Typhoons

I hear people speak often of typhoon season. To be honest, it wasn’t until we moved here that I really knew much about typhoons, and still don’t. For example, what is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon? Apparently they are the same thing, except that hurricanes refer to the storms on the Western Atlantic and typhoons are the storms around the Philippines and China.

Now, in my naïve state, I have NO idea whether I should be nervous about them or not. My experience with them thus far is that, outside from heavy rains, they’re not THAT bad. I mean, Terry and I came here and landed on the day that typhoon Morokat blazed through Taiwan. While I had no idea what to expect, most seemed to think that we’d be shut in the hotel with the windows boarded! It turns out that the meteorologists miscalculated the path of the typhoon and Taipei didn’t get NEARLY the damage which was anticipated. The south, on the other hand, was not so lucky (we continue to see collection drives to help those still devastated in the southern regions of Taiwan).

With that as my background in typhoons, when the meteorologists predicted a typhoon on Oct 3-5, I had NO idea what to expect. The first most pleasant thing I noticed was a considerable drop in temp. For a change, while it was still humid, the winds moved the air enough to make it almost pleasant! The air didn’t seem so suffocating and the temperatures were much more bearable. There was a bit of rain, but, at first, it was mostly misty. Of course, Murphy’s Law would prove that the heaviest rains would occur on the day that the girls were out of school (teacher’s work day).

It is an interesting thing to see how people here handle the weather. For example, in California, during a major storm (such as the one which happened the week of Oct 11) most people stay indoors or at home. Outdoor activities are cancelled and the smell of wood-burning fires fills the air. In Taiwan life goes on as normal. There are still tons of people crowding the streets, and the scooters continue to ride around on the street like little ants weaving all over the place. The only difference is that it is more ‘colorful’ as people wear ponchos to cover their bodies and whatever they have strapped to their backs (children included!). I do feel bad for the traffic officers who are out directing traffic during rush hour…they don’t get a break due to the weather.

I will confess that I have learned one valuable lesson. During a typhoon, the best weather gear to wear is NOT an umbrella, but a rain coat. Terry and I wanted to take the girls on the bus to the grocery store so that they could help stock up our pantry with snacks. Typhoon or no typhoon, we needed to get out for a bit. So, we took the bus and then walked the short way to the grocery store. Luckily for us, the path was covered for most of the way. However, there was a stretch where Bri and I got soaked as we did NOT have a rain coat. You can see that we attempted to buy her a poncho, but the ‘children’s’ size was not quite right! The nice thing is that we let Brianna keep her oversized poncho, which she then cut down to size and decorated it so that it was a bit more fashionable (note to Bri…next time MEASURE your body before cutting and the poncho may fit!).