Back to a three +-hour power cut this afternoon. Got two guestrooms cleaned and ready for occupancy and did a little work in the office before it though. Power came back on about 20 minutes before my Japanese tutor arrived so I was able to get the temperature up a little from the 11 degrees (C) it had fallen to during the outage. She brought a couple exercises in reading Japanese and answering questions/solving puzzles which were just difficult enough to make me want to figure them out. We also talked about the school where she now works, and a little about the relief efforts and OMF's involvement.
"For such a time as this..." keeps coming to mind.
Tomorrow's schedule from Tokyo Electric shows us due for our power cut starting at about 9:30 am so I can go to the office/Guest Home in the afternoon.
Today a team of OMFers traveled from Hokkaido to Aomori with the makings of a soup kitchen which they hope to get set up in an area where food has been difficult to get in. They will be working with a local Japanese pastor who can introduce them properly in the area where they want to work.
Showing posts with label Japanese life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese life. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
A New Normal
So many major and minor adjustments in the past week are gradually adding up to a new way of coping with my world in Japan.
Since the power outages have become fairly standard at once a day, first I find out what time the day's outage will be and start planning from there. I think it's brilliant that tomorrow's schedule says Group 2's slot is 6:20 to 10:00 am so since it's Saturday I guess I might as well stay in bed till I can turn the heat on. Of course if the sun shines tomorrow morning that will heat the place up and I can have another session sitting with the sun coming though the window on my feet while I do some hand sewing mixed with some reading and thinking and praying. As soon as the power is restored I need to start a batch of bread in the bread maker and a load of laundry. After that the schedule is open.
I was able to get coffee filters at the store today. I also went to the bank for some cash and to the Dr.'s office to get prescriptions for my regular meds. I got my carry on bag down from the top shelf and started putting in some things for "just in case". At the Guest home I cleaned and made up two rooms to be ready for guests on the weekend.
Our message from the Crisis Management Team contained the following, reiterating the reasons for the decision not to call for members to evacuate:
· The Japanese government is not seeing the need to evacuate people beyond the 30 km radius around the nuclear reactor plant.
· The British and American Embassies have sent a number of bulletins but while recommending that people consider moving they have not ordered citizens in the regions to leave.
· We want to stand together with the Japanese at this crucial time.
Later in the day our Field director let us know that in the event we need to move away from the Tokyo area, another mission with facilities near Osaka has offered OMF a place for 40+ people to stay.
I got several messages today from friends asking for an update here in Jyojia's Japan Journal. Honestly I had no idea some of you were following. I have a visit counter installed, but without comments I really haven't a clue who is reading. Please consider leaving a short comment from time to time; it really makes it easier for me to write.
Since the power outages have become fairly standard at once a day, first I find out what time the day's outage will be and start planning from there. I think it's brilliant that tomorrow's schedule says Group 2's slot is 6:20 to 10:00 am so since it's Saturday I guess I might as well stay in bed till I can turn the heat on. Of course if the sun shines tomorrow morning that will heat the place up and I can have another session sitting with the sun coming though the window on my feet while I do some hand sewing mixed with some reading and thinking and praying. As soon as the power is restored I need to start a batch of bread in the bread maker and a load of laundry. After that the schedule is open.
I was able to get coffee filters at the store today. I also went to the bank for some cash and to the Dr.'s office to get prescriptions for my regular meds. I got my carry on bag down from the top shelf and started putting in some things for "just in case". At the Guest home I cleaned and made up two rooms to be ready for guests on the weekend.
Our message from the Crisis Management Team contained the following, reiterating the reasons for the decision not to call for members to evacuate:
· The Japanese government is not seeing the need to evacuate people beyond the 30 km radius around the nuclear reactor plant.
· The British and American Embassies have sent a number of bulletins but while recommending that people consider moving they have not ordered citizens in the regions to leave.
· We want to stand together with the Japanese at this crucial time.
Later in the day our Field director let us know that in the event we need to move away from the Tokyo area, another mission with facilities near Osaka has offered OMF a place for 40+ people to stay.
I got several messages today from friends asking for an update here in Jyojia's Japan Journal. Honestly I had no idea some of you were following. I have a visit counter installed, but without comments I really haven't a clue who is reading. Please consider leaving a short comment from time to time; it really makes it easier for me to write.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
One Day Later
The subtle rolling and gentle shakings are fewer and farther between. I walked up to the Ichikawa JR Station late this afternoon to get some exercise and to see how things seemed to be going. It's Saturday which is usually a day when families do something together. The shops are busy and so are trains.
Today there were people walking purposefully as usual. Women with several bags of grocery shopping. Moms and dads with babies. The sidewalks weren't crowded, but there were people doing the usual things. At the station building itself, which is full of all kinds of shops, people were looking at and buying food. I went to the gates for the trains and saw that they were running the Rapid Service toward Tokyo and toward Chiba, but it didn't look like there were trains running on the local line. Periodic announcements were being made over the PA system. These, as in stations around the world, are difficult to understand on a good day. I thought perhaps they were saying that the Blue Line was working as a "stop-at-every-station" train, but that can't be right, there aren't platforms at all the stations for the Blue. A large screen was running through the list of train lines one-by-one saying if it was operating or not. Glad I didn't need to go anywhere.
I went to the bank and used an ATM. There was one other woman there doing the same. I went to several shops that sell ready to eat food and they had sold most of their inventory. Some were hurrying to make more, and it seemed that some were running specials to make sure they sold everything.
This evening there are problems that everyone has heard with the power plants. Tokyo Electric is talking about "rolling blackouts" (where have I heard that term before?) so I went ahead and took a shower in case there is no power later, or tomorrow morning when I want to go to church. I need to get a flashlight out of my emergency kit. It's not too cold yet this evening, but if it's dark I suspect I'll spend some time under the covers with a book and my battery operated book light.
Like the Japanese I have adopted an attitude of making the best of a difficult situation, and staying calm as the Prime Minister has urged. No moaning and complaining - others have much more difficulty to cope with than I.
OMF Japan works with an Organization called CRASH - Christian Relief, Assistance Support and Hope - which is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world. Hopefully some of us will be able to contribute various talents and skills to the recovery through working with them. If you want to do something tangible, go to their website http://crashjapan.com/ to see what you can do. If you're looking for a place to make a monetary donation, click on the tab for donations.
Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers.
Today there were people walking purposefully as usual. Women with several bags of grocery shopping. Moms and dads with babies. The sidewalks weren't crowded, but there were people doing the usual things. At the station building itself, which is full of all kinds of shops, people were looking at and buying food. I went to the gates for the trains and saw that they were running the Rapid Service toward Tokyo and toward Chiba, but it didn't look like there were trains running on the local line. Periodic announcements were being made over the PA system. These, as in stations around the world, are difficult to understand on a good day. I thought perhaps they were saying that the Blue Line was working as a "stop-at-every-station" train, but that can't be right, there aren't platforms at all the stations for the Blue. A large screen was running through the list of train lines one-by-one saying if it was operating or not. Glad I didn't need to go anywhere.
I went to the bank and used an ATM. There was one other woman there doing the same. I went to several shops that sell ready to eat food and they had sold most of their inventory. Some were hurrying to make more, and it seemed that some were running specials to make sure they sold everything.
This evening there are problems that everyone has heard with the power plants. Tokyo Electric is talking about "rolling blackouts" (where have I heard that term before?) so I went ahead and took a shower in case there is no power later, or tomorrow morning when I want to go to church. I need to get a flashlight out of my emergency kit. It's not too cold yet this evening, but if it's dark I suspect I'll spend some time under the covers with a book and my battery operated book light.
Like the Japanese I have adopted an attitude of making the best of a difficult situation, and staying calm as the Prime Minister has urged. No moaning and complaining - others have much more difficulty to cope with than I.
OMF Japan works with an Organization called CRASH - Christian Relief, Assistance Support and Hope - which is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world. Hopefully some of us will be able to contribute various talents and skills to the recovery through working with them. If you want to do something tangible, go to their website http://crashjapan.com/ to see what you can do. If you're looking for a place to make a monetary donation, click on the tab for donations.
Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)