When I began my job hunt in South Korea, over a year ago, I picked my start date as September 1st. This is despite the fact I was quite ready and willing to go by April. Why the wait?
Rainy season.
梅雨, 장마, tsuyu, jangma, meiyu – Whatever you want to call it, rainy season is the most miserable time of year for me.
When I first worked overseas, I moved to Japan at the end of May. I had NO idea that I’d arrived two days before tsuyu (Japan’s rainy season in June) would begin. For the next three and a half weeks, I would be dealing with the wettest, most humid weather I had ever dealt with in my life. It was compounded by the fact I could see the ocean from my apartment, so already it was humid. I was MISERABLE. I’m not good in humidity, and despite how humid I thought Canada could be, I realized I came from a relatively dry climate compared to places like Asia.
Thankfully, the second tsuyu I dealt with went much easier, since by then I’d had an entire year to climatize to Japan’s weather. Then I moved home and went back to normal weather, by my standards (But damn that was a cold winter in comparison…)
After deciding to move to South Korea, I knew that rainy season was my arch nemesis, and I would do everything in my power to avoid it. So, I started in September, giving myself 10 months to adjust to Korean weather before the rain hit.
Ahaha, what a fool I was, to think I could prepare myself for this. The entire 14 day weather forecast shows rain. I nearly cried at the site.
I’ve ordered myself a yellow rain jacket, hoping the bright colour will get me through the next month with a smile. Otherwise, I’m going to be like a cat, and prefer to stay hidden in my apartment, sleeping and lounging while working on the computer.