Typhoon #9

My umbrella surprised me this week. I mean, who thought it could be blown apart twice in one hour and still be recognizable!? I certainly didn't expect so much from it.

The 9th typhoon of the season hit us straight on yesterday and last night. Students went home by 11am and teachers dependent on public transportation headed out early too (if the wind gets too strong, trains and buses stop). So, I left school about 3pm and after about 10 seconds at the train/bus station my umbrella looked like this:

I just laughed and found refuge in a corner near the bathrooms with about 8 other people. No one else laughed...I felt kinda silly: a foreigner, all wet, with a busted umbrella, laughing, and praying all the shaking metal signs around us stayed put. So I went to the bathroom & captured the funniness on film (well, digitally) before fixing the umbrella (can you believe it was fixable?!).

I caught the bus and as soon as I stepped off it at my stop, my umbrella flipped yet again. It'd be useless to fix it in the wind and rain so I ran to the grocery store across the street. Another lady and I were the last customers let in; the doors were locked behind us. As I picked up a few things for dinner, the store made announcements which I clearly understood to mean we needed to hurry because the store was closing due to the severe typhoon. Thankfully I had my raincoat with me, so I wrapped myself tight in it, tucked my bent and ripped umbrella under my arm, carried a bag in each hand, and braved the 6-minute walk to my apartment. As I prayed nothing big would fly at me or land on me, I looked around and tried to take in the magnitude and strength of the storm.

I've never experienced winds like the ones that rattled my apartment last night. I fell asleep listening to my windows and doors shaking and rain pounding outside.

When I woke up this morning, the rain had stopped and the wind, while still gusting, wasn't at all strong enough to give me goosebumps as it had yesterday. The neighborhood path I usually take was closed & I saw 2 trees had blown down across it. My bus never showed so I went to a different station, rode the train, then another bus, and finally, an hour and a half later, arrived at school.

As always, there's adventure to be had here in my little town. Typhoon #9 proved to be the strongest I've seen and I'm so thankful it only tore apart my easily replaceable umbrella.

This is looking out from school yesterday afternoon

My neighbor's house after they put the typhoon coverings over a couple of the windows

And from my balcony--notice the branches in the lower left corner