Rain Day

Do you remember those days when you were a kid and got all excited when you heard it was going to snow and you stayed up at night checking the window every 5 minutes with the hope that it had accumulated enough to cancel school the following day? Ok, that wasn't my childhood either! While I was in Liberia, snow just didn't exist. When I moved to the U.S., I went to boarding school and only the worst of the worst snow storms could prevent enough day-students from coming to school and even then we still had to attend study hall* at night!

I thought I would finally get a break when I moved to that snowy state of Massachusetts for college, but to my sad dismay, it turned out that New Englanders are pretty attached to their snow plows and seem to have centuries worth of experience in crushing the hopes of little college kids by plowing away the snow before it could even land!

Now rainy season in Sudan, with weeks of rained-out activities, would probably seem like the ultimate 'snow day' for the northern hemisphere kid, but let me tell you, it soooo is NOT!

I'm in Kapoeta and I was technically suppose to head to Juba tomorrow, spend a few days tying up any loose ends and then head out to Nairobi over the weekend. But really, Sudan specializes in 'deferred plans' and this case is no different! This morning, I woke up to the darkest clouds so close above me, I swear I could reach up and just shake the rain out! I tried to rush the group out the door with the unrealistic hope that we would actually make the 4 hour road trip, do some work in the field and be nice and cozy in our tukuls before the skies open up. WRONG! I had a good 30 minutes before torrential rains began and have lasted all day. Now, my plan to happily jump on a plane back to Juba are replaced with that day trip to the field and a long trip the following day by road to Juba.

But, in an endless effort to go against my nature and see the glass as half-full, I've found several silver linings to this scenario:

1) I'll be able to see my friend Mio before we both leave Sudan. With most people I know here, even the time to share a glass of wine is precious because we move around so much (not to mention the fact that wine has to be imported from either Juba or Loki). So Mio just got back from her break yesterday and should the rain gods corporate, tomorrow will be the first time we've seen each other in about 5 weeks!

2) More time with Somehow who was so cute today as he tried (and succeeded) in climbing unto my lap and curling up!

3) A road trip to Juba also means that I get to make an important stop in Torit to pay a vendor which I'm sure will make his day.

Anyway...fingers (and toes) crossed for blue skies for tomorrow!


* required 2 hours of studying or more likely, plotting your escape to the woods at night for mere smokes, shits and giggles! - (P.S. It wasn't me mom, it was THEM!)