This Weather!

We had a very long winter here in Seoul, and a very mild spring. Temperatures have been cool--although it has also been unusually rainy: they tell me the vast majority of Seoul's rainfall comes during a month-long rainy season in June and July called 장 마Jangma, a.k.a. the East Asian monsson.

Well, I remember the monsoon in Thailand, and what I saw here last year did not impress. Drenched and irritated, yes; impressed, no.

As I said, the mercury has stayed pretty low--until last week; since then, the high has been in the 30s Celcius pretty much every day (that's about 90 F in dog years, or whatever).

And it's still been humid and rainy. It rained on Saturday afternoon and evening--ruining plans of millions of Seoulites to go to City Hall (click here to see Jo-Anna's post on what that was like) or Sangam or just sit on the patio of their favorite chicken hof to watch South Korea play Greece to start their World Cup campaign.

Today it was rainy and hot when I walked to school today--my hair was soaked, even though my umbrella doesn't leak. The forecast for the rest of the week is more of the same--rain with a high in the mid to upper 20s. There is a chance it will dry out on Thursday though, hopefully long enough for me to catch the Korea-Argentina game in an outdoor venue.

Bonus Photograph: Presented without comment.

Brief Teef Update

1) I was biting into a pork meatball today at lunch when I encountered a bit of bone. Unfortunately, it was MY bone, a piece of an upper molar that has been irritating me for about a year now, since the filling fell out (I have two, total two, fillings, in this mouth).

While I was flossing after lunch another piece fell out, so now I have a tooth disintegrating bit by bit in my mouth. No, it's not painful at all, but obviously, I must go to a dentist. Hwang doesn't know an English speaking one, so I'm hoping Andy's recommendation of the dentist in the building next door to my officetel will work out (stay tuned for a full post on my first dental visit in umpteen years).

2) I was just bragging this weekend to Steve W and Gav that I am proactive in dealing with miscommunication issues since I always ask Mr Hwang on Friday as we walk to school about any schedule changes for the next week. He told me that:
A - Thursday, 1st period would be devoted to student government elections; and,
B - Friday, scheduled as the last day of term, would be a holiday.
Well, it turns out that he was "Mr Wrong" on the Friday holiday, as Constitution Day hasn't been a national holiday for two years. Ah-hah. Thursday's veracity is TBD.
UPDATE: First period on Thursday proceeded as normal--some first graders had a medical check during this time (But not the ones in my class) so all first graders got a private electoral session!

3) Furthermore, he neglected to point out until today--that's Monday--that I would have no classes tomorrow--that's Tuesday--due to a national exam practice session. So, of three special events that I specifically asked about, he was wrong on two out of three. Now that gets you a million-dollar contract in the MLB, but for reading a calendar, it is pathetic. UPDATE: Make that batting .000!

4) So the upshot of all this is that tomorrow I will walk to work as usual in order to get credit for the day's work and, as I have no responsibilities, immediately turn around and go to the dentist. Oh, BTW, I'm askeered!

5) On top of all that, 장 마 jang-ma has decided to act up and Seoul is expecting the worst downpour of the season tonight and tomorrow. Rain for the next two days!

장 마 is Coming ...

... or maybe it's already here. It rained persistently today, causing me to cancel plans to go to the FC Seoul game tonight. I love soccer, of course, but going to a game is supposed to be fun, which in my opinion sitting for two hours in the rain isn't.

장 마 Jangma is the Korean name for the East Asian monsoon which delivers the Korean peninsula about 50% of its average annual rainfall in about a one month period. Miss Lee assured me on Friday that I need not worry about it--thanks to global warming, jangma is no more! Which is certainly big news to the meteorologically inclined.

Be that as it may, Jangma, if it arrives, typically arrives with the first days of summer, which equinox-wise isn't actually until tomorrow, so perhaps I am being premature. OTOH, I don't think so, as the monsoon is precipitated by the broad temperature differences between the large Asian landmass and the Pacific Ocean. As the land warms up in the summer, southwesterly winds drop water over the continental margins, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the coastal lands. There's no cut-off date.

In the winter, things reverse, with the line moving east and carrying dry aeolian dust from the Loess Plateau of China in what Koreans call Yellow Wind.

Anyway, I didn't go to the soccer game, but I watched it on TV. This was the first K-League game in two weeks, as the season went on hiatus for the last of the national team's WC qualifying. The visitor to Sangam was Jeju, who went ahead in the first six minutes. Strangely reminiscent of the game I attended two weeks ago. Just like in that game, Seoul stayed on the attack, drawing even late in the second half and scoring the go ahead goal on a very sweet header with about two minutes to go. The win moves them into first place in the league standings--with the bulk of the season still to come.