Amazing Thunderstorm!

We experienced the greatest thunderstorm of my life the other night! It lasted for a good hour. I've never seen anything like it. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

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.

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.

Mango Alipo

(Translation: mangos are available. In Chichewa "mango" is both singular and plural, and "alipo" means available or around or here.)

Even though I have been eating mangos for a couple months now, it hasn't felt like mango season because the giant mango tree in front of my house didn't have any ripe fruit yet.

All that has changed now. Throughout the day I hear ripe mangos falling into my yard. And I find this:

They lay in the grass like yellow Easter eggs, just waiting to be eaten. Which I am doing my best to comply with, but it's difficult. (What a great problem to have, right?) Today about eight mangos fell to the ground. I grabbed a couple for myself and gave the rest to the kids. They love them! I'm eating them Malawian-style now, mango skin and all except the pit. They are so good!

There aren't too many strangers climbing the tree to get ripe mangos now. The kids told me the men did that last week while I was away. Mostly the women come with long branches and bamboo stalks to knock out the ripe mangos, or the kids throw rocks and unripe mangos to knock out the ripe ones. It's a big old mango party here!

I was thinking about making something with them, like mango coffee cake, but we're having a bit of a heat wave now so the thought of standing over a fire for hours is not appealing. Anyways, I'm too busy marking exams and preparing final grades for school. Our new term starts on Monday, 4 January (that's how we write dates here). But there are still a fair amount of mangos to ripen, so maybe later this week.

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.

What's In-Season: May

May has been a really nice month, weather-wise. The rain is pretty much over, which I'm bummed about, and there has been a lot of wind, which isn't my favorite. But the mornings are chilly, followed by afternoons that are sunny and warm. So I get to wear long sleeves and snuggle under my blankets and drink tea in the morning, but there is still plenty of sun to dry my laundry and my dishes during the day. It's the best of everything.

In Mulanje we have access to a pretty diverse assortment of produce year-round. At the Boma this weekend I bought green beans, carrots, green peppers, avocados, bananas and a grapefruit. They also had a ton of tomatoes, onions and greens for cooking, since those are staples in Malawi. But not all of it is necessarily from this area.

At this point I consider something in-season if I can buy it in my village market. There are a few vegetable stands in the market, plus a few vendors that sell their produce on the side of the road. The selection is much more limited than what is available in the Boma, but it definitely changes each month and gives a good picture of the crop calendar around here.

So what's in-season in May? Right now the vendors are selling sweet potatoes (mbatata), cucumbers (nkhaka), peanuts in the shell (mtedza) and small bananas (nthochi).

Also, guavas! My neighbor Fanny has been sharing guavas she picked from her tree with me. They are small and green, but then they turn yellow and smell delicious when they are ripe. I've been eating them whole, skin and seeds and all.

But the biggest crop available right now is sugarcane (zimbe). Everywhere you look you see people chewing it, and there are sugarcane fibers all over the ground.

You buy it in a huge stalk, which is way too much for me, so I always share it with my neighbors. Here are the kids posing with their sugarcane.

The kids get really excited about having their picture taken, but then immediately stop smiling for the actual photo. That's the culture here-- people don't usually smile for photos like we do in the States. I forgot the word for "smile", but I told the kids "Sangalalani!" which basically means "Be happy!" Then I took this photo.

Aren't they cute? Just another fun May afternoon hanging out with my neighbors in Malawi!