Its late afternoon on Thursday, I just came back from my run
and I notice my land lady is home. I figured I would pop in tell her my plan
for tomorrow and see if we were still visiting her friend today. She is showing
another friend wedding pictures so we all start looking together, I am excited
that I recognize people from the village. Then there is a deafening roar of
rain and hail. The roof is tin which exaggerates the already raging storm and
the house is not quite finished so we are getting pelted with hail stones
through the cracks. Realizing I left my windows open, I sprint over to my place
only to discover that it is irrelevant that my windows were open because my
house appears to be in no way water proof. My initial reaction was to move my
belongings to higher ground until I realized that my bed was saturated and the
only safe place may be the fridge. You can bet I put everything in the fridge
that would fit (and seemed vaguely appropriate to find in a fridge). Then I
realized all I could do was laugh. Botswana is in a drought so really the rain
was a gift and I decided that singing and dancing with my mop was a capital way
to handle the situation. As soon as the rain let up my land lady came by to see
how I faired and discovered the flood, naturally she immediately took the mop
from me and set to work. I think my house is the cleanest it has been since I
got here thanks to the deep cleaning provided by the rain, there is no
dirt/dust in sight for once. My fridge is back to its usual contents and this
was the final straw to get me to wash my sheets.
The storm was a good reminder to not get to attached to any
plans or possessions. There is never a guarentee how the evening will go and
what will be left. Also my landlady is the best and had the holes patched the next day!
Other discoveries of this week include childrens and young
adult books. I have found the best way to deal with a frustrating conversation
before tea break is to sneak away to the library where it is possible to
discover books from childhood like Sarah,
Plain and Tall. At 58 pages it is the perfect tea break treat and even
provided me with some wisdom. For those who are not familiar with the novel, it
is about a father and his two kids who live in rural USA in the late 1800s. The
mother died in childbirth wuth the second child and now many years later the
father puts an advertisement in the papers for a new wife. Sarah from Main
responds and although everyone gets along swimmingly the kids are afraid she
will leave because she misses the sea. Sarah in all her wisdom responds that
she will always miss the sea but she is happy here with her new family and she would
miss them if she left. This rang true for me as I miss home and I think I
always will when I am away but if I never leave home there is so much of life I
will miss and when it is time for me to leave Botswana I am sure I will miss my
life here as well. Emotions are complex.
Fun fact did you know that donkeys make noise? I might be
the last person to realize this, but it caught me by surprise this week.
Unfortunately the donkeys have not been inclined to discuss their affinity for
parfaits vs. onions however they do like to occasionally make a noise that
reminds me of a train whistle that is on the fritz. I can assure you I was
quite alarmed the first time I heard it and it took me awhile to realize where
and what the noise was coming from.
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