The dorm lady told me and Tsitika a story about when the previous big earthquake in Japan happened about 30 years ago. She told us that she had been pregnant then and that her daughter whom she was expecting then was pregnant at the moment. It was kind of an odd story, but still somehow fascinating. She also apologized about trying to separate us and explained that in Japan it is not common for girls and boys to be so close. She didn’t mean any harm and we knew it.
We asked the teachers if we could go out for a walk. They said that it was okay to go, but we weren’t supposed to stay out for long. We had about two hours to wonder around Tagajyo. It was the first time any of us out to see the real world after the earthquake. It was really warm outside, it was about 18°C (64°F) and for the first time that weekend I had to take off my sweater. It was really weird that it was so warm outside because on the night that the earthquake happened it had been snowing.
First we went to the parking lot of the supermarket and we thought if we needed any food. But we were okay, we had plenty of food at the dorms. We continued to walk and we ended up walking to the Nakanosakae station. I could smell the sea from there. It was like the sea had moved to Tagajyo from wherever it was before that. The streets were full of mud, apparently the tsunami had come really close to us. While we were walking I saw two carps lying dead on the ground. I thought then that if a fish that is supposed to bring luck can’t survive in this mess, we didn’t stand a chance. I wanted to go to the other side of the station, but I was told not to go for it was too dangerous. I saw a woman sitting on her porch and she said that we shouldn’t go to the other side. She talked to us a bit. It was really weird because she was speaking to us so casually. That almost never happened with Japanese people.
I didn’t notice it until then, but the streets were completely empty. The sun was burning and bright it hurt my eyes. I really felt like I was in the movie I Am Legend or The Book Of Eli. We continued walking towards our school. We couldn’t get in unfortunately. We walked to family mart and Zou said that he wanted to go and see if Tiger was okay. We were waiting for him and Bai in front of family mart staring at the rice fields filled with water. We saw Zou and Bai walking back. I saw from Zous face that they hadn’t found Tiger. We were still hanging out next to the rice fields and Tsitika was leaning to a fence. Chayse told her to step away from it.
I heard a loud yell from Zou, apparently he had found reception. We all checker our phones, but nothing happened. Zous reception disappeared soon too, before he could call anybody. I suddenly remembered that my previous host family lived nearby so I told everyone that we must go see if they were all alright. We walked there and I remembered all the times I had walked home from school. Next to the park near my house there was a sign that said ”人生が変わる” which in Japanese means ”life will change”. In my mind I laughed ”oh really?”. I rang the doorbell and they all came outside to see us. I was so happy that they were all okay. We didn’t stay for long, it was fine just to see their happy faces. I didn’t know that was the last time I was going to see them. We started to head back as the sun was setting. Soon it would be night.
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