We knew it was coming. We had heard that typhoons were common, and should be expected. We arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan at the beginning of August and it had rained every day at some point. The Taiwanese Ministry of Education states that students should attend school for 200 days of the year. That is about 30 more days than the average Australian or British school. So it comes as no surprise that teachers and students were eagerly awaiting their first day off school for a typhoon day.
I didn't know. Jeff left early for an Athletic meeting in Taipai. He woke me to tell me it was raining very heavily. It was before 6am, so I went back to sleep. I went and waited for the school bus just after 7am. I waited. And waited. After I got tired of waiting, I called another teacher and asked if I had missed the bus.
"You haven't heard? School's cancelled. It's a Typhoon Day!" he declared.
Awesome. I walked back to my apartment thankful that cable and internet had been installed only the day before. So here I sit, on the internet, flicking between Oprah and the Nat Geo channel. It is raining. It is windy. Is it really a Typhoon?
Yes. It is a tropical storm called Lionrock and is centred on the southern part of Taiwan. It is dark and cloudy and the skies are not expected to clear until tomorrow, Thursday.
Stranded inside my apartment, I will brave the storm, with cable and internet in tow.
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