Rain, Rain, Go Away

So we have another typhoon headed our way! I've had many people ask me, another typhoon? Yup! Here in Okinawa, typhoon season runs from June to November. So we get several during that time period! They always seem to come on the weekends too... Boo! Here are some updates as we weather the storm...

Friday

• TCCOR 3 was declared - Destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are possible within 48 hours. 

Saturday

• Midnight: TCCOR 2 was declared - Destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 24 hours. 
• 10:30AM: Chad and I went to the BX to look for a hammer. Of course, they were all out of hammers. One of these times, the BX will have what we are looking for when we go there! So we decide that we will go off base to the hardware store. I haven't drove off base yet, so Chad made me drive for the first time. Of course as soon as we get off base it starts to downpour! The local roads get very slippery when they are wet. I came inches away from hitting a car in front of me when trying to slow down. It was so scary! It reminded me as if I were back in MI on a snowy day trying to come to a stop and you can't slow down, your breaks lock up.. yeah.. not fun. I told Chad to look up if we had gone in TCCOR 1 yet, and of course we had. After almost getting in a car accident and realizing that we didn't want to be out in the down pour, we decided we would head back without getting a hammer.
• TCCOR 1 was declared - Destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours.

•  3:30PM: After putting together our new TV stand, we realized the weather wasn't getting any worse for the time being. We decided to go off base and try to find a hammer. We went to Makeman which is this huge store that reminds me of a Lowes or a Home Depot. They didn't have the exact kind of hammer Chad was looking for but we bought one that would work. We also needed a gas can for our new lawn mower, but Kadena BX were all out and all we found at Makeman were huge ones. So we decided to check out the PX on Foster to see if they had any in stock. Of course they didn't. I did get a nice gift out of the trip though :) Chad bought me a new coach purse! I always eye them when I go to the BX and I finally found one that I really liked. 
• 7:45PM: We came home and Chad put together a DVD stand that we bought. We also tried to put our futon together but Chad broke a bolt in the process. We don't remember seeing any bolts at the hardware store we visited earlier, so I'm not sure where we're going to get one at. Sometimes it sucks living in a foreign country. If we were home, we could just hit up the local Ace hardware and be all set. Ugh! After realizing we wouldn't be able to put it together, we started making Chicken Divan for dinner. Yum! The wind and rain is starting to pick up outside but nothing major yet. We are still in TCCOR 1.
• 10:00PM: TCCOR 1C was declared - Destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. Actual winds are 34-49 knots.

Sunday

• 5:00AM: TCCOR 1E was declared - Actual winds of 50 knots or greater. 
• 8:30AM: I woke up and looked outside to see that it is still very windy and rainy. Sadly, one of our little trees in our backyard has snapped in half. I don't see any damage looking out from any of my windows. The wind looks worse to me than any that I saw last typhoon. But then again, typhoon Bolaven hit us mainly when it was too dark to see anything. I slept like a baby last night, I was not awoken by the wind howling or rain hitting against our windows. Our houses are built to last typhoons, so I love being able to feel safe in it! About an hour ago, the eye of the storm was going over the northern part of the island (we are more southern). We are still in TCCOR 1E.
• 1:00PM: TCCOR 1 Recovery was declared - Destructive winds of 50 knots are no longer occurring. Actual winds are 34-49 knots.
• This means we still have to stay in our house until Storm Watch is called. We have just been finishing up season 6 of Lost all day.

• 4:00PM: Chad and I are getting anxious to get out of the house. We want to hit up a hardware store someone told me about to see if we can get a new bolt for our futon. We also want to go to Arashi's for dinner. At this time, we're still stuck in the house! Boo! There is very little wind and rain, we're just waiting for the emergency crews to get everything picked up.
• 4:30PM: Storm Watch was called which means we are allowed to leave the house but the base may still be experiencing some effects from the storm. Yay! We headed to Navel Kadena where we were told there is a DIY store. We found it pretty easily and it has pretty much everything you can think of! We found the bolt that we needed for our futon thankfully :) After that we headed to Arashis for some fried garlic rice. I think I may have gotten Chad addicted to something other than Dragons! We went to check out the seawall after dinner to see the ocean. It was so windy and the waves were HUGE! It was pretty cool! After that we headed home and started putting together our spare bedroom. We put together the futon and hung up a bunch of Michigan State stuff. Pictures to come as soon as I get the clutter gone!

We didn't see any major damage from the storm. I did notice a lot of tree branches around, a lot more than the last typhoon.