And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down

The rains have finally come! That might have been the longest drought of my life. 6 months, I think. The rain is really exciting too. It sounds neat on the grass of my roof and I only have a few leaks, mostly right by my door. But it’s ok. Nothing sits there. Oh, except for this chicken I named Lanolin. If I get my photos posted, you can view Lanolin chillin’ in my doorway during a rain. She’s pretty cool.

I’m going to talk about food:
I made peanut butter the other day. It was fun and delicious! I’m thinking I will buy a mortar and pestle when I go back home and make my own peanut butter from now on. It is SO easy. Ok, maybe I’ll splurge every once in a while and buy some creamy Peter Pan…..or Jiffy……mmmmm…….
On a grosser note, I ate a horrible-looking bug with wings. It was really hard to put in my mouth (yes Heather, I know), but once I did it actually tasted incredibly good (yes Heather, again). It had a nice crunch to it. Check out my photos.
Children bring me mangoes almost everyday. Lots and lots of mangoes.
One of my younger brothers here killed a wild rabbit. They said he snuck up on it while it was sleeping and beat it with a stick. He is probably 9 years old. Then, we ate it. It tasted like wild African rabbit.

Now, I’m going to talk about witchcraft:
There was a hyena trying to eat a piglet the other night. Some say it was a witch creature. Either way, our dogs chased it away. Some powers that witch had.
There is a terrestrial snail here that leaves quite large, pretty, white shells everywhere. I told a few people that I like them and want to decorate my house with them after, of course, assuring them that it is a perfectly normal behavior in America (it is right?). So my Agogo (more on her in a bit) and my father have been bringing me shells when they come home from the fields. Every evening this past week, I have been helping my sister Ida study for her final exams. There is a young guy, Saidy (pronounced “Side-ee), from a cluster of houses next to our village that taught at a nearby school. He is better help than I am and laughs just like Tigger, so I let him hang out with us at my house. The other night, he and Ida and a few others were telling me some interesting things about these snail shells. Apparently, witches decorate the shells with classy effects like beads, needles and pubic hair. Then, they use them to fly to America in 2 seconds. No seriously, 2 seconds. But the catch is they have to be naked. No cargo allowed. Then, once in America, they must land at airports (I mean, where else are you going to land a snail shell covered in….yeah) where their friends are waiting with clothing. I wanna know how they contact their friends. Probably wirelessly, through their charred corncob transmitters covered in bull poop. Scott heard a similar story, except the witches there use reed mats and it takes them 20 minutes to get to America (guess witches in my area are more advanced with their intimate hair follicle usage).

Okay….enough of that. How bout granny stuff:
Grandmother in chiTumbuka is “agogo” and does mine ever. She is purty darn old, but spunky as all get out, I mean a real hoot n’ a half (man, I miss Texas, yall). I’ll try to get a better photo than the one where she fell asleep in my “kitchen.” She lives 2 houses down and loves to wander over and check on me several times a day. She kinda has a scowl on her face, especially when she is trying to understand my Tumbuka and scrunches up her nose. But good gracious her smile is a wonderful thing. It spreads across her scowl like raspberry jam on toast. It is so pleasant. I do things or say things sometimes just to get her to smile. It really makes my day. And makes me miss raspberry jam.

The rain has caused the green to ooze out of the streams and creep across the hills. There was this brown and dying lump of plant material right outside my house. It has now shot up 5 elephant ears!!! One fond memory of my American Granny, Ida’s old house was her huge elephant ear plants (that and the snapdragons). It was the first place in my memory that I encountered them. Now, across the years and the miles, I have been blessed with my own elephant ears. It’s the small things that connect us.

I hope all is sweet as peaches. I am enjoying being alive and sharing my beat on this beautiful, insane, insect-ridden earth.