TSUNAMI.... burgers and beer!

Too soon????

delicious tsunami burger (American style) &
Tsunami beer from Hawaii

Yokosuka Tsunami Burger

Friends and family... please don't worry!  I'm fine out here, despite what you are hearing on CNN and other media!  Still no changes as of yet.  Hopefully they get the nuclear reactor under control very soon and the radiation doesn't increase.  It's been rainy and gross out for the past two days, so I feel even more like a prisoner in our own houses.  But, I was able to get out the other night with some friends to a restaurant out in town... ironically called Tsunami!  We enjoyed a delicious tsunami burger and tsunami beer!  (I swear we're not sick in the mind, we're just trying to lighten the stress at our "end of the world party"!)  :)

Yokosuka's turning into a Ghost-town...

The last ship left in our dock, the GW, finally pulled out today leaving our base an even more ghost-town than it already is right now.  The military assisted evacuation has finally been approved and is under way moving a lot of the dependents and families back to the states.  A lot of the places and services on base are either limited hours or shut down due to decreased manning.  All the active duty members are still here though since we still have a job to do.  We will only be evacuated if it becomes mandatory.  Who knows if that will happen with the way things keep changing every hour of every day.

We were told a few days ago already to pack a bag and be ready to go in the case of a mandatory evacuation.  So, since then, I've had my suitcase in the car and pretty much living out of a book bag.  It was a really weird feeling walking through my house and trying to decide what to pack since we don't know where we're going and how long we're going for if we do.

I've been staying on base lately with some friends for a few reasons... a) we have daily musters every morning, b) Japan continues to have little aftershocks and since I live on the 7th floor of a tower, I feel it much more, c) rolling blackouts continue to happen to save up enough energy to cool down the reactors, d) locals are saving energy out in town which makes it a lot darker out there than normal, e) and last but not least... i just don't want to be alone, so I stay with my Navy family!

But, on the bright side, they just distributed our 5 day supply of Potassium Iodide pills today!  Now, don't worry, we don't have to take them yet.  I think it's funny how people back on the west coast have already been getting these pills earlier in the week when they're about 10,000 miles farther away than we are over here in Japan!  That's Americans for ya...  

hmmm, is there something they're not telling
us by passing these out today???

8.9 Earthquake and Tsunamis devastate Japan!!

I was woken up yesterday at 1446 by an the worst earthquake I've ever felt.  I've been woken up before by them and most of the time it's no big deal and I go right back to sleep.  This one was a lot different.  It started off as a slow rumbling and and continued into a strong shaking.  I wasn't really sure what to do so I quickly got dressed and stood in my door frame and ran through different emergency scenarios in my head.  The shaking lasted for about 4 or 5 minutes or so.  When it stopped I tried calling my friends to see if they were ok but the phones were down.  Then I tried looking online, but my internet was down along with the power.  Then another one started up just about as strong as the first one.  I was getting super freaked out at this point cause I didn't know how close the epicenter was and I couldn't get ahold of anyone.  The local police started driving around making announcements over loudspeakers... except I couldn't understand them since they were all in Japanese!!  (I later learned they were tsunami warnings)  I wasn't sure if I should get out of my apartment or not, and if I did, I didn't know where to go.  I stayed in my place until about 5ish scared stiff from all the continuing aftershocks when a friend finally got through to me saying that a few girls were all hanging out at the hospital because they didn't know where to go either.  So of course I went there and camped out at the hospital for the night.  At least I was with other people and had news and internet to contact family!

What would you do if you got this text
message??  I guess they're trying to say,
hold on cause its gonna be rockin' soon!

Right now I'm sitting here with the random emergency earthquake texts on my phone.  It's a very unnerving loud beeping sound with a little stick-man saying EARTHQUAKE followed by a bunch of kanji that I can't understand.  So I turn on TV and try to translate the Japanese news channel to figure out where it was.  Sounds like a fun night, huh!  But, I did get some pictures of all the damage they're showing on TV.

I still can't get over all the devastating damage from the earthquake and tsunamis up north.  Yokosuka is about 250 or so miles south from Sendai, Japan where the epicenter is.  The US Navy has already deployed a few ships from here and the surrounding Pacific up north to help out with whatever they need.  I haven't heard of any medical personnel going up there yet, but I will definitely keep you posted.  Please keep all those affected by this disaster in your thoughts and prayers during the many days ahead of us.

See I can understand Kanji... 5.8 earthquake at 2303.
Where you ask... haven't figured that out yet, but I definitely
felt it!  That's what the internet's for.  Let's hope it doesn't
go out again!

The fires breaking out up north.  Note the little map in the
corner - that's showing all the tsunami warnings.  Luckily,
we're ok in Yokosuka.

Yes, that's 2 ships on top of a house!  Crazy!

And to think that Japan is leading in earthquake-proof
architecture... That's one strong quake!  (well technically
many many quakes now, but still)

Tsunami wiping out much of the north-eastern coast of Japan