Despite being here for over 5 weeks, in the so called typhoon season, and arriving in the rain, my time here has seen precious little by way of stromy or even rainy weather ever since! My umbrella has been used solely for the purpsose of keeping the sun away from myself (yes, just like a true local!) and to that end it has served me well! However, on Monday, Jonathan, my incredible mentor at school, came to inform me it a typhoon was coming and to be in my house by 5pm, to which I did not know what to say. I had to draw a fine balance between being mature and sensible and being mildly concerned, thanking him for letting me know, but also being like an excited child about the expectation of a proper incoming storm!! I went with the sensible approach which i thought more appropriate for the staff room. When the typhoon signal reaches 8, (they say the typhoon singal no 8 has been hoisted which I love!)you must not leave the house. The signals are issued when a tropical cyclone is centred withink 800 km of the city and range from T1, which 1 is a standby signal, T3, when there are strong winds registered, and then T8,which is gale or storm force winds, whre everyone is required to secure everything in their homes, like windows (!) and you are advised not to stand near the exposed sides of your home! Luckily enough for us, our flat faces inwardly in to a square of flats and so we were very protected and felt very little of the storm. Apparantly after that there is even signals T9 and T10, 10 being a hurricane! The signals are all very well advised on MTRs, TV channels and in shops etc so even newbies like me can be aware of what is going on!
Well, the typhoon did come although we were all stuck inside and so did not get to see nor witness that much of it although the following day, the education bureau announced that there would be no school! so at 6.15am i went back to sleep for a few hours until a lesisurely 9am! Amazing! By midday, it was back down to a T3 so we could leave the house etc. It was quite a treat to be given a day off in the middle of the week, an entire day to do with what I chose. it was great to get on top of emails and have an explore around the Wan Chai area in which I am living, which surprisingly I ahve not yet had a chance to do so it was was so nice!
Also, being from the UK I actually quite enjoyed the weather being a bit eventful and exciting with the wind and the rain varying the usual hot, humidity of the days and nights here! Aside from that, it made everything much cooler which was such a welcome break! I felt quite at home wandering around in the puddles, and being splashed by buses at the side of the road! haha! the strange things you appreciate and miss!
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