The unpleasant pilgrimage home...
Hmmm, I guess I should try to put this down. It was really weird... It had been a really bad week. Not only were we losing some good friends, but since they were our house guests for the week, we were also a little unable to appreciate them. The amount of personal space needed is directly proportional to the amount of stress a person is under, and since it was midterm week, I needed a lot and got little. Harry, too, was cranky. So, it had been a crappy week with bad personal relations. I finished my last midterm Thursday and was kind of just chilling out through Friday. We had no clean laundry, so I layered a bunch of different clothes against the cold, but didn't think I would be out late. I had no work, so I was just going to come home and cook dinner. A nice, easy Friday.
Towards the end of my last class, the sweet old teacher was rambling through the agenda and I was trying to pay attention. A couple of people in the back of the room started whispering, until one finally interrupted the hard-of-hearing professor to ask if anyone else thought the room was shaking. Well, now that you mention it, it kind of was. It gradually increased harder and harder. I was only on the second floor, so the room wasn't really moving too much. The teacher casually thought for a moment, then asked "What should we do?" Most of the students panicked and ran out of the door. My friend was sitting next to me, and having been forced to go to an earthquake museum when she was studying abroad here in high school, kept telling him to open the door and the others to stay calm. There were about five of us left in the room, all thinking it was going to stop soon. Instead, it kept getting stronger and stronger and the building swayed like a boat in a storm. Outside the window you could see the leafless trees and the telephone poles twanging back and forth wildly like those stupid inflatable dancing things at used car lots. Nothing fell over though and we all just kind of stood there calmly observing the situation while we could hear the other students running and pushing down the stairwell. Since you're not supposed to go outside during an earthquake because falling debris can be dangerous, we stayed, but wow, the rest of the building was on the sidewalk.
After a few more minutes it calmed down and stopped. We meandered to the cafeteria and sat down just wondering what to do. An announcement on the intercom stated calmly not to go outside in Japanese. A random teacher opened the emergency exit and ordered us outside. We dragged our feet among the crying OL's and stepped out into the cold parking lot without jackets. Everyone was really upset.... it must have been much more frightening on the higher floors. My counselor found me and told me with a shaking voice that she was going home immediately. Okay, afternoon free then. While the OL's were re-applying their running mascara, we were allowed back in.
I sent texts to several people, including Harry, telling him I was heading home. My next plan was for dinner. After a second's thought though, I realized that the trains might not be running. I sat and waited for a minute to decide. Someone put the news on the TV and it still didn't look that bad. There were Tsunami warnings, but it was just a slim margin around the coast. I finally picked up and headed for the station, to try to get home, or to find Harry. As I left school, I looked over at Tokyo Tower and thought about how strange it would be if something happened to it. After all, I never really got the impact of disaster movies on big monuments before, but now I felt a little strange as I looked at it. (Later I read that the tip had bent, but I really couldn't tell)
There were groups of puzzled office-dwellers milling about outside the station. In front of the gates several police stood with their arms crossed, trying to look as menacing as they could as they faced the perturbed crowds. A small group of people stood huddled awkwardly inside the gates looking like they really wanted to leave, but couldn't for some reason. No phones were working because of the excessive use (just like at hanami). There was a mob in front of the news TV between gates, and in that pile Harry called out to me. We met and decided to look for a bus. The line was so long it stretched back to the next stop. We gave up and went to a bar, hoping the trains would sort it out soon, I mean after all, EVERYONE needs them... so... they were going to do something... right?
A few drinks later we got dinner, then trekked back up to the station to find that it was still closed and that they still had no idea when. Okkkkkaaayyy.... fuck. Well, it was getting dark, so no more waiting around. We decided to walk to a different bus station that was on the way home and if the line was shorter, then we'd take it. The line was only like 10 people, a decided improvement. The bus that pulled up let everyone on, not charging at all, just trying to help people in need. We squished like you wouldn't believe. At least I got crunched up near the windshield. Thirty minutes later we were still in walking distance from the school and more and more people just getting on. We ended up half-way back in really uncomfortable positions. At an hour and a half on that bus, we had only reached Ebisu and couldn't take the contortion any longer. We got off and started to walk. At Ebisu station they had the gates down for the night, but it was only 7pm. They were NOT going to re-open tonight at all. Shit. shitshitshit! This wasn't just a matter of making progress till we found a running train, it was suddenly mandatory that we walk home. So we set out... with the sidewalks crowded with girls in cute dresses and heals and men in suits, we all walked along the ugly and desolate highways home. Every police box was crowded with people asking directions and when we said our destination, the cops gave us a disbelieving look. It was a bit cold, around 40 degrees and a little windy, and Harry had pulled a muscle in his back at the gym earlier that day. I truly got the feeling like all of technology had failed and suddenly we were in a useless wasteland. It was just missing zombies. The friends I had left at school ended up staying the night there.
Some odd four or so hours later (8.5 hours since the quake) we arrived at our apartment on the other side of town. Our gas had been turned off because of the quake and I had no clue how to get it working again. So without heat, or cooking, or bathing we just laid down and slept. The next morning we heard about all this other stuff, and it was really surprising. Aftershocks still keep shaking everything pretty hard, but nothing bad has happened to our apartment. Nothing really fell over, not even my bike. The trains still aren't running, so we're stuck at home, but with Harry's back still hurting it's okay. We live about five minutes from a Don Kihotei, so we walked there for stuff to make dinner. The line to check out was through the whole store and everything was raided. Whatever, people were still being polite, so it's cool. We found some food, brought it back and have just been hanging out since. It was weird, but I guess it doesn't really match up to all the media hype around....
Towards the end of my last class, the sweet old teacher was rambling through the agenda and I was trying to pay attention. A couple of people in the back of the room started whispering, until one finally interrupted the hard-of-hearing professor to ask if anyone else thought the room was shaking. Well, now that you mention it, it kind of was. It gradually increased harder and harder. I was only on the second floor, so the room wasn't really moving too much. The teacher casually thought for a moment, then asked "What should we do?" Most of the students panicked and ran out of the door. My friend was sitting next to me, and having been forced to go to an earthquake museum when she was studying abroad here in high school, kept telling him to open the door and the others to stay calm. There were about five of us left in the room, all thinking it was going to stop soon. Instead, it kept getting stronger and stronger and the building swayed like a boat in a storm. Outside the window you could see the leafless trees and the telephone poles twanging back and forth wildly like those stupid inflatable dancing things at used car lots. Nothing fell over though and we all just kind of stood there calmly observing the situation while we could hear the other students running and pushing down the stairwell. Since you're not supposed to go outside during an earthquake because falling debris can be dangerous, we stayed, but wow, the rest of the building was on the sidewalk.
After a few more minutes it calmed down and stopped. We meandered to the cafeteria and sat down just wondering what to do. An announcement on the intercom stated calmly not to go outside in Japanese. A random teacher opened the emergency exit and ordered us outside. We dragged our feet among the crying OL's and stepped out into the cold parking lot without jackets. Everyone was really upset.... it must have been much more frightening on the higher floors. My counselor found me and told me with a shaking voice that she was going home immediately. Okay, afternoon free then. While the OL's were re-applying their running mascara, we were allowed back in.
I sent texts to several people, including Harry, telling him I was heading home. My next plan was for dinner. After a second's thought though, I realized that the trains might not be running. I sat and waited for a minute to decide. Someone put the news on the TV and it still didn't look that bad. There were Tsunami warnings, but it was just a slim margin around the coast. I finally picked up and headed for the station, to try to get home, or to find Harry. As I left school, I looked over at Tokyo Tower and thought about how strange it would be if something happened to it. After all, I never really got the impact of disaster movies on big monuments before, but now I felt a little strange as I looked at it. (Later I read that the tip had bent, but I really couldn't tell)
There were groups of puzzled office-dwellers milling about outside the station. In front of the gates several police stood with their arms crossed, trying to look as menacing as they could as they faced the perturbed crowds. A small group of people stood huddled awkwardly inside the gates looking like they really wanted to leave, but couldn't for some reason. No phones were working because of the excessive use (just like at hanami). There was a mob in front of the news TV between gates, and in that pile Harry called out to me. We met and decided to look for a bus. The line was so long it stretched back to the next stop. We gave up and went to a bar, hoping the trains would sort it out soon, I mean after all, EVERYONE needs them... so... they were going to do something... right?
A few drinks later we got dinner, then trekked back up to the station to find that it was still closed and that they still had no idea when. Okkkkkaaayyy.... fuck. Well, it was getting dark, so no more waiting around. We decided to walk to a different bus station that was on the way home and if the line was shorter, then we'd take it. The line was only like 10 people, a decided improvement. The bus that pulled up let everyone on, not charging at all, just trying to help people in need. We squished like you wouldn't believe. At least I got crunched up near the windshield. Thirty minutes later we were still in walking distance from the school and more and more people just getting on. We ended up half-way back in really uncomfortable positions. At an hour and a half on that bus, we had only reached Ebisu and couldn't take the contortion any longer. We got off and started to walk. At Ebisu station they had the gates down for the night, but it was only 7pm. They were NOT going to re-open tonight at all. Shit. shitshitshit! This wasn't just a matter of making progress till we found a running train, it was suddenly mandatory that we walk home. So we set out... with the sidewalks crowded with girls in cute dresses and heals and men in suits, we all walked along the ugly and desolate highways home. Every police box was crowded with people asking directions and when we said our destination, the cops gave us a disbelieving look. It was a bit cold, around 40 degrees and a little windy, and Harry had pulled a muscle in his back at the gym earlier that day. I truly got the feeling like all of technology had failed and suddenly we were in a useless wasteland. It was just missing zombies. The friends I had left at school ended up staying the night there.
Some odd four or so hours later (8.5 hours since the quake) we arrived at our apartment on the other side of town. Our gas had been turned off because of the quake and I had no clue how to get it working again. So without heat, or cooking, or bathing we just laid down and slept. The next morning we heard about all this other stuff, and it was really surprising. Aftershocks still keep shaking everything pretty hard, but nothing bad has happened to our apartment. Nothing really fell over, not even my bike. The trains still aren't running, so we're stuck at home, but with Harry's back still hurting it's okay. We live about five minutes from a Don Kihotei, so we walked there for stuff to make dinner. The line to check out was through the whole store and everything was raided. Whatever, people were still being polite, so it's cool. We found some food, brought it back and have just been hanging out since. It was weird, but I guess it doesn't really match up to all the media hype around....