I know why your here...

Yes, normally you would know better than to check back so soon after a blog from me...but then there is an earthquake and everyone wants to know about it.  So here I am ever so kindly updating you on what is going on.  Yeah it has been a long day, how can you tell?

Sorry.  Anyways...

Thank to all of you who have sent a note or message to check in with us.  We are doing just fine.  It was scary, we were all a bit shaken. 

hmmm sorry again (kinda)

The week has been fine.  Thursday was way busy.  Ioanna is waking up, or rather not going to sleep, at night so we were tired and missed the alarm, Jon dropped Thor, Io and I at pre-school, then drove himself and Alexandra to base, then came back to give me the car and biked back in..all before noon.  Thor, Io and I drove onto base to meet Alexandra and go to the school playground.  We try to do this once a week so the kids can play with the friends we met while living on-base at the Navy Lodge. 

I left Al and Thor with the other moms to go to the Outdoor Rec and rent sleds for our trip to sled on Mt. Fugi on Sunday (now canceled btw).  Did that and returned about 2:35 (thank goodness).  I met up with the other playground moms and was about to hear why one lady woke up in her nightie with a Japanese man standing in her bedroom when another mom said "Hey did you feel that."  And then it started.  I did not recognize the first movement since I just picked up a wiggle Ioanna, but after that you could feel them, and see them.  The ground moved and we all found the kids and got them off the play equipment.  Alexandra says she did not feel it at first because she was already swinging on the monkey bars (and ignoring me telling her to get down).  Probably true!  So we gathered the children and heard the Sullivan's School announce an evacuation.  The teachers already had those kids pouring out.  At some point a mom started telling everyone to get off the blacktop and onto the grass, which we did.  I still don't know why, but why not. 

You may have noticed that I have just typed quite a bit and did not mention the earthquake stopping.  That is because it did not.  It was still going.  The first one I felt in January lasted about 30 sec.  The aftershocks I have been feeling last about 1- 2 min.  That big one and the one just after lasted 5 to 10 min.  (I wasn't really timing to the second.)  It registered as an 8.9 at the epicenter and we felt it as a 6.5-ish earthquake.  We gathered, kids played, kids cried, some moms did too and then it stopped.  It felt like walking on a trampoline that other people are walking on; the ground was just not firm under your feet.  All told after about 30 min everyone started to head home.  We made a quick pot stop at the apartment tower just in case it was a long drive home.  Over heard a boy from one of the higher floors tell his dad that all the statues fell off the shelves.  Those higher floors sway a lot!  As we went back through the playground to our car I did notice that all the Asian moms were still there with their kids playing, just the American born moms went home.  Wide open spaces are the safest place I guess :-)

We drove around to the front of the base and through some aftershocks.  I could see all the plants on the hills shaking.  We took a detour past SRF, the building where Jon works.  Alexandra was very worried and wanted to know if he was OK (plus I wanted to see him).  The employees happened to be waiting outside, evacuated for the second time so we were able to see him and reassure Alexandra a bit.  We then drove home.  There was no power to any of the traffic lights, good manners and the occasional policeman ruled the roads.

At home we discovered the power was out, however we still had water and gas (which we switched off after making some hot chocolate).  Jon made it home on his bike about 30 minutes after us, he aggravated a minor foot injury biking through some earthquakes, but he made it.  According to his co-workers a) this was the biggest quake they had ever felt and b) the power plants are nuclear and shut down preemptively to prevent possible trouble.  I may have mentioned the intercoms that play music every day at 4pm.  They also play the various city warnings for when there is trouble.  All along the drive and then at home I could hear them.  First it was all in Japanese, or I could not hear the English while driving.  At home I was finally able to listen to Japanese chatter and then FINALLY an English translation.  (btw I am writing a note of thanks to the City of Yokosuka)  It said there was a tsunami on the way and to evacuate to higher ground.  Crap.

So Jon stayed calm and said we were fine and Japanese people went on walking their dogs at the park across the street, and I packed us all into the car.  This was about 4:30pm 

In the past week I have met two lovely ladies and more importantly I have driven to both of their houses, up the hillside.  They happen to live on the same road so following the premise that everyone who meets me loves me within moments, we went a visiting.  First stop was the mom of a classmate from Thor's preschool.  The two boys have hit it off (mostly since they both speak English) and we had a playdate there the day before.  Our second stop was going to be a nice newlywed I met at my knitting group.  She is fabulous, but has no kids and so was option two.  Luckily the classmate and his mom was home and she let us all in without a second thought.  The other nice thing is that she is Japanese and could understand the radio chatter. 

We stayed and played.  They had just taken a cab home from swim lessons.  In Japan most buildings have parking garages above them instead of space wasting parking lots.  The concrete was rippling and moving and she decided not to go get her car when they evacuated.  Can't say as I blame her.   There was cereal and cheese and crackers for dinner.  One small aftershock was felt.  We chatted.  The phones mostly did not work, too many calls going through.  She did not know her husband was 'trapped' on the Carrier because they were not letting anyone on or off, which Jon was able to tell her.  She managed to get through to her mom down south and we used our phones to check the web a bit.  Later her husband got a call through.  We stayed there until about seven, at which point the kids were cranky and Jon and I felt that the tsunami was no longer a worry.  I am forever going to be indebted to her, even though I would have done the same saying it was no trouble, it was such a huge relief that when we appeared she let us right in.  BTW to make your flashlight give off more light put a plastic bag over it and it becomes more like a lamp.  She pulled that bit of tv tidbits out of her head and it works awesome!

So we left and took 30 min to drive just over a mile.  (I did know second route avoiding the really bad lights).  We got home and went to pull out the candles, realizing that they were left behind as non-transportable flammable items.  Luckily I had one long burning candle (Thanks Aunt Jean), matches, and a few of my Halloween ghost votive candles snuck their way into the shipment and were sacrificed for their light.  The kids went to sleep in our bed and Jon and I dove into our phones a bit before going to bed around 9:30.  It was dark after all.  With the last of my battery charge I put my quick update on facebook and skype figuring that many of you would check there first.  (Brie you are awake much to early!)

Io once again slept fairly horribly and Jonathan let me sleep in so I did not get back to many of you until the past few hours.  My apologies.  The day was a mix of comforting the children, skyping and e-mailing, normal daytime stuff and wondering if 'that was an aftershock'  Alexandra keeps saying she can feel the earthquakes in her head, which I understand.  Sitting here I occasionally glance at my water filter to see if the shaking I feel is in my head too, or has a manifestation in the physical world as shaking water.  Once or twice that water is actually shaking.  These aftershocks are strong at the epicenter, 5s and 6s, but by the time they reach us it is only a 1 or 2. 

She would not play outside today, not that I blame her.  They kids did not actually notice any of the little quakes, played right through most of them.  They are disappointed about the lack of sledding tomorrow as are Jon and I.  I am going to start paying attention to the news tomorrow.  I have heard the edges and but will delve when there is some time.  The nuclear plants are having some issues.  One's building exploded but the reactor is fine and they are pouring saltwater on it to keep it cool.  They will fix it.  The tsunami caused most of the fatalities and is a horrible thing, the earthquake caused things to explode or collapse, but not as much as a decade ago.  The rules for building structures are very good and the Japanese have a habit of tearing down old houses and building new.  Bridges and tunnels, roads and train tracks are being inspected so that people can start moving around the country again.  The Regan aircraft carrier and it's battle group plus some of our ships are going up north to help.  (Our carried is having a big maintenance job done and would take 2 days to close up and get out so they send the Regan from Ca.  Got here is one day.)  The carriers can make enough water for 5,000 people for a day in about 15min and had medical facilities.  The other ships have helicopters to move supplies and people where they need to go. 

It is very late here and I am tired, and Ioanna will probably be waking up soon.  Let me know if there is anything else you want to know (or any painful grammatical errors, I am only proof reading once) and I will try to update every few days.  There probably (hopefully) won't be much happening here.  Life will get back to normal, as it always does.  The news will let us know some of what happens up north. 

And no, I still don't know what happened when my friend woke up with a Japanese man in her room.  I'll let you know when I find out :-)

Much Love,
Christine