Sunday, July 6, 2014

Hurricane season (And Independence Day)

Here's something that never happened to me before: I was shopping at the local organic store when the power went out in the whole neighborhood. I was literally paying for my groceries, the clerk had my credit card in her hand when everything went dark. I guess it's free- we joked and I suggested she writes down my information. It's started to rain pretty bad and the thunders seemed pretty loud, frequent and close. We could have sworn  it struck in the courtyard outside. One of the other clerks began to panic a bit when the noises wouldn't stop. -At least we're inside- I said, but she said something about wanting to hide in the bathtub. With the rain outside that seemed like an impenetrable wall I decided to stay for a few minutes, at least until the power came back on. The ladies were saying that last time this happened, the store was without electricity for hours and they lost thousands of dollars in spoiled merchandise. I was stuck for a while, but I was happy that I wasn't outside- the thunderstorm seemed pretty intense. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the beginning of the hurricane season once more, but we do as much as we can to not let it ruin all of our plans. It rains and it storms. Then it rains some more. I try to find those short moments when it slows down for a few minutes to safely move from one spot to another. It's like a game. It may pick up just as unexpectedly when it started or just stop all together. When the sun comes out, a few minutes later the world looks like nothing ever happened. Don't trust the weather app. If it says it's going to rain at 9 it will rain three hours later. If it says it will only pour for an hour, it will go on for three. When I first moved to America 10 years ago my parents and I experienced a very busy Florida hurricane season. With three in a row I was panicking during my first one. I thought of  the irony of fate- how I moved to America to die in a hurricane and it was me who urged my parents to go hide in the bathtub. Instead we watched blizzards on TV going down International Drive, which was were our hotel was -until the signal went out. Yesterday I was mostly annoyed with the weather. I had tickets for a show later that night and I was waiting to make a run for it. I ate a protein bar and drunk my kombucha waiting for my window. It's been like this all week long. Instead of writing about the fireworks and the excitement of the American Independence Day Celebration, I've been hiding out from the rain. It's either raining or feels like it's about to rain. And when it rains it pours. But not everyone is as annoyed as I am. A Polish friend who recently moved to Florida, but settled in the South is disappointed- it'snot wet nor spectacular where she lives. I called her from the store and when she complained it's not storming over there I told her she's free to take the weather from here with her. After a while the lights came back and I decided to check if I can stand it. For about ten minutes it didn't rain at all but as I was coming up the theatre's access ramp it started to pick up again. I guess it's was my lucky week. I was saved from an unexpected shower earlier today, when I got off the bus in front of my gate just before it started again.

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