I woke up to a loud clanging sound in my bathroom this morning at about 4am. When it rains here, my toilet starts making funny noises, but I’d never heard this before. I grumpily scrambled to the bathroom to find the drain covering was jumping in place, hence the clanging. I picked up the drain cover and saw water gushing through a pipe. Some of it splashed into my bathroom. Fuck, is my apartment going to flood? But I’m on the second floor! I closed the bathroom door and went back to sleep.
Last night was the first time I’ve heard thunder in Hanoi. It’s rained here quite a few times, but the last 24 hours has been a pretty constant downpour. When I opened the garage door to leave my apartment for breakfast, I was confronted by a river in my alley. Oy. This had happened before, but I was able to wade through it to find a floodless street. Not this time. On the main street (Thai Thinh), people were walking and pushing their motorbikes through water that rose past their knees. My pho place was obviously closed as was everything else I could see on the street. I practically swam back to my apartment and started planning for my evening lessons, regretting my irresponsible decision to delay buying groceries.
As time passed, I began wondering how I was going to get to school to teach my classes. I’m not an experienced enough teacher to plan a full lesson very well without resources. Besides, would anyone show up to said lessons? I eventually called my school, and after explaining my flooding situation, they told me to try to come to 
class anyway. So, I tried. I waded through the water (always a good idea to walk through flood water – I hear it’s good for your vitality and health), and managed to find to some dry spots. But these were only about a block in length and were bordered by more flooding. Amazingly, some motorbikes were powering through the water, but most only made it halfway. There were also many cars stuck in the water, reminding me of my high school days when I stupidly drove through a pond-sized puddle in the middle of the road and predictably screwed up my car. Needless to say, I gave up on going to class. I called again, and the woman I spoke with got flustered with me – “What am I going to do about your classes?!” Um, has this never happened? What is it that you would have me do? Fart a rainbow bridge to help me walk over the rivers? Mitchell offered to cover my classes (he lives a block away from the school), so the panic was short-lived. I know it rains a lot in Vietnam, but I didn’t expect to be stranded when it does. Luckily, in my attempt to get to school, I found some food. The restaurant had about an inch of water covering its floors, and I was ever so grateful that they opened up anyway. It made for an interesting dining experience.
As far as rainy days equaling snow days work-wise, I get the impression that won’t fly even if my apartment becomes an island. I need to figure out how to get around. Bamboo stilts? While I’m not one to readily turn away a day off, being stuck in my apartment all day isn’t a great alternative, especially when the only movie HBO deems worthy of playing is Meet Joe Black on an endless loop. I’m missing Halloween for sappy Brad Pitt make-out scenes. Let’s see…my other choices include Oprah, The Nanny, CNN, and ooooh that Neve Campbell/Denise Richards slut movie. It has Bill Murray in it?! Sweet.
