March 11, 2011

helllooooo out there! ;]

it's been such a long time since i wrote in my blog..i had soooo many drafts but never had the mood to finish them, so here is one of them..

March 11, 2011 to me was like living in a real nightmare. It was the day of the largest earthquake in the history of Japan and the number 4th largest in the world since 1900, the earthquake was 9 SR, and at the same moment a horrible tsunami hit Sendai.

it started out like every other Friday but i wasn't feeling very well since the very moment i woke up. I just remembered that i should get started on making the scrapbook frame me and Edhika wanted to make for Mba Rany so at around 1 pm i went for a bike ride looking for materials to make it. I went to a store in near the Kyodo station and met Mba Rany and Mas asad (yappari, dunia emang sempit,hihi), and after buying the things i needed i rushed back home.

after i arrived i changed my clothes back to my pajamas, sat on the floor and started cutting out pieces of paper for the scrapbook, when all of a sudden i felt the ground shaking, at first i thought my headache was getting worse, but then i saw the glass window shaking, things on my desk have fallen down, and there were girls yelling in the lobby. i went to the lobby and saw my seniors (from other countries) panicking, they told me to come with them and get out of the dorm. i wasn't wearing my veil (hijab) and my dress pajama was only as long as my knees, outside was cold too, but i didn't have time to go back in, the dorm keeper was telling us all to get out, so i went outside in my pajamas and a pair of scissors in my hands (remember, i was cutting a piece of paper before the incidence). we waited outside near the gate of the girls dormitory. everything was shaking and vibrating, even the trees and the cars, everyone was panicking. one of my seniors hugged me. others were crying. "what's happening? what should we do? I don't want to die alone, we're gonna die alone" i heard one of my seniors say. at that moment i thought that it would have been the end for us and there was nothing we could do. but then after what felt like 10 minutes that felt like a life time, the earthquake stopped, and i ran back inside my room and called my mom, then my dad, then my brother, but no one picked up. eventually my mom picked up and i burst in too tears. i was scared because i was alone, none of my Indonesian seniors were in the dorm. my mom listened to me and tried to calm me down. i was really surprised because she didn't even sounded worried, she just told me that it was okay and said that earthquakes happen all the time in Japan. yeah, it was true, this wasn't my first earthquake since i was here, but this one was different, and my mom didn't know how big it was at that time. there was still another chance of another earthquake so after hanging up, i changed my clothes, wore my veil, and not so long after i was done, it came, the other big earthquake. i went outside again and found no one there, it turned out they were all evacuating in the university's gym, and i didn't know because after the first earthquake hit i was the first one to run back in the dorm while the others were still waiting outside. the second earthquake wasn't as long as the first and not as big either, but that was when the tsunami hit Sendai, and the news had spread around the world, and the phone network was disabled so we couldn't communicate. so this was the time my mom panicked and probably everyone else.. fortunately, Mba Rany and Mas Asad came back to the dorm and told me to get ready to evacuate to the University's gym, we went there together with other foreign students and everyone else that were near the university and was there until it was okay to leave.

things didn't get better immediately, earthquakes were happening almost every hour for a few days, food were all sold out everywhere, drinking water too, at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure causing the radiation level to rise, blackouts (which Alhamdulillah didn't happen in my area), transportation systems suffered severe disruptions, what seemed like everyone was trying to leave japan; leaving only about 5 people in Nodai's girls' dorm each night for about 2 weeks..so many things happened, and if i told you every story this post would be waaaaaay too long, but the point is, despite of everything Japan is a really strong country. even though i'm not a Japanese and i have to admit as a foreigner in Japan there are so many times that i feel like a real "alien" but i really do love japan, it's my second home for now, and i'll always be praying for japan. 

musibah ini secara ga langsung ngajarin dla banyak hal, and i'm thankful for that. :)