I've been back from my awesome European
vacation with Steph for about a week and a half. It has rained every
single day. Hard.
I never paid much attention to rain
before got here. It was a nuisance but one not felt too much. Rain
meant driving with the windows up and having to turn the TV up a
little if it was really coming down. Sometimes even getting wet on
the walk from the car to the front door. You know, real pains. Here
it's so powerful. The steady pounding on my metal roof. The deafening
roar water and aluminum make in concert when a cyclone is coming
through. Roads that are absolutely decimated. Once recognizable as
routes for people and vehicles they are now mud pits to be traversed
slowly if at all. That's when they are visible at all. Quite often
roads are transformed into muddy rivers or impromptu ponds. The
deforestation amplifies the power of the rain. Water runs breakneck
down hills grabbing all soil and small plants in it's path. Don't
transplant your rice at the wrong time. The little seedlings might
not survive a 3 day deluge whether from drowning, being swept away,
or death by bludgeoning from above. The most amazing thing of all
about the rain is you can see it. Not just drops here and there but
great walls of it. You can look down the road and see the curtain of
water rushing towards your up to then dry self (okay, honestly, your
slightly sweaty but heretofore not drenched self). When it's really
going you can't see 100 yards down the road. Not from fog but sheer
precipitation. Trees that fill my sight line as I stare absently out
my window disappear. People materialize from gray nothingness. I'm
certain this effect happens in the US as well. It's just a lot harder
to see through all of the buildings and endless houses that populate
the US that I know. All of this only happens for 3 months or so every
year.
The rest of the year is bone dry. From
the end of April, when I got to my town, until December it rained
twice. Just 2 times. And I am being generous in calling that mist
rain. It's like an A for effort. How the hell do you grow things in a
place like this? 3 months of Biblical rain followed by 9 months of
Saharan drought. It's hard. That's a major issue I have to work
around here. We're getting there. With the permagarden techniques we
are implementing the extra water from now can be captured and stored
in the land for later use when we really need it. That's the idea. My
job is to convince everyone to do it. So far I have 2 converts. That
is a big victory. Hopefully there are more to come.
Vacation Note:
I posted pictures on Facebook that will
do a better job of describing it than my words ever could. Steph also
posted some. I fell like most people reading this are also my friend
on the book and can check them out. However, here is a quick summary:
First of all, seeing Steph was amazing. Plus, the work she is doing
is really cool and she is awesome at Romanian already. Anyways...we
went to Paris, Budapest, Bucharest, And Chisinau and Biesti Moldova.
Biesti is Steph's site. It is really cool and the people are amazing.
Lucky for them they got a pretty good volunteer. It was cold pretty
much everywhere. By the time we got to Paris 13 degrees Celsius felt
tropical. One recommendation, go to Budapest. It's a great city with
lots of cool historic sites, a beautiful river, good beer, and good
food. Plus tons of people speak English which makes it a lot easier.
It's also much, much cheaper than places like Paris or London. Go
before everyone figures out how cool it is and costs go up!
