krathon

part one: the setup

"storm clouds are gathering"

ok so yes, i knew there was a tropical storm nearby awhile ago, but at the time, it wasn't projected to hit land in taiwan. i thought it would be like the one in 2022 where it sort of just scrapes the east coast – like how most storms do. however, krathon decided to start going north-northwest, making it's projected path slice through the island from the port city of kaohsiung to exiting around yilan. also, it got upgraded to typhoon status september 29. there has been talk of prepping for a few days now. especially for those of us in the dorms because we might get stuck up the mountain due to branches and such.

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we had some hard rain this last weekend, but we still had class today (tuesday). the wind certainly picked up – it was so loud. also, it got my hat for a sec there. after class, i had a group meeting for a presentation. the view is incredible from da xian, the "pretty" library.

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as we left, it looked like the rain was coming back. but i still needed to grab supplies in case closures did happen. food for students is usually going out every day so it's interesting to go to the grocery store hahah. most of my local friends were like yeah, we're getting days off and that has got to be from experience. as of now (tuesday evening), the projected path has already changed again. i believe it's category four and thank god i got prepped today because i literally just got confirmation classes are cancelled tomorrow.

here's the updated projection. looking like maybe the rest of the week off if it sticks to this. the blue dot is me. it's not carving as much and looks like it will pass through more directly. 🥲

the left is tuesday morning, right is tuesday evening

my haul

this is just funny, but the first thing i get on youtube today is an ad from seven saying to get prepared for a typhoon with them. sorry to tell you seven, but you don't have a lot of nonperishables.

part two: the storm

i spend the next two days off class as ordered by the government and checking the maps every day. it's not as bad as i imagined – just high winds and rain. i suppose that's because it decided to just hang out in the south. in fact, as i am writing this, it looks like it's going back out southward. i just let it blow over and stayed in the dorms. once you are out of the room towers, it's very open to the mountain foliage and some people mentioned that it's probably better to stay up at the dorms in case there are any fallen trees or branches. besides, the shuttle wasn't running since school was closed, so if i did go out, it'd be at least 30mins just for getting to the main street and back. also, who's to say what would even be open given the situation. it's ok though because it's back to business as usual tomorrow.

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fortunately and unfortunately, i missed three of my four classes due to this (yes, one was the presentation). who's to say how we're going to proceed. i mean i essentially missed a whole week and there isn't even anything really to prep for next week because for research theory it's a practical, comm theory is canceled because the prof is away for a conference, news disruption is a guest lecture, and advocacy is canceled for the double ten national holiday. i'd better not feel like i'm playing catch up the rest of term!

anyway, safe and sound. catch you in the next one~

♡蘇晨