We returned to Korea in late August after spending two weeks in Idaho/Oregon to find out that we had missed a couple of typhoons and near constant rain. Korean summers are absolutely miserable, marked by excessive heat, humidity, and precipitation. I am trying to have a really good attitude about winter this year because I find the summers infinitely worse.
Unfortunately, we did experience one final typhoon a few days after our return. We awoke at 5am to winds at speeds we had never before experienced and rain so heavy you could barely see through it. By 8:15, when I usually leave for school, things had calmed down a little bit, but when we looked outside there was no one on the streets. I waited until 8:20 to see if my co-teacher would call me to say that school was canceled or closed (I knew the chances of this were slim), but when I didn’t hear from her I was forced to venture outside despite the stormy conditions.
Everywhere I looked I saw trees parallel to the ground, debris, downed power lines, and billboards stripped of everything except their frames. While the wind continued to rage, I made my way to school, running through areas with an abundance of trees. It was definitely one of the scarier events of my life. As I approached the school I walked by several restaurants that had collapsed and I almost walked into live power lines flapping in the wind. Luckily I was able to hear a Korean man yelling at me to watch out in Korean over the wind. Throughout the walk I was suspiciously one of the only people on the streets, and as I got closer to the school it was very apparent that there was no one at school. Just as I arrived at school I heard my phone ring. I glanced down and saw that my co-teacher was calling. Her first word were, “What are you doing?” I responded, “Uhhhhh, I’m walking to school.” I don’t know what she said next because it was in Korean, but her next words in English were, “Why are you going to school?” At this point I was super annoyed. “No one called me, so I assumed we had school. What do you want me to do now?”
I ended up going inside (fortunately the doors were unlocked) and I sat in the dark until the staff and students arrived 2 hours later. The power was out, so my only option was to read in my increasingly hot and humid classroom. Thankfully I had a book with me.
I don’t really know who was making the decisions at this point, or why everyone was forced to come to school. Because the power was out, there was no way for teachers to use their computers, and no way for the cafeteria to make lunch. Everyone, students included, arrived at 11 am only to leave at noon. Of course, the teachers were forced to stay all day. This made for an extremely miserable day because we didn’t have power until 4pm, meaning there was no air conditioning. It was probably close to 90 that day, and the humidity was such that it left you with a constant damp and sticky feeling. By lunch time I incorrectly assumed we would be allowed to go home or leave to get lunch, but for some reason the Principal decided we had to stay at school. Unfortunately, there were no open restaurants nearby because our area had sustained quite a bit of damage. By this point I was cranky and frustrated, but I tried to hold in my complaints. I couldn’t understand why no one else was irritated that we had to stay at school in the sweltering heat with no power or food. Around 12:30 my co-teacher showed up with a loaf of bread and gave me a few pieces. Apparently this was lunch.
The day ended at 4:40. After 8 hours of reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I was allowed to head home. Even though the things that happen here at times defy logic, I was amazed as I walked home to find that there were very few traces of the typhoon remaining. Within a day or 2 everything had been repaired and in several areas new trees were planted. Even though I question Korean decision making at times, they definitely know how to get things done quickly!
No comments:
Post a Comment