Fri. Oct 8 evening - just got electricity back after 45 minutes off

I just witnessed the most phenomenal rain/lightning storm not only of my time here but possibly in my entire life.You could guess at once that it was to be something special - in an instant, with no prelude, sheets of rain were pounding against the house walls, and the lightning and thunder were pretty much non-stop. I sat out on my front porch again to enjoy the show - but had to hide in the corner so I didn't get totally soaked, with the wind blowing sheets ofwater sideways.The lane out front quickly was submerged.A few people passed on foot or on cycles, caught off guard I guess.I figured the power would go out at some point, and it did - but it just added to the whole 'experience' for me.A final blinding lightning flash was followed by a 'ka-THUNK' as if a megaton bomb had exploded a block or so away, then the rain quickly faded to nothing special.I vaguely remember some comparable storms in New Orleans as a kid, but surely none of them exceeded this one in intensity.

When the storm began, Herizal had just brought me back from the English Library.Yani and Wahyu ( our guide to find it ) had come along on their cycles.It's a single 40-foot- long room full of mostly older and all-donated books shipped in from an NGO in the US to the NGO here that funds and operates the library.Books range from small childrens' in front to adult/textbook in the rear.I met 4 Americans, one just a visitor and one a regular volunteer ( Leslie ) married to an Indonesian who helps the middle-aged couple responsible for the place ( Barry and Effie ), along with a young local woman ( who was Herizal's student 5 years ago, as it turned out, though not at IAIN).I told them I had heard about the library from Katie's ( the ETA last year ) blog, which they didn't know about; Leslie remembered her, and the since-departed older US couple that Katie said treated her like a daughter.A dozen or more students of various ages drifted in an out while I was there.Herizal, Yani, and Wahyu all got caught up in separate conversations as I talked with Barry, who's from rural Virginia, "O Brother Where Art Though?" country, and first saw Alison Krause perform when she was still a kid.I got a membership ( $1 ) and checked out two novels.It may be possible for me toget out there on a single bus from IAIN; I hope so. Barry said he might be able to get a lift back here for me.I told them I'd like to come and get involved, do PowerPoint shows of my trip photos or play games etc. - whatever they're interested in.They want to do more activities like that - it always brings them new members ( they now have about 300 regulars, up to 1000 drop-ins ).In fact, they have an American coming over next week to do some kind of presentation for English teachers.

(Suddenly I hear the rain returning in force.I notice, and others have commented too, that storms here often have a 'second wave' equal to if not greater than the first. )

It was an uneventful day at work.My class with the faculty went well - hardly worth mentioning since it's always the case.I got a few photos of them doing my "Signature Bingo" activity, which most got so caught up in that they refused to stop for a while - like a compulsion!I did prepare a handout/practice activity for the Writing III class on the various types of academic essays; but it's still not clear where the class will be able to meet.And after repeated requests, I finally got Herizal to take me to the records office and have them print out class lists for me ( though there are many names on the lists of students not actually in the English Ed. program any more, but never 'purged' from the system… )Apparently no one else here cares about an 'official' class list -they just get students to sign their names in class.Similarly, Herizal said he is meeting two classes for the first time tomorrow, but when I asked him what classes they were he didn't know.Things definitely are different here.