Sunday, July 07, 2013

The Old Man is Snoring

Do you know this old nursery rhyme?  "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.  He bumped his head, and went to bed, and didn't get up until morning."  After living here in Wuhan, I am wondering how the old man ever got any sleep!

I have never lived in a place before that got as much rain as we do here in Wuhan!  It rains about every week here, sometimes for a few days at a time.  And one thing I learned quickly is that if you think it's going to rain, you better take an umbrella, because when it rains, it POURS!  One day I decided that a little rain wouldn't hurt me, so I took my umbrella and headed to the neighborhood store.  By the time I got home, my feet were soaked!  Not only does the rain come from above, it collects in the streets, and on the sidewalks, making little lakes and ponds that you have to either find a way around, or wade through. 

But in addition to the rain, there has been an incredible amount of lightening and thunder!  I have never lived in a place where the lightening hit so close to home! I can't believe how loud the thunder is here!  One night there was a huge crack that sounded like it was right outside our house.  I was jolted straight out of bed, and I ran to the window to see if something had caught on fire!  I couldn't see anything, but the next morning I found out that the power was out in the neighborhood right next to us.  And not only is the thunder loud,but all night long we can hear car alarms going off in response to the loud thunder.  Don't those things every turn off atomatically?  It seems like they are sounding all night long! 

It's also odd to live in a place where we don't need to water our gardens.  There is plenty of natural rain fall here.  In California and Utah right now there is water rationing.  Here in Wuhan, not only is there an incredible amount of rainfall, but we are surrounded by many lakes, rivers, and ponds.  I have never before seen so many water ways in one place in my life! 

I took this screen capture of a map of Wuhan so you could see the water here.  What I love about it is that there are usually water lillies growing all around in the summer.  They are so beautiful!  But all of this comes at a price, and the thunder, and rough night sleep is the price we pay for all of this water!  :)

5 comments:

Becky said...

It wasn't until we moved from Utah to California that I realized Utah really was a desert. Then we moved to South Florida! We get a lot of rain, too, and you're drenched to the skin in seconds if you go out in it. At least it's warm rain. Good luck getting some sleep and staying dry!

Looney said...

Oh, how I miss the rain!

Rummuser said...

I live in a place where we get four months of rain continuously during the monsoon. We are right now in the second month of it. I can relate to what you experience but really would not like to have it all the year round.

Amber said...

you should get yourself some galoshes or the short rain shoes, it sounds like they would get used a lot! I love the rain though, i'm a little envious :)

Nene said...

Wellies! Get some Wellies! I never used an umbrella in Ireland because if I did, the wind just blew it inside out. I had a raincoat with a hood and also one of those old-fashioned plastic rain scarves that you snap under your chin and they fit in a little pocket purse. Ugly, but it worked!