welcome to the rainy season

Rainy season has finally arrived. It poured the last two days out of three. And I really mean pour, tropical rain style. If this is the ‘short’ rainy season, I can’t really imagine what the ‘long’ one will be like. This one is called short because in general the rains last shorter (as in only about one hour).

The other day, I was in town for an interview. I jumped on a dala home, but as the dala approached my stop, it felt like we were standing under a waterfall. I jumped off and ran to stand with the other 100 people under the dala stand. Everyone was very patient, trying to wait out the down pour. I enjoyed the view, the coolness, the people watching for approximately 20 minutes and then decided I really wanted to get home, regardless of how wet I’ll get. The whole group laughed as I raced across the street and got splashed by no less than 3 cars. Soaking wet from head to toe within a minute, I waddled my way through the police station residence, which had turned into a rapid river. The rained lessened as I neared home. Everyone who saw me had a look of alarm and said “pole!” In Cantonese, the apt description would be “lok tong gai” (soaking wet chicken – don’t ask me why it has to be a chicken…).

It was nice to get home and jump into a hot shower!

**I did hear that the rains this year are bigger because a cyclone just hit the coast somewhere south**