Earthquakes can never prepare you for thunder and lightning

These past couple of weeks have been full of unstable weather here in Seoul. Every day, I would look out the window and try to predict whether it will be raining or not. At least back in Vancouver, you could tell -- if it's cloudy there, it'll likely remain cloudy for much of the day (or the week, for that matter). Here, it can change in an instant.

So imagine how I felt when I went to bed and it was still relatively clear, only to be awakened at around 3am by lightning and thunder. I stirred, looked around and went like, "Oh. It's thundering and lightning(ing?). Great." And then I buried my head back in the pillow again.

And then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

I've been through earthquakes before, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened. The whole room shook and the boom was deafening. I nearly fell out of bed in surprise. "What the bloody hell?" I thought. I had a tough time sleeping after that.

This morning, as I was brushing my teeth, I wondered if that boom and the shaking came from a direct lightning strike. I wonder if my poor little apartment was struck by lightning. The power was fine but even if there was a surge, the lights were off (obviously, since I was sleeping) so I couldn't tell anyway. But either my apartment got a direct hit, or a neighboring unit or building did (since my windows are about a foot away from the neighboring buildings).

Scary.