Campus Rain 2011

Greetings,
It has been nearly a month since we last posted on our blog. Since then, we have had a glorious holiday of snow, cold, snow, cafes, Christmas festivities, and skiing in Austria - with safe travel all around. We were so fortunate to be able to stay again in our favorite apartment in Seefeld!

We have been back for a full week and today were going to start our second week when emails came through saying that school was closed for students today. Why? Rain. Last night's incredible rain. Last year when we had these intense rains, we had equally intense flooding both inside and outside. This year our house was nearly all dry and the roads, though flooded with thigh-deep water last night, gradually drained throughout the night and were nearly dry this morning.

It is ironic to be a Seattle family whose wettest bike ride occurred in Saudi Arabia. We managed to bike to our friends' house for dinner in the rain and the puddles. We took extra clothing to change when we got there. After a lovely Greek dinner and a wonderful evening, we figured we needed to brave the weather to head home to check on our own house, just as water started cascading down our friends' inside stairwell. We thought there was a lull in the rain, but it picked up as we biked the 1-2 kilometers home. The puddles we had ridden through had, in the two hours we had been at their house, turned into small lakes. We were able to make it across the road, through a slightly higher parking lot, across another lake-like road, and up onto a less flooded sidewalk. We made it safely home, threw all clothes in the wash, and took hot showers. (You never know exactly what kind of water you are riding through!)

Although many of the lakes had drained or been pumped during the night, the electricity was still out in the elementary school and school was, as a result, canceled for safety reasons for today. In Seattle, we had school closure once for what our neighbor termed "cold sidewalk day." Snow that was anticipated did not come until the next day, but school was closed prematurely. Then, of course, it had to be closed again when the actual snow did arrive. Last year here, we had major rain and floods right before an Eid holiday and school was closed because no one could safely get through, the drains did not drain, and the schools were very leaky and wet.

The sun is out now, so hopefully all will dry out and the rains will move elsewhere. Thanks for reading, Jennifer