Wow Weather

I suppose living in California all my life has been a blessing and a curse. The blessings are numerous, great vacations within driving distance, lots of opportunities to visit amazing places, and fantastic weather almost all year around. The last bit about the weather is what is really turning into a curse. I am completely unprepared for the rainy season here on Okinawa. It's been pretty much raining solid for the past 4 days. That in and of itself is nothing new, it usually rains almost daily here, or so it seems. However the past 4 days have been thunder storms, which I'm absolutely not use to.  Today was really the first day I've had to drive extensively in the rain, and guess what, I'm really not very good. It was overwhelming, I've found all the blind spots in my car and realized that I'm not really able to see well through the rain. It should be noted that the Okinawans do not use reflective paints on the pavement. When it's raining here you can't see the lines on the road at all, so you kind of just hope for the best and follow the car in front of you.  Today I had to drive to swimming, then to the fresh vegetable market, then the egg zoo, then the library and finally a meeting on another base.  I made it everywhere safe and sound. But not without a few white knuckle moments, the most dramatic was driving down through a curvy neighborhood as the raging river that was the gutter kept cutting across my lane. I kept feeling the car start to slip on the road, like it was going to hydroplane but didn't.  Another moment was actually seeing a fork of lightning hit the ground.  Now that we are home we are able to appreciate the awesome power of nature,without breaking out into a cold sweat.  I suppose tomorrow will be another day, probably full of rain.