At home we do not worry about earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes...they are not on our radar, unless they happen somewhere else in the world. Then we see, read and hear about them on the news. We put on charity events and post words of encouragement on our blogs, twitters and facebooks. Here in Nicaragua, though, these things are a reality.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/27/world/americas/el-salvador-earthquake/index.html
Last night I was sitting on the beach with a friend, talking about the extra-largeness of the waves. Usually we do not have waves that are really surf-able, but last night, they were massive. We talked about tsunamis and how terrifying they are. Anyway, I had an extremely long week at work and an a fantastic sunday in the sun, followed by a goodbye party for a friend...I was exhausted. I was asleep in minutes and did not wake up until my alarm went off the next morning. I checked my phone and saw 3 missed messages from an unknown number. I then saw that I had a text saying "Kate-TSUNAMI WARNING...." My heart started to race as I read the text, thinking it was a joke from a friend. We were just talking about it the night before; it has to be a joke. Then I saw it was signed by the director of Peace Corps Nicaragua. I immediately called her and she filled me in. There was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake right off the coast of El Salvador. Because of the great magnitude of the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had issued the warning last night and had since then been canceled. I packed a runaway bag anyway, just in case, and headed into the city to get some work done and use the internet to research tsunamis. Apparently they are now able to predict the majority of tsunamis that actually occur, some a few minutes before they happen and some a few hours. According to PBS, "75 percent of warnings that resulted in costly evacuations turned out to be false alarms." I have to say; I would rather the government spend tons of money evacuating people for no reason, than lose an entire state, city or in some cases, country.
So...things should be back to normal (they actually were never not normal), but to celebrate the non-tsunami, I am treating myself to internet, a lactose free latte and a piece of black forest cake for breakfast. Things to learn before the next tsunami warning: how to out-swim a tsunami, how big does a boat have to be to escape a tsunami and if I were to build a cave underneath the ocean, would I be safe?
Monday, August 27, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
I Am An Alien
"You're like a little alien!", my friends said to me, quoting the hilarious movie Mean Girls. They were referring to the fact that I, having been in Nicaragua for 20 months, had no clue what an Instagram was and why so many people were writing phrases with the number sign (#) in front of it. #ImAnAlien (Did I use that correctly?) Things at home have changed drastically in some cases-technology: everyone has an IPhone or an IPad or a Ipod or a ipid, iped or ipud...which all have Apps that help you lead your life in a "less chaotic manner". In JP, Whole Foods took over the local latino food store, Hi-Lo, that had been there for 46 years. Bobby Valentine is now leading the Red Sox...not to victory, instead of Tito. And about half of my high school graduating class is now married and/or having children and/or buying houses! Damn. Things have definitely changed at home. But a lot of things stayed exactly the same. It was still incredibly amazing to see my family and friends. I walked in the door at 2 o clock in the morning after a really really long day of traveling and my dog, Scarlet, still recognized me! I passed out in the bed that was still really comfortable to begin my vacation in Weymouth.
I did so much while I was home. People here ask about my vacation and I cannot stop talking about it. I'm going to list off the activities because I like lists and if I were to write a paragraph for each activity (which I easily could) this blog would turn into a book.
1. Date Night with Friends and Sister at Local Dive Bar-oh how I miss friends, beer options and Boston sports
2. 5$ Wine Night with Sister- lots of catching up-Madeline has a pretty great life right now if you ask me.
3. Wedding #1!!! Kevin and Chrissy-so beautiful. It was a destination wedding to Cohasset, MA in a gorgeous old inn. What a night.
4. Wedding #2!!! Courtney and Mike-also so beautiful. Mike is a friend from playgroup, so it was great to get to hang out in our fancy clothes by the ocean with friends from day 1-literally we were friends in the womb.
5. Red Sox- They actually won the game my Dad and I went to! Cody Ross hit a walk off home run to take the game away. There still is nothing better than a summer night at Fenway doing the wave and singing Sweet Caroline, whether they win or lose.
6. Camping down the Cape with Mom and Aunt-we did everything that we always do and have been doing for the past 20 years: P Town, beaches, Cape Cod Baseball League (although now the players are a lot younger than I am so I cant really pretend that Im dating any of them), Nickerson lake beach, campfires, chatham...it was fantastic.
7. Night and Day out with College Friends- Lunch turned into afternoon turned into dinner turned into after dinner olympic watching turned into sleepover
8. Brooklyn/NYC Trip with Dad- Went to visit a grad school with my Dad and check out NYC...have to be honest...I like Boston better, not just because our sports teams are better. Great trip though.
9. JP visit with Dad-checked out my old watering and discount clothes shopping holes in JP
10. Bloody Marys with Reb and Laura to North End Debauchery with Mad and Corey
11. Breakfasts and Lunches and Dinners with Grandmothers and Aunts
12. The main thing that was missing though, was my youngest sister, Emma, who was, at the time, volunteering in the Smokey Mountains as a summer park ranger/bear keeper/search and rescue team member/teacher of all things naturey. It was home sweet home, but it did feel a bit strange with her not being there.
I did a lot. I also did a lot of nothing on my couch while watching the Olympics, sports and other tv when I figured out which channels were which (I only have 40 channels in Nicaragua-at home theres about a million) I walked my dog a lot-I cried to her once too;she listened and then cuddled with me-I saw childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, after high school friends...I have to say honestly it was the best vacation Ive ever taken and I spent it in Weymouth.
I did so much while I was home. People here ask about my vacation and I cannot stop talking about it. I'm going to list off the activities because I like lists and if I were to write a paragraph for each activity (which I easily could) this blog would turn into a book.
1. Date Night with Friends and Sister at Local Dive Bar-oh how I miss friends, beer options and Boston sports
2. 5$ Wine Night with Sister- lots of catching up-Madeline has a pretty great life right now if you ask me.
3. Wedding #1!!! Kevin and Chrissy-so beautiful. It was a destination wedding to Cohasset, MA in a gorgeous old inn. What a night.
6. Camping down the Cape with Mom and Aunt-we did everything that we always do and have been doing for the past 20 years: P Town, beaches, Cape Cod Baseball League (although now the players are a lot younger than I am so I cant really pretend that Im dating any of them), Nickerson lake beach, campfires, chatham...it was fantastic.
7. Night and Day out with College Friends- Lunch turned into afternoon turned into dinner turned into after dinner olympic watching turned into sleepover
8. Brooklyn/NYC Trip with Dad- Went to visit a grad school with my Dad and check out NYC...have to be honest...I like Boston better, not just because our sports teams are better. Great trip though.
10. Bloody Marys with Reb and Laura to North End Debauchery with Mad and Corey
11. Breakfasts and Lunches and Dinners with Grandmothers and Aunts
12. The main thing that was missing though, was my youngest sister, Emma, who was, at the time, volunteering in the Smokey Mountains as a summer park ranger/bear keeper/search and rescue team member/teacher of all things naturey. It was home sweet home, but it did feel a bit strange with her not being there.
I did a lot. I also did a lot of nothing on my couch while watching the Olympics, sports and other tv when I figured out which channels were which (I only have 40 channels in Nicaragua-at home theres about a million) I walked my dog a lot-I cried to her once too;she listened and then cuddled with me-I saw childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, after high school friends...I have to say honestly it was the best vacation Ive ever taken and I spent it in Weymouth.
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