Thursday, January 14, 2010

Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow

Nyamulagira is still erupting, but less. While volcanic activity continues, lava fountains are (reportedly) barely more than 100m in height.

Today it is freezing. I’m bundled in my leather jacket. I blame this on Nyamulagira. The sky is covered by smoke and volcanic ash and little sun gets through. And now we no longer have the heat of the lava spurts to warm us up. Honestly. Freezing. I half expect snow to start falling from our stark white sky.

Tomorrow is a holiday. I will go out on my boat (Ndege-Samaki). I will visit an orphanage. I will attend a meeting (“holiday” only means no need to come into the office; it doesn’t mean no work).

At approximately 7:22 am Goma-time (GMT +2), the sun will disappear, hiding itself behind the moon. According to MSNBC, we should expect a “cosmic ring of fire”. It is not a total eclipse – only an annular eclipse. I will set my alarm and I will drag my body out of its warm bed and I will place a small mirror on my windowsill and watch the shadows beneath the tree leaves. But I will not expect to see much, because of the volcanic ash clouding our view.

Yesterday I couldn’t speak French to save my life and today I seem to understand nearly everything. What will tomorrow bring?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

we had a total view of the solar eclipse.it was beautiful.but clouds played spoil sport.however i could get some good snaps,almost pro type

Anonymous said...

the pics of congo and some more are on this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34740655@N08/,but pl dont put it on ur blog,link i mean

Rachel said...

That's awesome. Where are you?

I didn't see anything...

Rachel said...

But also... full disclosure... I slept in. So I didn't try...

Rachel said...

Thanks for the link! I look forward to looking at the photos. Just so you know, though, this comment section is public, so people can see the link as you posted it! :)

Anonymous said...

i am trying to put it on flickr,but taking time as net is really slow in congo

Anonymous said...

no probs,nothing confidential,although comments are welcome