how can sebastian NOT believe in God? his first morning of school, as he sat at a table with victor, ben, hugh and a few other fellows, his cute teacher (he always gets attractive teachers, another bonus), announced that typhoon nuri was on its way, and could the kids please give this paper to mummy and daddy? (seb & adam at left prior to leaving for school)

the paper was of course reminding parents about typhoon policies, basically telling us, "don't bring your kids to school tomorrow."

even if i hadn't heard it on cnnasia, i knew there was a typhoon on the way. a taxi driver had told me.

"very bad typhoon tomorrow missy. by 8am, typhoon 8. we stop and get groceries for you?"

i assured him we would be okay. the pre-typhoon weather was still and hot. eerily heavy.

sebastian bounced out of his first day of primary TWO and smiled and handed me the notice and then we headed home to find gary taping up the windows and pushing the furniture up against the floor to ceiling patio sliding doors. there are five of them in total. big X"s across the windows. it was too hot for the kids to play outside, so sebastian and adam played transformers up at ours, while the triplets played at andrea's upstairs. andrea came up to join me and we talked about ashleigh's first day at school (such a big girl!!!) and we lay on our bed watching a re-run of grey's anatomy while next to us the boys watched teen titans. the universe felt orderly.

charles came home and i made him some delicious (say so myself) vietnamese glass noodle salad. it was too hot for anything else and the cool dressing and slippery noodles were fantastic. the kids and i had made the dressing a few days earlier and they were very impressed with their garlic smelling hands afterwards.

we watched a couple of episodes of HOUSE, and talked a bit, then switched on to the olympics. the trees were moving around outside, but they sure weren't frantic, but the heat was oppressive. i felt sorry for the horses, jumping for the allround. was less sorry when CANADA won the gold medal. (yay! we stand on guard for thee!)

fell asleep with the typhoon signal at three and expected to be at 8 by noon.

charles and i awoke around 4am courtesy of the wind shrieking in through our airconditioner. whheeeee! oh my sweet fart faced fool. thankfully the kids slept as their room is on the opposite side of the hall. i checked the website and it said that although it was still typhoon 3, school was cancelled.

the kids slept until 7am then crawled into our bed and we watched cartoons for a while, as sebastian announced, "this is the best day ever", and then changed his mind because the "good cartoons" weren't on yet.

typhoon eight went up around 8. all the bigger boats came in from the harbour. that was a real indicator that everyone was taking this typhoon seriously. (tess early friday morning with taped windows in the background)

around 9am charles and i decided it was time to get the kids outside before the winds got too heavy. i grabbed some m&m's, and we descended to the playground. made the kids run round a few times, and gave them their bounty.

a few parents obviously had the same idea, and we gathered on the playground and chatted away. i suppose i should have been a bit self conscious as i was wearing my sponge bob squarepants pajamas, but the thing is, i KNEW the rain was coming soon, it was SO HUMID and hot, and these pants were just the thing and went well with the tank top i was wearing. no regrets, dude! i convinced andrea to come down in her pajamas as well.

suddenly the wind picked up and sela's wellie went zooming off her foot and skittering across the playground. charles' glasses as well. the adults looked at each other and decided it was time for plan b.

this is how i ended up with 9 girls in my house (some of whom i had never met before). andrea got the boys. weng and mark made pizzas for them, and at 12.30 we had a pizza party for 16 kids, while marianne cooked for all the helpers. one couple showed up with wine for the parents. (yay!) it was fun and impromptu. all over our building, there were various versions of what was occurring at our flat, happening. that's one of the things i love about our building.

the next stage was a movie over at the van dales. poor jasper tried to stick it out, but they have three cats, so he was only there for an hour before he started breaking out in hives and wheezing. so he is home now sipping juice and being spoilt. "i get to choose what i watch." sadly, somedays when it is just jasper, he chooses to watch the wiggles...but not today. superheroes. i'm not sure i am ready to give up the wiggles.

the typhoon is apparently going to be a humdinger. it is expected to hit head on at 9pm. we are supposed to keep the kids away from the windows, particularly the windows that face the direction the wind is coming from. it will be well and i hope they remember it. especially sebastian. in years to come if he is doubting God and thinks about answers to prayer...he needs to remember today, and the fun he is having, while the windows tremble, the wind shrieks and the rain slices down vertically all around him. (at left, sela reading tonight's bedtime story - she pulled the words from memory but still did an excellent job!)

Comments

[Lucy Moran]

I'll be thinking of you all weathering the storm - I hope it doesn't cause too much damage! Luckily 122 is pretty sturdy and robust!

I can't believe that Sebastian is now in Year 2, and Ashleigh's in year 1!!!! That would be my boys if we were still there.
Good luck for the weekend,
Lucy

[Trace]

Stay safe!!

[Mo aka Maureen aka Grandmother aka Mum]

Great writing and a great story, darling! Wow, what a day you had and what fun inspite of the typhoon or maybe because of it. LOVE Seb's 'do' - go Seb go!!

M xox

[Mo aka Maureen aka Grandmother aka Mum]

AND love Sela's amazing curls. So proud of her bedtime reading skills :-)

Love, M xox

[GDad Blake aka Dad]

When does the wind wind down??

Love to all....Dad

[Jill]

Question: Why tape the one window and not the others? I'm sure the answer is obvious but I had to ask....and stacking the furniture? To help the windows? We get some good storms on the West Coast that Melo says are like a Typhoon 5...which now explains why she gets nervous when we take the SUV to go storm watching with the family in tow and the wind rocks the truck at the beach. I love the pictures. J

[knobody]

living through a tropical storm here too. ours is pretty much a non-event. we get worse afternoon convection thunderstorms. there aren't even any good hurricane parties anywhere. yours looks like a lot of fun.

i'd just like to point out that the godless have tropical storms and friends hanging out too. how can seb not believe in god? it's pretty easy, really. i'm not saying that he should or shouldn't, just that it's the same either way when you are watching the wind blowing outside.

[knobody]

jill: looks like there is clear tape on the other windows. maybe they ran out of one kind and had to finish with the other? also, here in florida they tell us that tape doesn't do anything to prevent window breakage in a hurricane, so not to bother taping. if you want your windows to hold, get hurricane shutters or board them up. no, i'm not sure who "they" is, so the source is questionable, but it's what is put on the news before every potential storm.

[Auntie Pammie]

I am glad to hear that you are all safe and sound.

[Charles]

The tape doesnt prevent the glass from breaking. The tape reduces the mess (spread of glass) if the glass DOES break. The heavily taped window already has a crack.

[Boulder]

Ok, I'm with you on the tape for clean-up, but why the furniture against the windows? Do the windows open inward, so you put them there to keep that from happening? When I've lived in hurricane areas, we'd do the opposite - pull it away from the windows, so that if they gave way, the furniture wouldn't get ruined from rain and/or glass.

Or is that the point? You'd like new furniture? ;) (I think it is nice, but I've no idea how long you've lived with it!)

Growing up, we'd have the same kind of parties in the neighborhood, but after a hurricane rolled through. I remember one where the power was out, and it was darker than ink out, but the tiki torches (hello 70's!) were lit and the lawn chairs were put in a circle and the adults enjoyed wine and cocktails while we had charcoal grills going to cook dinner for everyone. Really fond memories, as I'm sure your kids' will be, as well.

I can't believe how adorable Seb is in his uniform. Love the pics of story time, too!

[Charles]

Boulder - the two centre windows are sliding doors that shake, rattle and roll when the wind gets high. The furniture helps reduce the amount they bang back and forth.