Strange Noises on the Roof

I woke last night to a loud, sounds coming from the roof. It was rain!! I haven't seen rain since I arrived almost 3 weeks ago and didn't know what it sounded like on my roof. And this isn't an ordinary roof...cement, with metal siding. It was loud!

Now rain doesn't normally rise to the surface of blog interest, except on Statia. We HAVE to have it. It IS our water supply. Every single home here has a system that "catches" the water from the roof and feeds the storage system. You see these strange things around yards here.

Water hits the roof, runs down the siding, into large pipes and into the container. We use this for everything...toilet, shower, faucets. And when you run out, you run out (although you can order delivery of an expensive truck full from the local desalinization plant). Water conservation is alive and well on Statia. When you shower here, you wet yourself, shut off the water, soap up and then turn the water back on to rinse. No standing under the shower allowed.

So while the noise was a surprise, it was welcome. I can shower another day. My classmates will be happy about that.