Incoherent Rainy Season Ramblings

The rainy season has officially begun here in Zambia, which has led to a few interesting changes in my life.

Most importantly, it has cooled things down quite a bit, which has made me considerably less miserable throughout each and every day.

Unfortunately, however, the onset of rains has forced me to change my sleeping arrangements.

For a while there, like many of my local Zambians I was sleeping outside on my porch every night (yes, mom, under a mosquito net). Inside it was feeling a bit too much like a sauna for me, which, though lovely after a good hard workout is not so lovely when one is trying to get a good night's sleep. So, every night I would set up my little area, putting out a mattress and sheets under the net, and every morning I would move it all back inside. It was a pain at first, but after daily practice I got so I could do it with NASCAR pit-crew like precision and speed.

It was very, very nice being able to lay back and stare at the stars, thinking about life before drifting off to sleep, and to feel the breeze throughout the night.

Now, however, it rains at night from time to time, so in an effort to stay dry I’ve had to pack up and move inside.

Although, the rain isn’t the only reason I’ve moved my bed inside. Much to my chagrin, the rainy season has brought with it a new slew of insects, most notably scorpions. As a matter of fact, I just killed a small one with my shoe a few short minutes ago. Wow, those things are ugly and terrifying, and as much as I’d like to wake up in a bed full of them like that chick from Charlie Sheen’s “The Arrival” (awesome movie by the way, if you’re into unintentional comedy) I figured I’d better pack things up and sleep inside from now on.

Speaking of insects, I was surprised the other day to see many of my little Namumuans chasing, catching and stockpiling a certain type of winged insect. I saw them doing it in the late afternoon the other day and assumed that these insects did something cool, perhaps lighting up at night like fireflies.

No, no, they were catching them so that they could fry them and eat them. Yikes. They keep trying to get me to try them too. Double yikes.

Otherwise, things are just swell here at Namumu.

Junior has been out of town with his mother for a few days, so I haven’t been pooped on lately, which is nice.

Wendy is on book number five with me. I’ve gotten her going on Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game”, one of my all-time favorites. It’s science fiction, so I had my doubts as to how she’d handle it, but luckily Wendy is nerdy enough to enjoy it.

Mubita, my trusty kapenta fishing rig foreman has been in rough shape lately. His hands and feet have swollen up so badly that he hasn’t been able to walk or even hold a pen in his hand. He’s tried to convince me that somebody must have dropped a Black Magic spell on him or something of the sort (I’ve heard a number of people blame their illnesses on something similar). I told him that regardless of the cause, I’d ask people to pray for him. So, if you could, go ahead and pray for Mubita to heal up soon, for my sake as well, because it’s tough doing my job without him.

Speaking of fishing, I was out on the lake fishing with our guys the other night and on the way out we spotted a big ol’ hippopotamus. A very big ol’ hippopotamus, actually. It was out roaming around and eating on a small island out on the lake. It was a hungry hungry hippo indeed.

Oh, and back to the rain, that same night fishing we got absolutely pounded by a storm, and while there is a small tin roof covering the deck of the boat we still got gooshed.

There was a little bit of stinging rain, big ol’ fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes the rain even seemed to come up from underneath.

So, not a very fun night, but an interesting experience nonetheless.

Well, that’s about all I got for now. Thanks to all that have posted comments and sent me emails recently, I’ve enjoyed them all. Holler at me any time...