I Survived the Great Typhoon of 2012

Yes, there was a typhoon that just swept through the nation. And, by swept through, I mean, it probably actually tidied things up a little bit :)

the slightest of flooding in the rice paddy- it will be gone by friday

The buildup to this typhoon was a days-long, armageddon-esque topic, about which people spoke in wide-eyed hushed tones. "It's the biggest typhoon to hit Korea in 10 years!" It even made the front page of the BBC news website. That made me a tiny bit nervous (I've never even experienced a hurricane before!) but having lived through a few other large storms here, I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. Koreans, like everyone else, love to be dramatic when speaking about the weather, I know this very well after a sunny snow-less winter which all of my co-teachers swore was "the coldest in memory."

Well, my classes were cancelled yesterday, students ecstatic that they'd be allowed to stay home and seek refuge inside with their smartphones and televisions. I, however, had to come to school! Public school teachers in Korea are considered public servants- so, I made the hour's trek to school to "plan safety procedures" with my co-workers. This generally amounted to me sleeping on the couch with a couple of books all day long, emerging to eat lunch and go to the bathroom. It was a pretty great day :)

only a few trees were knocked over, and i saw one window broken

Though, I admit, some sick part of me is a little disappointed I didn't get to see the might of a real storm. I did see a bunch of trees down in the park I usually walk through to get to and from the bus stop, as well as one broken window- but in less than 24 hours, the typhoon was long gone, leaving relatively little damage in its wake.

Typhoon season doesn't end until November 1 (the same as hurricane season in the Atlantic) so time will tell if this is the worst we will get this year!

More soon!
M