Conserving Energy - Roulette Style!

Since March 11, Each day is a barrage of public service announcements and warning from the Giant Voice in our city.  We didn't have a CLUE of what was being said and the first few days we relied on rumors. Thankfully, Rei, our Japanese friend who lives on base, would kindly listen for the announcements and interpret them for us.  Now, finally, Fussa City gives Yokota heads up for those of us living off base and the announcement is then posted on FaceBook. Thank you, Mr. Zuckerman!

Oh yes, Public Service announcements...well,  we found out that the majority of them are notifications of our rolling blackouts.  In order to conserve energy, Tokyo is divided up by its suburbs, so to speak, and we are subject to 3-4hr rolling blackouts.  Sort of like Russian Roulette.  Instead of a gun it's with energy.   So some days it's from 12:30 to 16:30, the next is from 9:30 - 12:30, etc..you get the picture. Sometimes if the city has been good on conserving energy we get a reprieve by cancelling the next day's blackouts and don't always find out until AFTER you've altered you schedule. Grrrrr...!  These rolling blackouts have become quite the aggravation making it hard to plan my day around...I have an order to my day with regards to cleaning my home and making dinner.  So my housework rolls with the blackouts, too.  Not to mention, my walks with Oliver..he's a little discombobulated, as well. 

But amongst all this disorder...(insert evil hee-hee) David and I have found our humor.  A little tid-bit, the Japanese do not have four-way stops here, or even three-way stops for that matter.  Our first blackout occurred at 6:30pm and it was to last until 9:30 so we decided to venture out with Oliver for a walk.  David wanted to take my day route in the dark, I was like no way there may be Gah-hiite..(Ghosts)..there's a shrine along the route that has dressed up baby Buddha's. It's just a little creepy..he laughed and we headed towards Fussa...over the bridge...it was cold that night and the wind was whipping, what were we thinking??  Well all this second guessing flew out of our minds, forgetting the cold,  when we came across our first intersection with the lights out (it was pitch black).  Did I mention that the Japanese are probably the politest society I know?

Picture this, you have to, walking along, pitch black, no moon, and the wind being very, very cold...then imagine coming across a VERY BUSY four way intersection with no light signal and no one knows what a four-way stop is.  It was hilarious!  The cars were doing one of two things. 1) they were politely scooching up into the intersection, tapping on their horn or 2) just kinda creeping up then blowing through.   Now the tapping of the horn wasn't  a "hey, I'm here watch out" it was a "No, no, you go..." and then the other would tap back, "No. No. I insist, you go..." and back in forth this would go. We had found our evening  entertainment.  We stood on the corner for about five minutes watching the cars politely tap back and forth, going, not going, the heck with it, I'm barreling through, making up our own imagined conversation  of the drivers and couldn't stop laughing!!  I'm chuckling now,  just thinking about it. (insert evil hee-hee-hee ...)

It didn't occur to us to video tape this until AFTER we got home.  We have had several blackouts since then but not at night.  I promise to videotape the next time we have one at night.  We figure that videotaping them at night would be less noticeable than during the day.  The Japanese have a hard enough time figuring out how to cross during the day, let alone stopping to pause and wonder what those CRAZY Gaijin's are doing on the sidewalk??!  Our blackouts are opened ended until the reactors are controlled.  Things here are finding their own "new" normal - Gas has trickled back in, there are more cars on the road; shelves are still bare and when supplies do come in they are bought just as quick.  I, finally, saw some of my old dog walking friends this past Sunday.  I am happy. So until our "new" normal is here to stay... I will continue to find humor in my everyday living!

I Have No Words.

I Have No Words.

Today, is March 15, 2011.  I have no words.  David has been taking hourly readings throughout the day and first thing in the morning when we wake up.  They are normal.  Normal...to who? It has been four days since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit, along with an historical tsunami that has wiped out a minimum of 10,000 people in one town alone -  Sendei is gone.  Normal, it is not.  Oliver, my dog, keeps me busy and it's because of him that I know things are not normal.  Our daily walk along the river are now silent. Gone are the daily walkers; I don't know who they are or where they live, but  I miss them.  Gone are my new friends with their dogs. The ones who try to speak English to me as we let our dogs sniff and play. I wonder how they are.  Gone are the multiple birds along the river bank, did they leave?  Perhaps they've taking their cue by the absence of people.  This is not normal.

Normal.  I feel safe.  I am not alarmed.   I Skype my mother, my sister, my father regularly, my Facebook page is filled with concerns.  All is well in my household, we are safe.  Normal.  I have faith in the Lord, he will provide, reassure and comfort where man cannot.  I have faith that our military leadership will provide accurate information and care for us if the time comes.  Japan is in a very calm panic, If I may describe it that way.  The store shelves are bare of everyday items - rice, milk, bread, tofu.  There is no gas.  Our neighborhood driveways are lined with cars that no longer move, their owners are being frugal with what's left in the tank.  People are now riding their bikes to work or walking.  The majority of vehicles on the road now are commercial - delivery trucks, semi's, construction, etc.  I drove to base today to do my normal grocery shopping and I felt guilty.  Guilty, because I could drive, there's plenty of gas on base.  Guilty, because I could buy food, the shelves are well-stocked.  I purchased a 20lb bag of rice, just in case.  Just in case we starve? No, just in case we had to leave...I could provide something for my new friends Junko-San and her family and Fumiko-san, our shop keeper.  They have brought joy and laughter into this foreigners life and have made me feel more welcome here than I could have ever imagined.  I hope I do not have to say, "Sayonara".

My heart is overwhelmed by the multiple well wishes, thoughts and prayers;  more so, for the people of Japan.  I can only imagine what they think, or can I?  This natural disaster has affected their town, prefecture - their nation.  Even though we sit SAFE some 200 miles away, I've not seen a soul, they must be inside grieving. Grieving for the loss of their loved ones, the unexpected, for what might have been.  Or, perhaps they are being cautious for the "just-in-case" and are choosing to stay inside and conserve energy.  Twice, there was notice of a blackout. Twice it was cancelled.  The nation has done well conserving energy as their government, along with the United States and other nations assist in stopping a nuclear meltdown. We  were rewarded with the cancellation.  Tonight, there is a call for another one, perhaps that will be cancelled, too. 

David and I have no television or cable.  We obtain all our news from the internet, however, I've chosen to limit myself.  It's too much.  Too much grief, too much sensationalized journalism, it's just too much.  Every few hours a giant voice is speaking. It reminds of the exercises that I participated in with the Air Force, and on my deployment.  I wish I could understand Japanese...I hear Kudasai (please), arrigato (thank you), onagyshimas (I think that's "I repeat or I say again" - I've butchered the spelling, I know).  This is when I search the news for updated information.  This is when I am, again, confronted with what has happened.  I read the articles, I see the photos. I am overwhelmed with emotion -  I feel guilty, I have food.  I am safe.

I have no words.

March 11, 2011

When I first opened my eyes, I awoke to a blazing fire red sunrise staring at me...the first thing that popped through my head was "Red sunset at night a sailors delight, red sunrise in morn' sailors be warned" a little rhyme I used to hear my mother say when I was a little girl.  I shared this with David as we laid there looking at the beauty rising in our bedroom window.  He just chuckled, as he usual does at my little sayings and the thousands of useless little tidbits that I share daily.

At around 2:40pm I decided that I would work with Oliver to allow me to touch his paws.  I clipped his nails too close when he was very young and I am no longer allowed to touch them.  I now have a Pedi paw but I cannot get close enough to touch him.  I had just sat down on the floor with him when David called, our friend Kitty, wanted to know if I'd like to go to the movies..so we made our plans and hung up.  Little did I know that that small rhyme I recited earlier would have such an affect on a town, one nation, and the world.

At 2:46pm I heard what I thought was a huge gust of wind; they periodically come and go, out of the blue and just as quick.  From the floor I looked towards our front window, the wind sounded like a freight train...then all of a sudden the floor started shaking and I thought "Oh, my first little, big tremor".  I wasn't scared, so I just sat there..then it started getting bigger and the whole house started shaking and thought to myself, "What do I do? I should know..but I can't think" so I quickly got up and sat on the recliner for a second, then realized I should stand in a barrier supporting wall or doorway. Everything was so surreal, it felt as if I was on a roller coaster ride, clickety clacking on my way up to the drop.  Only instead of me dropping, I stood and watched my pictures frames fall, my spices rolling of the shelves and only imagined what else was falling.  At this point I still was not afraid, I can't explain it but I knew that I and David were safe.  He was at school and I know that Yokota had built very sound facilities.  During all of this my phone was ringing, but I had left it on the side table about six feet away I knew it was David calling to check on me, but I figured I better stay put.

So many things were going through my mind, like "Wow, my first earthquake ~ Crazy!" "This is a new house, surely its somewhat Earthquake friendly"..yeah, why I would think that? LOL..."I hope it's not too serious the bridges will fall....how will David get home?".. "I can't wait to tell my family".."I should be videotaping..oh man, my phones over there...darn." "Is this supposed to last this long..it feels like forever" In fact, I was told it lasted almost three minutes.  When all was done..Oliver came to me and the cats came downstairs.  I thought, so much for animal premonition. I told them they were useless! so together we surveyed our home.  Kitchen cupboards were open, drawers pulled out..spices on the floor.  In reality, we were very, very fortunate.  I went outside and saw the power and phone lines swinging, there were some elderly couples out for their afternoon exercise who definitely worked their core muscles to keep their balance, they were okay and giggling!

It wasn't until David came home to share with me the horror that the earthquake brought, a tsunami 160 miles away that wiped out a town of 10,000 plus people. Not including other small towns up and down the coast.  I felt horrible, I had already taken Oliver back out for a walk and waved to the other dog walkers as we charade (d) across our experience to one another.  How could we be so close but yet far enough away to go on as normal, never realizing that such a travesty occurred?  We have no television or radio. Our sole source of news is the internet.  When I first looked on the news, there wasn't anything so I went about my day..only for David and I to read much later of what was to come.  I am blessed.  We are blessed, the Lord has kept us from harm.