Reflections on Rainy Season

Living in the US, I forgot how much rain effects our life here. In the US, for most people, it might cancel a day of work or mess up plans for an outdoor adventure. (Granted, there are such things as floods that REALLY affect people’s lives, but, for the MOST part, rain is merely an inconvenience.)

We returned during rainy season and I am quickly remembering the reasons that rainy season REALLY irritates me! Lest I sound crabby, bear with me while I explain.

1. Rainy season turns every laundry day into a guessing game where you watch the sky. Trying to look at the sky before you decide to do laundry is pointless, unless it is pouring at that moment. What looks like an overcast, cloudy sky can be a day of cool breezes that never brings rain. Conversely, a sunny day can turn to a downpour within 2 minutes. It is probably better that people cannot hear what I am muttering (or perhaps yelling) as I am scrambling to pull down clothes in time to preserve any semblance of dryness that was there. I do want to maintain that saintly image I have going. So far, of the 3 days I have done laundry in the village, the rain is winning 2 – 1. (The day I "won" I just decided not to chance it and hung the clothes up in the bat filled attic).

2. Envelopes: I brought note cards and envelopes home with us from the States. Hannah and I worked for a long time today, lining the sticky part of the envelopes with waxed paper. Having only been in the country 2 weeks, there were a few that we could not salvage.

3. Boxes of matches left on the counter are pretty much useless after a few days. It can take 4 or 5 matches until you get one dry enough to light a fire.

4. Same thing with salt. If you sit with a bunch of missionaries at a dinner table, you are likely to hear "shake, whack, shake, whack, whack, shake, whack" until the person decides they have gotten enough salt from the shaker or their arm has fallen off from the effort.

5. The dampness also seeps into the wood of the doors, causing them to swell, so they are difficult to open and close. I guess the good thing is that if you are in a hurry to get to the bathroom, you don’t have to pause to lock the door – just push hard and it stays!

6. Mold, mold everywhere! Though it is better at our house now because the shutters are open and I attack it daily.

7. Driver ants: Now is the season for these little black ants that tromp across the land, biting and destroying many things. They have been known to eat a chicken and leave nothing but the bones. Lots of water also tends to drive scorpions out of their holes. Water is no obstacle for the driver ants, though. Check out this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTjQMtbViU

8. Lots of tall grass that makes it much harder to see those nasty snakes!

9. You can’t check email with the sattelite modem when it is raining.

10. Did I mention how much I hate it when it rains on my drying laundry???????



On the upside, there are a few good things about rainy season:

1. You don’t have to worry about conserving water. There is always plenty more where that came from.

2. It means that people can plant their rice, which means they will have something to eat.

3. Hannah loves playing in the 55 gallon drum where we catch water for laundry.

4. There is NOTHING like crawling into bed, snuggling under the covers, and listening to the rain beat down on the tin roof!