Quite a tremor

This morning I woke up to an earthquake which lasted about 20 seconds. At first it was a slight tremor, after five seconds, everything started shaking violently. "It must be at least 6 on the scale." I thought. My conjecture was based on a series of devastating earthquakes in Taiwan 10 years ago.

I didn't jump out of bed and duck under a table or anything, because I could still abide it. After it stopped, I overheard my dad said,"It's 6.3 on the scale." I knew he was watching TV news downstairs. So that was it. A 6.3 earthquake.

Though it wasn't serious, it became the subject of conversation whereever I go this morning. I went to the post office, a bank, a fabric shop, and a coffee supply store after breakfast. In the post office, a lady next to me said she never got up early, she was awoke by the earthquake. In the fabric shop, the shopkeeper was discussing the tremor with her old customers. One of them said it seemed God is going to deracinate human beings, thinking of the calamities in Haiti and Chile.

I went to the coffee supply store to buy some dried flowers, for making liquid soaps. (By the way, it's my first attempt at liquid soaps, I'll post about it as I proceed.) As I entered the store, it appeared awkward to me that the shopkeepers were still arranging things at almost 11 o'clock a.m. As I was at the cash register paying for the dried lavender, it became clear to me that they were actually cleaning up bottles and liquids that fell during the earthquake! I talked to the clerk behind the counter and she admitted they were cleaning things up, and that it was pretty much work.

I am glad my house and neighborhood were fine. I hope earthquakes will never come visit us, or any other part of the world again.