Die weerlig

When my roommate and I were debating between two apartments, one question we didn’t ask was, “which will be better for watching the storms?”

Joburg in the summer has pretty routine (every other day or so) storms in the afternoon/evening. I was in the office one afternoon when it started raining and a local said, “Usually it starts raining, then the lightning starts, and shortly after that comes the hail.” All of her predictions came true during the rest of our five minute conversation, and that was my introduction to Joburg storms. They are a lot like Texas storms in that they roll in, hit hard, and then usually leave. However, the lightning is awesome (in the true meaning of the word). Apparently Rwanda is NASA’s “lightning capital of the world,” but Joburg must have been in the running.

"Poep teen die donderweer," or literally "farting against the thunder," is an Afrikaans phrase for "attempting the impossible."

In Houston lightning usually accompanies rain and dark clouds, so you never get a great view of it and it is sporadic. Not so, here.  It’s like a cosmic artillery barrage – quick and constant, falling random places within a defined area. My roommate and I sat on our balcony for a bit watching tonight and taking some pictures -- fortunately we picked the better storm-viewing apartment anyway.