Seasons Change...

and nothing seems to stay the same. The start of the rainy season and less than a month away from the date I first entered Mali. At first I was under the realization that rainy season is my favorite season, but now that I look back on the year and everything that accompanies each season I have reconsidered. I love rain, especially when it is accompanied by lightening and thunder. (I remember the time Sasha and I drove to Westcliff in Santa Cruz to watch an awesome thunderstorm and the lightening that lit up the ocean. Or when my parents and aunt came to visit during a similar storm in Santa Cruz and we lost all power. As a kid we would turn off all the lights in the house, if they already didn't go out due to the storm and open the blinds to our glass sliding door and ooh and aah when the lightening lit up the room. ) The rain clouds are also quite spectacular to watch move across the sky.

The downside of rainy season I realize is mostly due to the lil' critters; mosquitoes, huge ants, crickets, and spiders. These insects are here all year long, but it seems like they are in greater numbers and enjoy the inside of your house. Also the heat is worse, because of the humidity.
Despite the bugs and the humidity, I am excited to see the ponds fill up with water, collect ripe shea fruit that has fallen during the storm, eat mangoes, watch the crops growing through out the next three months and collect rain water to wash my clothes or water the garden on those days it may not rain.
Last Sunday on the 5th, I was leaving my concession to go to church when Shaka came running up to me asking were I was going. As we walked I spent the next 5 minutes saying I was going to church in the local language, but I suppose because he is not christian he is not familiar with the place so he kept asking as if my responses were inadequate or I was lying. A few months back he walked me halfway to church and this time he went all the way to the front steps, and asked if he could stay. So he stayed and sat with me through the entire mass, he behaved very well and even tried to imitate the sign of the cross and other motions. The days after every time I left the concession he would ask where I was going, and if I was going to church. About the fifth time he asked me if I was going there I said no and why he asked, apparently he saw a friend from school while he was there.