The "Simple Life"

Just when I think all is going normal, I’m reminded that life here does not exactly meet my “normal” standards!

The girls went to art class and I headed off to my Russian lesson. The weather had finally gotten comfortable; still humid, a little overcast and the temperature was in the low 70’s, nice. Well, to my surprise and even some of the local people when I stepped out of class an hour and a half later the sky was very grey and thick with clouds; around here, these clouds definitely mean rain and soon. I only had a 7-8 minute walk to get the girls and I started walking quickly. Within 2 minutes the raindrops started coming down; not too much though, it actually seemed like it might let up for a few minutes even; no such luck, the sky took a breath and then let it all out!!! Raindrops the size of malt balls were pouring down. I found shelter under a tree but art class was nearly over and for some reason I had no reception on my cell phone to let someone know I was going to be late. I ran a little further, hoping my bag was keeping my books dry enough and sought shelter under another tree; I was sharing this particular tree with an equally surprised Ukrainian woman. I tried my cell phone again, no good. The wind came and shoved buckets of water on us, at this point I was nearly drenched to the bone so I decided to just set off for art class, after all, I was only 2 minutes away and couldn’t get any wetter.

I reached art class; dodging the big puddles and prayed the glass chards everywhere would not be a problem since I was in flip flops and the puddles were eventually unavoidable. Although I arrived in one piece, I looked like a drowned cat and began to shiver, also I found a single ant taking a bite out of my shoulder (ouch, hmm, odd). The other American teens had umbrella issues (the wind broke theirs) and they arrived to pick up the other kids just as soaked as I was. We opted to get a taxi, which meant my planned detour to the grocery store for dinner was not going to happen (as if I was going to go freezing and looking like a drowned cat anyway)! As we waited for our ride, the sky cleared the birds began to sing and the sunshine began to dry the pavement; as quickly as it comes, it goes away.

After a short taxi ride and a short walk I was home; I was going to head back out to the store as soon as I rung out my clothes. All of a sudden an ant fell from my hair, so I shook and it seemed to be all. Next thing I know another ant falls in front of my face! Ahhh!!! I had enough, now I had to shower before going to the store! All said and done, we sat down for dinner at 8:00 but the meal was still good; needless to say that afternoon was anything but “normal”.

Lessons learned: 1. Weather can change on a dime, always be prepared (of course we won’t be). 2. Do not, I repeat, do not, take cover under trees in a big rainstorm, you will be covered in ants! 3. The simple life can actually mean a lot more work!