Day seven post earthquake

Today has felt a little more normal that previous days. Perhaps because I didn't have to go scavenging for groceries? Perhaps because it was Day Two of Marshall School and the boys were great? Perhaps because we're starting to get a little bit more predictability into our days? Perhaps because I got to go to the gym and we spent half the day at school?

It was a delight not to have to go anywhere this morning. Not to feel concerned because something like toilet paper was running out. I spent the morning researching for Japan Harvest articles and soliciting people to write for the magazine. In the same room, my husband and our three boys did school-like stuff.

Our 5 y.o. did some writing and reading. Then he did some spelling using an old CD-ROM from Australia.

Our 8 y.o. continued writing his "What happened after the earthquake" story. Then he typed it into the computer. We transferred it to my computer and he sent it off to a friend of ours who teaches in an international school in Cambodia. She read last night on this blog that he was writing this and sent me an email this morning saying she'd love to share it with her grade three class and get them to respond to him. This was my son's email to her:

Dear Ms.K,the earthquake was the biggest earthquake I ever experienced.I'm sending you the story you asked me to write attached to this email. It's OK to share it with your class. So they can know more to write back to me. I can't wait until all those letters! I hope you have a fun time reading this to your class and writing the letters.

Our 11 y.o. wrote a devotional that he was supposed to have done in Bible class today. It was his idea to type it up and send it to his teacher, with the request that she email it to everyone. He also spent time working on maths (with his own personal tutor: maths-teacher dad).

At lunch time I took our youngest to a rescheduled piano lesson at school and then headed to the gym. It seemed a strange thing to do, but actually it is helpful at times of stress to exercise. Good for my mental health. My family relies on me, I need to do what I can to look after myself. The gym had fewer people there than usual, but people didn't appear to be distressed (this can be deceptive in Japan, where they are very good at putting on the appearance that all is well).

I came back to school after the gym and had a picnic lunch with the family outside the gym. It was a pretty chilly day, but the beautiful clear blue skies made it lovely to be outside for a little while.

After that there were a series of "Open" events at school for those who live close enough. Open gym time, open art room time and open library. We ended up staying until 4pm, shuffling around between different activities. I carted my laptop around and continued my editorial work as I went (I'm practised at multi-tasking). It was a bit different, but surprisingly non-stressful. I know the boys appreciated being out of the house and being meaningfully occupied (and away from us for a little bit).

Someone asked me how we are emotionally - this was my written reply:

Emotionally this week has been a bit rough. Possibly the roughest thing is people asking us if we are evacuating or not. Other rough things has been having so much uncertainty, particularly early on. Practically everything we take for granted on our schedule was cancelled, not all at once but gradually, over a serious of days - everything that structures our lives - school, jobs, meetings, camps, school events etc. Even the ability to buy food when we needed it was challenged early in the week.

Regarding evacuation. OMF leaders in Japan continue to monitor the situation very closely. They continue to advise us that evacuation is not necessary at this point. This is partly what they said to us:

·   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

 The last point is particularly what we are feeling and have felt since this whole issue came to the fore earlier in the week.

My Facebook status today is this:

It's been one week since parts of Japan changed forever. Hard to believe. Has to rate as one of the strangest weeks of my life. Grateful for so many things, including being able to be here to make a small difference.

As I wrote last night, our thoughts are with those in evacuation centres. We've heard that more than 20 people have died in evacuation centres already. Essential supplies are getting through, but fuel is still a challenge to obtain. Continue to pray for the Japanese.