The Heat is ON!!!

Okay, imagine this: You go to the gym and you decide that you want to enjoy the sauna for a while, so you go in, sit down, pass your 10-20 minutes in the sweltering heat before you decide to go home… but when you go to open the door you find it’s locked. You’re stuck in the sauna!! What’s more, you then realize a sign on the door that says, “Ticket out: $2,000 USD. $2,000 smackaroos!!! … That is a rough analogy of my life right now. The only difference is that the sun is a constant factor, and I can get cold water from my lovely, beloved refrigerator… but then again I’m stuck in this heat for a good 2 months. It really got started about a weak or two ago… about 2 weaks after the water stopped working. So, now I’m sending out for my water (who knows where it’s coming from… they say all of Boukoumbe will only be able to find water at one well by the end of the dry season.) and suffering from the lack of air-conditioning.
Now, mind you, I’ve never been one to complain about the heat. In fact, back at home I would pride myself in the fact that I enjoyed the heat rather than cursing it… but that was there, with air conditioning and cold and hot water, and cold food if you want it. Here all I have is my fan to comfort me. Luckily I’m in one of the few smaller villages who has constant electricity.
I can’t imagine what I’d be doing without electricity, which is making both my fan and refrigerator opperational. I already feal like I’m going to die… what if there was no ice? I’ve gotten to the point where I fill a 1 gallon ziploc (brought from home) with water, freeze it, and then put it on my stomach and just lay there for the hottest part of the day. It takes about 4 hours to melt, so that usually gets me through till the evening. I honestly think the evening is the warmest part of the day though… It’s like the earth finally reached broiling heat right when the sun starts to set.
There are only a few more solutions I can think of to get me through this: I could, and probably soon will, by a giant basin, fill it with water, put ice cubes in it, and sit in it for a few hours every day. This, of course, increases the amount of water I will be using, but it’s necessary. I could continue my ice pack routine and hope that my blood thins out so that that will get me by. I can take a vacation and go stay in the cheapest hotel I can find that has an air-conditioner for as long as I can. And then I could just grin and bare it and remember that what doesn’t kill me will make me stronger… I just hope it doesn’t kill me.
At least the heat does make the mangoes ripen. Yes, yes, it’s finally mango season!!! I don’t know if I’ve told you guys, but there seems to be 3 kinds of trees around here, one I don’t know, teak is the other, and the most prominent are mango trees!! I have 4 of them around my house alone! Right now, big beautiful grafted mangoes are about $0.20USD for each one, and that’s still expensive! They are soooo good!!! I eat about 3 a day… maybe more like 6. Who’s counting??? I have become the cookie monster of mangoes. People are probably starting to think that the ring of smeared yellow pulp around my mouth is natural. I’ve always had a weakness for fresh mangoes. I just never thought I would be surrounded by a plethera of them!!! Yummmm! Also, they offer a variety of culinary options: Mango cake, mango bread, mango oatmeal, mango fritters, mango yogurt, mango juice, and I’m thinking of trying a mango dressing for salads… Who knows how that will turn out.
So, that’s life for me. Things have been looking up again and I’m feeling better. As always bad things seem to happen in groups… but luckily so do good things. Life is definitely a roller coaster, isn’t it? My latest good news?: I’ve kept up my running (yes, even with the heat!) and so I’m getting back to my normal-Sarah size. My business club is going well, and I’ve started figuring out the tricks to make the information I have useful and understandable to a group of unruly teenagers. Also, my neighbor just had her 3rd child the other day, and it is adorable!! I don’t know why, but it just makes me happy to see a fresh and new creature like that. On top of that, my Mama Agness (mispelled it Mama Yness before) is about to finally come home… she’s been gone since the New Year. Last, but not least, I’m just starting to find my free will again. I just finished reading Vonnegut’s Timequake, and thanks to him I’m doing my best to make my life move the way I want it to… and that includes my attitude. Thanks Kurt.
Well, that’s all I have to say. I better put the computer away before the heat of the day kicks in (it’s 10:30am now). To all of you, well, if any of you are left, I wish you the best of luck. I hope you guys are finding your way through this mess of a world better than I have been lately. If you have been then keep up the good work… and give me your secret, while you’re at it. Oh yeah, and eat another burger for me!

Sarah