Here's a fun story:
Around Wednesday afternoon, word came 'round to me that there was a typhoon headed our way. Knowing that Japan is frequently bombarded by them, I shrugged it off and went about life as normal. It was suggested that I stock-up on food and prepare, but I only bought a couple two liters of water and thought nothing more of it.
Late thursday afternoon (which coincidentally was also my first day of school - but more on that later), I was instructed by my supervisor that classes were cancelled Friday and that I should just stay home and stay inside. Sweet!
Friday day was fantastic. It consisted of me sleeping in until noon, relaxing and watching some TV and playing video games, and just generally kicking back. There was regular rain, but nothing too absurd.
Cue Friday night and the story changes drastically. Before I knew it, there were winds as strong as nobody's business, and rain like you cannot even imagine. I ended up taking the advice that was recommended to me, and I filled my bathtub full of water just in case the water went out. I ended up falling asleep around 3am that night. The winds were so bad that doors inside my house slammed open and closed. I had to move furniture to prevent it. The fence outside my house lost a section and parts of it were flying around in the yard and banging against the fence and my house.
Saturday was pretty much more of the same. It was also the first time in two days that I finally went outside (the last time I was outside was Thursday afternoon after work). On Saturday, Taiko practice with the kids went on as usual, with practice starting at 6pm. The way to the performance hall where we practice was not too bad. I got lucky and caught a (relative) lull in the storm. I showed up only mildly wet.
Getting back home was a completely different matter altogether. Luckily, I was prepared. I brought an unused garbage bag with me and a pair of flip flops. And so, sporting sandals and a makeshift poncho made out of a trash bag with cut-outs for my arms and head, I charged through the storm in the dark of night. I attempted the use of an umbrella, but after about a minute I gave up. It was an adventure to say the least, and definitely not something I want to attempt again. For the record, I was offered a ride home, but at the time we were all leaving, the storm was in one of its lulls (basically, the storm would go crazy for several hours and then die down a little bit for ~20 minutes). I decided to play the brave soldier and paid for it.
By the time I got home, it looked like I had gone swimming.
The rain was at its heaviest on Saturday night, but the wind had calmed down considerably. Because of this, and having slept through the winds of the night before, I found the heavy pounding of the rain relaxing and fell asleep without too much of a problem.
But here's where it gets a tad bit scary. As I was sleeping, around 6am on Sunday morning, a flood evacuation warning was issued. Basically, it was thought that one or both of the rivers in town (I'm still not sure which) was/were going to overflow and flood the town. Of course, I was sound asleep, so how would I know? Well, at around 10:30am I was woken up by loud knocking at my door. I quickly pulled on some clothes and made my way to the front door. Before even opening the door, I was slightly shocked to see about an inch of water in my genkan (the sunken area in every Japanese home where you remove your shoes). The shoes I keep there were floating...
When I opened the door, the water did not rush out as one would expect because the water level was about the same outside. And there stood the very nice woman who runs the adult English class that I will start co-teaching with this week (and whom I've only met before for about 30 minutes). She came with a bunch of food she made herself wanting to make sure I was okay. It was insanely nice of her. She looked fairly shocked that I had just woke up, as apparently it was big news to get the hell out of dodge early in the morning. But by this time, things were starting to die down. The rain went on until about 5pm on Sunday. Now, as I am writing this (7pm), there is no rain and it is unbelievably eerie, quiet, and still outside.
And there you have it! My very first typhoon! I've definitely learned a lesson or two, such as: go buy rain gear/clothes, heed the warnings seriously by stocking up on food/water (I've been eating a whole helluva lot of pancakes), and prepare and emergency evac bag just in case I have to run up the mountain side in a jiffy.
Unfortunately, I don't really have any pictures or videos of this bad mother of a storm. But it WAS bad. In the very southernmost areas of Mie prefecture (where I live), some towns have been flooded with 7 or 8 feet of water. Many people I know down there currently do not have electricity or internet or running water or all three. Not good... :(
Turning to regular news, tomorrow starts my full first week of teaching. While I did go to one of my Junior Highs on Thursday all I did was give a short 7 sentence speech (first in English and then in Japanese) in front of the whole school. After that I went around and chatted with the students. This week I will finally go to all my schools and introduce myself. I've made up a really fun powerpoint that I will be using to introduce my self to each of my classes (it WOW'ed the English teachers at my main Junior High on Thursday).
It's looking like the weather tomorrow and the rest of the week will pretty much be back to normal, so that's nice. Well, I guess that's pretty much all for now...
This has been a special presentation! We hope you enjoyed it and hopefully you stayed dry while reading it! See you next time.
JJ (as my kids call me)
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