immediately he dropped to his knees and started, "Yin Fu, ji Zhi, ji Sheng Shen zhi ming. A men." I joined him on the floor, and he extemporized a prayer, mostly words from the Our Father.