Nothing Much Has Happened Since Yesterday...

Dry season is here. It hasn't rained in four days, and the roads that used
to be brown ankle-deep swamps are light yellow and hard as bricks. And
dusty. The lush valleys filled with tea and bananas are now lush valleys
filled with dust, tea, and bananas. A week ago I was wishing for dry season
so I could stop scraping mud off everything I own. Now I'm wishing for rainy
season so I can stop staggering through town blind with dust in my eyes. And
so I can stop arriving home from work a lighter, dustier shade of brown. But
at least my clothes have started drying and mold has stopped growing on my
bookshelf.

I got back from Kisumu yesterday afternoon and realized that my cooking gas
was gone. I had borrowed the cylinder from the hospital and had to give it
back on Saturday, but since I took off out of town I forgot all about
arranging for Sunday dinner upon my return. So I had no way to cook or take
a (warm) bath, which are my two primary activities these days. I ended up
borrowing a jiko (ceramic-lined charcoal stove) from my neighbors and
entertained the kids by stir frying green beans - apparently an exotic
vegetable only found in large cities like Kisumu. One of the boys kept
telling me that I forgot to "take the cover off the beans." And I chatted
with my neighbor, a history teacher at the school, about AIDS and
"immorality" in Africa. And of course he hit me up for a visa to the U.S.
All in all, losing my cooking gas wasn't such a bad thing except for the big
black burnt spot it left on the grass. And my co-workers and I spent half
the morning hunting around town for a replacement, so if all goes well I'll
be cooking tonight, and if all doesn't go well I'll be eating raw tomatoes
for dinner.