Three letters and a rant

If you are smart you know not to say the three letter word h-o-t to me.

My family and friends call me, and you know a conversation isn't complete without a weather report. "It's hot" they say. I just say, "Oh yeah?" as I sit on my porch baking in the sun, restraining to itch my heat rash that has consumed me for the better part of three weeks, and I am covered in baby powder, which seems to be the only relieve I can find. I look like Powder from that 90s movie, but I don't care.

Yeah, I know, what did I expect when I moved to Africa. But think of it this way, it's like having a kid; everyone tells you its painful and you see it on movies, but you do it anyways and then when it is painful you want to rip the guy who did this to you's head off. So I fully am aware I came here voluntarily, knowing it would be hot, but there is no way to prepare for how hot it is, and yes I wouldn't mind ripping something. I have to cope though, which is why trees, frequent and habitual cat naps, and showers are good friends of mine.

Around 12 or 1 I eat lunch everyday, and just this act alone can send me into the transpiration equivalent of running a marathon in August. I don't even notice the sweat sometimes, until I feel a drop descending my calf like someone has flicked water on me suddenly. Typically after lunch, I lay under the giant tree just outside my concession. I want to hug this tree, because if there is even the slightest wind it catches it, showering me with coolness that only air-conditioning could beat.

I sleep a lot. I do the bare minimum to prepare my lesson plans and even then it is usually under my tree in between one of my naps. I don't ever get into a constant sleep as there is always something to wake me up--drums, children, music, students, crazy old man fascinated by the white girl who speaks local language even if it is just a handful of words. Sometimes getting to sleep is more of a challenge than staying a sleep. I have developed a strategy, in which I simply fan myself to sleep.

I shower a lot. Before the real heat set in I usually showered twice a day, sometimes three. Now anytime I move for five minutes I run to the shower. I am also happy to say I have a real shower now, which was installed right before I broke my hand, which was also when the heat started. I love showers. The only thing better would be my own personal baby pool, which I would most surely fill up every evening and sit in all the next day.

When it rained for the first time, I don't think I have ever loved rain more. The mere presences of a few droplets makes me smile with glee. Everyday now since the rain started I ask my Maman's son, Philippe if today it's going to rain. Like I can tell the weather at my parents house in Maryland, he knows the weather here. He knows I hate the heat, I am constantly saying it's going to kill me, and I think he wants to be able to tell me it is going to rain. So even if he looks up and its obvious it isn't going to rain, he humors me and thinks for a few seconds before letting me down. The heat shall prevail.