Hi Mom, I am alive...but soaked!

Apologies to parents who may have had a scare from the content of the last post! Although the problem with management remain somewhat unchanged, everyone is feeling much better and more spirited today from the extra bit of rest we were able to get yesterday as a result of a little weather intervention. Well, maybe little is an understatement given that we have had the pleasure to be living prove of just how magnificent and merciless a tropical down-pour can be. It was about two in the afternoon when the sunny sky suddenly turned pitch dark. Within minutes, wind speed had increase by a full magnitude. The locals shouted at us (with all seriousness) " You need to get out of here now!", as they dropped all task at hand to chase us towards the mini-bus. We frantically picked up whatever we were able to scrounge up and dashed towards the bus. The mini-bus was pulling away from site slowly (to avoid being stuck in mud) with its door wide open as running students jumped onto the bus. I know it's a tat dramatic, but the scene reminded me of 'The Day After Tomorrow' and 'Cloverfield'. Not a minute too soon, as we all got on to the bus, a gust of strong wind swiped across the site and immediately ripped out and destroyed the tends that we were resting under earlier in the day. The horizontal rain quickly followed the wind and created a thick vail of white that swallowed the mini-bus. We set in the bus anxiously looked towards the direction of the tends assessing the extend of damage, but the effort was futile as visibility worsened. The rain continued to pound on the window for next 20 minutes, the road we parked on had become a small stream, before it finally began to subside. At this point, the decision was made to return to the hotel early. Who knew the tropical down-pour would end up being a blessing in disguise.