Tropic Thunder

Today we got to see the rain in rain forrest. The day started off pretty normal; hot and muggy. About 1:30 the skies opened up and we had rain coming down harder than I have every seen before in my life. At school we have metal roofs which do a great job of letting you know when it is raining. It started off pretty slow but just kept picking up intensity as it went along. Imagine someone filling a five gallon bucket of water and then dumping that on the ground all at once and you will get a picture of how hard it was coming down. We live right across the street from the school but waited for a car to take us home so that we wouldn't be wet rats when we walked in the door of our house. It was that crazy.

I was truly in awe of the weather today but not just the rain. When the rain comes we get these huge, and I mean huge, thunder and lightning storms with the rain. Well after the rain had stopped we were just getting everyone settled before we were to have dinner when all of the sudden there was a huge flash of light and a sound as if a bomb had just gone off outside our house. Now back in the good old U.S. of A. one might immediately assume that this was a lightning strike. Here in Indonesia your thought process changes a little bit, especially after getting a security briefing by the head of Chevron Security the day before.

Here is a transcript of the experience:

[Flash of light and deafening thunder.]

Sydney: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, What was that!!?

YoYo: Arhhhh!

Kade: Huh?

Kathi: They are bombing us! John get the kids together!

[Kathi grabs the kids and takes them into a bedroom with huge windows, Why? We are not sure.]

[John, startled and bewildered stops getting into the shower to make sure that everyone is alright and check out the "bombing." He first tries to get shorts on]

John: Kathi, I think it was lightning. I saw it in the sky outside the house as I was getting in the shower.

[Kathi and John then go look out at the gate of the school, or as we had feared the site of the attack, and breathe a sigh of relief when we see the guards outside the school no worse for the wear. We all laugh uneasily at our new respect for Tropic Thunder.