The rainy season: It gives us hard time!

The rainy season here in Liberia runs from April to October, or so, just depending on the weather that year.  Everyone here says that global warming has played a big part in it, but who is to know for sure?  No matter what, we have been living in the rainy season for almost all of our time here in Maryland so far, and it is an adventure every day.

At our site, there are no “coal tar” roads.  In other words, all of the roads, paths, and public spaces are dirt covered and perpetually muddy.  Walking to the market, it is common for us to catch ourselves from falling at least once, and coming home from the market is another story entirely.  Thank goodness for good sandals; without her Chacos and without my Tevas, Sarah and I would be an even bigger muddy mess when we got home!

With this excess rain comes excess mud puddles and ample opportunities for us to point out to our community that we are not adept in navigating the rain-filled streets of Pleebo.  One of my favorite memories from our time here so far comes from the day that Sarah and I went on a short walkabout with Evelyn and May, two girls who are our neighbors.  Walking onto this path, we had to step over a pretty large puddle.  Evelyn looked at it, cautioned us to “take time,” and made it across safely with three-year old May in tow.  Sarah was next, and all looked like it was going to be fine.

The next thing I know, however, Sarah is lying in the puddle, covered in mud from the waist down.  She slipped in the puddle, and all we could do was laugh about it.  May looked at us like we were crazy, and Evelyn was kind enough to help her up.  Thankfully, there was a well right next to the entrance of this path, where, luck would have it, a group of women were drawing water.  They were gracious enough to draw a bucket for us, and we all took time to wash as much mud off of Sarah as possible.  With the little dignity she had left, we made it home slowly and for a while, our continuous joke to each other was to “take time.”

A few weeks later, walking home from the market, I tried to step over a big puddle on the path near our house and completely missed the mark, getting mud all down the front of my dress.  Karma caught up with me, too, for laughing when Sarah fell, as there was a large group of guys sitting on the porch of the house near this path.  They all were quick to laugh and say the obligatory “sorry, yeah?” before watching me stand up and struggle home.  Sarah and I laughed for a while about that one, too :)

The final time that deserves mentioning was one day while I was walking home with my few-days old umbrella (Umbrella #2, if you must know).  I slipped down a small hill, and instead of catching myself with my hands, I attempted to catch myself with my umbrella.  I’m not sure what I was thinking exactly, considering I am much bigger than my umbrella, but I did it nonetheless.  That umbrella was rather short-lived after that incident…

The view off of our back porch - look at the rain!

A view of Regina's house - look at the rain!

Thankfully, as we are entering November, we are beginning what is supposed to be the dry season here in Liberia.  We have not seen evidence of that yet here in Maryland County, as it has rained almost every day since the start of the month.  Elsewhere, however, it seems to be starting, and we are anxious for its arrival.  Though that means we are entering the start of an even hotter season, it also means that we can plant our garden, which is something we are really looking forward to getting started.  It also means we won’t have to tote our umbrellas with us everywhere we go, which will be a nice change!  All in all, we will miss the rainy season, though.  I’m sure by the time April rolls around, we will be praying for the sky to open up and rain just one more time.