South Korea in the Rain

We went to Seoul yesterday. I guess I should clarify that at the moment I am living in Chuncheon, South Korea, a town of 400,000 in Northeast Korea, near the demilitarized zone. We have been taking intensive Korean language classes, getting to know one another and learning basic ESL skills. We had this weekend off and were encouraged to leave the dorm, as we found out that the power would be off for the weekend. Considering the hot, muggy days, we opted to board a train to Seoul on Saturday. On our way to the train station the rain began to pour. By the time we had settled in for our two hour trip to Seoul we were all drenched (I was travelling with my roommate and two other friends in the group.) The rest of our trip was almost comical as we walked around in heavy rain, unaware that it was unprecedented typhoon weather that would later make national headlines and kill ten people. Not knowing the language makes us deaf and mute. We could not hear the news on television or even catch conversations on the street. We refused to let the 20 inches of rain that came in that 24 hour period to trample our ambition of a fun weekend in the city. We ate incredible food, kalbi, which is a Korean BBQ, where you cook strips of beef right at your table, and Bee Bim Bop, which is another traditional vegetable and rice dish. When we returned to Chuncheon we were all instructed that South Korea's weather had made national news and we all needed to contact our parents to let them know we were o.k., because they had begun to call the Fulbright office, as worried parents often do, and rather than field one hundred plus phone calls we should just let them know that we are O.K.