The Rainy Season

It has been cloudy for a few days. Everyday I would ask my students...is it going to rain today? I couldn't wait. It has been so hot, and so dry and so dusty...everything we have been promised would go away once the rainy season starts. Lance started doing laundry Wednesday morning, but didn't hang

them out to dry because it was probably going to rain any minute. All day we waited and waited. I wore my tennis shoes to work, just because I was afraid that I would have to walk home in the muddy rain....but nothing. In the evening Lance decided to hang the clothes...that had been soaking since the morning...just as the last piece was hung...he felt a drop. What?! Perfect. Then another drop. He laughed in slight frustration, but Kelly and I were so excited about the rain that the laundry didn't matter. But it was just a tease. The next morning was bright and sunny again...it only rained for about 15 minutes.

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee at the bus stop when all of a sudden I realized that I was uncomforitable...my arms...what...is this....cold? I was cold? I had forgotten what it felt like to be cold, but I started rubbing my arms, and so I was on the bus and was fine. Wow. Cold. It actually is a little uncomforitable...I had forgotten.

The next day was cloudy again. I was at school for a teacher staff meeting, (Fridays are usually my day off). We went down to the movie room to see a power point presentation on teaching methodologies. The room is long and thin and has no windows. Right in the middle of a brainstorming session about the Halloween party (that we are having to celebrate American culture...they don't have Halloween in Brasil) there was a loud crash...thunder...and then the lights went out. The four of us stumbled out of the room and looked outside. It was pouring!!! Buckets and buckets of rain. Filipe (another teacher) started to complain that he was going to have to walk in the rain... Luckily my bus stop was a short dash from the school and it was only a few blocks away in QE 38. We waited for a while. About an hour later it started to ease up a little and we decided to attempt to treck home. I made it without too much trouble, but decided that I would definitely need to get an umbrella tomorrow.

After dinner, Kelly and I were working on the computers and Lance was reading (my Atlas Shrugged, thanks Dad. I promise I will get to it too.) when there was a quick flicker, and our power was out too. It was just getting dark. Hum...maybe when I buy that umbrella I should buy some candles or a flashlight too. For two hours we sat around wondering what to do. We couldn't read, we couldn't watch anything online, and it was even too dark to wash the dishes piled in the sink. Right when we all sort of conceided to going to be earily (around 8:30pm) with another quiet flicker the lights were back on.