Monster Trucks

Eno Brad asked William if he wanted to go to a Monster Truck rally in Eugene in the new arena they have there. William said, "Yes!"

Brad says he wouldn't necessarily go to one of these events, but it was fun to go and see it through the eyes of William.
They got excellent seats (except for the folks behind William) and Brad provided William with ear protection.
There it is in the background: GRAVE DIGGER!

You may have wondered about this arena's size. Yep, it's Matthew Knight Arena, a basketball court, normally. But, they got the wheelie competition, the donut competition, and the freestyle competition done in that small area!

Matthew Knight is the son of Phil Knight, the Nike guy.

They just take up the wood flooring, and there's concrete underneath.
William even got to shake the hand of the winner.

William liked the big engine noises, and the golf cart that was set up as a rocket car!

Okay, enough testosterone for one day! Eno Brad ROCKS!

Flat Stanley Evacuates

A friend of William's in Washington sent a Flat Stanley to us in Japan. For those of you not in the know, Flat Stanley comes from a book about a paper doll that gets mailed somewhere and has wonderfully new and exotic experiences. Our living in Japan seemed like a great choice. We had plans to visit shrines, temples, trains...

Well, with the earthquake and tsunami, mail was even slower than normal and we started to assume Flat Stanley got lost in the mail or washed out to sea. Then, a little bit of fallout occurred in Yokosuka from the Fukuchima Daiichi nuclear disaster and with the situation highly in question, the Navy called out a voluntary evacuation. We'd already bought tickets for Caroline and William the day before it was official and we were on our way to send them out on the bus that would take them to the airport. As we drove in, we were a bit surprised at the long lines at the grocery stores. Japanese are the best at disasters. They are prepared, patient, polite, and help themselves rather than waiting for someone to help them.

As we were waiting for the bus, we checked the mail one last time and guess what we found!
Flat Stanley! Here he is with William and the wonderful Japanese mail room employees that are always so polite and helpful. Everywhere we went, we said hasty goodbyes and farewells. It's tough when you are leaving at such short notice and with no real idea if you will be back.

Flat Stanley with the American and Japanese flags in front of the FISC building where our office is.

Flat Stanley with a couple of sailors from the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON

Flat Stanley watching the Japanese yard birds bicycling by.

Flat Stanley with a friendly technical service man in his uniform.

and Flat Stanley crossing the street Japanese style (hand up in the air. OK Flat Stanley really got into it and was fully in the air...)

Little video of saying goodbye. Obviously, William is pretty excited to be going...

William Playing Piano

William is home sick today, but he is feeling better.

Here he is, practicing piano.

Since we're having power black-outs, I am having a laundry-folding black-out... so forgive the pile behind Wm.

This is after 4 lessons.



BTW, my camera is broken, so I have no viewfinder of any kind. So, the framing is off. Don't worry, a new camera is being shipped here!

St. Patty Party Aftermath

If you're looking for the recipe, this is it!
Well, the party tsunami has hit. If it weren't for paper plates, and green plastic cups, it would have been a lot worse.
I am always so busy during parties, that I rarely get to take pics.
So, this is the 'morning after' or 'hangover' pics!
Green party lights, yep, everything you need for a great party! We went through almost 2 kegs of beer. So, that's like 9 gallons of beer!

I fed only 37 as opposed to last year's 55. So, we have leftovers! Tim is happy! :)

Gas Rationing

On Sunday, I took Tim's car onto base for gas (cheaper than off-base). On the way back, I saw this long gas line. There were many on the street to the left waiting for this Esso station.
With several refineries catching fire, we expect to have less gas.
This is the second Shell station I passed. One was close, and if you double-click, and look by the post behind the silver van, you'll see a sign in kanji. They're either out, or giving only a little gas... since there isn't a long line for it, I'm guessing they're out.

As far as I could tell, they hadn't raised their gas prices.
I told Tim I felt nervous, and I would feel better if my car had gas, as well. It wasn't empty, but a quarter tank doesn't go far. By the time I got back to base, this sign was posted. Limit of 10 gallons per patron.
I've pulled ahead to go pay, and let others in. Tim says his tank doesn't hold 10 gallons, so no big. Mine holds 14. Behind my car is a little car I think looks like a baby hearse.

I didn't pass any Cosmo, JOMO, or Eneos stations (the other major gas station companies in town) but I'm sure they also had lines.

Our base pumps did run out of gas on Monday, but they've gotten a new shipment in. We are encouraged to ride our bikes, or take public transportation, which is problematic when they keep shutting down trains (electricity outages) on us.

They've cancelled the trip Wm and I were to go on. No buses going to non-essential places.

Where Were You?

I thought I'd do a post about what we were doing when the 'big' one hit. Ours was a M 5 upper (I've heard some say 6, others 5.7), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

If you double-click, we are inside the bay, about 2 knuckles in, if that tiny protrusion there were a finger. So, we are somewhat protected, as there are mountains between us and the Pacific Ocean. The entrance to Tokyo Bay is relatively small, therefore we'd have to have an earthquake directly south of it to do the damage seen on TV recently.

We are close enough to the water, that a hurricane, like Katrina, would flood us. We are in more danger of that happening.

This is my version, for the three of us, so Tim and William may end up editing it. There. That's my disclaimer.

TIM was at work. He was in a trailer on the ship. He said these trailers (stacked 2 high) sometimes shake a bit when a bigger 'Yardbird' tromps through in their steel-toed boots. But this one kept going and going. The boss came out and said, "What are you guys doing out here?" like they were doing something to make it happen.

It shook enough to unsettle the brow, or the gangplank for the ship, so they had to be re-set. No getting away from those jig-dancing Yardbirds! :)

He was able to get through to us (finally) on the phone after the big aftershock hit. We were fine.

Later, the water dropped about 6 feet, unsettling the brow again. He called us again, and said, "If this is like Thailand, you need to get to higher ground." We were on a higher road, going home, but after seeing a village devastated that was 2 miles (3 kilometers) inland, I'm now realizing that that road wasn't nearly high enough.

He had to work late, and I did start to get a bit concerned, but I knew that if people couldn't get in to work, that he'd have to stay.

WILLIAM had gotten a prize for winning the spelling bee in the classroom he'd gone to. It was a second-grade classroom, as his teacher knew he is more advanced than first grade. The prize was a ticket to go watch the movie, 'Akeela and the Bee.' I had to go pick him up from school (kindergarten and first grade have to have an adult or of age child pick them up) to take him to the multi-purpose room for this event.

The head lady told me I could leave and come back later, but I saw she had bags of popcorn that needed divvied out, and drinks to serve, so I stayed and made myself useful.

When everything was done, I decided that this would be a good time to go shopping, and headed for the commissary.

When the 'big one' hit, William said that the doors in the school automatically opened. The kids are trained to dive under something sturdy, so they got under their chairs, and after it stopped shaking, they headed to the exit, and downstairs to the outside.

He ended up in a group that wasn't with the main lady, and a neighbor saw that he was upset, so she walked with her kids and him from the blacktop, play area, towards the grass.

CAROLINE-- I was a couple hundred yards away, cutting across the parking lot to the commissary when I saw this lady with a weird look on her face say to me, "Can you feel THAT?" I stopped and realized that her car she was standing by was rocking badly, and the ground was rolling. I cried out, "God help my child!" and I spun around and headed for the school.

As I passed the bottom part of the playground, I saw 4 kids squatting under a bench. Kinda funny... what did they think, the sky was going to fall? But, they'd been trained... and the ground was still rolling. Past the gym, past the multi-purpose room (above the cafeteria). I could see the last bit of kids being led away. I saw the main lady, but I didn't see William.

I have a certain call to get William's attention, and I started yelling for him. I finally saw him, and he was crying. I gave him a big hug, kept kissing the top of his head, and told him it was going to be alright.

Then I said, "Wasn't that COOL? You've lived through a big earthquake!" and we high-fived.

We grouped up with his group. Our neighbor's child, Thor, came over and gave William a hug.

Then we were told to go to higher ground, in front of the school. A lady with a bull horn told us nobody could go back inside until the school was inspected, and that parents couldn't take their kids until all children were accounted for. As soon as the counting was done, the main lady told me to take William.

We headed to KumOn. William does math at the community center, a four-story building. We were about to go in, and get on the elevators, and I thought that he might be a bit shocky, and sugar can help. So, went back to a vending machine to choose a drink, and I was getting out coins, and the aftershock hit. It was big enough to get your attention, that's for sure!

We got away from the building. We could see the blinds swinging in the windows. William said, "I don't want to go in there! (to the third floor)" and I said, "Okay, but we need to go to the commissary!"

So, we waited for the building to be inspected, then sprinted through trying to get all our grocery shopping done, as we were having a St. Pat's party the next day, and I needed to buy green grapes and green celery --two items that are American centric-- and a few other things. Then, we headed home.

The line to get off base was formidable. We ended up exiting main gate, then sat in traffic. People going the opposite way weren't moving. People we know said they parked their car and walked to base. I tried to take a picture of the gnarled traffic, but my camera isn't working too well, and well, I was distracted...

Tim called to warn us about a tsunami. The light of the evening was apocalypse-ish. The sun was golden, and setting in the west (behind us), and there was a looming black cloud overhead (from the refinery across the bay from us, they had a fire). The light was trapped inside, but not bouncing, like off of white clouds. So you got a very unique one-way light. Photogs will appreciate this.

We got to our house in 1 hour (it usually takes 20). The electricity was out for the last little bit, so the traffic lights weren't working.

When we got out of the car, I heard the announcement to evacuate. They play it in both Japanese and English in our town. The neighbors were all talking, so I went over there, and asked if here was okay to stay. Our neighbor behind us (we share a driveway) used English (for the first time since being here) to explain that the tsunami was supposed to hit us 10 minutes ago, and it was only supposed to be 2 meters.

I knew the roads were problematic, our house has a second story, so I got our emergency kits (two day-packs) and put the water in the one from our water stash, and William and I went upstairs. We have flashlights by our beds for emergencies, and I went down and got more batteries.

We huddled in, knowing that night would befall us. We had sandwiches for dinner. When the natural light was gone, I missed our house back home, where we had an emergency light that was kept plugged in, and gave off good light during power outages. Then I thought, 'hey, the solar lights in our garden would work inside!' So, I went and got them. William and I used real flashlights to read our books.

What was really un-nerving was the many after-shocks. Anything from a 1 to a 4. Lots of 2s. Each time your heart jolts and you wonder if it's going to be another big one. By the next morning, I went online and counted them, and came up with 70. William said he was counting, and there had been 73.

We usually only have a quake every couple of months. To have so many in so short of time is rattling to the nerves.

The power came on at 1:34, and has stayed on since. The next morning, we finally got to watch some of the footage.

We are scheduled for black-outs. If the power needs don't exceed the generated power, no power goes out. So, we're keeping lights off, and doing what we can to conserve. I'm not stopping doing laundry, though!