so this tsunami that has taken place...i dont know how many of you have had a direct connection with it but i would like to share how my family was effected....after people are released from army duty in israel, most go on trips, mainly to thailand. so my aunt was released from the army about 6 months ago and after she got some money together travelled to thailan. a day before the tsunami hit, she was to start her next adventure, through sri lanka. my 26 year old aunt is quite the adventurer and was travelling alone but meeting people along the way of course and having a great time. that sunday at about 9 was when it hit. she was in the room of her hostel with an american boy named matthew, right by the beach. the following is just what i remember her telling me about the 4 days of hell that she recounted to my family last night. so sunday morning they were a little bit hung over from having partied the night before and sue and matthew heard the beach rather close to their room, a lot louder than it should be. sue woke up and all of a sudden saw water coming through the door into the room of their guesthouse. so she woke matthew up and thinking it was just a flood they put all of their bags on top of their beds and than started to walk towards the door. all of a sudden sue saw matthew trying to close the door because water was coming in and than it hit them, the tsunami had entered their room. sue and matt were knocked against the wall. she didnt know which way was up or down and thinking she was stuck under the bed sue didnt panic and reached for matt but he was nowhere to be found. than sue realized that the guesthouse was gone, it was crushed, she was stuck under the water. struggling to find a way to pick her head up to breathe after what seemed like forever she finally took a breath and saw matthew had been carried to the opposite side of where she was. she kept being carried and thrown by the water, against trees against cars, anything that was in the way and at one point the spoke of a bicycle actually was stuck in her arm and in order to keep with the flow of the water she needed to grab onto a tree and pull the metal spike out of her skin. she showed us the hole it left. for what seemed like a lifetime sue was thrown about by the water not knowing where anyone else was, matthew nowhere to be found. finally she found herself in the jungles of sri lanka and once the water came down a little bit in a village somewhere. she said she doesnt think she could've lived if the people of the village hadnt helped her so i personally thank anyone involved in the aid during the time of this terrifying experience. sue was screaming, she was in so much pain. her back was all scratched up and bruised, her legs were bleeding all over, full of gashes and swollen to ridiculous sizes, she could not walk. 2 people carried her to higher ground and sat her in a room with other injured people but she was screaming so loudly of pain that consumed her body that they had to put her in a different room. she tried to describe it to us but i can't even imagine how much pain she was in. all of a sudden she saw someone using a cellphone and yelled to them to let her use it. they said the lines were down and it wouldnt work anyway but sue insisted and in some miracle it went through. she managed to call her mother but all she could tell her was that she was alive and than the phone died. the minute her mother ronnie heard her voice and knew she was alive she got on the phone and started calling everyone. she made sure that everyone and anyone knew who her daughter was, exactly what she looked like and that she was alive. she called every israeli news station, every friend of a friend of a friend and even got someone to help get that el al flight to sri lanka to pick up all the israelis they could find and bring them home. sue didnt know that any of this was happening but in her heart she knew that once her mother knew she was alive, that she needent worry, ronnie would do everything she could and everything she had to do to make sure sue would come home right away. so sitting in this room, once the water went down and the streets were kind of clear to go through a man took sue on a bike over to a hospital. at this hospital it smelled so bad because the first floor was all dead bodies and sue said it was terrible. she couldnt walk so she was taken in a wheelchair upstairs and put into a bed. all of a sudden she saw matthew and than from that momment on they never separated. after 5 hours of sitting there, neither of them had gotten any help and they went to the bathroom and washed their wounds and than went outside because the smell was unbearable. they sat down on in the parking lot where they met 3 more guys and stayed there until someone came to help all of them. all of a sudden a car came up and said, "are u sue?" and she knew ronnie had sent for her. it was a doctor and a driver and there was a bus waiting to take more people to a hospital in colombo. sue rode in the car with ronnie's friends and everyone else got on the bus and was safely taken to colombo. at the hospital there was a bag waiting for sue with an israeli news crew, filled with clothing some food, her favorite chocolate and a letter from her mother. as soon as sue read the letter she broke down into tears that lasted for hours. the news crew got her in touch with her mother on the phone. some people might have seen her on some of the news shows. she's that blonde girl they kep showing with the bruised eye. everyone she was with got the treatment they needed and hopefully they will all recover wonderfully. than the airplane was set to arrive and another bus came to take all the israelis onto the el al flight without worrying about passports or anything. sue wont be able to walk without crutches for about 2 months now and her mother has to help her shower, but she's just happy to be alive and happy to be home. i left a lot of stuff out obviously because the ordeal she told took about 2 hours to pass on to the family the night we went to see her but really who cares. she's alive. it really is a miracle and i dont know what i would do if i would've heard that she wasnt alive.

i am extremely sorry for people who's family members did not make it through this terrifying ordeal and i extend every inch of sympathy and love that exists in my body out to you. this is something that will go down in the books...so remember it.