I'm Gonna Soak Up the Sun

We get a lot of questions from people at home about the weather here.

A lot.

I can't really blame them. Not only is Africa a mystery in so many ways, they are fascinated by legends of temperatures so hot that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk, that aerosol cans will explode, that mercury thermometers won't register, etc.

Maybe that's an exageration. Maybe not.

The forecast for the temperature today is around 93 degrees. Now, I know that isn't that impressive, but we also have to consider the fact that summer doesn't really start until December. For you northern-hemisphere folks, it would be like you having 93 degree temperatures in April, and just getting hotter from there.

An AIM missionary that we know has a T-shirt that describes the exact type of heat found in each region of the country. Examples include "sweaty hot," "muggy hot," and "burning hot." What was Rehoboth? "Hellish hot."

The other weather issue here is the humidity. Well, the lack thereof. It is dry, dry, dry all the time. So dry my skin flakes off if I scratch it. So dry I have to put vaseline inside my nose every night because otherwise it spontaneously bleeds. So dry that we try to water our flowers when the sun goes down because otherwise the water just evaporates- within a few minutes. So dry that Visine has become our new best friend. So dry that you don't sweat- actually, you sweat all the time, it just evaporates immediately. The telltale sign? Salt residue on your skin.

In all reality though, the fact that the sun shines nearly all the time here makes it all worth it (we'll see if I still say that in 2 months). I am so much more productive and energetic with sunshine, and it just makes me smile. My mom calls it "solar power."

I was inspired to write this post after hearing they got 2 inches of snow last week in our hometown. I don't really mind snow, but when you have it for 7 or 8 months straight, it loses it's splendor. The cold that comes with it doesn't win my favor, either.

But now? I am pretty sure it is something I might just dream of at times.

Luckily, God gave me the foresight to take a few pictures during a quiet time last year, and now I can make myself feel cold just by staring at them :)