July 5, 2009
This month is going to be completely full of changes for me. By the end of the month I will be in America! That is hard to believe, and I'll probably go through major reverse culture shock and be crazy for a few weeks before I adapt to being back in America. But it will still be great to see my family and friends again. I sure am going to miss my many dear friends over here once I'm gone. I am also going to miss the fun, unique way of life in Asia.

The past two days in my city had heavy rain. Today I went downtown to meet friends at McDonalds. After we studied together, Amy and I decided to walk around downtown and take pictures of the flooding which has resulted from the rain these past two days.

   
   
    
    

This kind of flood happens in my city about once a year. You'd think it would make people stop building in the flooding zone, but it sure doesn't!

This guy had a broom and kept sweeping the river back. I think he might be out-powered.

Many people got trapped in their buildings as the river quickly rose overnight. There were several small boats transporting people back and forth from their flooded building to dry land.

     

Amy and I walked across one of the main bridges downtown to watch the huge river rushing by. The roads were packed with local people walking around taking pictures and gawking at the flooding. It was pretty impressive.
  
       

I have pulled up some previous pictures of this area to give you a view of what it looks like when it's not flooded. First are the pre-flood pictures.



Now when it's flooded:
  

    

Here's more pre-flood pictures of another bridge, and me sitting by the river, just to show you the height of the trees which are now covered.


Here's more of today's pictures of the same area:



  

I have been wanting to go visit my friends in the countryside for the past several days, but haven't been able to travel because of the heavy rain. Now the roads out there are all flooded, so I'll have to wait a couple more days before I will be able to get there. Hopefully we won't get any more rain for a few days so I can get out there and spend time with them. I called Lisa and BinBin's family to make sure they are all okay, because that area has had much worse flooding that my city. They are all okay, and BinBin's mom invited me to come visit them so I can look at the flood. People here are so considerate!

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P.S. As I posted this blog, it started pouring again!