The Earth plates are shifting.

The title of this entry above is not just a reference to a song sung by the funky Young Empires. It is also a reference to Milan because several kilometers beneath the stylish soles and heels of this dazzling city, the earth plates were in fact shifting. When, you ask??

Last week.

Twice.

Dave and I studied geophysics in school where for so long we read about the phenomena of earth quakes and other  earthly processes. But to experience one literally peels our studies off the pages of our books and I must say, it was seismically spine-tingling! The first one happened on Wednesday where my closet and bed shook abnormally. Because I tend to have an over-developed imagination of the frightful kind when it comes to spiders and bugs (recall here), I immediately thought that a spider from last summer had been gaining size and strength off the fibers of my sweaters in my closet and now was finally able to evoke revenge on me, hence the shaking in my closet. Then the bed started shaking, the lamp above swayed and for 10 seconds, things were just freaky around me. But all that stopped suddenly and I was left to a) investigate my closet for said spider, and b) start to make a mental note to get my head scanned because perhaps some sort of cranial pressure was starting to make me imagine things. (I’m a bit of a hypochondriac too. Who knew?!)

Minutes later though, I realized it was an earthquake after speaking to Dave who was just as excited because his desk and computer at the office were gettin’ jiggy with it. The kids didn’t notice and continued to make messes everywhere. My first earthquake received a score from the geological judges of 4.9. Not too shabby. When the kids napped in the afternoon, I spent a little bit of time reading about the plates under Italy and what is happening from a geologic perspective. Turns out we have a bit of a subduction zone coupled with a convergent zone action present in two fault systems. Fascinating! All we need now is a volcano to suddenly emerge and erupt around Duomo in the heart of Milan and I commit myself to eating pasta here in this city forever. The study of the earth and its processes dazzles me, this is true, BUT volcanoes are what quicken my verbal velocity. How I wish some italian inventor would come up with a heat-resistant, toxic-gas withstanding, clear zorb ball so that I could bounce around an active crater in an volcano that is close by (ie, magical Mount Etna). Da Vinci, where are you when I need you most?!

Two days later in the afternoon, I had just finished skyping with my friend Rob from Australia when again, my closet started to show signs of wobbliness, followed by my bed that I was sitting on. I ran into the living room where the kids were watching television after waking up minutes earlier. The tv was shaking, as was our kitchen table. This quake felt stronger and longer and official reports agreed with my quake diagnosis-it registered at 5.4 and lasted a few seconds more. In a town near by, a sculpture fell of the roof of a church, the train tracks on a specific route between Milano and Bologna had to be inspected, and in Bergamo near by, the post office was shut down because of cracks that appeared in the wall. Indeed, the earth plates are getting groovy around here.

I mentioned above that the television was shaking. That means, we caved and bought one. After two years of living like ‘pioneers’ in Milan (no tv, no car), we decided to scrap our pseudo-Amish lifestyle and one Saturday morning, Dave’s third baby was delivered into our lives. We called her Sony, and Sony has a friend named PS3. Playing video games is all Dave wants to do once the kids go to sleep because the novelty is quite high so thank god for earthquakes to keep the bed a rockin’. Meanwhile, I have been able to focus more on things I need to write (I’m still working on the tours and they happily take more time than I thought they would), and catch up on other general paper work. I filled out our first census for Milano-I thought it would be harder to do, but with a dictionary in hand and a direct line to God for translation assistance (in this case, God is Google translate), I was able to fill out the census about our family. It actually felt nice and I had to pinch myself because sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live here in this wicked, plate-moving town. Among the pile of mail, was a white envelope with red ink, spelling the words ‘VODAFONE’. Those mf’ers wrote me again. This is where my entry for today ends, (short but sweet!), because Vodafone makes me more mad than an italian driving behind a slow car. Here’s why.

Till next time, keep fit and have fun!

Below, some photos of what our clan has been up to lately.