A warm and sunny September, a wet and windy October… somewhere in between some golden leaves and stunning sunrises. Its Fall, in Europe, a weird mixture of weather, with some storms thrown in.
It is kind of funny writing a post about Bergen, from Bangalore. But its been a week since I left. Driving away with mum, I commented that it was a bit like when I left Aberdeen; the car filled up with my stuff, and me feeling not so sad to be leaving. I’m not too good at sticking in one place, it seems.
I should probably have called this post The Hunt for Dry October. Because since September, you can count the number of days without rain on your fingers. So it was something of a small miracle that during my Fall break, it was sunny and dry. The week started mild, with golden and burnt orange leaves whipped through the air by the wind. The same wind howled through the night, driving in a cold front that parked itself over the land for the rest of the week.
I never thought I would say this but, it can actually get too hot. Like when its 39.6 degrees and there is no air conditioning. When the air is so warm and dry, it settles on your skin like a blanket. When the sky is a consistent, indifferent blue, like even the clouds can’t be bothered with the effort of crossing the sky. When at three in the afternoon, it is still everywhere, and by sunset, it is still scorching. The European Heatwave, which brought record-breaking temperatures to Western Europe.
They were all dressed in black. “Its like a funeral”, they said. The Death of the Year. Nervous laughter, an anxious wait to be called to the stage. Its crazy to think my first year of teaching is over. It could still be that first day, standing in my empty class with not enough tables for the 28 kids I would soon inherit. Trying to navigate playground duty with a dodgy foot, hastily learning names and how best to teach maths, how to get their attention when they’re running wild in gym class.
