The Time My School Flooded

Literally, this happened. 

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

It started off as a normal Tuesdsy morning. The forecast was rain, which is not unusual for spring in China. As it came time to leave the dorm and walk to class the sky had opened and the rain came down with a vengeance. Pouring does not begin to describe the waterfall that was falling from the clouds. I was one of the lucky ones who had an umbrella. The others resorted to trash bags and anything else they could find to offer some sort of shelter. 

As we sat in the building watching the storm we joked about class getting canceled. I mean why not? We have fire days in Ca and snow days in the east why not a rain day? Sure enough the teacher called and said they couldn't bring the kids outside in this. I totally get it. When the sky has unleashed its vengeance and is throwing water horizontally at you there is no way to get 80 kids here especially when there was already 2 inches of water on the floor. We all headed back to the dorm taking videos and pictures of the rain and huge puddles.

After playing around in our room for about an hour I got up to relight the mosquito coil in the kitchen and was floored when I saw this:

SAY WHAT!? I started yelling for people in the hall to get out here and see this flood. What on Earth has happened!? We all stood shocked. Then in come 4 people who had been out swimming in it. They told us stories of the front of the school and the canal overflowing. They said it was past their knees on the road that went around the school. 

You only live once. And in that life you will probably never be in a flood in China, so, bathing suits on and out we went. 

This is right outside our dorm door. Not too high. A nice introduction to what we were about to experience.

Joe took us over to the amphitheater which was full and to our waist. We swam around, laughed and played. Meanwhile the chinese tried to go home:

But some would soon learn that they couldn't make it home because their cars were flooded.

My lifeproof case decided to break on my way down the stairs. Go figure I've had this case on my phone every day in China and not needed it until the day it breaks. Anyway my swimming was cut short so I could go back and rescue my phone. I took a long hot shower to make sure all the disease water was washed away. Then the media fun started. 

That first group that braved the flood took a ton of photos and apparently everyone else took a ton of photos of them. Within hours their pictures were all over chinese social media, the news, and even the newspaper. It quite literally spread all over China. Well outside out city. 

This was an experience I never thought I would have but is one for the books, that's for sure.

Three weeks left. See you soon America.