[Japan] March 17th Update
Yesterday morning I received an executive order from my American university (well, though our study abroad travel insurance company) to evacuate. I haven't cried the whole time, and they tell me to go? I bawled so hard, and then got on the phone with my dad, and it was sort of horribly embarrassing.
But I'm still not going. As of the 23rd, I lose my travel insurance, and will probably be officially disowned by my university (on a bureaucratic level -- the people in my international office are too kind to do that). But I still have my father's insurance, and my national insurance here, and more than that...my dad supported my decision to stay. Which meant the world to me. The only way I would go, then, is if I became a burden on Morioka or Iwate-ken, and I discussed that with my teachers here, and they said there's no chance of that.
So after a turbulent Wednesday, I am still staying, and as stubborn as hell. (The other girl from my school that is here for a year, who is down around Tokyo, is also defying the order. I have always hated this chick; now I am grateful for her.)
The beginning of next term has been pushed back by a month, to May 9th. This gives me seven weeks to do....something? I go into the English department every day around noon and just hang out, so I might do that on a more permanent basis -- one of my profs and I joked that I'll be the only English department student for the next two months. When it gets nice in April, I'm going to learn how to ride a bike, finally. And on a clearly academic level, I'll really have no excuse for not passing the JLPT-N2, now. (More seriously, my prof agreed to take me with to the east, whenever they start accepting volunteers for the cleanup effort.)
Restaurants are starting to run out of food, but this wasn't exactly unexpected. I can maybe keep eating at them for the rest of the week? Then it's me and my food hoard. (I have about a quarter of the beef jerky in the city. Don't judge me.) I was happy(?) to see that one of the local supermarkets had meat back in stock yesterday, even if it was just from Iwate-ken, meaning that we're killing our cows now... Eh.
Trash services have been stopped, because of the need to conserve fuel. Serves me right for not taking out my burnables on Monday when I had the chance. I really need to do laundry of all my socks and warm underthings today, but I feel guilty about using so much water...and I need a shower too...argh.
Everything was covered in snow when I woke up yesterday. Not good. But when I went outside, there was a woman with her great big golden retriever, who was merrily rolling around on his back in the snow. It made me so, so happy.
But I'm still not going. As of the 23rd, I lose my travel insurance, and will probably be officially disowned by my university (on a bureaucratic level -- the people in my international office are too kind to do that). But I still have my father's insurance, and my national insurance here, and more than that...my dad supported my decision to stay. Which meant the world to me. The only way I would go, then, is if I became a burden on Morioka or Iwate-ken, and I discussed that with my teachers here, and they said there's no chance of that.
So after a turbulent Wednesday, I am still staying, and as stubborn as hell. (The other girl from my school that is here for a year, who is down around Tokyo, is also defying the order. I have always hated this chick; now I am grateful for her.)
The beginning of next term has been pushed back by a month, to May 9th. This gives me seven weeks to do....something? I go into the English department every day around noon and just hang out, so I might do that on a more permanent basis -- one of my profs and I joked that I'll be the only English department student for the next two months. When it gets nice in April, I'm going to learn how to ride a bike, finally. And on a clearly academic level, I'll really have no excuse for not passing the JLPT-N2, now. (More seriously, my prof agreed to take me with to the east, whenever they start accepting volunteers for the cleanup effort.)
Restaurants are starting to run out of food, but this wasn't exactly unexpected. I can maybe keep eating at them for the rest of the week? Then it's me and my food hoard. (I have about a quarter of the beef jerky in the city. Don't judge me.) I was happy(?) to see that one of the local supermarkets had meat back in stock yesterday, even if it was just from Iwate-ken, meaning that we're killing our cows now... Eh.
Trash services have been stopped, because of the need to conserve fuel. Serves me right for not taking out my burnables on Monday when I had the chance. I really need to do laundry of all my socks and warm underthings today, but I feel guilty about using so much water...and I need a shower too...argh.
Everything was covered in snow when I woke up yesterday. Not good. But when I went outside, there was a woman with her great big golden retriever, who was merrily rolling around on his back in the snow. It made me so, so happy.