Can you believe it? 2 weeks since that awful earthquake that caused all kinds of damage and chaos. And it's still causing problems. I am sure you all have read/seen the news and I can't comment on how accurate it is since I'm not there.
However, Mike will be flying in tomorrow for his scheduled training and I am so glad that he is. He's looking forward to coming and seeing everyone, including his parents who will be in Houston for a day. And March Madness is still going on, so that makes it even better.
I've been hanging in EP and made a small trip to STL. I arrive in Houston on Tuesday and am excited to see our friends there. Not sure if I will stay here or not, but something we have definitely been talking about. I'll keep you posted.
Just wanted to let you know we are ok and Mike is headed our way!!!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Update
Hey everyone...we are still doing fine and have enough water, food, and power. The company gave the word to have families leave, so that there is no extra concern for safety. I had a trip planned already and was scheduled to leave next Thursday. I moved up my flight for today. Mike was scheduled to leave next Friday and that is still the same. However, he is allowed to work from home, so that's good. For now, there is no threat to Tokyo, but Mike is going to leave for the weekend. This makes me feel tons better, even though I don't want to leave him. If things get worse here, the company has a plan to move all the employees, so that is good.
For now, keep Japan in your prayers. I'm off to catch the bus to the airport.
For now, keep Japan in your prayers. I'm off to catch the bus to the airport.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Earthquake damage in our House
I made it home about 6:15 or so after the elevators started up again in the building. I was in contact with Mike as much as possible via email. His plan to get home varied, but he finally made it home at 2am, which I was thankful for. I tried to get some sleep, but it was difficult. We had another major quake at 4am, which we felt and then I was able to fall asleep for about 4.5 hours straight. Mike finally fell asleep around the same time or a little later. We are up early today, but significantly tired, so a nap will happen later.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. We are safe and together. Let's pray for all the people up North as they attempt to recover from this.
china cabinet "was" against the wall and moved a little more than a foot away from the wall
everything in a mess...that small glass on its side was on the top shelf
all the glasses were moved and the top shelf things were close to falling down
only damage among all the glass in this cabinet
the vase on the floor fell from its cubby and the blue vase in the cubby was not in the center anymore
Entertainment center definitely moved a little away from the wall
TV in the spare bedroom
As you can see, we don't have much damage, but amazing how much things moved or fell. CRAZY...anywho, I am done with natural disasters for a while. Between Hurricanes Rita, Katrina, & Ike and now this earthquake and tsunami, I think we have met our quoted for awhile.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. We are safe and together. Let's pray for all the people up North as they attempt to recover from this.
china cabinet "was" against the wall and moved a little more than a foot away from the wall
everything in a mess...that small glass on its side was on the top shelf
all the glasses were moved and the top shelf things were close to falling down
only damage among all the glass in this cabinet
the vase on the floor fell from its cubby and the blue vase in the cubby was not in the center anymore
Entertainment center definitely moved a little away from the wall
TV in the spare bedroom
As you can see, we don't have much damage, but amazing how much things moved or fell. CRAZY...anywho, I am done with natural disasters for a while. Between Hurricanes Rita, Katrina, & Ike and now this earthquake and tsunami, I think we have met our quoted for awhile.
Earthquake - SCARY
8.9 earthquake that hit about 150 miles north of us plus the tsunami. Lots of damage as you all can image.
I was in a building about 15 minutes walking from our house, so very close. I was there doing an event where print artists came to show and deliver their work. I was on the 38th floor and definitely felt every bit of the quake. At first it started out slow, so we all thought it was a small one, which we are use to, but then it started getting bad. For about 5 minutes there was constant swaying of the building and shaking. Then for about 30 minutes afterward there was constant motion, which I became quite sick of. As I type, we are still feeling aftershocks, which makes us feel as if we are still moving.
The following pictures are from the apartment I was in when it happened and from the balcony....crazy
immediately after the earthquake stopped, this is how much it moved the picture
right after the quake, a building on fire across the bay
same building an hour later
Refinery in Chiba that caught on fire
same building sparking again about 4:30ish
Same refinery, blaze sparked up again around 5:30ish
I was in a building about 15 minutes walking from our house, so very close. I was there doing an event where print artists came to show and deliver their work. I was on the 38th floor and definitely felt every bit of the quake. At first it started out slow, so we all thought it was a small one, which we are use to, but then it started getting bad. For about 5 minutes there was constant swaying of the building and shaking. Then for about 30 minutes afterward there was constant motion, which I became quite sick of. As I type, we are still feeling aftershocks, which makes us feel as if we are still moving.
The following pictures are from the apartment I was in when it happened and from the balcony....crazy
immediately after the earthquake stopped, this is how much it moved the picture
right after the quake, a building on fire across the bay
same building an hour later
Refinery in Chiba that caught on fire
same building sparking again about 4:30ish
Same refinery, blaze sparked up again around 5:30ish
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Okpo w/the Riess family
Oh we made it to Okpo and we were ready to enjoy the weekend with Rob, Allison, Taylor and RJ. We were lucky to arrive on Taylor's 2nd birthday, so we enjoyed dinner and cake to celebrate her. I wish I had taken some pictures with my camera, but I was in charge of their camera. Oh well, the cake was good!
Throughout the weekend we enjoyed lots of good food, playing games, and simulation golf, of course.
Here is one of the only pictures I took the whole weekend with them. Silly me. Here we are at dinner having Korean BBQ with many, many sides.
Dinner was fantastic and towards the end Mike was gracious to entertain Taylor with his impressions of "monkey" and "gorilla." He entertained us as well with his gorilla impression and if saw the video on Allison's facebook, you would know why.
Ah, good times with good friends. Can't ask for anything more. So glad we got to see them and meet RJ, plus celebrate Taylor's birthday. So fun!
Throughout the weekend we enjoyed lots of good food, playing games, and simulation golf, of course.
Here is one of the only pictures I took the whole weekend with them. Silly me. Here we are at dinner having Korean BBQ with many, many sides.
Dinner was fantastic and towards the end Mike was gracious to entertain Taylor with his impressions of "monkey" and "gorilla." He entertained us as well with his gorilla impression and if saw the video on Allison's facebook, you would know why.
Ah, good times with good friends. Can't ask for anything more. So glad we got to see them and meet RJ, plus celebrate Taylor's birthday. So fun!
The rest of Seoul
After the tour, we arrived back in Seoul and explored some more. We walked down Myeongdong street, which the shopping district. We saw lots of great stores and these funny people...
Garfield or his very thin cousin
And this guy...yeah
As we continued on, I finally found "hoddeok" one of the many street foods sold, which is a pancake that is filled with a cinammon/sugar filling and fried. It was delicious. I wanted some more later, but Mike refused to go find it with me.
After dinner, we headed to the N. Seoul Tower to see the city at night. It was an ordeal to actually make it to the top, but once we were there, we only had to wait 10 minutes before going up. Parts of the city were pretty at night and others, not so much. Plus the windows were a bit misty from the outside, so some pictures did not come out good. The tower, the city, and Mike finding out how far to Tokyo.
On Friday Mike and I woke up early and headed to the Gyeongbukgong Palace, which was suppose to great. It was huge and we managed to walk around all of it despite the cold and very strong wind. Parts of it were cool, but after seeing it, I decided I like Japanese temples more, probably because they look older and more historic. Here are some pictures:
Mike and the lion smiling!
Me and my zodiac sign
It was time to leave the palace so we could check out of the hotel and then catch our bus to Okpo to see the Riess family. Our bus was actually very nice and comfortable. By 5pm on Friday we were in Okpo ready to enjoy some fun.
Garfield or his very thin cousin
And this guy...yeah
As we continued on, I finally found "hoddeok" one of the many street foods sold, which is a pancake that is filled with a cinammon/sugar filling and fried. It was delicious. I wanted some more later, but Mike refused to go find it with me.
After dinner, we headed to the N. Seoul Tower to see the city at night. It was an ordeal to actually make it to the top, but once we were there, we only had to wait 10 minutes before going up. Parts of the city were pretty at night and others, not so much. Plus the windows were a bit misty from the outside, so some pictures did not come out good. The tower, the city, and Mike finding out how far to Tokyo.
On Friday Mike and I woke up early and headed to the Gyeongbukgong Palace, which was suppose to great. It was huge and we managed to walk around all of it despite the cold and very strong wind. Parts of it were cool, but after seeing it, I decided I like Japanese temples more, probably because they look older and more historic. Here are some pictures:
Mike and the lion smiling!
Me and my zodiac sign
It was time to leave the palace so we could check out of the hotel and then catch our bus to Okpo to see the Riess family. Our bus was actually very nice and comfortable. By 5pm on Friday we were in Okpo ready to enjoy some fun.
DMZ - part 2
It was time to see Panmumjon and remember I said security was tight. This time around to enter the DMZ, we had to show our passports. Then we had to show them again to enter Panmumjon, followed by wearing a "guest" badge while there. They weren't playing around when it came to security. We had to view a short video and then it was on another special bus, that was driven by a SK soldier, with an SK soldier accompaning us and a car ahead of us driven by an SK soldier. We made it safe to the building went in.
They told we were about to go outside and see the 38th parallel as well as NK soldiers. We were not suppose to make any sudden movements, no pointing, no talking loud, and only take pictures when they told us. This wasn't exactly an easy place to be for me, who would totally do all those things. So we went outside and here are some pictures:
This is what we saw..those are SK soldiers and in the far back is a NK soldier
NK solider up close or as far as my zoom would go...and yes he is holding binoculars and looking at us
Mike and I...
Next we went into the middle building, which is where they hold peace talks. The metal things on the table represent the line b/w N and S Korea.
The metal on the table actually lined up with this slab outside marking the divide. First we were in S. Korea and then...
in N. Korea...This soldier was placed there to protect us. Our guide said that N.Koreans would open the door behind him and try to take S.Koreans during talks. Scary
He was very serious
After seeing this, our tour was basically over, but still really cool. We boarded our bus again and they showed us a few more places. This is the bridge of no return, being once you cross it, you can't come back.
All in all a very good tour and we were both glad we did it. It was scary at times because we could hear loud noises off in the distance...hmmm We also learned alot about their history and the conflict between N and S.
They told we were about to go outside and see the 38th parallel as well as NK soldiers. We were not suppose to make any sudden movements, no pointing, no talking loud, and only take pictures when they told us. This wasn't exactly an easy place to be for me, who would totally do all those things. So we went outside and here are some pictures:
This is what we saw..those are SK soldiers and in the far back is a NK soldier
NK solider up close or as far as my zoom would go...and yes he is holding binoculars and looking at us
Mike and I...
Next we went into the middle building, which is where they hold peace talks. The metal things on the table represent the line b/w N and S Korea.
The metal on the table actually lined up with this slab outside marking the divide. First we were in S. Korea and then...
in N. Korea...This soldier was placed there to protect us. Our guide said that N.Koreans would open the door behind him and try to take S.Koreans during talks. Scary
He was very serious
After seeing this, our tour was basically over, but still really cool. We boarded our bus again and they showed us a few more places. This is the bridge of no return, being once you cross it, you can't come back.
All in all a very good tour and we were both glad we did it. It was scary at times because we could hear loud noises off in the distance...hmmm We also learned alot about their history and the conflict between N and S.
DMZ - part 1
Last weekend Mike and I took a long weekend and went to visit Rob and Allison in South Korea. The first 2 days we spent in Seoul, since we'd never been there before. On the agenda was taking the DMZ tour, which was quite scary, but definitely worth it.
DMZ or Demilitarized Zone which divides N. and S. Korea is 4 miles long, with 2 miles on each side and Panmumjon in the 38th parallel, that divides the two. In the morning we did the 3rd tunnel tour, which is literally the 3rd tunnel S.K. found in 1978/79 that N.K. was digging to reach S.K. So first, we stopped to get on the special DMZ bus, where we were able to see the Freedom bridge and look into N.K, which was quite far. We finally boarded our special bus and off we went into the zone... We saw a video of the history, took some pictures in front of the DMZ letters and mines.
Yes that does say "mine" and yes its a warning because there is a mine there.
Next we went to the 3rd tunnel. We had to walk about 350 meters at a 15 degree incline and then another 280 meters in through the tunnel to reach the first blockade that was put up. We couldn't take any pictures and had to leave all bags in lockers. Very tight on security. However, as we walked through the tunnel, there were yellow markings along the wall indicating where N.K. had put dynamite to make the tunnel. The tunnel was really cool and I didn't have to bend over to walk through like Mike and everyone else did..tehehehe But the walk back up to the top was a killer.
After the tunnel, we headed to an area where you could actually take pictures of N.K., but only from this point and not over it. They were so strict about security and where you could take pictures. One guy in the tour took a picture facing the other way and had his camera taken away from him. What's even worse, it was a disposal camera, so all his pictures were gone. I had 2 questions for this guy: 1.)why aren't you following the rules and 2.) who uses disposables anymore?
Here is Mike with very little of N.K. behind him.
Next we headed to, the last stop or first stop that you can take to get into N.K. They use to use the train to allow S.K. to go visit, but not anymore.
They really like N.K. hence from the sign and we thought it was cool.
After this, it was time for lunch and then the second half of the tour. We had a very traditional Korean lunch with all kinds of sides. Beef hot pot, which was quite good.
Mike never looks happy when I take his picture, but the food was good.
DMZ or Demilitarized Zone which divides N. and S. Korea is 4 miles long, with 2 miles on each side and Panmumjon in the 38th parallel, that divides the two. In the morning we did the 3rd tunnel tour, which is literally the 3rd tunnel S.K. found in 1978/79 that N.K. was digging to reach S.K. So first, we stopped to get on the special DMZ bus, where we were able to see the Freedom bridge and look into N.K, which was quite far. We finally boarded our special bus and off we went into the zone... We saw a video of the history, took some pictures in front of the DMZ letters and mines.
Yes that does say "mine" and yes its a warning because there is a mine there.
Next we went to the 3rd tunnel. We had to walk about 350 meters at a 15 degree incline and then another 280 meters in through the tunnel to reach the first blockade that was put up. We couldn't take any pictures and had to leave all bags in lockers. Very tight on security. However, as we walked through the tunnel, there were yellow markings along the wall indicating where N.K. had put dynamite to make the tunnel. The tunnel was really cool and I didn't have to bend over to walk through like Mike and everyone else did..tehehehe But the walk back up to the top was a killer.
After the tunnel, we headed to an area where you could actually take pictures of N.K., but only from this point and not over it. They were so strict about security and where you could take pictures. One guy in the tour took a picture facing the other way and had his camera taken away from him. What's even worse, it was a disposal camera, so all his pictures were gone. I had 2 questions for this guy: 1.)why aren't you following the rules and 2.) who uses disposables anymore?
Here is Mike with very little of N.K. behind him.
Next we headed to, the last stop or first stop that you can take to get into N.K. They use to use the train to allow S.K. to go visit, but not anymore.
They really like N.K. hence from the sign and we thought it was cool.
After this, it was time for lunch and then the second half of the tour. We had a very traditional Korean lunch with all kinds of sides. Beef hot pot, which was quite good.
Mike never looks happy when I take his picture, but the food was good.
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