Friday, October 14, 2011

Earthquake: Another First

We experienced a earthquake here in Bali yesterday.  It was my very first time actually feeling the earth move in such a way.  Hubby experienced one here last year but I slept right on through it.  There was one recently just north of us in the USA but I did not feel it, though hubby did 8 miles away. 

Sitting on the ground under a tree with rice fields to my left and a pool to my right, I caught the eyes of my midwife friend holding her two year old son.  Her husband stood about five feet in front of me.  He wasn't sure if he should stay put or run somewhere else.  I sat peacefully with my legs crossed and just absorbed all the sounds, feelings and images around me.  I could hear the rumble, could feel the quaking but nothing in the scenery changed shape.  No trees swayed.  Perhaps that was what I expected to see after media exposure.  I don't know. 

Honestly, as odd as it sounds, I didn't want anything to change.  I just wanted to sit and experience it.  I didn't want it to be over so quickly that I would miss it or get worse so I would have to move.  I hoped no one or nothing else was hurt, of course.  But, I just wanted to take Mason Jennings advice and "Be here now.  No other place to be."  I realize that's a really weird way to experience an earthquake for the first (any) time.

We heard that the shelves of a grocery store shook about 35 minutes away and items fell off.  We heard people were scratched up a bit about 2 hours south of here at the beach.  We felt a little aftershock at Pastica's birthday celebration later that day.       

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