Korean Life | Rainy Season

taken from our living room window

Practically every day for the past couple of weeks, the stifling summer heat has been interrupted by a more-than-refreshing late afternoon shower. The day usually begins as it normally does – bright, sunny and intense, with, of course, extreme humidity. At times it feels unbearable, especially in a country that likes to limit its use of air conditioning. A quick five minute walk outdoors typically results in clothes that are dripping wet.

Just when I think I can’t tolerate it any more, the skies grow dark and ominous while the smell of ozone wafts through the air. From the distance, a large crack of thunder can be heard, followed by crooked bolts of pink lightning. And then the heavens open up for a brief 10-15 minutes providing a bit of gratifying relief from the sweltering heat.  These thunderstorms remind me of Texas summers (except without the tornado warnings), and are a welcome, and unexpected, connection to home.

Now into August we’re supposedly at the end of the rainy season. Rainy afternoons have been traded for temperatures that hover in the mid 30s (over 90°F). Every day feels like the day I will finally melt into a sweaty puddle on the floor. We have been doing our best to keep cool while still filling our weekends with outdoor activities by visiting hotel pools, taking evening strolls by the lake (although the Korean bbq that followed certainly did not help), hiking to icy-cold streams, sliding in a huge outdoor slip ‘n’ slide, and attending baseball games where the audience is sprayed with water. I know summer won’t last forever, and despite the heat, I’m determined to cram as much summer-y things as possible into what’s left of August.  

Seriously, how is it already August?

---

In other news: we officially have Olympic fever over here (plus it gives us an excuse to stay indoors). We have been watching streamed videos and live feeds from the NBC Olympics website and even though it crashes a million times and has the worst commercials ever, it’s been such a different and enjoyable way to watch the Olympics. Back in the States we usually just caught the prime time recording of all the Olympic highlights, typically set to a backdrop of corny music and overlaid with lens flares and waving flag graphics. As much as I love watching swimming, track, and gymnastics (especially gymnastics), I always hated that they received most, if not all, of the Olympic coverage. This time around we have been watching, and thoroughly enjoying, sports that rarely ever make it to the U.S. prime time video montage (fencing, weightlifting, archery, shooting, and judo) and skipping sports that have no reason being in the Olympics (golf).  I also have an extremely low threshold for Michael Phelps (Bleh. Gross.) so it’s especially nice to not see his skeevy face every other minute while watching streamed content.

I suppose this is where I should chant “GO USA,” (GO USA!) but I have been really into watching athletes from countries that don’t receive much airtime do really awesome in less publicized events.(Or maybe I’m more interested in other countries now that we live overseas?) Like who knew Southeast Asians were so good at weightlifting? And Vietnam won it’s first ever medal – a gold – in an air pistol event. (What? That’s an event?) It’s always the little stories about people overcoming oftentimes unfathomable odds that really makes me love watching the Olympics.

Anyone else watching the Olympics? Any favorite/least favorite sports or athletes?