Perspective on Where we Are...and Ramen

Our co-workers have some nice maps that show where we are in relation to Sendai. And, you can see Wendy modeling a dress made out of ramen, made by one of our 12th graders!

nate and nedy do life: earthquake and ramen

Here's How We Feel...

The Senseitions: Fukuoka Marches On: "I wrote an email to my mom a few minutes ago and thought I'd repost. It has some extra details about what it's like to be here in Fukuoka in..."

Why we didn't think the earthquake was such a big deal...

The Senseitions: News Coverage of the Tohoku Quake & Aftermath: "Nana and I don't know Japanese (yet!), so we've been getting most of our news from the same sources you are. That said, it's been interestin..."

March 11, 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami in northern Japan

I know I usually post in chronological order, but I thought this tragedy deserved to have a post immediately.  

Hopefully by now you know that Tim and I are safe and sound here in Fukuoka.  I'm going to post some helpful information from other friends' blogs and sites that might help you better understand the situation.  Be on the lookout. 

It is pretty amazing being here in Japan during this.  We feel helpless at the moment.  After the search/rescue/recovery efforts are over, we hope to be able to go volunteer up north.

Here's how we found out about it...The earthquake struck at 2:46pm on Friday, March 11, 2011 about 80 kilometers east of Sendai, Japan.  My students went home at 2:00 so they were not around.  High schoolers came into the room where I was working and said, "There are going to be aftershocks in 15 minutes."  They were being dramatic and silly and we didn't know what they were talking about.  They said there had been an earthquake near Tokyo.  There are earthquakes all the time here so we didn't think anything of it.  

Tim sent a text message at 4:03pm saying, "Turn on the news."  He was at the post office and said that cars and houses were floating.  We didn't have a TV and we can't understand Japanese so we looked online.  Sure enough, there had been an 8.9, which they've since upgraded to a 9.0 earthquake followed by a massive tsunami.  There were an estimated 25 people dead so it still didn't seem so bad.  We knew that Japan is built for earthquakes.

We went to Happy Hour as usual, especially since the new Head of School was in town.  We had no idea of the magnitude of the earthquake/tsunami at the time.  Afterwards, we went out to dinner with friends.  I rarely check my phone at dinner because I hate when others do.  I checked it and had over 100 emails, FB posts, and FB messages.  I apologized to Ashley and Matt for checking but suggested that they may want to post something on FB because it looked like people back home were worried.  My mom skyped and she rarely does so I knew it was serious!  

Once we returned home, I could not sleep.  I returned emails, FB posts/messages, and skyped with Mom.  I found out that my dad/stepmom were in San Francisco under tsunami warnings from our earthquake!  They ended up being fine.  I stayed on BBC live newsfeed until 5:00am.  I finally understood how bad things were.

I spent most of the weekend glued to the news.  The aftershocks were non stop.  Sometimes there were 5 in an hour.  There were tsunami warnings up north and east of us.  We even had a tsunami advisory here in Fukuoka most of the day on Saturday.  The death toll went up and up and up...and keeps climbing.  There was an explosion at a nuclear plant.  The threat of radiation to those in the area is now a possibility.

Thankfully, all of the tsunami warnings and advisories have been lifted today (Sunday).  Thankfully, the aftershocks are slowing down to a few every few hours.  We'll take every bit of good news we can get.  

Tomorrow we will find out if anyone at our school was affected.  It will be an interesting day.  

The Prime Minister is now saying that Japan is "facing [the] most difficult crisis since World War II."  It's truly devastating over here.  The photos and videos are heart wrenching, horrific, nauseating...  I just want to be able to put a big bandaid on "our country" and make it all better!

Please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers for as long as we need it!

China, Part 7: Pingyao

We took overnight train #2 from Xi'An to Pingyao.  Thank goodness we left relatively late in the evening, had a better cabin mate, and arrived early in the morning.  Basically, I grinned and beared it and then slept.  When we arrived, we knew that we would have to get a taxi to get inside the city walls.  We were tired and hungry from traveling on the train and didn't have a place to store our bags for the day.  Luckily, Harmony Guesthouse knew this happened often and a member of their staff talked us into coming with him.  We enjoyed breakfast and sitting down to make a plan for the day.  Since it's such a small town, we only went for the day.

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

Pingyao is known as the best-preserved ancient walled city in all of China.  It is a great place to see Old China in action.  Unfortunately, it was a lazy, rainy day in town.  Not the best for walking around.

We decided to go on an excursion with some guests at the guesthouse to the Wang Family Courtyard and Zhangbi Underground Castle/Zhangbi Cun, about 40 minutes out of town.  

The Wang Family Courtyard is a huge home, more like a castle.  It is a former residence from the Qing dynasty.  It goes on and on and on with it's 123 courtyards.  There are a few cave dwellings behind the wall of the residence that are still inhabited. 

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

cave dwelling behind the residence

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

The Zhangbi Underground Castle is a 1,400 year old network of defense tunnels.  It was built at the end of the Sui dynasty and was never needed for use against possible attack from Tang dynasty invaders.  We had to have a guide as it's easy to get lost.  There are more than 1,500 meters of tunnels on three levels.  The deepest drops down 26 meters.  There were small caves off the pathways that were used for storage and bedrooms.  Peepholes in the floor of some of the upper levels were made to spy on and attack would-be invaders.

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

terrible picture of a cave dwelling

From China Part 7 Pingyao

The tour included a visit to Zhangbi Cun, a village from the Yuan dynasty that is still inhabited.  It is lined with cobblestone streets and 800 year old buildings. 

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

After we drove back to Pingyao, we were able to take a quick walk around town and grab a bite to eat at another guesthouse before having to go back to the train station.  It's a really quaint town and I kind of wish we had spent the day in town, though we had a great time seeing the other places! 

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

From China Part 7 Pingyao

Next and last stop...Beijing!

more photos of Pingyao...

China Part 7 Pingyao