| Date: | 04/18/2004 |
| Title: | rain |
| Location: | nairobi, kenya (1746m) |
| Text: | 53 194 kilometres on the road "and one morning in october all the leaves had fallen off the trees which were now standing lonely and sad in the park, their naked branches contrasting as bizarre patterns in the grey sky." "i was so surprised and so utterly disappointed that i started to cry and i knew that i would never be able to live in europe." today i remembered this story of an old woman who had once worked in germany, far away from her tropical homeland, describing her first experience with the changing seasons in europe. in africa the leaves don’t fall off the trees and its always green, overwhelmingly green, almost dazzling, especially now in the rainy season. normally the rains are short and heavy, giving way to a burning sun after only a few hours, leaving the muddy streets steaming with vapour. but during the last couple of days it had been raining constantly, i would almost say, aggressively. the backyard has turned into a olympia-size swimming pool and the gardener has been promoted to pool boy. it's a mere nuisance for us in the big house. but for many people who are living in the slums and in some rural regions the situation is getting critical. streets have turned into ankle deep mud paths and many houses and entire villages have been flooded. i am the lucky one. if i get tired of it i might just escape to mombasa on the coast again. but i hope the rains will stop soon. |