Can’t quite remember when it started, but rain in Seoul began to fall like a tropical rainforest downpour.
Way back in the day in Singapore, I remember getting caught in a sudden downpour and buying an umbrella at a nearby convenience store. As I stepped out, the sun was shining so brightly, it was as if the rain had never happened. I thought, ‘Wow, places like this exist,’ but now it’s our local climate… When I went out for lunch today, the summer sun was so blinding, I regretted not bringing my sunglasses. By around 7 PM, a torrential rain was pouring down as if the sky was about to collapse.
Back in the day – not that long ago – summer monsoons meant relentless rain. It poured all day, or even for days on end, like a dedicated farmer planting rice, consistently. During those monsoon seasons, I remember gazing outside, wondering, ‘When will we see the sun again?’ It was assumed we wouldn’t see it for a day or two. After several typhoons passed and the tiresome monsoon ended, the fierce sun would scorch Seoul to a crisp. The blazing sun wouldn’t even allow moisture in our breaths. We called it the scorching heat.
Back then, the scorching heat felt like a crisis we all had to overcome together. News channels covered the city’s heat struggles as if reporting on a battle. The suffocating heat continued even at night, and people would gather in the streets, exchanging grievances about the enemy.
‘Isn’t it unbearably hot? What’s up with this year?’ 🌞
Last year was hot too, but comparing heat levels isn’t really the point. It’s about knowing this isn’t a lone fight.
A colleague once sifted through online articles and organized Seoul’s summer temperatures over the past 30 years in Excel. Others looked at him like he had nothing better to do, but he seemed too excited to notice. Actually, the temperature data is available on the Meteorological Administration’s website. Anyway, he said that in the 1970s, even during fierce heatwaves, temperatures didn’t exceed 30°C. I was curious, so I checked the website myself, and while there were 32°C days, it was still lower than this year’s peak of 35.8°C.
The enemy has grown stronger, but now people don’t gather at night to chat about the heat. They open windows, turn on the AC, and fight silent battles alone at home. It’s not about knowing or not knowing the neighbors, it’s just how it is.
I open the window, and a cool breeze sweeps in as if it never rained.
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