Marie in Japan: A Sad Day for Japan

March 11, 2011 - The aftermath. Story to come...

My apartment. I was lucky, only one broken cup in my kitchen!

The desk.

My neighbor and I passed the time at night by building Nanoblocks beside candlelight and flashlight.

Finally our turn to get water after waiting in line for about an hour!

The newspaper distributed on Saturday, March 12th. A man was handing them out to drivers for free in the middle of the street by my apartment. At that time, many cell phones didn't have service, and there was no power and no water in my area. This was most likely the first good source of information about what had just happened.

The gym across the street from my apartment.

My friends and I spent a lot of time at the evacuation center across the street. We charged our phones, used the bathrooms, and even got free miso soup and a riceball one day!

Hitachi evacuation center at night.

The gym at my high school.

This is where I was teaching when the earthquake happened.

In the class I was teaching, students usually practice for the Eiken exam (an English language test that many Japanese high school students take) for the first half of class, and we use a listening textbook for the second half.
But this was a special day because it was the last day of the school year. Spring break would start soon and the new school year begins in April. I had a board game prepared for students, but unfortunately the earthquake struck at about 2:46p.m., so no game that day.

On Monday, everything at school was exactly how students had left it when they abandoned the building on Friday.

People waited patiently in straight lines for food and water during the whole ordeal. I didn't see any looting or negativity, even when it was clear that food and water were becoming scarce.