Be prepared - whether you want to or not!

At the end of my Japanese class on Tuesday, we were handed a worksheet with a kanji on it.  It was presented like a homework sheet and we all assumed it was our first kanji lesson.  As I studied the worksheet, I thought it was very strange that we would be taught "Disaster Prevention" as our introduction into the world of Chinese characters adopted by the Japanese language, but there is a lot I don't understand about the order of learning things in my language acquisition class.

I brought the worksheet home and studied the characters, tracing them over and over to help cement them into my brain.

During class today, I was surprised when the kanji wasn't brought up.  We just moved onto the next lesson like it had never been shared.  When the sensei wrapped up the lesson 30 minutes before class should end, the students looked at each other with surprise.  That was it for today?  Class is over?  What???

But we were then told to go into the classroom next door.  In the room was a woman with a presentation set up.  We were directed to one of two tables - the English speaking students to one table and the Chinese speaking students to the other.

Suddenly we were watching a video of footage from the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Fukushima.  I felt sick to my stomach to the point I started worrying if my son was okay.  My mind was racing as I reacted to the footage.  I bit my lip in order to not cry.  After 7 years, it still terrifies me to no end to see the videos. 

The presentation was to inform us that Japan has a lot of seismic activity and we need to be prepared.  As residents we need to know that earthquakes are frequent and intense.  80% of deaths that occur within 14 minutes of an earthquake is from falling items, so they told us about securing shelves and making sure nothing is within falling distance of your bed.

The presentation was a little daunting.  I get sick to my stomach every time I think about what happened on that horrific day and so many others around the world.  The instructors had separated us into language groups even though the presentation was in Japanese because they put a translator at each table.  They were there to translate facts and key points of the presentation.

When they were all done, they left us with some daunting advice - study hard so if an emergency happens, you will be able to communicate and understand directions. 


*****
And if you're worried, we already have our emergency pack in the closet next to the door.