first and foremost: i am currently safe and not in any immediate danger. my heart goes out to those who actually were caught up in the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor failures, and to those who lost friends and family to these tragic events. please, if you can, donate time or money to help the rescue operations right now.

friday afternoon, after teaching 5 classes at one of my elementary schools, i sat in the teachers office preparing next weeks lessons. while making a worksheet for my 4th graders, i started to feel dizzy like i was half drunk or something. the feeling lasted a minute or so. while some teachers didnt even notice, others were looking around with the same confused looks i had. 地震だった (earthquake)? we turned on the tv and quickly found out that there had just been a massive earthquake off the eastern coast. the news broadcast immediately started projecting the size of the inevitable tsunami that would soon follow for each coastal prefecture. when the numbers climbed to 6+ meters we began to understand the seriousness of the situation. the teachers announced to the students to go home immediately. many of them even drove the kids home themselves.

though the earthquake was too far away to shake us, we were all quite worried about the approaching tsunami. at one point they were predicting waves as high as 3 meters to hit my prefecture. and since my little seaside town sits right on the water, it was nerve-racking to say the least. as the minutes flew by, the predictions slowly shrank down to a more-reasonable 2 meters or less. but watching entire towns get swallowed up on live tv did not help calm our fears.

one of the more sobering moments was when i began seeing some of the elderly people in my town slowly start making their way to our emergency shelter.

at some point i received a text from a worried friend in america asking if i was alright. i replied that i was fine, but the phone and internet connections began to act up. over the next several hours, many of my texts failed to send, making me resend them over and over again.

a little after 5pm the major tsunami warning was lifted for my town, making it safe enough for me to finally go home. i spent all of friday night watching japanese news and the live coverage on bbc's website. important local warnings and messages were broadcast to my emergency radio almost-hourly throughout the night. at one point they started playing the tsunami sirens over the radio, which was followed by a guy yelling at me in japanese. since i couldnt understand anything more than the tsunami sirens, i jumped up, packed an emergency bag, and ran out the door all while calling friends who could translate better than i. luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm. i fell asleep wearing all my clothes, with my emergency bag as a pillow, with the tv on, and my laptop by my side.

nerves where high all weekend. tsunami warnings/advisories were in effect until sunday, major aftershocks were - and still are - expected, and the nuclear reactor problems are still ongoing. that being said, there is no need for anyone to worry about me. i am indestructible, incredibly lucky, and a good swimmer to boot. ha, but seriously i appreciate the thoughts. i am fortunate enough to live far away from where the disasters took place. my thoughts go out to those who were less fortunate.