My Rain

So, this is what the last week of the rainy season looks like this year. Crazy storm hit yesterday and is still raging.

It reportedly rained over 70mm, around 3 inches, during a two-hour storm late yesterday afternoon. We were stuck in Hyehwa waiting for the rain to stop enough for us to ride the scooter home. But yesterday's sudden downpour is nothing compared to the early morning storm.

The storm that began in the earliest hours today and thrashed us with early morning lightning and thunder for 90 minutes has almost certainly dumped yesterday's rain two times over.

I put on my swimming trunks and cleaned the walls and windows outside the apartment that were filthy from Seoul's daily dirt, and beginning to mold and mildew from the two months of rainy season weather. That kind of green is not welcome.

According to estimates, it'll have rained somewhere around 600-700mm by Thursday when the storm is supposed to begin to clear out. That's around a foot of rain in 48 hours. I think those estimates were made at the beginning of the storm and may increase.

Three o'clock yesterday afternoon, the humidity was intense and as the sun set it cooled off quick producing intense storms. The picture above is typical of what happened around the city. It's the heaviest rainstorm in Seoul since I moved here in 2008.

We live on a hill, so no flooding here. I'm sure Dorimcheon--the river down the street--is swollen, if not dumping its excess into the lowest streets

It's a fitting storm for my birthday, I think. It's like a long-waning wail against the oppressive summer heat.

See 장마

행복한 비가 오면

It's springtime in Seoul. And Spring offers respite from the dry cold of Korean Winter. The dry, cold, gray, dirty winters in this city can be downright depressing. The wind and rain of early spring bring budding trees and bulbs, thawing feral cats. I get to ride my bike to school, hike on the weekends, play soccer.

My favorite part of spring is the rain. I love walking to work on drizzling mornings sans umbrella in my raincoat. It become a routine--my rainy morning routine.This city is filthy. The rain cleans, smells good, refreshes the skin. Or, so I thought.

I was scolded this morning by my colleagues for walking without an umbrella. On any rainy morning in Korea, you'll get a scolding for not carrying and using an umbrella. Scolding is consistent in Korea, with or without the rain--a scold for everything, a nag for anything. It's the national pastime. Today's scold was unique because this year's spring rain is unique.  It's "Japanese Rain," which I take to mean: it's more toxic than usual because of the post-tsunami nuclear reactor tragedy, so watch out because if that rain touches your skin it will make you sick.

I have been scolded at least twenty-four times in three years for walking in the rain without an umbrella.  Now, I've been scolded at least twice about "Japanese Rain".

I like all kinds of rain.

(cross-posting on dagseoul.)

Rained Out.

It's been raining for several days now.
My students experience weather depression.
Seoul Sunless Mood Disorder. SSMD.

I've always liked cool gray days, lightly
humid, dripping nights, windows open
listening to aimless water dropping on the sill.
Strolling along. Dwelling.

When Late Spring rains in Seoul, the classrooms go dank:
sweat-dampened clothes, unclean bodies.
Crotch. Ass. I'd take feet.
Too-long left unwashed uniforms: gray pants,
plaid or blue skirts. Stinking tights. Socks.
Damp slipper Vans.
Converse.

---

"Look at me enjoying something
that feels like, feels like pain
to my brain."