First Rain in a Desert Country -- Lewis

I bet you thought this post would come from Lena. I sure did. She has been hoping and praying for rain since the day we arrived. For the longest time the skies were clear and every day a sunny day. While sunshine is lovely, as weather goes, there is something comforting about the rainfall, especially in the desert. The past summer was strange for the weather in Amman, with a relatively mild August and a rather sweltering, and at times even humid, September. Every other day it seemed that I heard someone complain about the weather not usually being like this. One of our neighbors said that the weather came from India. Some days would cool down a little and I would put on a jacket before heading out the door to work, but usually by nine or ten o'clock my jacket would be hanging on the back of my chair and sweat would again be dripping off my brow. Some of my coworkers claimed that the weather was changing, but then it would change right back and be hotter than it was before. What a strange Fall to be having in the desert. "I miss my Jordanian weather," our friend from upstairs had said on multiple occasions. Crazy stuff. But yesterday morning, early, as we were all busy sleeping in and having our weekly day of rest, the strangest thing began to happen. The clouds were darker than we had seen and they spanned the extent of the city skyline in view of our window. Rain had actually begun to fall in Amman for the first time since we showed up. Lena and I quickly put our shoes on and ran up to the rooftop to enjoy the cool breeze and the scent of fresh rain on the dust of the city. The rainfall was remarkable, although brief and very light. We have been told that the olives on the trees would be ripe when the rains come and today was the second day of rain, although again it was brief and light. The clouds seem to return in the early morning and then slowly drift off by noon.
We're still hoping for more rain to quench the thirst of the local foliage and of the locals. And to reassure ourselves that we will in fact not go without water; a thought that is in the back of the minds of those who dwell in a desert climate.