Here We Go Again...

It's happening. The endless days of rain thanks to typhoons around Southeast Asia are having their effects on northern Thailand.

Yesterday evening our next door neighbor told us that several northern provinces have already flooded in the last couple of days, including ours, though still over a hundred kilometers from our house. With that information, we gathered our passports and a few other emergency supplies into backpacks that are now sitting ready in case of a quick escape. At midnight when the rain came heavily again I couldn't sleep, and stood out on the patio watching it until Robert got me to come back in.

Today it's the first topic on everyone's mind. Our supervisor at Peace Corps called at 7:30am to check in. She reported that another volunteer has been flooded already, two provinces south of us. As soon as we arrived at the school district office we were asked, "Did you pick up your things yet?" (Meaning, did you prepare your house?) We'll be doing a lot of that tonight, I think. My goal is to preserve as much of our material goods as possible this time around! Not that material goods are all-important, of course, but it would be much better if we didn't lose them all the same.

I do like rain. But I don't think I will ever feel quite the same about it again.