I get a lot of little notes and messages about the typhoon. "Are you OK?" I'm fine.
Typhoon. Sounds exotic and dangerous. Really, just a hurricane, but rebranded for Asian audiences. Both are names for a big, windy rain storms, which are primarily dangerous if you like hanging out or living near large bodies of water.
Last night, I didn't sleep well, though. The wind was causing the doors in my building to go "clank clank" as they fought against their latches in the rapidly shifting air pressure. The building isn't tightly sealed enough to prevent this.
Lots of wind and heavy rain. It's annoying, if it happens to be when I need to walk between my apartment and the bus terminal – that's a 20 minute walk, and there really is no alternative – I suppose I could get a taxi, but getting a taxi when it's raining hard is not an effective use of time, since that's the idea many, many other people have too.
So, I get wet. An umbrella is useless, when it's raining sideways and the water on the sidewalk is ankle-deep. This happened yesterday, walking home from work. During the rainy season, I carry plastic bags in my backpack, and use them to seal all the things I'm carrying inside the bag in rainproof containers.
But is the storm dangerous? Do I feel at risk. Not really. It's got the same feel as an intense California winter storm. Wind. Rain. But risk of life and limb? No. There may be flooding. Korea has had bad floods, sometimes – the hazards of being a country made up entirely of mountains and river valleys between them. But my apartment, and my place of work, are on high ground.