So, what does “Rainy Season” mean anyways?

Since we’ve been here, it’s been ting-ulan (rainy season). The season apparently continues until December. The first few weeks, I think we were all wondering what this “rainy season” meant anyways. It never rained, so why did they call it rainy season? I was a bit confused. And then, the rain started. It does not happen all the time or even all day, most of the time. But when it happens, the roads seem to wash away right underneath our feet and the thundering noise on the tin roof echoes everywhere. The most baffling part, though, is how in the heck anyone gets their laundry done. Since I did my laundry on Saturday, I have been patiently awaiting the return of my “drying” clothes. For three days, they sat on the outside line, where they were occasionally pelted or flowered with rain showers, meaning that they would just have to wait a little longer to dry. You may ask, “Why didn’t she take the clothes off the line?” Well, since one never really knows when a rain shower will occur, I am usually at training when it happens. After three days of very wet clothes, we finally brought them to the inside line, which inevitably causes them to dry slowly anyways (no exposure to the sun). Coincidentally enough, the two days that they hung on the inside line, the sun was out shining and beautiful. Now, I am still stuck with damp clothes. The best part is the wonderful aroma of mildew that sifts out of them. Mmm. I guess mildew clothes are better than no clothes, though, since I have been sleeping in jeans and the same T-shirt for the last five nights. Actually, once my sweatpants were returned to my “dry” clothes (and by “dry”, I mean…still damp), I still opted for the jeans. They are darn comfortable to sleep in, darn it. And not to mention, warm.

It gets surprisingly cold here at night, especially since I leave my fan on to drown out the sounds of moving flip-flops and meowing cats. (Sidenote on that, I discovered a new, very loud kitten beneath my bed again the other night…don’t worry, we quickly converted it to a street cat by throwing it out the back door). The coldness usually starts after dinner when I take my daily shower. While I originally opted for the bucket shower since the water was a bit warmer (it had been sitting in the bucket for awhile or so), I have since switched my routine to a regular shower. Have you ever woken up in the middle of winter and found that you do not have hot water in the house? You suffer through an ice cold shower resulting in hypothermia and then have to walk all the way across campus in negative degree temperature. Sorry, I was just flashing back to a day freshman year of college. That’s how cold the water is. It might sound like this cold water would feel great after an extremely hot day, but usually by this time, things have cooled off and my body temperature has returned back to normal. But what would I rather have—ice cold shower at night or ice cold shower first thing in the morning? Also, even though it is painfully cold, the thought runs through my mind, “This is the coolest it’s going to be here…ever.” So it is definitely tolerable. So let me run through my recipe for a “regular shower”. First, turn the water on. Then, turn around and douse the hair. Be careful of the body going into spasms from the cold. Next, turn water off. Lather shampoo into the hair, scrubbing really hard in case any creatures landed in it that day. Lather soap all over, and scrape feet with a pumice stone. I don’t want any nasty calluses. Turn water back on, and rinse all. Next, wash face using small bucket. I skip the conditioner nowadays, since I am pretty sure it was making my hair unnecessarily greasy and moist. Lastly, dry off for about six minutes, since inefficiently drying may result in skin fungus down the road and uncomfortable chafing immediately. And possibly most difficult of all, try to dress without clothes touching the floor (floor is soaked). That is all it takes, and I am clean for at least the next few minutes.