Monsoon

The weather here has been a very different experience for me lately. We are in the middle of the rainy season or monsoon season here and for the last month, it has rained almost everyday at least a little bit. It is generally cloudy at the very least. Recently we experienced our first 'monsoon', I guess it's the same as a hurricane, so it's not really our first, but our first that was called a monsoon. We actually got very little of it. The big storm was in the south of the country where some people died, but we just got some wind and very very heavy rain, and some occasional thunder. The rain was incredible though! I was walking to work and while waiting at the stoplight, my umbrella was my only protection from the sheet of water falling all around me (they make pretty strong umbrellas here... forget about one of those small fold-up ones.. they'd never survive). My feet and legs got quite wet, along with all of the contents of my bag, but the rest of me stayed remarkably dry under my umbrella.

Today we are having a break from the rain, but not from the humidity. Along with the rainy season comes terrible humidity. So though the temperatures are only around 30 degrees celcius, the humidity is at over 90% everyday... I don't really know what the percentage means, but the air is so thick you could chew it and our bodies are constantly sweaty and clammy. I feel the constant need to take a shower, but of course you can't stay in the shower all day, though sometimes I'd like to, although it does little good, shortly after exiting the shower, I'm all sweaty again. Blech! Anyone who thinks the maritimes have bad humidity in the summer ("It's not the heat, it's the humidity") You're sadly mistaken... because I have never experienced humidity like this and I've been in the Maritimes my whole life.

So, the rainy season has been quite the experience so far and though I think new experiences are wonderful and all that.... I won't be sorry to see it go.