Floarea-soarelui!

July in Moldova is sunflower season! They're everywhere!! Sunflowers are big business in Moldova - for seeds and oil primarily, so they litter the countryside with beauty every July :o]

This is a sunflower Mama-G is growing.

Two Years, All Seasons in Malawi

Having experienced two complete cycles of the seasons in Malawi, I'm ready to make a comparison between them.

Hot Season
Pros - laundry dries quickly, less bugs, house smells better (no musty smell), don't have to pee as much so less time in the chim, mangos at the end of the season, floor and dishes dry quickly, cleaner walk to school (no mud), vegetables are cheap and plentiful, bananas too, lots of daylight, easy to solar charge when the power goes out

Cons - it's ridiculously hot, I get very thirsty so I have to fill up my water filter a lot more, too hot to boil water or make porridge or drink tea, long sweaty nights so it is difficult to sleep, wind is very loud this time of year which is also difficult to sleep through, need to water garden everyday, so much sun

Rainy Season

Pros - very green and pretty everywhere, pineapples are cheap and plentiful, showers on tin roof sound nice, more frogs and toads and butterflies and flowers, can collect rainwater for cooking and bathing and drinking, thunder and lightning are pretty exciting, cool spiders (or is that a con?)

Cons - vegetables are expensive and mould quicker, water shortages (since mud blocks the pipes upstream), higher risk of cholera, hot and muggy when not raining so it can be difficult to sleep, mosquitos and biting bugs aplenty, cockroaches get up earlier and stay out later, risk of snakes in the grass, flood/storm damage, more power outages, house smells musty, everything takes forever to dry, muddy feet walking to school, mud everywhere, rain on tin roof at school makes it impossible to teach (or is that a pro?), rain on tin roof sounds incredibly loud and makes it impossible to do anything indoors, slipping in the mud as I go outside to use the chim, using chim with an umbrella, leaking roof, condensation with heat so roof drips on me while I sleep, pretty much impossible to solar charge when the power goes out

Cold Season
Pros - I get to wear layers and drink tea and eat porridge and the warmth is wonderful, I sleep really well all bundled up in my layers and blankets and sleeping bag, less wildlife and bug activity this time of year, cool season crops like onions and kale do well in my garden, sweet potatoes are in season, lots of time to read, the sky is often overcast and looks really pretty, nandolo (pigeon peas) are blooming and in season

Cons - it's dark about 12 hours every night, so I have less time to lesson plan and do chores, lots of colds and coughs this time of year, laundry and dishes take longer to dry, more difficult to solar charge when the power goes out, hard to get out of bed in the morning to go to school because it is so cold and dark

The Verdict
After two years, I can definitely say my favorite season is Cold Season. Except for early in the mornings, it is really more Cool than Cold, so it is the perfect weather. And I love wearing layers and drinking tea and having an excuse to go to bed early and read. As an Education Volunteer I get to experience three Cold Seasons during my service since we arrive in June, so I feel very blessed for that.

Rain

When it rains in Mulanje...

...it pours

We had some intense rains here a couple weeks ago, with rain most of the day and night for about a week. It's been a long time since I walked through puddles to use the chim or get to school. Luckily most of the heaviest rain fell in the afternoons or evenings, so my classes were not disrupted. If it is raining hard, the pounding of rain on the metal roof pretty much stops class.

We had an intense lightning storm on the second day of the rains, which caused the electricity to go out. The rain was so intense after that that it took them over a week to fix it. Luckily my charcoal cooking skills are improving, so I was still able to cook during that time. But keeping my phone charged was another matter. Solar chargers do not work well during Rainy Season.

Still, I love the rain. Rain means it is so nice when everything is green and lush. Rain means cooler nights so I sleep better. Rain means bathing with cool, refreshing rainwater everyday. And rain means spending my afternoons having a cup of tea while sitting on my porch and watching the rain clouds over the mountain while reading a good book. It's definitely a nice time of year.

Hunger Season

This is a really difficult time of year in Malawi. It is known as Hunger Season because people are really hurting for food this time of year. The July maize harvest is long gone and any extra cash from selling crops is gone as well. Plus planting just started with the rains in December, so nothing is ready to harvest yet.

I don't know if it is worse this year, or if it is just that my Chichewa is better and I know more people now, but I clearly see the effects of Hunger Season around me.

At home, where I have a giant mango tree nearby and a papaya tree in the yard, I have people coming by almost daily to ask if they can collect green unripe mangos to eat. Mostly children, but my adult neighbors and even some strangers have come by too.  At first I tried to get people to leave a few green ones so that they can ripen (fresh ripe mangos in my yards are one of my favorite things about living here), but I gave up on that. For one thing, in the village there is no tomorrow, so a green mango in the hand is worth two in the tree. People need food today. The other reason is that it did no good anyhow. People just waited till I went to school and hopped my fence and took them. So I'd rather they go to the honest neighbors that ask me.

(This single ripe mango was so high up in the tree. It was torturing

In the market I notice more people asking for money. In fact my neighbor has asked for money to buy food a couple times this month. Just small stuff, like money to buy tomatoes and an egg. At school a teacher told me the students are not staying afterschool to study because they haven't eaten anything all day. Also I have noticed students sleeping in class recently, but who knows, maybe they are just bored.

I know I can't solve the problem, but I try to do little things, like sharing food with the kids that come over to read books and practice English. I always have extra and it feels good to share.

Praying for Rain

"Upon us all, a little rain must fall..." --Led Zeppelin, The Rain Song

After a late start in December, the rains stopped just as suddenly as they began. Since the New Year there has only been one or two real solid rains in my village. The maize is starting to dry out, as you can see in this photo.

It's not just dry either. It has been hot and windy as well, further drying the maize. A common past time here is looking at the dark clouds in the distance, and hoping for a thunderstorm. But other than a few overcast and muggy days, the clouds haven't produced anything significant for us.

The kids and I prepared my garden bed for planting this week, and now I'm just waiting for a little rain before I get the seeds in the ground. I could just water them in by hand, but the linthumbu (red driver ants) are roaming around in large numbers, and with it being so dry, I'm worried about creating a little oasis that might attract them to my yard again. So I'm waiting for one good storm.

It's crazy to think that last year at this time, there were floods in southern Malawi. People died in high flood waters, rivers overflowed, bridges washed out, and many people lost their homes and crops. Now we are in danger of the other extreme. But it's not too late yet.

So here in Malawi, we're all praying for rain.

Hello Rainy Season

It's Rainy Season in Malawi! The soil here has been eagerly awaiting a little moisture, and now it's green and lovely out. The maize is growing well too. It's knee high in a lot of places after just about a month of rain.

Rainy Season is a mix of bright sunshine and heat alternating with cool, overcast, wet weather. In Mulanje where I live there is also a fair bit of mugginess thrown in as well. Often all of these occur in the same day, which is why I try to always carry my umbrella with me this time of year. You never know when a downpour will sneak up on you!

Rainy Season brings out the big bugs. I caught a big black millipede in my bedroom a couple days ago, and there is another giant snail next to the chim. They have the coolest shells. I posted a pic of these last year if you want to see them.

About a week ago I saw this huge caterpillar next to the bafa. That is a matchbox next to it for scale. I like how it looks like it has a dark halo around it.

Well, I did it-- I survived my last Hot Season in Malawi! Without a refrigerator or ice or air-conditioning or a shower. So the next time there is a Summer Brown-Out in America I should be well-prepared. 

Exams, Heat and Noodles

It's near the end of Term 1 of the 2015-2016 school year here in Malawi. We started exams on Monday and they will continue until next Thursday. Then there is a term break until January 4th.

I have given two exams so far, and my last one is tomorrow. I have huge stacks of papers in my house to prove it. I started marking exams already, but it gets so tiring, especially in this heat. After marking for a couple hours at school this morning I took a break to organize the library a little. Then at home I organized these two huge piles of papers I had accumulated. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you are procrastinating! It'll all get done though, little by little.

It's been really hot this week. It's the bright and searing heat, not the muggy overcast heat, so my walls are all hot by evening time and it is not even cool in the mornings anymore. I'm asking Santa to please send rain and cool weather for Christmas. No gift wrap necessary.

Even though it is hot, I still like at least one hot meal a day. My new favorite hot meal is noodle soup. (Although I usually let it cool off before I eat it, so it is more like lukewarm noodle soup). I found these packaged noodles in the Boma for about K120, which is around twenty cents. It's like the African version of Top Ramen.

It comes with the noodles and a little spice packet, and you just add hot water. I got fancy because there was power for a little while, so I added some sautéed onion, tomato and a small bell pepper to the noodles. It was pretty tasty.

10 Best Things about Hot Season

We have had some pretty hot days here in southern Malawi the past couple weeks. Like today. And hot days mean long, sweltering, sleepless nights. Which makes me pretty cranky.

It's not all bad though, as I try to remind myself. So here are the 10 best things about Hot Season, which I will miss when the rains come.

1) My laundry dries really fast. I can start laundry at noon if I want to still manage to have a few loads all dry on my clothesline before dark. I can even (gasp) do laundry afterschool if I want to.

2) My dishes dry really fast too. I can wash a plastic plate and it will be dry 10 minutes later. I don't have many dishes so this is pretty nice.

3) I don't have to heat my bath water. This is double nice because it means less work, and a cold bath water on a hot day is pretty much the only way to cool off in the village.

4) Mangos! Mangos! Mangos! Hot Season means mangos are cheap and plentiful. I love the big green ones the best. When it's too hot to cook, a mango or two make a nice snack.

5) (Relatively) clean feet. Yes my feet are always dirty because everything is covered in dirt in the village and it's impossible to get truly clean. But compared to the mud of Rainy Season, my feet are pretty clean this time of year.

6) I can actually mop. During Rainy Season and Cold Season it takes so long for the floor to dry that I don't bother mopping. (Sssh, don't tell the amayis). But this time of year I can mop and the floor dries within 30 minutes. Which means my feet stay cleaner too.

7) Water is pretty reliable this time of year. It's nice to not have to worry about that.

8) So much daylight. I like having all this time to do things. It really helps with lesson planning too.

9) Lots of sun to charge my solar stuff with

10) Very few mosquitos. Hot Season is more wasp and bee and fly season. I still get the occasional mosquito bite at site, but they don't really get going till the rains come. So all this heat and dryness has it's upside.

Sunrise over Mulanje

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to this:

It was a long night on tossing and turning (and sweating) in the heat. You know it's bad when it's not even cool in the morning. It's probably at least 75 or 80 degrees F even at that time.

Recently my PCV friend and I were discussing which was worse, the humidity or the searing heat. The heat from the sun shining all day bakes my brick house so that at night I feel like I am in an oven. When it's humid it is usually more overcast so the walls aren't as hot, but then there is that damp sticky heat that still makes it difficult to sleep. So it's a tie. But it's okay-- Rainy Season is coming!

Besides, if it wasn't so hot I might have slept right through the beautiful sunrise this morning. So there is always something to be thankful for.

My week at a glance

It's almost Friday, and thank goodness. I am exhausted. It has been a really busy week. Between teaching, my Malaria Awareness Club, library and other projects at school, I just feel like I am running on empty. When I get home in the afternoons I just want to drink a liter of water and go right to sleep.

Unfortunately, that isn't usually an option. I only have around three hours after I get home before dark, and in that time I need to cook, clean up, bathe and lesson plan for the next day. It's usually not enough time and I often end up lesson planning by flashlight in my mosquito net.

I've had a little extra work cleaning up this week too. Besides the additional lizard droppings that come this time of year thanks to the increased activity of my gecko housemates, I've discovered that I have mice. And they also poop a lot. And knock things over in the middle of the night, little buggers. They left this little trail in my makeshift sink:

Plus it has been really windy, which sends a ton of leaves and other plant debris through the gaps in my roof and into my house.

On Sunday I noticed the nest of black ants in my yard had been disturbed, and they decided to move the colony.

I fought to keep them away from the house, and suffered a few ant bites in the process. In the end they moved under the drain. Hopefully they are just outdoor ants and don't find my house inviting. Honestly it is cooler outside anyway.

Oh yeah, it's really hot too. I'm drinking a lot of water these days, although drinking lukewarm water on a hot day isn't really that satisfying. Luckily I have had water almost everyday this week. I can't say the same thing for the power, which goes out almost everyday now. I give thanks everytime I can charge my phone or there is water in the pipe outside, that's for sure.

Well, I'm off. I'm going to go dunk my washcloth in some more water and then drape it over me so I can cool off enough to try and sleep.

Enjoy your cool Fall weather back Home. I miss it!

Happy Fall Equinox

The Autumnal Equinox is such a lovely day. Even though it was usually still pretty hot at this time of year in California, there was the promise of cooler temperatures to come, and all that comes with it-- sweaters, hot tea and the holiday season.

Of course here in the Southern Hemishere it promises quite the opposite-- think tank tops and chitenjes (cuz shorts are kind of taboo here, especially for ladies), think cold water (when you can get it since most places don't have electricity) and think hot!hot!hot! The holidays are still coming, but it's not quite the same as back home in America. No trick-or-treating, no family Thanksgiving dinner. And Christmas is definitely not the same. Most people here don't even know what snow is, let alone Santa!

It's Hot Season here, but today was a little cooler than it has been most of the week, which was nice. Still too hot for tea though.

Here is the breakdown on our PC countries for the equinox:

Blantyre, Malawi

Sunrise 5:28 am

Sunset 5:36 pm

Chisinau, Moldova

Sunrise 6:53 am

Sunset 6:59 pm

Madzi kulibe

I've been saying that phrase a lot lately-- no water. I get all my water from an outside tap. It's really convenient, except when it goes dry. Which happens a lot, especially lately.

Not even one drop

This is Dry Season, so we're not really expecting rain. But after the floods in January, we received very low levels of rainfall during the remainder of the season. So now water levels are low. Bonus-- the low water levels are also affecting power generation from the dams, so there are more power outages lately. Like right now, in fact.

For the last five days I have only been able to get about 2-3 liters of water each day. (A liter is about a quart). That is just enough for cooking and drinking. Luckily I had a small stockpile, but it's dwindling. Of course drinking water and cooking take priority. But for everything else, I need to make some hard choices.  And get creative.

I've skipped bathing a couple times, I've got my dishwashing down to once a day with only about two liters of water, and I'm postponing laundry until further notice (except for a few items which I managed to wash and rinse in about a four liters of water.) And forget about mopping. That is on the very bottom of my water priority list. Tomorrow I am going to try using the leftover cooking water from my sweet potatoes to make my porridge. Every little bit counts when your tap is dry.

Sadly, my garden is pretty much finished until Rainy Season, since I don't have enough excess water to keep it going. I uprooted my dead onions this evening and added them to my makeshift compost pile which I started in one of the now empty beds. There are a few potatoes and carrots left to harvest, but that is pretty much it.

I do have an alternate water source. There is a borehole about fifteen minutes away, which isn't bad except it feels a lot farther when I am carrying a bucket of water on my head. Which is definitely worth it for drinking water, but I don't wanna think about how many trips I would need to get enough water for everything else. It's much easier to just conserve my limited water a little bit longer. Still, if I need to, I could do it. And I'm sure my neighbors would take pity on me and help me out. But they would have a good laugh at the azungu carrying water on her head first!

What's in Season: September

The seasons, they go round and round. I've been in Malawi over a year now, so I've been seeing the seasons come and go. At this point Cold Season is transitioning to Hot Season. Maybe it's Warm Season? It basically feels like a typical Spring in California, with mostly hot days, but cool mornings and evenings. There is a little more daylight too which is nice.

This time of year is really windy in Mulanje. I'm listening to it blow outside right now. It kinda sounds like waves. The wind has really been drying out the ground, including my garden, which is unfortunate because we are going through a bit of a drought here and water is scarce. I had water today, but not the last two days. So my garden is suffering.

My papaya tree is doing just fine though. The kids pointed out the first ripe papaya the other day. It was a little underripe for my taste, but they were so excited that I let them pick it. The papayas are really big and plentiful this year.

Besides papaya, sweet potatoes are also in season, and can be bought along the highway in my trading post. I also saw the first green mangos for sale in the market. They're small still. The kids eat them with salt.

Happy Mid-Year Solstice 2015

Happy Solstice everyone!

Today is the longest day of the year for you Northerners above the equator, and the start of summer. In Chisinau, Moldova the sunrise was at 5:09 a.m. and the sunset at 9:03 p.m.

Here in Malawi it is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. It's been raining a little the past few days and getting pretty cold, at least for Malawi. (I'm sure Colii would say it is still t-shirt weather.) As there is no insulation or indoor heating, I am wearing lots of layers and drinking plenty of tea.

In Blantyre, Malawi the sunrise was at 6:06 a.m. and the sunset at 5:17 p.m. So  basically I wake up and go to sleep at dark-thirty these days  : )

Happy Equinox

Colii reminded me that today is the equinox. For all you northern hemisphere folks it is the spring equinox, but for us southerners it is the fall equinox. So happy Spring/Autumn to everyone!

Here are the sunrise and sunset times for our PC posts:

Chisinau, Moldova

Sunrise - 6:06 am

Sunset - 6:16 pm

Blantyre, Malawi

Sunrise - 5:43 am

Sunset - 5:51 pm

Happy Groundhog Day

February 2nd is Groundhog Day in the USA, but it's just another day here in Malawi. We don't actually have any groundhogs here anyway. And it's not even winter either.

Malawi has only three seasons-- Hot Season, Cold Season and Rainy Season. As it is Rainy Season now, the weather is humid and sunny, alternating with cloudy and rainy. Everyday. Often several times in the same day. Which makes doing laundry pretty difficult. So everywhere I go, I bring my umbrella and my sunglasses.

To borrow from a popular saying-- if you don't like the weather during Rainy Season, just wait an hour.

So how many more weeks of a Rainy Season? Let's ask this little guy, that showed up outside my fence this morning:

Sir Crab says, "Kwambiri". There you have it, folks. Many more weeks of rain. Let the good maize grow!

A Good Day in Malawi

It was a bit rough the first few days back at my site. Coming back to the village after being in the city with the other PCVs is always an adjustment anyways. However, this time was even more difficult because the house was all musty from the rain, and I had no water or power for two days. Plus it was super hot and muggy. Think peanut butter sandwiches for most meals, no laundry, dying phone batteries, limited bathing and sleepless nights in the heat.

Then yesterday everything changed. The power came on and there was water again! I was able to charge my phone, and even cook hot meals. Hot food is such a blessing. I also did a quick load of laundry in between the torrential downpours we had, and collected a bit of rainwater too. A few of the neighbor kids came over and we planted seeds in my new garden bed-- peas, squash, marigolds, carrots and Swiss chard. I gave them some seeds to take home in appreciation for their help, and they planted them in their home gardens. Would you believe the peas already have a tiny shoot coming out?

It's amazing how hot food, clean clothes, and spending quality time with the neighbor kids can make everything better!

After the Floods

I'm back at my site now after being away for 8 days. Everything is just how I left it, except for lizard poop everywhere and a new garden bed that my landlord's son put in for me while I was away. The wet wall seems to be drying now and the remaining part of the brick fence is still standing. The roof leaked in a few places, but it wasn't very much water.

On the mini-bus ride to my site, I passed through an area in my district that had been flooded. You could see how high the river had gotten, and many downed trees. There were also a number of buildings that had been severely damaged. We also drove by what appeared to be a flood refugee camp. The flooding was devastating for many people in Malawi, costing people their homes, their businesses and even their lives.

The Guardian has a series of photos on the flooding which shows the areas that were hit the hardest, Chikwawa and Nsanje.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2015/jan/21/malawi-floods-cause-devastation-in-pictures

The second cyclone that was predicted to come through ended up missing Southern Malawi, so the weather has evened out here. It hasn't done much more than shower since I've been back, and there has been lots of sunshine in between.

I'm grateful for PC looking out for the safety of me and all the other PCVs. I'm also grateful that my home and school and my village are okay.

Update on Malawi Storms

All of the intense rain has caused severe flooding in Malawi, particularly in the South. Half of the country has been declared a disaster area. People have lost homes, whole villages have flooded, and so far over 170 people have died. 

All of the PCVs are okay. PC has been closely monitoring the situation and moved all of the PCVs out of the affected areas until it is safe to return. My village was okay when I left, though I did see flooding in other areas of my district. However, the rains started up again and there is supposed to be another system coming in.

Here is an article about the flooding from CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/17/africa/malawi-flooding/

Please keep the people of Malawi in your prayers.

And then the rains came

Rainy season is in full swing here. Maybe it's just because we have been having a drought in California for the past few years, but the rain here is like nothing I have seen before. It just doesn't stop. I think it has rained everyday this month. These aren't just showers either. There have been serious downpours.

I have had no water since Saturday morning, so I've been collecting rainwater to use instead. The buckets fill up pretty fast, so now I'm set probably for the next week or so.

The great thing about using rainwater is it is clean. No risk of cholera or other water-borne parasites like you usually get from groundwater this time of year with the high water table. Still, I'm boiling and filtering it all before I drink it, just to be safe.

The rain is bringing out more creatures too. Check out this pretty snail. Note: this guy was as big as my hand!

There are some drawbacks to all this rain though. Like walking through brown water up to my ankles to get to school. Clothes that take days to dry. Power that goes out everyday. Rain pounding on the tin roof when I am trying to teach. Oh yeah, and this:

That used to be the brick wall behind my house. They only used mud to hold the bricks together for the wall, and the soil has a lot of sand here, so the wall has been collapsing as it gets soaked. That photo was from yesterday. More fell down last night. Luckily the bricks from the house were cemented together properly so it seems okay so far. There are some growing wet spots in the walls that I am monitoring, and I have plates on the floor to catch all the leaks.

In that photo, the back left corner is the latrine. I had to climb over that pile of bricks to reach the chim this morning. Have you ever used an umbrella to walk to the bathroom? And then almost slipped in the mud with your flip-flops? I have!