Well, June is about over here in Seoul, and the rainy season hasn’t started yet; it’s already about ten days late!
Jangma (장마) is the name that Koreans give to the rainy season that [usually] begins in mid-June and lasts about two months. From what I hear, it can be a real doozy. Some of the Seoul Flyers told me that last year, the river bank was completely flooded and that some of the lower bridges were covered as well.
Uh-oh. How am I going to run?
Last year’s jangma was so severe, in fact, that mudslides and flooding killed over 40 people! Yikes!
Obviously, east central Illinois doesn’t have anything like a perennial rainy season, so I’m a little bit nervous about how the daily downpours will affect my running and by-foot commute to campus. Um, I have an umbrella (ella, ella, ella)?
Since I was already planning to run low mileage here, I packed light with only one new-ish pair of Ravenna 2′s. However, the leader of the Seoul Flyers told me that I was going to need at least one more pair of running shoes to survive the jangma. He said he had six or seven.
Obviously, this situation calls for a little deus ex machina…or deus ex Body N’ Sole.
One Skype phone call and a week and a half later, an identical pair of Ravenna 2′s were waiting at my homestay apartment. Now, it’s just a matter of getting out there when the downpour starts; at least I’ve always liked running in the rain!
Getting a “care package”–even one I paid a good amount of shipping for–was a real treat! I’m not going to pretend that I’m having a great time 100% of the time here. Life in Seoul is very, very different from C-U, and I often find myself clinging to anything that will link me back to the comfort and familiarity of the US. Since Brooks aren’t even sold in Korea, buying a new, clean-smelling pair was a great bit of “home” in an often unfamiliar and scary place. [True story: This week, I was served a peanut butter, ham, American cheese, lettuce, and mustard sandwich for breakfast.]
Anyway, jangma, I’m ready for you! Show me whatcha’ got!
