We weren't really in a forest, it was more like we were on a camping field next to a farm, but the farm was near forests and other stuff, even a town. It was a really hot weekend, but our tents were next to some nice trees, so we had good shade during the day. I met a girl who's 11 years old and already speaks three languages. Carla asked me if I would have rather spent my year abroad on a farm, and I said, "Well, I don't know. I mean, I didn't spend my year abroad on a farm so I can't say if I would have liked it better or not. You never know. And who knows, I might have been dead by now if that had happened."
Funny that you should say that, Em.
The last night on the campsite, I woke up early in the morning, probably 5 am or something. I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I was walking back to my tent, I felt a couple of drops on my forehead. I thought, "Oh, it's starting to rain. It's nice warm weather, though. Pretty clouds." Then I heard a low rumble of thunder off in the distance, and I thought, "Oh, thunder, that's nice. Thunder is cool and somehow comforting." I crawled back in my sleeping bag and listened to the rain patter on the tent, waiting for sleep to come.
Then it happened. Not only did I hear it, but I felt it, a jolting shock under my bed, and it sounded like a million whips in the hand of Zeus had slashed against the ground outside. Even with my eyes closed everything went white. Within half a second, my thinking went from, "Nice clouds" to "OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" But, when nothing else seemed to be happening, I just forgot about it and went back to sleep.
When I emerged from my flimsy yellow cave and into the hazy sunlight, there were a lot of other campers hanging out behind my tent. Someone pointed to a nearby tree about 8 feet away from my tent, and would you believe it, it had been struck by lightning!! A huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge gash had been sliced through the bark; it must have been about 13 feet long. And there was wood everywhere, all over my tent, big chunks on the ground... Matthias says he thinks he was hit by a piece of the trunk, because he was outside at the time, trying to save our stuff from getting wet in the rain.
Shade can go to hell, and it probably just did.
The one thing nobody understands is why the lightning hit where it did. It hit the tree about halfway down, right on the stub from a branch that had been cut down a couple of weeks ago.
Matthias says I attract things like this. I said, "That's because I'm naturally beautiful."
So clever of me, right?
It's a good thing I'm not religious, or I might have been a changed woman right now. I mean, it was so close! Well, maybe it really was a sign, but then for the guy who's car was parked right under the tree. His right side mirror was shattered and melted in three places.
Anyways.
Spiders like to hang out in my hair. However, they are unwelcome.
On a happier note, the BBQ we ate at the campsite was seriously out of this world. We bought the meat at a special farm, where the lady was really really nice.
Camping is nice because everything smells good. Even the misfortunate tree smelled good. And I love nature, so just wandering around was nice. Oh, and I'm past page 100 in East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and it's so good! I totally recommend it!
I like my new oxford shoes, because they make a clikketty-clakketty sound when I walk, making me feel important.
Tot ziens,
Emily
PS: Going a bit back in time, there was a summer party at Elise and Sebastiaan's school, and the theme was "World Children". Matthias was chosen to be Berlusconi, and I had to play Ruby. So world children friendly. (That's supposed to be Obama in between us, but I must say it's not the best mask I've ever seen.)
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