48 Hour Emotional Turmoil

The past 48 hours have been an emotional rollercoaster for us here in Japan for more than one reason!! It is difficult to recount all the events that took place to everyone, so we hope this is a concise overview what's been going on here.

We began our 48 hours on Friday morning- the morning of our last day at To O Gijuku High School as English teachers. A student greets us at our desk asking us to come to his classroom. We knew something was up, and when we entered the classroom all the students cheered and yelled, "Thank you Truvis and Angie!" Well, they never got exactly how to spell Travis' name, but they did get how much we love them!! They presented us with a standard message card and some homemade goodies which made the first tears of the day come!!





As usual for the last day of the school year, the teachers who are leaving gave a short speech to the students at the closing ceremony service. This was our last assignment for the school, and it was the most difficult one. We were presented with some beautiful flowers and thanked for our time at the school along with 4 other teachers who are leaving this year. After the ceremony students did a final cleaning of their classrooms and went home. At this time we stood in the hallway saying our last goodbyes and giving hugs to our students. This was exceedingly hard to do, not only because embracing is a very very uncommon practice amoung the Japanese, but also because we love these students dearly. Many tears were shed on both sides. Most of these students who we came to love, we will probably never see again. It was very sad to say goodbye.



After returning home, full of sadness, we began to prepare for our Good Bye Party with English Club. The party was to be held on Saturday from 2pm to 8pm. We and the students were so excited to celebrate and meet, but little did we know that trouble was brewing...

At 2:51 on the dot a rumbling began. We felt dizzy at first but shortly realized it was not in our minds. It was an earthquake. Angie quickly whipped out her camera and started the footage. This earthquake was much bigger than we had experienced before and lasted a good 5 minutes (which is rather long for an earthquake). Half way through it, the power when out; we then realized that this was a big one. Although it was the biggest we had felt, nothing in our apartment fell and no damage was done. Since the power went out, we had no idea what was happening in Japan. We figured the power would shortly come back. After the power didn't return for an hour or so we figured we'd go outside and see if we could figure out what was going on. What we found surprised us. ALL electricity was down ALL over the city. Even the street lights were off, which unlike in America create a mess of traffic. Cars were just going through the intersections without waiting, which seemed quite strange to us.




With the power still off, our friend came over for a soup and bread dinner. Although we didn't have electricity, we still had gas for our stove. Unfortunately our heater must have electricity to run, so it was a cold, cold, dark night. We lit our candles and played some games to pass the time. Still by this time we knew little about what was going on in Japan, just that a big earthquake had hit around Sendai. At about 9pm we went out for a stroll around town. The city had become a ghost town. With no electricity there was not a single light or noise, only the light and sound from the few passing cars. It was crazy to stand on the busiest intersection in town and see only 20 feet in front of you! The picture below is what we experienced on the main street in town.



Before returning to our apartment, we made a quick call from a pay phone to make sure our parents knew everything was okay where we were. We called just in time to relieve their already anxious nerves as they had just woken up to the reports on TV. This was the first time we realized the magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami. We were taken aback from the news we heard about Japan all the way from America. Upon returning home, our aparment had sunk to a low of 45 degrees Farenheit, so we jumped into bed hoping that the electricity would return and we could continue with our plans for the Good Bye Party the following day. Several times during the night we were awoken to the temors of the aftershocks.

Unfortunately, we woke up to our colder-than-ever apartment still in the midst of utter black-out. So we ate a quick breakfast and decided we would venture out to see what the rest of Hirosaki was doing during this crisis. We found there was still no electricity, no trains, and very few stores open. Those stores that were opened seemed to have generators for power. Even the city clock tower still held the time of the earthquake. People were frantically buying any food they could and kerosene in case the black-out continued.


Luckily, throughout the day, little by little the electricity returned to the city, and we were back up and running by evening. It was then that we felt the scope of the earthquakes that hit as we watched the footage and read the reports of the disaster that had struck Japan. The picture below shows the magnitude of the first huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday afternoon. As you can see nearly all of Japan felt the tremor, and in Hirosaki we felt a level 4 earthquake in comparison to the 8.9 that hit in Sendai. Now, we are just continuing to watch the news (since we have electricity) and pray that God will bring quick relief and aid to the people of Japan. We are also continuing our preparations for the Good Bye party which will take place this week. It seems as though our last 15 days here are going to feel quite similar to this weekend as there will be many ups and downs and both laughter and tears shared.



Here is raw footage of the big earthquake live from our apartment! The movement from the camera is not only from Angie's poor filming skills, but mostly due to the difficulty in keeping our balance as the ground beneath us rocked and swayed.