Where Were You When...

Everyone in America still at times discusses the disaster of 9/11 and "where were you when the towers came down." To be honest, it is the only way I can remember Kan and I's first date. He said he was going to call me Monday night on 9/10 and chickened out. Then 9/11 happened and he could not call that night. He knew he had to call by Wednesday or else I would have my weekend booked. We went on our first date the Friday after 9/11 which was 9/14/2001.

Almost ten years later, with five years of marriage and almost two children, we find ourselves asking a different yet similar question - "Where were you when the largest earthquake in the history of Japan hit?" Well, I was in our apartment, on my computer as usual while Miyako was napping or "talking to herself." Just a few days before we had a rough earthquake, but it was not enough to get Miyako out of bed or send off our alarms in the building. So when the shaking started, I figured it was much the same thing. But then it kept shaking and shaking, and the alarm in our building was going off, and Miyako was screaming. I instantly threw my computer down, ran to get her, and just did not know what to do. All Miyako kept saying was "Mama outside. No more 48." I looked outside to see if anyone was evacuating, trying to walk straight as the shaking was so bad I kept running into the wall. I saw a lady on the floor below me with her toddler going for the stairwell, so I headed in that direction as well. All the time, Miyako is still crying and screaming. A neighbor heard us and opened her door. She kept telling us in Japanese to go back inside but I did not understand. Her daughter came to translate (her daughter is a college student who plans to spend next year at Vanderbilt University). When they saw the tears in my eyes, they invited me in. Once inside, we sat down and the shaking was starting to subside. She got out cake and tea and we all sat around a heated blanket and small table and enjoyed a little snack.

Another big shake came shortly thereafter. At this point, Miyako wanted to leave their house but I kept assuring her we needed to stay and be with people. It was interesting to see them going out on their balcony and taking pictures or enjoying cake and tea. At one point, I felt like I was going to throw up so I went to their bathroom. Thankfully I did not. After cake, the lady brought out chips that were like Pringles. At this point, Miyako thought we were having a party and loving it. We stayed there for about 2 hours and then went home to assess the damage.

To be honest, I expected a lot worse damage than what we had. Our fridge had rolled out from its position but it was still plugged in and did not run into the microwave. I had vitamins on the top shelf of the bathroom closet and they had fallen down. My ironing board had fallen and a little dresser on wheels had moved slightly. As for our bookshelves, they were still standing and nothing had fallen down. Our dishes were still in tact. Even picture frames were standing upright. We did have a picture hanging, and it had fallen down. We have not hung it back due to the frequent aftershocks we keep having.

Many of you may be wondering where Kan was...he was on the Narita Express coming home from a business trip. Praise God his plane had landed and he was on a train. If it had been in the air, he probably would have turned around back to Taiwan. We have different cell phone providers and cannot text each other, but the lady whose house I was at used his same cell phone service. So, she texted him for me to let him know we were ok. He was able to respond and tell me where he was.

Once Miyako and I got home I tried to keep things as normal for her as I possibly could. We ate dinner, read books, and she went to bed. Thankfully Kan and I both had internet service as phone lines were dead. We emailed throughout the night. Obviously neither one of us slept. His train was pulled into a station, and he was able to get McD's for dinner which is good. The aftershocks throughout the night were pretty strong. Every time we had one I kept saying, "Please Jesus, make it stop." I did not want Miyako waking up, especially with the alarm going off in our building. My American SIL kept saying "You need to sleep." I knew I needed to, but I just couldn't. I did sleep from 3-4 but I woke up to what I thought was Kan coming in the door. I jumped up and said "Kan, Kan" only to find it was high winds moving the building. At 8AM Kan was moved from the Narita Express to a local train so they could transport more people. He stood for two hours before it started moving. He finally walked through the door at noon on Saturday. I had never been so happy to see him.

I have attached a few pictures of what the damage was in the apartment. There is also a picture of smoke from a fire that started across the Bay from our apartment, as well as a picture of traffic after the earthquake.