Rainy Weather

Today, being January 25th, should have been a typical winter day. By “typical”, I mean it should have been maybe in the 20s or 30s throughout the day, maybe even snowing. However, Mother Nature threw us a curveball and gave us a 55-degree day in the heart of winter. It felt like spring, and with all the rain, it reminded me of Manila.

Rains are a big part of life in Manila. Growing up in the Philippines, you learn to live with rainy weather at an early age. As kids, we would go outside to play when it rained very hard. I remember me and my brothers would play with mud and create makeshift dams on the side of the roads where the water flowed (the culverts). These were way before the so-called acid rains, of course.

Along with the rains come also the floods. The Philippines being a tropical country gets about 30 typhoons a year. That meant that as a student, you were assured of at least a few days of no classes because of typhoons. It was good if they declared schools closed in the morning, because you wouldn’t have to get up early. But sometimes the storms would hit in the middle of the day and you would already be in school. One time my brother picked me up from school and we had to wade through knee-high water in the streets. You weren’t a full-fledged graduate until you experienced this at least once in your student life.