Life through the eyes of a child

Kids are amazing. They don't know why you left, what happened while you are gone, and why you're back. They won't ask questions about what life was like or how you deal with difficult situations. They won't ask ridiculous questions like: did you feel the earthquake? They don't understand what happened and don't really care. All that matters to them is that you are here right now and they missed you.

literally hasn't let me leave her sight since being here

Culture Shock Round two:my week at Misawa Airforce base

When we reached our destination within the walls of Misawa, we were taken to our new home, the Potter Fitness center raquetball courts. Under the circumstances, we were huge liability on the part of the base. Because of this, we were always accounted for. We were allowed to travel with escorts between two buildings, the fitness center and a media/cafe center called Mokateki. We were honestly so greatful to have hot showers and electricity that these "burdens" seemed more like a safety net than anything else. At Mokateki, they had phones we could call home and 4 working computers that we could use for 10 minutes at a time.

The base was like moving right back to America while still in Japan. At this point, I had been getting used to living among tons of people that I couldn't verbally communicate with. Well that was all different here. I was just baffled to see so many people that spoke English and looked American. In Sendai, there are about 500 Americans among over a million people. It would be like playing a game of Where's Waldo? trying to find one. We were used to saying whatever we felt like because people already stared at us. Now people knew what we were saying so we had to make sure we were talking correctly. The food here was also great. We ate pizza, burgers, and even had military families cook us lasagna. It think I probably found all the weight I lost living in Sendai.

Monday night was literally the first night I slept straight through the night since Friday. We were separated into different rooms based on our gender and given a cot with a sleeping bag. Though they felt like lawn chairs, I always slept so well on them. Sleeping in a racquetball court also was a challenge because it amplifies the sounds. Luckily, no one snored too loud. I felt horrible because my bed was super loud every time I rolled over.

After going a little stir crazy between the two buildings, they allowed us to help pack trucks heading to Sendai with food and clothes. So many of us felt this strong need to do something to help so this was a welcome relief. We walked to the high school gym on base which was filled with supplies and helped fill a couple trucks. Helping others has become such a welcome release from everything we've been feeling over the past few days.

On Wednesday (I think), someone from the state department came to talk to us. Many were very uneasy about this meeting. The main idea of the meeting was that its unsafe to go back to Sendai and we had two options: move into Misawa area on our own for weeks to months or find a way to get a flight home. He said they'd help with logistics but we were on our own. This was really the first time that the emotion of what was going on really hit me. The idea that the government was telling me it was unsafe to go back really hit me. Everything became very real. Luckily, we also have resources provided by MeySen for people that wanted to stay as well. At this point, I realized I needed to be at home for a while for my own health and well being. I made the difficult decision to plan for my way home and to come back as soon as safely possible.

the mountains on the way out of Misawa

Dinner provided by the families of soldiers. DELICIOUS

my home for the next few days. Nice and cozy.

Sendai and MeySen are in my continued prayers. Since coming home, I have heard many positive things especially with the efforts that my school has been able to provide for the surrounding areas. We really have so much to be thankful for. I am so proud to be a MeySen teacher.

I'm safe at Home

I just wanted to send a quick note saying after over 48 hours of travel time I am home safely. There were a few bumps along the way, including a rude courtesy employee for Gate 33 Hawaiian Airlines who almost gave my ticket away because I was sprinting from customs to our gate running late even when friends explained the situation. (Anyone can feel free to send a note onto Hawiian Airlines about this woman so she doesn't other people in tough situations the way she did us). Its nice to see my family but there is so much work to be done in Japan.

I hope to do what I can here and make it back to Japan as soon as possible to get back to work and help in anyway I can.

If you are interested in donating to the cause in a way that I trust will be done right please feel free to check out Friends of MeySen.

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers for my friends still there and all the families that are in need.
 I will do my best to continue posting about my situation that led me to come home.


Time for some much needed rest.

Day 3: Evacuation

We were slowly starting to get used to the idea of eating and sleeping at school. Though we had electricity, we still had no running water. Also, they told us we’d be on two meals a day to conserve for a while. We’ve had the luxury of all this food when so many had nothing.  Lacking water was starting to take its toll though. It was like I couldn’t quite quench my thirst. We had food and a little to drink but we needed to be frugal as we were all realizing that we had no clue how long we’d be without a source of running water.

Word got around that they had running water over at Takamori. The excitement of our first shower and getting the chance to see our friends at the other campus for the first time since the earthquake made me forget about a lot of the issues surrounding us. Unfortunately, we got there to find out that this was not the case. However, it was great to actually get away from our campus for a change of scenery.  Also, internet was working at a friend’s apartment complex. I got my first chance to actually let people know I was ok for myself. Upon getting there, I was just shocked at the out pour of sympathy and genuine care that I received. I honestly couldn’t even read it at the time because it was so overwhelming. I’m not one to want people to make a big deal over me. I definitely felt loved and blessed to have great friends and family.

Across the street from Takamori, the local high school had water trucks for area residents to line up and receive a fixed amount of water. This line was literally hundreds to thousands of people wrapping down streets and blocks. It really made me want to do something anything I could to help. Luckily, we had the opportunity. We found a way to pump water out of our well to give people. Unfortunately, this water was not the best drinking water but could be used to flush toilets and for baths. People were so greatful for it though. I spent a while helping with that and decided to head back with friends hoping to stay at Takamori that night with our friends…until we got the news.

Around 4 o’clock, my friend Ashley was given a ride back to our campus when she asked if I had heard the news. All American teachers had a meeting with our principal to discuss evacuation. My heart sank, a part of me was excited to be leaving and a part of me never wanted to go at all. I was torn with emotion just like literally every day since the earthquake. We were given the choice to stay and see what happens but encouraged to go to Misawa Air Force base. We had about an hour to pack our bags and get ready. It was an interesting question: if I had could only pack 1 suitcase of everything I couldn’t do without what would I bring? Well for me, I kind of  got a little stressed out and piled whatever was right there into my biggest suitcase. I still am surprised each day at what clothes I pull out.

The Plan:

We left around 8:30PM on the bus for Misawa Air Force base. A teacher is a retired military official so she was hoping to get us on base. If that didn’t  work out we would stay at a local hotel there.  We all packed up jumped on the bus and road through the night to our new home at Misawa Air Force Base. We reached our destination at 6 AM. After cutting all the red tape to get us cleared, we were safely in our cots at 7AM.

DAY 2: Word Spreads

I honestly went to bed Friday night, thinking everything would be back to normal Saturday morning. We’d wake up with power and we could tell people we were safe. Of course, that wasn’t the case. We felt tremors through the night and many people were still pretty jumpy. Luckily, I have become so desensitized to the feel of an earthquake that it really didn’t bother me much. Saturday we decided to go around to each other’s homes and help clean up. Both as something to do and none of us really wanted to be alone. 

Most homes had moderate damage with stuff on the floor and leaks. Nothing compared to the damage only a few miles away. It was this day that we really started to sense the magnitude of what just happened. We learned of the Tsunami, people trapped, houses collapsed, loved ones lost. To be honest, I still have seen very few picture of the overall devastation. I think I personally preferred ignorance to keep my piece of mind.

At this point, I felt so bad for all my family and friends back home because I had no way to contact them to let them know I was ok. All people could hear and see was that there was devastation in Sendai. I’m pretty sure my mom knows of two locations in Japan, Sendai where I lived and Tokyo. To people back home, I could have been right by the water in the wreckage. Luckily, we were a few miles inland and didn’t get any of the Tsunami damage. All I heard was that the damage stopped a few miles away. I still have trouble typing this and comprehending how we were so blessed to be unscathed when so many places and people very close were dismayed. Honestly, I felt guilty because we were hanging out at the school playing catch with a football and eating Ice cream that was going to melt all afternoon while all this was going on. I was looking for anyway to just send a message home saying we were all safe.

We caught a rumor that there was a working phone at the ward office a few blocks away. Several of us jumped in a car to see. It was here at the office that I got my first real glimpse of the reality of the situation. There what seemed like thousands of people literally laying on top of each other, in aisles, all over the place. All were with that same hopeless and scared look on their face. I should also mention that only about 1% of Japan is Christian. Imagine having no hope for what’s to come or understanding that God is with you no matter what. Now I’m not one to throw my religion in someone’s face but I have a deep belief that I was continually going to be protected and a weird feeling of peace through the whole ordeal. I also feel like any time we needed Him, he was right there for us to give us strength. 

Saturday night, we all enjoyed a great meal and decided to hold a time of fellowship for anybody that was interested. Within minutes of finishing the prayer service, the lights to our building came back on. People were literally overjoyed like it was New Years. We still had no running water or gas but felt so great to see where we were going without a flashlight and to no longer guess if you’re aiming at the toilet JK. With the power, came the 3G network. (Thanks iphone! Send me a free one and I’ll be a spokesperson J) .  Ironically, Saturday was supposed to be the day that all the new teachers were supposed to get phones and trade with teachers that were leaving. All this time I’ve been here, I had no phone and no real need for it till now. 

Luckily, a teacher was kind enough to pass her phone around and let us contact home. I was so relieved to talk to my mom for a few minutes just to let her know I was safe and to pass the word on. We all watched “Blind Side” on a school projector and went back to sleep in our classrooms…living comfortably in the situation.

Earthquake Day 1 pictures

Trying to lighten the mood after the 2nd large earthquake while keeping my ears warm

Standing outside as soon as the 1st earthquake settled down

Every classroom had about the same damage...Everything that wasnt stationary flew off the walls. Luckily kids weren't there at the time.

The kitchen next to my office where I was during the earthquake

The weather on my way home to see the damage in my apartment

The weather 5 minutes later

Our food for the night...everything people had in their apartments

In our home for the next few days at the Immersion building

 Sorry some of my pictures couldn't upload. As you can see we were well taken care given the situation. I can't even fathom how lucky we were on that day. Its actually kind of hard to come to grips with it all. I appologize. I have very few pictures since these because I had no battery on my phone and no electricy.

Earthquake Day 1:Ignorance is Bliss?

Day 1

Ignorance is Bliss?

***I would like to apologize for any confusion about my earlier post relating to earthquakes. I was referring to earlier in the week and made the post before these major earthquakes happened. ***

Around 2:30 PM Friday, I was busy carrying on with my day. We were sitting in the office discussing the previous night’s birthday celebration (my blog before the quake). I had just finished writing my lesson plan for the day when all of a sudden the table started to shake.  I was thinking oh wow its another earthquake. All of a sudden the building felt like it was lifted and dropped. People started screaming and we all jumped under our desks. A voice in my head kept saying to myself, it will all be ok. Everything will be over soon.  I honestly have a lot of trouble putting into words how scary the actual quake felt to me. However, there was a very calming presence within me that kept me so relaxed in one of the worst natural disasters in the world.

As soon as the first was done, we all ran outside. I could see little cracks in the foundation. Parents and children were crying. Luckily, most students don’t show up to school until 3:30ish on Friday. Most of the kindergarteners were taken home around 2. I hate to say the timing of the earthquake was a blessing but I can’t imagine trying to keep all of our children calm and safe during the whole ordeal.  Luckily, it was only us teachers there, and a few parents and students that were still around. 

From the major quake on, we continued to have a few earthquakes almost hourly. Some were pretty rough but none seemed to last very long.  To be honest, we had so many earthquakes that I became desensitized to anything that didn’t last longer than a minute.  As the quakes lessened in severity, we came back in to check the damage.

Going back in there, I was just shocked at all the stuff that flew on the floor, the plates and dishes and cabinets were tipped over.  There were cracks in the wall, fish tanks were broken with fish dying in them. (Please understand that we had no clue at the time that so many were worse off than we were.) Within minutes of the first quake, all power, water, and cellphone networks went completely out.  One teacher had just enough time to try to post on everyone’s walls that we were ok.  Without power, we decided to all huddle at our campus and stay there that night. Everyone pooled food and decided to stay in the classrooms.  Though people were scared of aftershocks, we had been told that the buildings our classrooms are in are so structurally sound that they would roll down the hill before they crumbled. 

On Friday, all we knew of the damage was that there was an old apartment complex that fell in Sendai. Also, a train was derailed. Clearly, we literally had no good means of communication that night. We even had trouble communicating between the two campuses. I don’t think we even had a clue about the Tsunami until late Friday night. All we could rely on were bilingual staff members that occasionally received updates. Honestly, people reading this blog right now still probably have a better clue of what all happened. I have seen a few photographs but I really don’t want to see it all for a while. All I can say is it is such a different experience when is literally in your own town. My heart always went out to people that had issues but I seemed to live in this untouchable bubble where that stuff didn’t happen to me. However, I was truly blessed to be so safe in this time of tragedy. Honestly, the worst thing that happened to me was that someone’s coffee spilled on my buttcrack during the quake and I had a huge bottle of Lowry’s steak seasoning that broke all over my floor. God has really blessed us through it all.

The Outsourced Teacher: Update:Sendai

The Outsourced Teacher: Update:Sendai: "Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. We have been very well taken care of by MeySen. The tsunami stopped about 6 miles away ..."

Update:Sendai

Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. We have been very well taken care of by MeySen. The tsunami stopped about 6 miles away from where we live and are in good shape and spirits. As a precaution, we are all moving north to the military base. There has been some talk of aftershock out here. Thus far there are no real injuries to any MeySen staff or students that we are aware of.  I will post more when I can. Please continue to pray for us all and especially those in need.

Why we dont speak Japanese/ Dealing with Earthquakes

**This post was written the morning before the big earthquake. This was my experience with earthquakes prior to the major one that day. I appologize for any confusion.**

This is kind of a two part post. First I want to tell everyone that we are all ok over here with the recent Earthquakes. I don't think they even did any damage. Coming from Michigan, I had never experienced an Earthquake in my life. My first experience was at the end of watching Top Gun. Tom Cruises earth shattering performance literally mad the ground rumble. At the time, it felt like someone next to me was just shaking their leg uncontrollably.

The thing about earthquakes is there seems to be no warning. There are things like blizzard warning, tornado warnings, hurricanes are tracked for weeks, but earthquakes just kinda pop up. I still have no real clue what to do in an earthquake. I hear you are supposed to crouch under something sturdy. Most things in Japan are about as sturdy as a piece of paper standing on its end. Anyway, Wednesday I was Skyping a friend when all of a sudden my room felt like it was going back and forth. I can only equate to what a hillbilly must feel when their mobile home is relocated to a new trailer park while he is staying inside. The sensation went on for a good few minutes. I actually felt a little motion sick when it was all said and done. There were 3 more earthquakes the following morning. I have to say there's nothing  quite like waking up to the whole room shaking.

I also learned a very important tidbit about the country I chose to move to:
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur. Basically, we get a lot of Earthquakes. Considering the fact that I've only been here a month and have experience 4 now, I am going to believe them.

If you want more info on the quake click here. Don't forget I live in Sendai which is mentioned in the article.
......


Part 2 More Miscommunication


Tuesday, I bought a bunch of what I thought were donuts to share with the office for Fat Tuesday. After biting into one I found out it was filled with bean paste called "anko." All I can say is bean paste does not spell a delicious treat. Japanese people love their bean past though. Also I bought what looked like cinnamon and sugar donuts. Turns out they were actually Mochi a green tea flavored rice paste filled with more bean paste. I'd equate it to eating pure dough.  

 

Tell me this doesn't look like a donut

While teaching, I got off subject because one of the kids wanted to be called Mr. Donut. I thought it'd be a great time to relate my story of bean paste. Well I started talking about it and realized they needed the Japanese word for it. Generally, we never talk in Japanese but I figured this could help. I called it Ancho. The kids started cracking up and pointing to an inappropriate place. According to some teachers, the students thought I was saying Concho which is kinda like checking someones oil. I quickly recovered to Anko but was super embarrassed and tried to calmly move right on to the story.


Miscommunication at the Restaurant 

The one play they thought they were splitting

Last night, several of us went to a Korean BBQ (Higashiyama) to celebrate another teachers birthday. 4 teachers wanted to split this meat platter and tried to relate that to the waitress. You can guess what happened next. Food comes out and so do 4 of these $40 meat platters. They informed us that they couldn't take it off the bill. The funny thing is the waitress didn't even question it when we ordered. She must have thought Americans really love meat.  They also don't have doggy bags here so we only had one option. It literally felt like Christmas in March. I have been craving cow parts since I got to Japan. Its pretty hard to come by. The food was delicious!

What we all actually got

The finished product

One Month: Stockholm Syndrome

I can't believe its been over a month since I first landed in Japan. At the same time, my last month in the US is slowly getting blurry for me. The little things like the crazy toilets, Japanese writing everywhere, and  people not understanding English used to be such a shock for me. Now its my everyday routine. Things I thought I couldn't live without like my own car, TV, cable, video games, I actually enjoy not having. I tend to forget that I'm living in a place I've never been and with all these people I had no clue about until about a month ago.  A part of me thinks I can just wake up one day and drive over to my parents house for Sunday dinner.

A few friends were talking last night about how they sometimes stop and think "I'm getting old, when am I gonna get a real job" and then realize this is a real job. We get salary and benefits and have to show up on time. Part of the reason life has become so routine and we forget we work is because of the group of people we work with. Its less of the typical working atmosphere in which everyone goes home to cook their family's dinner and send little Johnny off to soccer practice. The group of teachers that I have met since being here have become more of a second family than coworkers. We work together, we eat together, we spend our off time together.  Its actually kind of hard to believe some of us would have never met if it wasn't for this opportunity. Its so much easier to transition through a new life and job when there are 20 other people going through the exact same emotions and struggles at the same time. How many other jobs do you finish up work only to go play 2 hours of intense floor hockey, basketball, or volleyball?

One month in, I feel blessed to be at this point and am excited for what is to come on this adventure I call my life.

**my plead to anybody that reads this. I enjoy posting but because life is getting pretty routine I'm starting to forget to post things so if anybody has anything they want to know about my life here post it in my comments and Ill try to talk about. heres some posts I started but never finished: church for the first time, my daily schedule, driving and biking, the fountain of youth

ps- if you dont know what Stockholm Syndrome is, check wikipedia ;)

All us new teachers