Thunderstorm Extraordinaire

***Note: Some new pics of my mini safari with Deliwe have (finally) been added at left. I tried to put them in chronological order, so the newest ones are below the ones I'd already posted on Monday. Enjoy!

Ah, I feel better now. THREE comments on yesterday's post! So, I guess if I use the old 'guilt tactic,' I'll get a few responses. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the correction as well from one of my faithful Malawian readers. 'CCAP' is the church that established the boarding school and hospital where Deliwe's aunt and uncle live (the place we visited on Monday). According to my faithful reader, that stands for 'Church of Central Africa Presbyterian.' I suppose that when Deliwe said it, it sounded like 'CCB' to me. I'm still getting used to some of the nuances of the Malawian accent. Plus, I have a hearing problem, as my sisters continuously tell me. Too much loud music back in the day. And three visits to see my boys 'The Police' in concert last summer. That probably did permanent damage, but it was SO WORTH IT!

(Sorry, digressed again. Back to the present. It happens to me sometimes, as you've probably noticed. The truly faithful Malawi 'n Me readers--all 3-5+ of them--are used to it by now... ;-)

One major occurrence since my last post was a MAJOR thunderstorm last night. I was working on some materials for my class the following morning, and rain started to POUND on the roof of my house. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this before, but most of the roofs of houses and buildings here are made of metal (tin, I think), so when it rains, the sound is quite strong. I'm still trying to figure this phenomenon out, though, as my house (and most other buildings on the Domasi campus) are also covered with tiles, so I'm not sure why the sound still sounds like stones hitting metal. In any case, it sounded more like strong hail than heavy rain. This was the first major thunderstorm I've experienced since I came here, and it was very reminiscent of the extremely strong storms I grew up with in the American Midwest. My friends and family from that region know what I'm talking about... those sudden clashes of thunder in the middle of the night that literally shake the house, and make you run to your mommy (if she's still around)!! If not, you have to find someone to run to, cuz that kind of thunder is truly other-worldly, and can really freak a person out.

In my case, I ran outside to my faithful dog (Deliwe was in bed, probably asleep... nothing scares her... not even a belly-up cockroach or a big, hairy, scary RAT!!). The dog still hangs around, and was laying outside my door on the front stoop, sheltered from the rain. Come to think of it, he didn't seem too phased by the thunder, either. Often U.S. dogs run and hide during thunderstorms, but this guy ('doggy') is tough. Ya, I call him 'doggy'. It's not a tough name at all, is it? I need to find a tougher name. Any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...). He has a real name ('Trigger', but I don't think it fits him), since I kinda 'stole' him from my next door neighbor, as I think I've mentioned before, using powdered milk, which I feed him nightly (ya, that's what I drink here...just for cereal & tea-- the 'Cheeseheads' out there must be dying of shock and dismay at the mere thought of it...)

So, I'm thinking maybe this thunderstorm is a signal that the 'rainy season' may be upon us soon. I hope so. October is really hot here. It feels so strange to me now, as where I come from it should be getting colder now. But here, it's getting hotter. Southern hemisphere. Everything's backwards and upside down here. Even the moon. Did I tell you about that? When the moon is a 'crescent' shape, it's upside down. It faces in the direction of a smiling face, but without the eyes and nose. Just the smiling mouth. Hmmm... I'll have to try to take a picture sometime, as that description will not cut it. It's pretty cool. I'm not an astronomer (far from it), but I think the constellations are also in an upside down and in backwards order here (compared to the northern hemisphere, that is... DISCLAIMER: I'm not passing judgement!). Anybody know something about that? Leave a comment! Enlighten me, and all 5 or so of my faithful readers, please! There's so much I still don't understand! Help! Help! Help!

OK, with that, I'd better sign off. Pray for more rain! And for me to grow a brain! (Hey, a rhyming couplet! I did it again! A miracle!) Tiwonana mawa!

DISCLAIMER #2: Really, I am not drunk or under the influence of any illicit chemicals while writing this blog, contrary to what my ramblings may lead an unsuspecting reader to believe. This is just me, in the early evening, in Malawi. Ya, Malawi 'n Me. Those who know me well will not find this hard to believe, methinks. OK, BYE!