The rainy season
By David Krueger
Believe it or not it’s sunny right now.
It’s not all that rare I suppose. It was sunny this morning too. But then it rained pretty hard for a while.
Sometimes it seems like the weather in Sierra Leone has a hard time making up its mind about what it wants to do. It can’t decide if it wants to rain, or be sunny, so it switches back and forth about every 20 minutes.
I feel like being a weather forecaster in Sierra Leone in August would be a pretty straightforward job. The prediction wouldn’t vary much from day to day.
“It’s going to rain hard, then be sunny, then likely rain again,” would be the daily forecast.
Usually I don’t mind the rain, as long as I have my umbrella. Unfortunately, there are three times this month I forgot to bring my umbrella and the weather made a fool of me.
The first time was when I went to meet a couple of friends for lunch at the beginning of the month. As I left the Awoko office I was greeted with sunshine. I strolled happily to the restaurant, ate some kren kren and then looked in terror out the window as we prepared to leave.
In the span of about 30 minutes the blue sky was completely covered up by dark gray storm clouds. Rain was falling from the sky like the Charlotte Waterfall. With no umbrella I did all I could, put my head down and walked at a brisk pace (perhaps it could even be classified as a slow jog) back to the office.
By the time I returned my hair was dripping, my shirt was soaked and my coworkers just looked at me and smiled.
“Where’s your umbrella?” they asked.
“Right over there,” I said pointing at the blue and white spiral in the corner of the office.
The second time was more my fault. I still didn’t quite have Sierra Leone’s rainy season figured out. I woke up to blue skies and thought “wow, today’s going to be a beautiful day.”
I arrived at work about a half hour later and already clouds had begun to form in the sky. I found out I was going with a coworker to a program downtown. We were getting ready to leave the office and I looked outside. I saw the clouds, but wanted to believe the blue skies I saw earlier would win out. So I left my umbrella at the office.
It turns out I was a lot farther away from the office than I thought. I once again returned looking like I just came out of a shower, to laughs and questions about the location of my umbrella.
You’d think the second time would have taught me my lesson, but no. Last Tuesday I ran to grab some lunch quick, just a three minute walk away from the Awoko office. I got there, ate and was walking out the door when the clouds opened up.
In disbelief that I once again found myself in this situation, I just smiled and walked back to the office.
The rain poured down harder, and let up during the walk. I actually didn’t get that wet because I was able to spend the worst part of the rain under cover.
I’ve learned that along with my cell phone and about Le3,000, my umbrella is the third thing that I always need to have with me. The worst part about the third experience is that I had already realized this fact, and still decided to tempt the weather.
I had no one to blame but myself.
I don’t mind the rain at all. It rains a lot where I come from. Seattle is one of the rainiest cities in the United States, and that’s the first thing any American asks about when I tell them I’m from there.
As long as I have my umbrella with me it’s no problem at all. In fact, I even like the rain a little bit. It brings a few benefits along with it.
For instance, a short walk in the rain alleviates the need for a shower that day. Even a two minute walk will have you just as wet as 30 seconds under a shower.
The rain keeps people indoors, so there are fewer pedestrians to share the sidewalk with. This is especially beneficial in the rain because it cuts down on umbrella bumping. I don’t yet know the rules about what to do when approaching someone else with an umbrella.
Usually, I go high in the hopes that my counterpart will go low. Sometimes this works out. However, on many other occasions they also go high, causing a “phhhht” noise as the umbrellas rub across each other, followed by me gratuitously apologizing.
Finally, the biggest perk of the rain comes at night when I go to bed. Not only does the rain keep people from running around the streets outside my window screaming, but it also creates a calm, peaceful mood as it pounds against the roof.
Like I said, it rains a lot back home, and when the rain comes down here it reminds me of those rainy nights back home. And while I rarely ever have trouble sleeping, the rain usually ensures a good night’s sleep is on the way.
It feels like the whole year is the rainy season in Seattle. Usually June through September are a little nicer, although my family and friends back home have told me the weather’s kind of sucked this summer. So it looks like I won the battle weather-wise with my trip to Salone.
While I like the rain, I also really enjoy the sun. My very pale skin gives me about 20 minutes before my sunburn time clock runs out. Fortunately, right now that’s about how much time I have between rainstorms.
The weather here is a weird combination of predictable and unpredictable. I know for sure that it’s going to rain. I don’t know when or for how long, but I know it’s coming. Last week it rained for about 72 hours straight. While that wasn’t ideal, at least I had my umbrella on me at all times during this epic rainstorm.
Salone’s weather fluctuates more than world economies, which is fine with me, because I’ll have my umbrella. Sometimes I feel foolish walking around in the middle of a bright sunny day with my umbrella handle around my right wrist.
But then 20 minutes later the rain comes, and I feel pretty darn smart.
No comments:
Post a Comment