Chinn Stew: Typhoons (Ken) and Pics (Kids)

Several days ago we learned a typhoon was headed towards South Korea. An earlier one passed on the other side of Korea about two weeks ago, but this one was headed directly at us. We Googled typhoon and learned it is the Southeast Asia equivalent of a hurricane though it spins counterclockwise (opposite of a hurricane.) This sounded serious! Thankfully the university is in the hills above the port city of Pohang so we needn't be concerned about the storm surge (ocean pushing onshore with flooding.) Still, we would get the full brunt of the high winds and rainfall. Surprisingly, the university showed no indication of closing the afternoon it was projected to arrive. Rain started to fall and winds began to blow a day or two before its expected arrival yesterday. Yesterday morning the winds increased dramatically in intensity and drove the rain against the side of our our building. Clearly we were in for quite a show.
As we watched through the windows as students struggle against the wind and rain with umbrellas inverting and blowing away, news reports from Pohang showed the partial collapse of one building trapping 20 people, flooding, and roads closed by mud slides. Umbrellas disappeared and were replaced by hooded rain jackets. The trees were swaying dramatically and several were uprooted. On the walkway protected by storm windows next to our apartment on the 5th floor of our building, the rain was being driven through the cracks in the windows . It looked like springs were flowing from the window casings and it flooded the walkway. The residents pitched in to contain the water and Susan rolled up beach towels to try and plug the leaks. Of course I had to take the kids outside to get a sense of the forces we were watching. If felt like a drenching wind tunnel. I suggested to Robert that we tie some strings to him and fly him like a kite. He wasn't interested in the idea at all. In the midst of all this, we got notice the university was cancelling classes for the day. The full force was to hit us at 3:00 p.m. Around 1 p.m. the rain and winds started to lessen and we wondered if it was the calm before the coming storm (which was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it lost some intensity as it moved north and inland from the southern tip of Korea.) To our surprise, the rain stopped altogether and the winds as well. It remained overcast and there was some mild sprinkling, but the storm was over. We ended up walking over to Twelve Baskets (the student cafeteria) for a dinner of stewed chicken cooked in a large skillet that is served family style in a large platter containing chicken, vegetables, rice noodles, rice dumplings and hot pepper sauce served with sticky rice and kimchi on the side. For the non purists, they sprinkled handfuls of mozzarella cheese over the dish to melt and lessen some of the intensity of the spices. It fed our entire family and was delicious. I knew it would be good having watched students thoroughly enjoying the platters on prior visits. The cost was about $13.50 to feed our family. Quite a deal! My only complaint is that Koreans normally don't drink a beverage during their meals. They provide small cups for those who do - about a 2 ounce size. I kept the kids running back and forth to the water fountains to refill my cup as I worked my way though this very spicy dish. News reports this morning indicate lots of flooding and moderate property damage. Thankfully, there only seems to have been one reported fatality in South Korea. What a wonder to experience such a storm and yet another memory of this enchanting land.

Ken