"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Why is my bed shaking?!?

I didn't think that I would be writing a sequel so soon, but yes we had another earthquake this morning at 5:07 A.M. After reading reports, it seems to have hit Tokyo and surrounding areas at a 6.4 magnitude. I'm not sure what number that translates to on the shindo scale (measures the degree of shaking) that would have been felt here in Yokosuka, but we are only about 2 hours south of Tokyo. Ryan was sleeping with Kaylee and I was with Abby in the other bed. There was quite a jolt which woke Ryan and I up immediately. We sat there looking at each other in opposite beds waiting for the shaking to stop. This earthquake felt much longer than the Sunday night quake, but Ryan disagrees. Eventually, the shaking slowed and then stopped. Fortunately, the girls slept through the whole thing. I thought I felt a few tremors afterwards, but now I think it was just my hurt beating so hard and fast from being nervous.
Ryan's co-workers, who have lived here longer than we have, said that in the past year and a half, the two latest earthquakes have been the worst. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...maybe the quakes are not so bad...or they are just going to get worse?
Japan averages about 1,500 earthquakes a year. The biggest earthquake in Japanese history occurred on September 1, 1923 at a magnitude of 8.3 killing 143,000 people and on January 16, 1995 in Kobe, Japan an 6.8 earthquake shook the city killing 5,530 people....Does this mean Japan is due for another big one? That's what many of the Japanese locals say, but I just hope it holds off for at least three more years!!!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Earthquake? Earthquake!!!

Well, after almost nine weeks here in Japan, we experienced our first earthquake...a 7.1 in magnitude, that subsided to 3.0 by the time it rippled to Yokosuka. It was a few minutes before 8:00 pm and I was getting ready to put Abby to bed when I began to feel some swaying/trembling. I sat real still for a few seconds thinking I was just feeling nauseous, and then realized that I was experiencing my first earthquake. After I fought the urge to "stop drop 'n roll" I quickly made my way to the nearest door jam. I called out to Ryan and he and Kaylee were making their way to same door jam. We all stood there (well Abby was being held) and did a group impression of three people nervously riding a surfing simulator. Not to say that the quake was rolling the room like the ocean tide, but we weren't sure how steady to keep ourselves and thought that a wide-stance surfing pose assisted the most with the balancing effort. After what seemed like 15 minutes of waiting in silence (as though we were expecting the earth to announce the quake was over), we slowly made our collective way over to our hotel hallway. We saw one woman, with her kids in toe, briskly making her way to the hotel exit mumbling something like, "...just in case this thing's not over," and a few other patrons poking their heads out of their rooms to compare notes and make conversation. After talking with one woman who was on her 2nd tour to Yokosuka, we felt much better to learn that what we had just lived through was a "bad one." I guess that means that we can expect most of the others to not be that bad. As for my thoughts about the experience, the 45 seconds made my legs feel like Jello and it took a few minutes for the feeling of the room still moving to subside; but the worst part is the psychological effect...it may have been a cool feeling if it were a ride at an amusement park, but there's something unsettling about the ground moving underneath you like that. To know that the earth we rely on for stability is failing us can be a little scary. So as much as I hope to never write about this experience again, stay tuned for the sequel.

Just an Update

So I know it's been a while since my last post, but not too much has changed around here. We are currently still living in the Navy Lodge and it sure has been a challenge. We have been here for two months now and have had some really rough times.
As many of you know, most all our belongings are still packed up in a warehouse in Yokohama waiting to be delivered and unpacked in our apartment. When we packed up we split everything into two shipments. Most of our furniture and big items or things we didn't really need right away got packed up and shipped to Japan by boat. Our express baggage is sent via air and usually arrives within 2-3 weeks of our arrival. I put lots of my baby things in express baggage...things I could live without for a few weeks, but would need soon after getting here. However, here we are starting our ninth week here and we still do not have any of our things other than what we brought with us on the airplane. I shipped some of our toys over via USPS, but the girls have gotten bored with them and I'm very anxious about getting the rest of toys back.
Abby has been sleeping in the bed with me because she started waking up every couple hours in the pack and play. I guess maybe the mattress is getting worn and uncomfortable. She has been sleeping better in the bed even though some nights she still wakes up 2 or 3 times. I don't think I've slept more than fours hours in a row in over 7 months.
Another incident occurred about three weeks ago. Kaylee fell out of the bed around midnight while she was sleeping and hurt her arm. After two trips to the ER, an x-ray, and a visit to the orthopedic doctor, it was decided that she had two very small fractures that were barely fractures....okay?!? The orthopedic doctor didn't think she needed a cast and said most toddlers find their way out of them, so I was to keep an eye on it. I think it's better, because she hasn't been complaining about it much and doesn't cry when we move it around..so I'm happy that it turned out not to be too bad.

Bedtime seems to be our most challenging time...Abby likes to be in between 7 and 8 pm so that limits our evening outings. And Kaylee has started taking an hour or MORE to fall asleep at night. She used to drift off so quickly, but recently it's been a fight to get her to settle down. In addition to this, the people above us on the third floor must rearrange the furniture every night and let their children throw bowling balls on the floor. It is so frustrating and I have called the front desk several times, but I don't believe they do anything about it. It doesn't seem to bother the girls, but it drives me crazy!!!
There are some days that the girls and I are stuck inside most of the day because of rain or the unbearable heat and humidity (which causes my hair to poof to record-breaking proportions...remember Monica Geller from FRIENDS in the Barbados episode...yeah..that bad).
Ryan usually picks us up for lunch so we at least get an hour or so out of this room. On nice days, we take Ry back to work and then I take the girls to the park...but that's only on a good day.
So we have been number one on the waiting list for weeks, and finally on Wednesday we got an offer. So we will be moving into our very own three bedroom apartment on August 21st...Yeah! Even though I'm very excited about moving, I'm still having to remind myself to stay positive...only two more weeks in this four-walled tribute to the 1970s. Of course a few weeks back I told Ryan that I would be happy never to see this place again...so guess what....yep...our apartment is right across from the Lodge. But we are on the ninth floor so maybe we can look directly over the Lodge to the ocean. And there are some perks to being in Ume Heights...it's one of the newer towers so there are hardwood floors (well fake hardwood floors) and stainless steel appliances (at least that is what we are told) and it's within walking distance of the Auto Port (nice convenient store) and right next door to Chili's...even though I'm so tired of eating there. It's been tough living in a hotel with two small children and I have many more stories that I could share, but I think I've rambled enough. We are just happy the end is in sight.