40 Days and 40 Nights

Hard, horizontal rain from a Kansas thunderstorm can be impressive when coupled with the ever-present risk of tornadoes. The rain in south China is comfortable with a boring, vertical descent. It can afford to be because it's persistent. A predictable yearly monsoon season supplies rice paddies with needed water; sometimes bringing more than needed.

Thursday came another in a long series of heavy rains, which is sure to continue. I called a fellow Kansan expat, Arnie, to ask if things were okay at his house, because it's prone to flooding. Things were fine then, but my friend Trey called me about 10 minutes later to say he was heading to Arnie's to help move things to the second floor. I passed the word on to Nathan and we all headed over, where we were met by about a foot and a half of water on the main floor.

Wanted: Civil Engineer to work in small Chinese city. Pay: Low; Benefits: Fake DVDs; Food: Chinese.