I Got That Hippy Hippy Shake

I had just finished cleaning this morning and sat down on the sofa to finish reading the latest copy of InStyle when I heard the sound of a strange creaking behind me. Startled, I spun around, thinking I am alone in the house, and searched for the person who would surely be standing directly behind me with a knive and a depraved look on his face. Just as I turned the couch started wobbling underneath me. It took me several seconds to realize that someone wasn't creeping up on me but instead I was experiencing my first earthquake.

I stayed on the couch frozen to the spot I was in and just kept spinning my head around me. Outside, the trees were swaying unnaturally in the breeze. The lamp beside me was swinging violently left and right. And the creaking was getting a little louder. Just at the time I managed to unfreeze myself and think that maybe I should go hide under the table because I can only assume that is what you do, the shaking started to subside. The whole incident was no more than 45 seconds long although the way my heart skipped a few beats and then seemingly stopped altogether, I would have guessed it was much longer.

What was the very first thing I did after taking a few seconds to slow my heart back down? I ran upstairs to tell the internet. Thanks for the free therapy!

In our orientation classes, we learned that earthquakes happen quite frequently here. The small ones that only register 2.5-5.4 on the Richter scale are said to happen very frequently, almost several times a day but you don't feel them. Some may be felt but probably would only cause very minor damage. There was no damage done at least to my area today so I am guessing this was a small one. But certainly not the smallest as I did indeed notice it for the first time. (We, the very inexperienced, should still probably get a crash cart just to be safe!) We were told in class that the earthquakes that measure 5.5 to the top of the scale at 7.9 do also occure every year. And the higher the scale, the more of a possibility of a resulting tsunami. I have actually feared typhoons more than the thought of an earthquake but now I am not so sure what scares me the most. We were expecting a typhoon (super actually) this week but it has moved of the path where we were directly in its course and now should be just like a tropical storm. So I have not yet had experience with the typhoon to know which I stand a better chance with.

Coming from the relative safety that Pennsylvania provided, I am getting my first experience with Mother Nature's PMS moments. I guess you get used to it. But I think that will take some time for me. I think I'm going to go back down and get under the table now... just to be safe.