T-O-T-O TOTO

28 Mar 12

Going to bless the rain down in Africa…!

I can’t believe it, twenty one days in and the drought breaks! The rain started last night and has been on and off all day. It caught firewood left out to get wet and unprepared roofs to leak. It caught people off guard much like an early snowfall does in the north. I don’t think the rain was expected until June or July. This sand, according to my LCF hasn’t received a drop of water in six months. This whether couldn’t be better for our gardening exercises. It’s been so “cool” here that my family keeps hot coals stoking in metal or ceramic bowls for portable heat. I admit that the evenings have been quite chilly for me with just a top sheet. I have a light travel blanket but it’s currently being used to keep the pesky mouse out of my room so that its nibbling doesn’t wake me in the middle of the night.

I’m more excited than anything else to even realize that “chilly” or “cold” is a noun I can learn in Wolof as it’s applicable here! I feel like a giddy school girl with the rain and cooler weather, much like one might feel with the first snow of the season. It’s a welcome and exciting change for all, especially for the vegetation and other lively things that miraculously make a living under such harsh conditions. These are some of the best fed lizards I’ve seen, so much so that I’m thankful to be in a Muslim country because if I wasn’t, I might find the lizard meat among the ceeb (cheb meaning rice) bowl.