So, they call it a tremor . . .

For those of you who know me well, know I am an irrational sleeper.  Or rather irrational "waker-upper".  If you call me and wake me up I will agree to just about anything, whether it be going to work in 5 minutes or getting my wisdom teeth out the next day.  If I am asked in that moment between sleep and awake I am up for anything. 

I also respond oddly to situations when I am woken from a deep sleep.  During my first year of University while living in residence we had a fire alarm, a 4AM fire alarm.  And in my state of waking-sleep I thought the fire alarm was my mini-fridge malfunctioning.  So I climbed out of bed as angry as can be at my fridge for making all that noise, unplugged the fridge (the noise didn't stop) and climbed back into bed until my FC came banging on my door "ANDREA WAKE UP IT'S A FIRE", I am pretty sure my mumbled response to her was 'Don't worry it's just my fridge!" thankfully she insisted I go outside, except for the fact that it was later January and -40, I am grateful for her persistence in the situation.

So this morning at 4:52 I woke up to what I thought was an intruder (an intruder on the 13th floor?).  I first heard my stack of books on my night stand crash down and then my bed began to violently shake.  I couldn't figure out why the intruder was shaking my bed, until I got a little bit further to the wake side of my waking-sleep and my legs started to shake off the bed that I realized there was no intruder in my room, it was the room that was shaking or should I say quaking.  With cell phone in hand I was about to head down to get my P.I.A.C. from her apartment 3 floors down and head to our safe place, a soccer field 4 blocks away (we decided on this place a month ago after the first earthquake), when the sleep side of my waking-sleep took back over and my "rational" mind decided no big deal you have 25 minutes before you really need to wake up. 

Upon arriving at school 2 hours after my rude awakening I send the mom an email, saying guess how I was woken up this morning.  Not even 3 hours later I am calling her in my almost panic state after another earthquake hits and we have to be evacuated.  Still uninformed of the procedure to be taken in the event of an earthquake I am a little bit worked up for this call.  So I wake the mom up from her nice peaceful Saskatchewan sleep and tell her about the 2 earthquakes I have already experienced before she woke up. 

So now I need to clarify myself because apparently these weren't "Earthquakes" they were "Earth Tremors".  All I know is that the first one shook me out of bed like it was extremely desperate for me to wake up and the second one felt like the ferry ride from Naples to Athens where it was so wavy you couldn't walk a straight line, I remember this ferry ride clearly as it resulted in severe motion sickness, as the "tremor" resulted in a severely nervous stomach.  All in all I think I kept my cool pretty good considering I am a prairie child and there really aren't any natural disasters to hit the prairies (knock on wood).

So I will give you some advice that I received today on earthquakes.
When at home:
1) Crawl under your bed.  (I can't fit under my bed so . . . )
2) You are on the 13th floor so lets hope its just a "tremor".

When at school:
1) Make a triangle with your desk.  Hands over your head and protecting your face.  Face should be facing underneath the desk.
2) Wait for the siren, which means the quake has stopped and evacuate in single file to your evacuation area (you should cover your head as you evacuate incase another one starts).
3) Bring your attendence with you and make sure you are the last to leave the room and close the door.
4) BE QUIET! So that you are able to hear further announcements regarding other quakes or actions to be taken.
5) Take attendence and make sure the students sit quietly in a circle.
6) STAY CALM! (Don't want to scare the children!)
7) If there are 3 tremors in a day the students are sent home.
8) These are all things that would have been good to know before the second tremor.

Now everyone, NO WORRIES! (that means you Nin).  I will be fine, I think I will hide in my closet if another one happens while I am home, my shoes will protect me!