It rained today finally! I'm pretty sure in the two and a half months that I've been here I'm pretty sure it's only rained five times, and not once like it did today. Is it weird that my mood drastically changed for the better the second the sun disappeared behind the cloud and it was as though the day suddenly turned to night? I can't believe how much joy I took in sitting in the meditation hall, listening to the rain pound on the roof. And when I say pound-I mean pound. It was the all-consuming, invade your mind and body kind of sound. In a nostalgic way it reminded me of Grand Lake, and all of the summers we spent there. There's nothing like a good rain to make you want to get cozy with a good book. (Although I must say, the cozy with a meditation cushion works too. ) Maybe I'm just homesick for winter and all of the hibernating-feelings this time of year induces.

Of course, as I stared out of the window, looking down over the neighborhood drowning in water, the thought did occur to me that after three months of perpetual night and wet, I might get a little sick of it and start to wish for the sun again. Ah well, so it goes. If I don't want this, I want that.

In any case, when I got home my computer told me that it was in the seventies (20s for those of you in the rest of the world) and, at least for now, I'll take it!

(I just realized I've been out of the country for exactly three months. That's the longest I've been away from the US, although not the longest I've been away from home...maybe in my next post I'll talk about how the culture shock hasn't hit-it's just been the homesickness....)