Yes, It Rained.Yes, I Cried.

From this moment forward, as Queen of my rented villa #10 situated in the sandy desert of the Arabian peninsula, I decree and command that the word "Rain" be capitalized and that whenever more than 42 drops falls out of the sky, all students and workers hereby will be released from duties to go stand outside and be anointed by this magical miracle that so rarely falls from the sky.

It has been about 5 months since I last saw Rain.  That's actually not that long, as for John it had been longer than six months, and for some folks, it might be almost a year between Rains.  So Saturday, about 42 drops fell on my car on the way home from the grocery, and yes, I took photos.

Then yesterday, we were in the midst of my 11 AM technical writing class.  It meets in a computer classroom that has one huge wall of lovely windows.  Students sit with their backs to that side of the room, so they didn't see the lightning, but the saw the reflection of it and they saw the excited distraction on my face.  Then they heard the thunder.  Then the student visiting from the Texas campus started fidgeting uncontrollably, trying desperately to watch the window behind her as well as pretend she was listening to me.  Another student stealthily positioned himself even closer to the window.

Then there was more lightning and thunder, followed by big fat drops.  At that point, the American student burst out, "I'm sorry but I am going to have to go stand in the Rain.  Please please please won't you let us go? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?" I tried to retain  my composure, but really I felt exactly the same way. When I was in high school, I used to go walking in the Rain and splashing in the gutters.  You know me and gutters.

So I fought it for about 5 more minutes and then dismissed class early.  The American was gone from the room within 5 seconds.  The last ones to leave were my Qatari and my Tunisian student.  The Qatari was laughing..."What?  Has she never seen Rain?"

The Rain went on for a few hours, and the temperature got down to about 67 (F).  It was a lovely, lovely afternoon.  After putting away my things, I went outside and stood in it, too.  Then I came home, and Hannah played in the Rain.  Heavenly.

Taken from the third floor inside the building.  

On the left are Qatari students who have put TAMU College of Engineering shirts over their thobes.  I've come to really love thobes--they are so white and so pressed and rather handsome in a uniform kind of way.  A lady in a black abaya is organizing them for the picture.  Apparently, after even a relatively small shower like we had, truffles will start growing (underground) in the desert.  Qataris go out hunting for them, but I doubt we'll get to try any because they are a very valuable delicacy.

On the upper left are two American students, standing with arms outstretched in the Rain.

Taken from the first floor of the TAMU-Q building.

At home, we turned off the air conditioners, opened the sliding door in the kitchen--the only glass doors not sealed shut against the powdery sand--and closed the screen because the bird is nearby.  First, Hannah wanted to play in the Rain, so I put down a towel to dry her feet.  The floors get super slick when wet.  After a few minutes, she got her toys and played on the towel instead, so she could be near the Rain ("Smell it, Mama!") but not get wet.

She told me that when it started Raining at school, she was scared because she didn't know what the sounds (thunder) or the water drops were.