this is your life

on saturday, my life flashed before my eyes. but before that, i experienced a first: laying out by the pool in a bikini top. yes! i know that since everyone admires my physical prowess and classic physique, it will come as a surprise that i have been quite hesitant about letting the world admire my indian belly. but, after nearly a month of almost regular running, i deemed the world ready. the response was most definitely underwhelming. the sun that beat down on us as we ran in the late morning had disappeared by 1 pm, and there was a posh wedding photo session taking place at the serena hotel. so, of course, as soon as i took my shirt off and lay down, i notice (nearly simultaneously) the first thunderstom-y clouds of the ‘dry’ season approaching and the dirty looks the wedding party was directing our way. i couldn’t do anything about the former, but to the old man robbing the cradle and the wedding guests, i say: don’t think your glares had anything to do with my covering up! you’re taking pictures at a western-style hotel! i will be back this weekend (if the weather holds).

so, emily, erica, mona, and i started back down the road to our house. we’re not even halfway there when the thunder and lightning cat-and-mouse game begins. the time between the claps of thunder and bolts of lightning are down to 3 seconds – we’re in front of the coke kiosk – and bam, i see lightning strike 20 feet to my left, and the simultaneous crack of thunder. i felt it in my bones. i thought i had been struck, seriously. but, apparently, feeling it in your bones isn’t quite the feeling you get when struck by lightning. another sign that you aren’t fried: seeing and hearing the thunder at the same time. thank god.

on sunday, we ended up heading back to murambi (this time, successfully seeing the memorial, which was gruesome). on the bus ride back, we went through another thunderstorm. the rwandans riding along with us were more preoccupied with gawking at the other, bad, drivers on the road (there was a collective rise-and-peer maneuver that was repeated over and over as we passed numerous cars weaving down the rainy roads). but, i was happy to be safely insulated in a bus, with my headphones on, and listening to ‘champagne supernova’, ‘ordinary world’, and ‘africa’ accompany the surreal sound and light show that illuminated the countryside.