Earthquakes!

Earthquakes, they said. I’m from Seattle, I said.

Well, it’s obviously been some years since I lived in earthquake country, as today’s shakers got my heart racing a bit and must have whitened my face amidst my co-workers.

The last week and a half in New Zealand have been crazy busy (more on that soon), and Monday I start my training at MetService. This afternoon I went to MetService to see a bit of the building before work.

Just after 2:30 pm local, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake shook the building pretty hard and caused part of the panelled ceiling in the training room to collapse, leaving the new projector barely hanging on. We dove under desks, as it was a pretty strong tremor and fairly shallow, centred some 50 miles south of Wellington. Fortunately only minor damage was sustained in most locations.

There have been countless aftershocks, some of them decently sized (just in the last half hour or so a couple about 6.0). I’m now back in my temporary lodgings, 8 floors up in the apartment building, so it makes me feel a little more uneasy about the shaking ground.

Hopefully I’ll soon be moving into a rental house this coming week. I’ve spent a good portion of the last week visiting suburbs and houses, and found one I think will do me well. I also bought a car in the last week! It’s a 2006 Subaru Legacy sedan.

Starting over in a new country is really the scariest thing I think I’ve ever done. However, I’m confident once I get settled into my new house and get into the work training and meet more people, I’ll start to feel more relaxed. I can’t wait to get out and see some countryside, but that’s having to wait a bit longer. Even just around Wellington there are many beautiful parks and views, and I’ll have to share more photos soon.

Until then, I’ll keep close to my desk.