Friday, June 22, 2012

06/22/2012 1516


I have not seen a storm, the likes of which I am in right now, since I was last in Arkansas, and I have seen quite a handful of storms since then.  I had huge plans for today.  I was going to eat breakfast, let that settle a bit then head to the gym for my first run in almost two weeks.  Not easy for me to go without but I guess that’s what happens when you’re sick.  And on vacation.  Mostly sick.   
Wait, I have readjusted my POV of this storm.  This is the most impressive one I have seen in my life.  Not even Arkansas can get it this good, tornados excluded.  There are no winds to be had here, really.  But I just heard thunder that is the stuff that can make a grown-up cry, not to mention the kids I heard wailing just after that.  Oh my goodness I am so thankful for this!!!!!  Car alarms are going off too.  At least two different ones that I can hear. 
Anyway, so after the run, I was planning on trying to find somewhere that sells wine, then heading out to the lawn to work on my cross stitch outside while enjoying this comfortable, humid, warm weather.  Not something that I get very much of in my dry and dusty home.  Just as I was about to head into the little mini mart, I noticed a lot of clouds.  I hadn’t seen any since the first day here and it rained that night but was clear again by the next morning.  I got my wine and headed back to the hotel.  One of the gentlemen that works here shook his head and said he didn’t know about this weather.  I asked if he thought it was going to rain and he nodded.  Fine by me.  So I’d adjust my afternoon’s plans.  I like rain anyway.  I thought I’d still maybe sit  outside, just under one of the umbrellas.  I started to wash my clothes when I noticed the thunder was getting closer.  And closer.  And then I heard the lightning.  Really heard it.  Like, loudly heard it.  That’s a mighty big sound, for the record.  I opened the blinds, hoping no bugs would be out in this, and proceeded to get a few videos of the weather.  I wanted to remember the sound.  I don’t even know if the camera can even begin to capture the bigness of these sounds, but I’ll post ‘em later if I find out that it did.  So right now I have half-washed gym clothes sitting in the sink but I can’t pull myself away from the window to finish them.  Hey, it’s not very often I get to experience something like this! 
So my darling G left yesterday.  I was bummed to see her go, but I know she was happy to get back to her honey.  Can’t say I blame her. I’m looking forward to seeing mine again!  Boy was our ride back to Belgrade a pain.  We left pretty early, with enough time to have a few things go wrong and to deal with traffic.  Nothing went wrong until we had to deal with traffic.  Thankfully she was of the mindset that if she missed the flight, she’d just get another one.  Even more thankfully, she didn’t miss her flight.  But we were on the bus just under five hours.  Five long hours, thank you.  And of course the first cab driver that snagged us was parked furthest away from the bus station.  But that’s okay.  We made it and that’s what really matters.  I had such a great time with her here.  As much as I’ve always loved hanging out with her in familiar territory, hanging out with her in a different country was even better.  We had a few picture outings, ate a LOT of good food, met some interesting people, and found ourselves amused at the people who surprisingly speak English and the ones we thought would but don’t.  So much for predictability. 
On the bus yesterday a young lady and a younger boy got on the bus at one stop.  She spoke English, the kiddo spoke enough Serbian to communicate but it didn’t seem like he was quite fluent.  We figured they were either siblings or cousins, though G didn’t think that one would speak Serbian with the other not understanding anything if they were brother & sister… but ya never know.  So after they got on the bus, G said that the girl gave off that vibe that she might have been an English speaker.  I laughed and said “what, like us, lost & confused?”  I guess to our credit we haven’t been too confused at all and we never did manage to get lost, but there were a few iffy moments that we got through. 
Alright, this awesome display of Mother Nature is coming to a close so I’ll head back to my gym clothes that are so in need of care.  Anybody know what makes thunder claps sound so different?  There’s the deep, rumbly ones, the type that sounds like sheet metal being shaken to death, the kind that makes you want to jump out of your skin… What is that all about?  And how do we even differentiate between different claps of thunder if one starts when the other one is going?  These are definitely questions I’ve never had to ponder before.  Any ideas?
(About three minutes after the rain mostly stops there are people back on the streets laughing and having a grand ol’ time.  Truly, I love this place.) 

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