they didn’t say anything about earthquakes!

a few days ago,
i went to bed a little early,
as usual.
the bed started shaking.
my first thought was a couple downstairs
was doing their conjugal thing.
after a few seconds it stopped.
i asked ishaq about it the next morning.
he was up watching TV with rahmah
and thought that rahmah was shaking the couch.
he told rahmah to stop
and she looked at him like he was crazy.
he never got around to asking his colleagues
and i didn’t see anything in the turkish newspapers.

a few days later,
sanaa was in the shower
i’m hanging out laundry
on the kitchen balcony
and the building starts shaking.
the building!
sanaa calls me from the shower.
by the time i get her out
the shaking has stopped.
i look out my door peep hole
and see my neighbor try the elevator
and then go down the steps
with her daughter.
i look outside several windows
and see people throughout the neighborhood
standing outside.
while i’m getting sanaa dressed
i promise myself
that if the building starts shaking again
we’ll go out, too.

i can’t get a text message or phone call through to ishaq,
and when i do finally get through
i’m freaking out.

a while later
one of ishaq’s colleague’s calls
and explains that it was a 4.0,
the one a few days earlier was 3.7,
and earthquakes are rare in turkey,
occurring every 4 years or so.
THAT AIN’T RARE! THAT’S CALLED CYCLICAL!

a google search the next day
leads me to an associated press article
in the international version of the herald tribune:

Moderate earthquake shakes central Turkey

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey’s seismology center says a moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 has shaken a province in central Turkey.

There are no immediate reports of any injuries or damage.

The Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory says the epicenter was near the town of Kocasinan, in Kayseri province. The quake struck at 4:03 p.m. (1403 GMT) on Wednesday.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies atop the active North Anatolian fault. In 1999, two devastating quakes killed about 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey.

so, i gotta get used to this, too.
Allah be with us!