Hey all,
After slowly posting for months, I will hit #2 in 2 days.
Last night, I agreed to meet with a few friends after work for supper.
I did so. Then, it started hailing, despite the fact that I had other plans for my evening.
Yes, hail in Cairo. Last night, there didn't seem to be too many words to describe it here...snow never happens, rain rarely does, and - from what I hear in the last 24 hours from friends - yesterday was pretty strange. Cairo got 3-5 inches of rain and "ice falling from the sky."
So, I left my after school group at 6. The plan was to meet some friends to go downtown for a good time - dinner, culture, drinks, and evening out.
b/c of the hail, I met my friends at 6:10 at the metro station.
We bought our tickets, and walked in to the metro. Instantly, I was nervous about some of the actions of the employees there. There was a massive amount of water standing around, and instantly I recognized this as unusual.
Keep in mind, this is a desert.
But, there were a lot of guys with bladed push-brooms pushing the water out of the way. So, the poor guys were just pushing all the excess rain water to the lowest point around...the metro tracks.
Again, this is a desert, and there are no drainage ditches. I found myself thinking: "This can't be good."
As we were about to get off the metro and go grab a cab, it started to move.
At the next stop, we again sat motionless, waiting for the doors to close and the Metro to move. Neither ever happened. The most incredible explosion sent people running everywhere. I think a transformer blew, not surprisingly as there are always exposed wires sticking out of everything here. With a little rain, you get what you get. But it was still crazy, and people were racing out of the metro - overrunning the turnstiles along the way.
We went out to grab a taxi to get the rest of the way downtown, and were lucky to get one quickly.
1 1/2 hours after leaving, we arrived downtown and found it to be a difficult place.
Many restaurants were closed due to leaking.
Wild night.
Friday, February 26, 2010
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It's an El Nino year...weird weather everywhere...it snowed in Phoenix last month...experts predicting a miserably hot summer.
ReplyDeleteAhhh. I remember El Nino. He ruined the NE KU football game one year, too.
ReplyDeleteSo funny, whatever "disaster" you grow up with is no big deal but deal with something different and it is freak out time. For example no one cared when we had our blizzards but blizzard on the east coast? It's the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteBeen watching the news from Hawaii on the progress of the tsunami from Chile - once again social media seems to be the way to communicate with folks from across the world when a disaster hits.
Kathy J
Despite the weird weather and explosions I would love nothing better than to come visit you over spring break. But I don't have the funds. :(
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are having a fabulous time. Keep up the posts, I might not comment on all of them but I read them.
-Jessie