Rockin' It Out in Niigata

Daijobu desu. (I am ok) I was in an earthquake around 6:00 last night (Sat). Actually, I was in three. I am ok. The worst thing about the quakes are actually the aftershocks. Unlike a tornado, you just never know how strong it is going to be, or how long it is going to last. So just a few days after one of the worst typhoons in japan, we get an earthquake. Happy natural disaster week, Carrie, another typhoon is already on it's way..so here are the details for your inquiring minds....

I was shopping at a department store when it happened . It started as a slight shake- and you initialy are like, did anyone else feel that- you look around and then boom- you are rockin! Everyone kind of did sometihing different when it happened. When it began I looked around and everyone else was looking around and then you choose what to do, as what would be the safest. I made sure I wasn't directly under a light, and then I ducked and protecteed my head and neck. Mothers dove over thier kids. There were some people bracing themselves against racks of items. No one really moved during the big shake. I was among racks and just prayed they wouldn't fall over. No racks near me fell, but things did fall off shelves and off the racks. People were runnning around screaming and looking for their children (I was near the toy section) and kids were running around looking for their parents. After the major tremble, yet everything is still moving, they started to direct everyone out of the store. I walked by the electronic section as I was leaving and there was a large group of people gathered, watching the news. The report- and this is while the quake is happening- was saying that Nagano, the next prefecture over is where it started. I was thinking- God, if it was that strong here, I don't even know how Nagano would be (I found out later that the epicenter of this one was in Ojiya . I just prayed that everyone I knew was ok. There were several more tremors- and I went outside with everyone else- we were all in panic, but it was like a what is going to happen next panic. My ketai wasn't working, I couldn't call anyone, and I was getting ready to head to pick up Karmen from the massage parlor right when it happened. (Up until this point our day had been about relaxation and pampering)

Karmen got through to me though and I cautiously headed over there....I headed over there- and when I was in the car there was a pretty steady aftershock. I had to cross a bridge to get where I was going- so I waited until everyone was off the bridge- some people stopped on it- there was no way in hell I was going to park up over this bridge because right now our rivers are flowin rapid due to the typhoon on Friday- which flooded the streets the day before- so after everyone cleared the bridge I gunned it up to about 115 km an hour and sped on over the bridge- the kid in the car behind me did the same thing.. so then I got to the massage parlor, and IahSan, our masseuse and friend, and Karmen were there with a couple of other ladies who had made refuge in there. They had laid the mirrors and drawers on the floor and were cleaning up some spilt tea. Everyone was a little shaken up though. It has been 36 years since a quake of this size has hit this area.

I had plans to go out at 6:30 and it was already 6:25 so I thought I would stop by tiff's house and just hang with her until it we were ready to hit the town. And Tiff lived right around the corner on the honcho, (the big street in Takada). I went upstairs to see if Tiff was home and she was, so I went back down to tell Karmen I was sticking around here. As we were talking, a shake began, and Karmen got out of the car. We were on the Honcho, and all around us were large concrete cylinders, store signs, big buildings, and glass storefronts. We weren't really sure where to go at this point. So we ran to and throw- I mean this all happens so fast- but then it really started to shake. (This was quake 2) Karmen had grabbed ahold of me at some point, and I dragged her to a doorway that appeared to have steel around it, and we crouched in this small area watching everyone else that was on the city streets start to do the same. I am not saying I wasn't scared- but it is much easier to not think about the fear you know. Karmen was really shaken up, I made Karmen laugh by reminding here that the honcho is covered with livecircuit video cameras. So we were probably on the news- two white gaigin running around looking in the air trying to figure out where the hell to go. To be honest the site of all this reminded me of the classic film, Godzilla. Everyone running in every direction, everyone japanese, and everyone looking up, ducking and covering. Actually maybe more like Mothra- but you get the picture. (this is the tokamachi quake)

Karmen was really against the idea that I stay in Takada, so I told her I would return with her, but I had to go and tell Tiffany, so I ran back up stairs encountering many people running out of her building at the same time. As I was running up, the fire alarm started to sound, and steel doors had swung shut due to the quake- there was no fire, but alarms were going off all over the city. (you see Tiff lives on the fourth floor and there was no way I would take an elevator at this point) I ran to Tif's apartment and she ws now in the floor cleaning up glass and spilt water. And through vulgarity, we were both wondering when all this was going to stop? So I told Tif I would come back to town later- we both agreed we needed nama biru (a beer). i drove Karmen home, and we went and checked to make sure our gas lines were off, called family (yes I had the audacity to call at 5:00 am to make sure no one freaked out if they saw news- but even with this precaution, I still recieved calls everyfew hours making sure I was ok, I guess the news drizzled in slowly to the US) and then headed to the Board of Education in order to ease the mind of our supervisor who had called us immediately after it happened making sure we were ok.

We hit 7-11 for ban-gohan (dinner) on the way to the BOE. The shelves were practically bare- the place had been cleaned out. So we grabbed some onigiri and sandwiches and headed to the office. The BOE was bustling= everyone reporting to duty and hanging out waiting for word that everything was ok. TojoSan- this old guy who loves Karmen and I visiting lightened everything up with a joke- I was actually in quite high spirits but Karmen worries quite a bit- about everything,,, but he told me (in japanese) that there are three things you need to be afraid of in Japan. 1. Earthquakes- because they are strong and you never know when they will hit. 2. Fires- because a lot of things in Japan are made of wood 3. Typhoons- because they will sweep you away and 4. Old Men- (no explanation needed). We fed the BOE some candy- made thier days with our smiles and then YamamotoSan came back- he had been out scouring the schools making sure everything is intact. And of course they were. He then told us about how he was in an onsen when it happened, and a big wave came and splashed everyone. I could only imagine being in an onsen a bunch of naked people running around and the waves splashing. ha! at least I got a good laugh out of that... So YamamotoSan took us home and we all made sure that our gas was working and we had hot water and stuff.

Then I went out. Karmen was really against the idea of me going out. But you know what am I going to do, sit around my apartment by myself waiting for the next shake. I like being around people too much. It was Saturday night and I wanted to get my drink on (as planned). So I went up to Memory for some live music. Got to see this guy play some Japanese punk to a drum track... yep only partially live (I had missed the band due to my delay) Some of my friends and neighbors (of the surrounding area Joetsu) all slowly got together here and we laughed about the quake- kompaied to the day and downed our Asahi. After the live music was done and we pulled Liz from her 18 year old endeavor (he was hot I will give her that) We went down to our watering hole, PTAs, where the drinks are strong (well if Master likes you) and drank for the remainder of the night. Those who weren't at Memory were here at PTA (well those social ones) So we karaoked- actually I never did, and we laughed and had a good time and partied until about 4. Good times- Happy earthquake day! While at PTAs I was chatting with hmmm...I forgot his name, typical of me,....but everytime the earth shook, which was several times...We drank. It is funny when you can barely communicate, but you can sit and share drinks for hours. Lots of laughter. And I finally this week learned how to say, I don't understand...I know, It probably should have been the first thing I learned. But even knowing it, no once listens if they want to chat- they want to chat...

I woke up on Sunday to another shake, (and they are still occurring even up until today and today is Tuesday) and then I went back to bed. I had people coming over we were all going to make washi in Nagano. Washi is handmade paper. So a group of ALTs from throughout the area assembled at my house and we waited for GotoSan and Ms. GotoSan and Chieko to come over and get us for our road trip through the mountains to Nagano. Sunday was beautiful, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

While waiting for the coffeeclub gang we all exchanged funny stories about what would happen if the earthquake had occurred at school. This led to conversations about what who had practiced any emergency drills at school. (we have not practiced any, but I hear they pretty much entail everyone running to the nearest exit screaming and flailing their hands in the air. )

Dave shared the Myokokogen practice that Dave B had to videotape for his school. This was intruder practice. During intruder practice in Myoko a teacher randomly enters classrooms dressed in a mask and waving a knife (in this case it was a real knife- another school had a fake cardboard knife) and then they all watch the videotape and see what could have been done better. Supposedly this drill led to crying children and teachers throwing chairs across the room at the intruder and a lot of screaming.

Maria by far had the best story. Last week her school had a fire drill. When she asked what she should do they told her to stay in the teachers room. Then they pulled the alarm. All the children and staff exited the building, except Maria because they told her not to. and then the students noticed her and they all started to scream in agony at teh window- MariaSensai! MariaSensai! and waving for her to come out! Maria waved back and blew kisses but she had to stay there because the principal told her. She said some children paniced and ran around looking for the teachers to tell them that they thought Maria was going to burn to death. Poor things.

So we all hopped in the car and drove among beautiful fall leaves to Nagano. It was a coffee club meeting that I invited a bunch of other English teachers along for because they all expressed interest,. but it was great. We went to this house in this small town in Nagano to make homemade paper. Some people made fans, some people made clocks, one person made paper, one person made postcards...Karmen and I both made a lamp. It was awesome. I got crafty and went outside and picked flowers to put on my lamp so it glows beautifully in my aparto. (*apartment) After we made our items we all loaded up and GotoSan took us up to this amazing onsen. The best one I have been to so far- all outside no indoor showers- totomo kickass. (totomo means totally). We all bathed and some old lady was chatty with me, no matter how often I told her I didn;t understand.. But it was nice to bathe and watch the steam rise up into the sky the bright moon and stars lighting the mountainous skyline and the little village lights glowing in the town below. Ahhh.

(Only to go back to my place for more sleep intermitted with small tremors,) As far as this earthquake stuff is all concerned, they expect there to be more- but I think that is what these small rattles are all of. It is highly uncommon for there to be so many quakes at that high of a rating so close together, there is also this great theory of that volcano that I had gone and seen that is spewing ash, Asama, that these quakes may trigger Asama to erupt, and then if Asama erupts she will trigger more quakes. Crazy shit, huh. I will keep you posted. I would say that the worst part of this experience is that you never know how big these slight shakes will be- so everytime you find yourself looking around to see if it is escalating- and bracing yourself. I even flew under a piece of furnture the other day- that was the forth one. Oh and the epicenters so far have been Ojiya which is about 40 miles from me and Tokamachi which is about 30 miles- a lot of my friends live in these parts and some have spent some time in shelters- many of them are without gas and power and water- but we have all come together offering places to stay and checking up on one another. So if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Go CARDS! (both STL and the ville)