Even though I moved 7120 kilometers away from Budapest, I still follow the local and European news because those have the influence on my family and friends. Weird to realize that it's interesting like a reality show, but has little effect on my everyday life, mostly emotional. Being less involved makes it much easier to see the bigger picture. I also love watching the webcam about the square that I crossed thousands of times and inspect the changes.
Gradually the main interest of news shifts to North America. First, the local neighborhood. I signed up to every relevant site on Facebook to get notices about the events and happenings and to understand this world. I researched the web about Ontario to understand the politics and to know what is where and how does it work. I am grateful for our visits to several other provinces from Prince Edward Island to Alberta. When I listen to the news about those distant places I feel like it's happening in my second country and I personally know people that experience those.
Alberta is one of the richest provinces with hardworking people that depend on the oil and first nation communities who are mostly against the industry because of the ugly oil sands. Fort McMurray is a town on a road that has a dead end far north. I followed the road on Google Earth as it gets smaller and smaller, over waters without bridges, where you couldn't drive across this season without ice. There are camps to live or hide or wait. Everything else is endless forest or waters. To south there are few other camps and stops in the forest but the first major city is Edmonton, 5 hours away during normal traffic. When the whole city was evacuated the cars were stuck in a bumper to bumper situation, and many broke down because of the ash in the filters and the lack of enough gas. Imagine huge lines up, mountain high flames and smoke, burning trees and structures, and the uncertainty of the future. The 88,000 people had none to little time to evacuate the hospitals, grab the kids, the animals, and some stuff, memories, and help or get out. In this horror the crisis management with the social media helping channels was fascinating. Citizens, companies, officials, Syrian refugees offered every help: manpower, flights, fuel, shelter, food, equipment, anything needed meanwhile there are other wild fires too in British Columbia's woods. So many heroic events happened and two babies were born during evacuations and they did manage saving other people's stuck pets too. All this wouldn't be possible without excellent communication. Thousands lost everything overnight, not everybody will return, rebuilding will take a while, but they will do it because they are strong. I tip my hat.
