Our first Typhoon!

Well we have survived it--our first typhoon. Early Saturday morning a catagory 1 typhoon passed through. We knew it was coming from the news, but I am not sure I really believed it. We had done a little prep work of filling buckets with water and bringing some chairs in off the balcony. About 3:30 in the morning the winds began to really blow outside so Allan and I got up and shut all the windows in the house. Shortly after, the power went off.

The Philippines averages about 19 typhoons (a pacific hurricane) a year. I guess it is like snowfall in the US. When it snows a little down south, everything shuts down, but in the colder regions, it takes a blizzard. That is how it is here--like the northern US in winter. Emily's class was having a sleepover at school Friday night. No need to cancel that for some rain and wind. 8 am Saturday morning when she returned home, Jeepneys, trikes, and people were out in the rain going about their business. People went on with lives and work like it was just a long summer shower. Power outages are not rare here so even that didn't seem to slow anyone down. The grocery store just fired up their generator and continued business as usual.

As for the Gilmer clan, we stayed home and enjoyed the cool breezes that blew. It was a great day for me to curl up on the screen porch with WAGs and a book. Allan did do a little work on our generator and finally got it going in the afternoon. It ran for about 4 hours so we could didn't lose the food in the fridge. We also had one light for a couple hours in the evening. It turned out to be a nice relaxing day. By Sunday morning power was restored and it was off to church for Mother's Day! We went out to eat with another family afterwards and it was like nothing had happened. We are still having really cool weather. I hope it last, but know it won't so I will enjoy it now!