April has arrived in Mali and with it comes the heat. From late March to June is the hot season in Mali and it is now starting to pick up. March was tolerable, the adjustment period from cold season to hot season being difficult because the contrast between night and day weather wise was, well, night and day. 100 in the day and 70 at night really messes with the body trying to adjust to the change in temp. Now its just plain hot, over 100 during the day and in the 90's at night. Still i think at the moment it is a little better now then in the rainy season when it was humid and 90, worse than dry and 90.
Today was a different morning than the rest. I have been sleeping outside as of late because inside my adobe house is impossible as it literally is an oven inside. So its me, my tent, air thermarest, and pillow roughing it under the starts. Around 4am this morning i began to hear the pattering of rain. Waking with a feeling of bewilderment i wandered around looking up at the sky trying to get a glance of rain clouds. If anyone saw me they'd probably think that i was a kook, half naked with my headlamp staring at the sky. Crazy American! I tried to go back to sleep but couldnt do it so i retreated to the house and toughed out the next hour and a half inside. When i woke up the second time, the weather was overcast and windy, a cold discomfort for people in my village but heaven sent for me. Days like these are needed once in a while from the constant radiance of the sun. The overcast skies reminded me of my days in the YMCA where we would make sailboats out of foam, toothpicks, and paper and launch them in this gigantic puddle made by a depression in the asphalt. Also the food we used to eat, "pigs in a blanket", hot dogs wrapped in Pillsbury Dough boy croissant dough that came in the can. Man those were some good eaten's back then. The change in weather for the day made the bike ride a little easier as i didnt have to beat the sun today. I enjoyed it for what it was but anticipate things are going to get hotter in the near future, eh!
Recently I've been playing soccer with the local kids. It has been a while since I've kicked a ball in consecutive days so the first few days were slow and grueling. And i am used to the style of soccer back home which is totally different here. It is a lot like kick ball when one person kicks the ball to no person in general and everyone runs after it, that is the soccer here that i play. If it comes to one person, though he has all the time in the world to hold it and pass, he will decide to kick it as far and as hard as he can. So a lot of this way and that way soccer which at times is hard to play, patience wise. It doesnt help that the field was once a corn field so we are playing in sand, corn rows (not the hair), then hard compact soil, complete with holes that make dribbling the ball very hard. Maybe that is why they kick it with no hesitation because if they try and hold the ball to dribble, who knows what will happen. Its pretty comical to watch at times because the ball is unpredictable all the time. There are a lot of miss kicks, people falling down after putting there all into kicking the ball only to come up empty. Its soccer back in the school days, just fun and laughs and you cant go wrong with that. We play until the sun sets where warm colors turn cool marking that its time to go home and wash. To paint a picture i see when i play or watch soccer: the dirt appearing soft as carpet with the back drop filled with trees that stand to give depth of the land. As the sun sets behind these trees, barren with branches only, the players chase after the ball in a cloud of dust, brought upon by the shuffling of their feet as they position themselves to get the ball, the ball itself suspended in air with a trail of dust behind it. All before the African sun can set for another day putting to rest work and play.
Peace,
Geoff
