Al Ain is called ‘The Garden City’, with its name literally meaning ‘The Spring’ because of the many oases located around the city and trees that line either side of most roads, but… “Where is the Rain?’. To put into perspective of how little rain falls here, in the last 9 months of living here I have seen rain a total of three times. And yet many plants grow here.
All the plants are supported by an underground irrigation system to supply water. And manure is mixed with the sand to make it fertile because there is no soil. So even with a lack of rainfall in this tropical desert climate, things are made to grow.
Each time it has rained, I was able to experience something new. The first time it rained was over a weekend in December. The drainage system gets clogged up with sand, so when it does rain like that weekend, water gets backed up. Hence the river that formed in front of my building that ran down the entire street… it had a pretty fast current and everything.
The next time it rained was over night on a weekday; it didn’t rain much and I didn’t think much of it until on my way to school when I got a phone call from one of my student’s parents. They called to ask me if the school was closed because of the rain… I couldn’t help but laugh, but apparently it is a common thing to close down the school when it rained.
This past week it rained during the day and I was able to witness first hand the reaction to rain and it was a sight. People run out to the streets to stand out in the rain and run around; they make the most of something that comes so infrequent. I was pretty happy to see the rain as well, that was until the smell of it just got to me. Rain here certainly doesn’t have that fresh, clean smell it does back home; smells more like dirt and wet sand.
Bryan the Camel says…
What you call rain; I call shower time!
