On Friday 11th March I was home with Isla when the earthquake hit; it was scary – doors banging, things falling out of cupboards, like the ground was rolling. Charlie was at work on the 8th floor and saw other high rise buildings swaying towards his. He walked home from work and we had a relatively normal weekend, despite the aftershocks. On Monday Charlie went to work and at home with Isla I fielded one call after another from friends leaving Tokyo, some just going south and others back to their home country. A big aftershock at 11am and I called Charlie, we were worried about the nuclear situation so decided Charlie should take some holiday – we booked a flight, threw some things in a bag and headed to the airport for an impromptu holiday in Canada. We were so lucky we had the option to do that, all those poor people who have lost loved ones and their homes are still stuck in Japan.
We were due to leave, me at the end of March and Charlie a couple of weeks later. After a week in Vancouver Charlie headed back to pack up the flat and Isla and I flew to the UK. Charlie is due back here tomorrow – we are very excited to see him.
A sad end to what was a wonderful year – we loved experiencing Japan, and visiting other great places like Vietnam, The Philippines and Australia from there. We met wonderful people and made friends we will keep in contact with and hopefully see again somewhere. I really wish we had the chance to say goodbye to them properly.
We are excited about the next adventure – a month in the UK catching up with friends, onto the US to spend a couple of months exploring in an RV, then Vancouver to find jobs and settle down for a while.
All change again!
PS - This is the link if you want to donate to help the relief effort in Japan:
www.redcross.org.uk/JapanTsunami
