Shake, Shake, Shake

Biggest Psychological Adjustment So Far: Hands down, it’s earthquake preparedness. For a prairie girl, whose biggest natural concern was blizzards (and I’ve lived through some scary ones on the highway between Canmore and Calgary), wrapping my head around the idea of earthquakes has been really hard. There’s the initial “oh shit” panic, then there’s the “agh, it’ll never happen while I’m here,” and then there’s the message we got from our training at Berlitz: “When the big earthquake hits (dramatic pause)….and it will (dramatic pause)….we could all be dead!!!” Well, I am someone all for the drama, however this is too much for me. Particularly after we experienced an earthquake (small in the big picture of things) this morning while we were getting ready to leave for work.

I was reading an e-mail message and felt the floor start to shake. I thought to myself, “Hmmm. There’s no way our neighbours below us could be doing something to make our floor shake.” (I think this was a case of wishful thinking along the lines of “please, please, please let this not be an earthquake”). Yep, any doubts were erased when the entire building started to shimmy like it was doing some kind of belly dance. For anyone who has never experienced an earthquake, it is very unsettling (not for Tokyo-ites, however. No one seemed phased when we started walking to the station). Ker quickly checked the meteorological website and the quake registered at a minimal 4.8 on the Richter scale. The Big One (Tokai) is predicted to register closer to an 8 or a 9!?! In a nutshell, experiencing an earthquake made me feel powerless and also resigned to the power of Mother Nature. There will be no controlling her, so what’s the point of worrying? (We are going to pick up an emergency kit sooner than later, though). No one at my Learning Centre (LC) even mentioned the quake, while at Ker’s LC, one woman informed Ker that it’s the ‘jumping’ earthquakes that are really concerning. The ‘wavy’ ones (like today’s) are much better ☺

Work: Surviving the first week….First off, I love my co-workers. They are so laid back and many of them have been around for a loooong time. I am the newbie by a long shot, after another fellow who started a month ago (he’s a tad bit jaded, and is ready to leave Japan fairly soon). I was admittedly very anxious for the first several days of work. It crossed my mind many times that I should just quit while I’m ahead, and save my poor stomach from any further upsets. After finishing day 4 today, however, I’m feeling much more optimistic about my future as an English teacher. I have my co-workers, lovely lovely students, and, of course, Kerwood to thank for keeping me afloat over the past week. Some of my lessons have been really fun and I am thoroughly enjoying meeting each student—they have so many interesting stories to tell! It has also crossed my mind that I am so fortunate that I can spend time with people whom I would never cross paths with in Canada (e.g., extremely high-ranking businesspeople), in a setting where I can experience their warmth, humbleness, and wonderful senses of humour. I think it will work out just fine....