Get under the table!

Being under the table is not a position that is foreign to me, however my preferred method of getting there is not during an earthquake emergency. At around 4pm today I experienced a mother earthquake during a lesson. We started rocking, but instead of the usual slight tremor, students not even battering an eyelid and my confusion over whether it is an earthquake or a dizzy hangover. There was no confusion. There was holding onto my chair and freaking out. After initially dismissing it as a daily occurrence, my student finally snapped and started running for the door, leaving me in a mad panic. Where the fuck do you run? I’m on the 4th floor of a building. Meanwhile, a member of the Japanese staff was in the next room was asking if I’m ok from under a table. No I’m not fucking ok lady, the building is shaking. After far too long the shaking from side to side subsided… and the shaking from up and down started. I’m almost in tears and my co-worker is yelling “its ok Carrie”. Apparently the quake finally stopped however I was still shaking. After being shaken up for so long it’s hard to recognise when the movement has stopped because you feel so dizzy. It was kind of difficult to go straight back into the lesson, “right then, now the building has stopped shaking, lets listen and repeat – Mary is wearing a pink shirt”, I couldn’t give a shit what Mary was wearing. Word is, the epicentre was Funabashi, a town about half an hour away from my work, where my flatmate works. She is currently (4 hours later) stuck at work, as the trains are still not running. Apparently their train tracks are not as flexible as their buildings are.