Rain in Cairo

Rain in Cairo is like snow in Georgia. Yesterday it rained, no it poured here. Drivers don't know what to do with themselves. Half of them don't even seem to have functioning windshield wipers. At first, I was completely miffed by the rain. Rain here is soooooo dirty. It brings down with it all the pollution from the air as well as all the dust and dirt that has accumulated on the trees since the last time it rained 9 months ago. You walk in from the rain to find your face streaked with dirt and the bottom of your pants caked in mud and God knows what else. So I was not excited about walking to and from work in the rain. But by the end of the work day I changed my tune. Watching the kids play in the rain with such delight made me feel like I felt when I was I kid (or a teen or an adult) when we got our sprinkling of snow every two or three years. It was like magic for me. The kids were so beautiful splashing in the puddles with their pant legs rolled up. The novelty of rain was in some ways such a wonerful thing. I quickly decided that I had no interest in being one of those boring old adults who always talked about how they hated the snow (unsafe roads blah, blah, blah). So dirty and nasty though it may be, I thank God for the rain that came yesterday. I hope that I can see it come again before I leave, so I can watch peoples faces (especially kids) as they splash in the rain not quite knowing what to make of it.