No Earthquake for Dad's Birthday This Year

One year ago today, I was living in my first place in Santiago.  I was asleep and was woken up by the shaking around 3:35 in the morning.  After getting out of my room, I was huddled in the living room area with Fabiola and her boyfriend Gustavo. We had only met a few days before then, but we became companions.  Fabiola made us food while we listened to the radio, and I wandered out to get us food.  Gustavo seemed the most scared out of all of us, as he's from Colombia and had never experienced an earthquake before.  And in the midst of everything I know my family was home worried sick about me.  I remember the shaking, the darkness, and the uncertainty.

It's one thing to see about natural disasters on television, but to actually be witness to one leaves such a huge impression on you.  Even as I type this, I am left wondering if there will be another earthquake.  If so, where will the epicenter be?  How long will it last? And last but certainly not least, how strong will it be?

I think that they are all valid questions and that it is normal to have that fear.  But at the same time I'm realizing that I'm not going to let that fear take over my life.  Sure, I will take common precautions to prepare in case of an earthquake.  But since it is not anything I can control I think that worrying about it too much is a waste of energy.

As I type this, I am also happy to be moving into my own apartment.  It took some perseverence on my part, as the owners did not want to lease to a foreigner.  They were unable to do a credit check on me, and I was unable to provide a cosigner in Santiago for the lease.  But after showing paychecks and agreeing to pay 2 months of security deposit, I got an AMAZING apartment.  It is completely new, and the building has a pool, laundry room, grilling patio, movie room, and a mini gym.  It's only about 400 square feet, but it will be big enough.  Here are some pictures of it:

And oh yeah, as you can probably tell from that last picture, I will be living on the 20th floor.