I knew it was going to be a crazy day when I stepped outside today.  I rushed to catch the shuttle and didn’t have time to grab an umbrella.  I knew it was raining, but I didn’t realize just how torrential it was.  I have not seen such a heavy downpour for ages!  It literally seemed as if someone had turned on heaven’s faucet.  I rushed out to the shuttle stop not far from our home, and within moments I was drenched.  I had no where to go but inside the shuttle stop shelter, and I had to wade through a swallow lake of water to get there.  I was soaked from head to toe.  I stood inside the shelter and waited for the shuttle to arrive.  In the meantime, I heard thunder claps nearby.  Oh great, I thought wistfully.  Here I am standing over a lake, soaking wet, and in the middle of a lightning storm.  I hadn’t felt so nervous since I was on a salty beach on Antelope Island at the Great Salt Lake in Utah, a mile from my car, running back to it and watching in awe as a lightning storm approached.  I felt like a cornered, drowned rat.  The shuttle was late, battling the rain.  When it finally arrived, I had no choice but jump back into the lake of water and wade through it to the waiting shuttle bus.  What a miserable start to a very long day.

 

After that, the day didn’t get much better.  I put out a few proverbial fires at work and hustled to catch a car to Daejeon with my Korean translator.  We drove in the pouring rain down to Daejeon to visit with some Americans held there.  I spent about an hour with them, gathering their requests and ensuring they were treated well.  Then, after a brief lunch, we drove back to Seoul.  It was an all day endeavor visiting Daejeon, and I didn’t get home until 7:30 tonight.  (Daejeon is about two-and-a-half hours south of Seoul on Interstate 1.)  The trip was even slower than expected because driving visibility was so poor.  We almost had to drive from Daejeon to Incheon tonight to do something important, which would have brought me home after 9 p.m.  I wish I could say that not going to Incheon today was a welcome change.  Unfortunately, not going to Incheon today means that I will have to wait until Tuesday to finish something important.  If I had gone to Incheon today, it would have been done tomorrow.  Now I have to wait four more days to get it done.  When I got home tonight, I was contacted by the person I was supposed to meet in Incheon.  Sometimes work finds you!  I wish the work always ended when I left the office, but sometimes it follows you homes.  Cases are piling up, and tomorrow I have a stack to work on in the office.  The sound of pouring today was not merely caused by rain.  It was also the sound of work raining down on me.  I can’t wait until next Tuesday, when this latest round of issues is resolved.