Typhoon!!

Greetings Gentle Readers,

Hong Kong is a pretty happenin' place right now. We are in the middle of a Level 8 typhoon (I guess Level 8 is a pretty big deal). It's pretty awesome. In case you're reading this in Minnesota and (like me) have no idea what a typhoon actually is, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon

Apparently it can also be referred to as a "tropical cyclone." I think it looks something like this:
Pretty cool, huh? :-)

Of course that's only if you're in a space ship. And unfortunately, I am not currently in a space ship. So for me, the typhoon looks something like this:

I can tell you're all teeming with jealousy right now.

Basically the entire Island has shut down. The buses aren't running, most businesses have closed, and we're trapped in the House. Although to be honest, if I could choose anywhere in the world to be trapped, it's the Maryknoll House. We've got Internet access, we have food, and we have hundreds of movies. I think we'll survive.

Oh, and for all the moms and aunts and sisters and grandmas reading this, there is no actual danger at all. See this picture?

This is a picture of the Maryknoll House. It's very clearly miles above the ocean, so waves aren't an issue here at all. To be honest, I've been a little disappointed with our little Typhoon Nuri. It's windy outside, and kind of rainy, but nothing that I haven't seen in a good thunderstorm in the Midwest.

Other than that, not much is happening. Last night I picked up Mary Jane DiFiore and John Berning at the airport. Both will be joining me down in Zhanjiang, so it was great being able to meet them for the first time. More and more volunteers are filtering in for different corners of the globe. Orientation officially kicks off on Monday, so until then we just get to settle in and get to know one another.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'd better get back to the storm cellar (ha! jokes! ;-).

-Aaron

P.S. At the end of every post I run spell-check just to make sure I didn't miss anything (and even then sometimes I do), and every time I do it tries to correct the word 'hong' in Hong Kong. I suppose it recognizes 'kong' from King Kong or something, but you'd think it would be smart enough to figure out Hong Kong is a city. And now that I've bored you to death, have a nice day!