I feel the earth move under my feet

Well it's been a surreal week to put it mildly...

So you heard about that small earthquake that hit japan last week, well i just happen to live in Japan. Tokyo to be exact. Well let's start at the beginning, Friday the 11th when the Earthquake hit.

It was 2:45pm, I was at school with the remaining kids, around 30 or more, playing dodgeball outside on the grass. Suddenly the head teacher ran outside and started yelling something, and everyone was like 'get down on the grass there's going to be an earthquake'. Now we have many earthquakes in Tokyo, but they feel nothing more than a bus going by. this however.... was a beast. It started lightly and I was standing up thinking this is nothing, then it really hit and everything started rocking and rolling, and it just seemed to get stronger and stronger. I was looking at the school and the shrine next to it thinking, 'if this gets any stronger they are both coming down.' Infact the shrine was going side to side so much I was sure it was going down. And then there's the huge tree in the middle of the school playing field. At the time I just kept on thinking if that starts to fall I can only carry maybe four kids, and I actually grabbed them close to me ready to run.

But it finally stopped after what seemed like minutes, the ground continued to move in circles for a couple of minutes and then it was over. It's school procedure that as soon as a big earthquake hits all the parents come and pick up the kids. So I was just looking after people until they were picked up. In the next hour we had two more big shocks, each time we had to hit the deck and pray they didn't get any stronger. It wasn't until around 5pm when we checked the news that we saw the real devastation in and around the coast of Sendai. That's when we knew we were the lucky one's. It was amazing to think we'd just been involved in one of the biggest earthquakes in the world. It measured a 6 where I was, nowhere near as big as the the epicenter north, which was a 9, but still huge. It really hit home when I saw all the teachers worrying about friends and family up north, especially as all the phones were down. Most teachers were struggling to get home as well with all the trains being down. I was really lucky living walking distance away. Although I ended up staying with a friend near the school. Nobody wanted to be alone that night with all the aftershocks going on.

The next day we woke up to see the devastation on the television, and to find out that the Fukushima nuclear plant was in trouble. Since then it's been very surreal. Pretty much every westerner I know in Tokyo has gone back home to wait this all out. One of my housemates has left for good. The stores are really bare even now, which means I have been sans breaded goods for over a week. Power is being conserved everywhere in Tokyo, which means the main city centers are so dark and dim and just so not like Tokyo. And of course there's the constant threat of the nuclear plant, although that has been getting better for quite awhile now. I'm really not worried about that at all anymore. It was slightly scary on Tuesday when my Japanese coworkers were starting to get worried about news of a radiation leak. Even the speakers on the street were saying stay indoors if it rains acid....

But it all seems fine now just over a week on. We still get regular medium size aftershocks, but I'm almost used to them now. They just wake me up and rock me back to sleep. Of course people in the tsunami affected area aren't as lucky and the effects will be felt for many months to come, and it goes without saying that my thoughts and prays are with everyone involved. But here in Tokyo it feels like we're close to getting back to normal. I haven't been into school since graduation on Tuesday due to hardly any kids being there, but Monday shall be business as usual.

Probably the strangest thing since the main event is everyone leaving. I'm lucky that an English friend of mine, Lucie, has moved in and stayed in Tokyo. I really needed someone around while everything was hitting the fan.

So yeah, I'm fine and feel like a lucky mother fucker!