The rains are here (only). I guess the rainy season has come a month early this year. Last night it poured and poured. I assume eventually I will be so used to it that I don't even mention the torrent of rain landing on this patch of earth. 

"Another blog update" you say? Yes, I have found myself in Basse once again with a computer at my fingertips.  I came up here to teach the nursery school principal at the orphanage how to use his computer. She ended up having the day off, though we had a meeting scheduled, but it worked out that now I will come in and try to teach basically anyone who wants to learn about computers. Slowly I am becoming an education volunteer. Sorry health program. By staying I ended up taking care of a fellow volunteer who wasn't feeling well and got to watch the new(er) Star Trek movie. I even got to make rehydration drink for the first time. I guess I'm not such a bad health volunteer after all, I mean, he hasn't died.

In other turning my back on my sector news: I am going to meet with the Cluster Monitor(he monitors the schools) for my area in a couple hours to try to figure out a way to get more children from my village to go to school. No one goes! It's not good and hopefully I can figure out some way to get attendance up.

Since the rains one coming every other day or so that means the mosquitos are finding their life mates and are ready to invade everyones space. Ashley and I are trying to put together a net distribution for my village on the 18th.  Logistics aside, it should be a pretty fun day. It will be nice to feel like I'm getting some work done in village.

One other thing before I run off to the world of spaghetti covered in ketchup and mayo.

I have a cat and 3 kittens. I also have a circle house which means I only have 1 big room. Kids get really excited about the cats so every once in a while a new kid will try to look into my place. Last week I had just taken a shower and was standing nude at the day I was born looking at my roof when I see a 7 year old boy rip my curtain to my site. I yelled out in surprise as he quickly jumped from the window. I threw on some clothes and found him sitting on the bantiba outside my house. Maybe he was traumatized, or perhaps just contemplating that he peaked in nude woman viewing so early in life and was upset that it came so soon in life. I told him that I would beat him (just kidding?) and to not look in my house. I knew this day would come....I just didn't know when.

The rain is finally starting to show up. It's not coming in a never ending downpour but we have had at least two major rains in the last month. For the first I was in Kombo but the second turned out to be a interesting event.

Getting a new roof turned out to be far more difficult than I thought it would be. It took time, as in, months to finally get people planning to get me a new roof. Maybe I was just to hasty in my villages eye. Eventually I got word that I needed to prepare my house because my host brothers were going to replace the roof in the next two days. I spent a day packing away my stuff and moved in all in the back yard. The rope prep for the roof ended up taking two days rather than one so when the clouds grayed over I began to worry for the night ahead. When I headed to bed I felt a couple drops of rain so I moved a bunch of stuff back into my house just in case and slept under the mango tree.

I woke up to fire and brimstone of wind and lightening. I didn't feel any rain yet but the crashes of lightening were enough to make me want to sleep inside. I got up, ripped the sheet off my bed and headed into my hut. I didn't really have many choices for sleeping in there, my bed was outside along with a majority of other stuff. I thought I would sleep on the floor on a towel but then the mix of random ants and kittens convinces me I would need to look for other options. I relized that two of my trunks put together long ways would be enough for my body and my suitcase full of clothes could be used for me head. As I got my t-shaped bed made a downpour of rain started outside. I layed on the metal of my trunks and tried to sleep. My hissing cat (mad about the rain?) didn't help and it was still pretty hot in my place. Then the rain came. Inside. It came down the walls, it dripped from the roof and suddenly half my floor had a pool of water. I was pumped I was on those trunks.

When I woke up (3 hours later) it was morning and the air had cooled. My host family marvelled at my engenuity and stubborn-ness of not asking them for help. The looks of sympathy were enough for me to feel that I was indeed correct in asking for a new roof months ago.

We then tore down the old roof, which covered me totally in mud and grass, and put the new grass up. My new roof is thick and has that "new thatch smell". I was pretty excited to have the new grass, so much so that I'm pretty sure my family thought "geez, calm down Fanta, it's just some grass, not a cure for Malaria". Whatever, I was happy.