Recent Happenings...

Life has been pretty busy here over the past few months. In addition to regular language and culture study, we have kept busy with visitors, meetings, potlucks, birthdays, and a regional conference. 

Mock language evaluation

Sharing a meal with our church planting consultants

Ladies' meeting at our regional conference

When we  moved to this area, the ladies in my neighbourhood told me that rainy season starts at the beginning of June, right when their kids go back to school after summer break. They said that it always floods and school ends up getting cancelled.

Well this year the rain didn't start until the middle of July. We were beginning to doubt that there really is such a thing as rainy season in this province! Then it rained almost continuously for two weeks... 

It was so humid that water drops collected under my salt shaker!

Oops! I don't think that's the way it's supposed to work!!

Although it can be extremely humid when there's continuous rain, the weather is generally cooler, which is a welcome change from hot and humid! 

Rain makes it cool enough that I can actually enjoy a cup of tea

Since those two weeks of rain in July, we have had the occasional rainy day, but it seems like hot, sunny days are still the norm. I'm still not entirely convinced that rainy season actually exists! Haha. 

Drinking soft drink from a bag on a hot, sunny day

Staying Home

Sometimes it’s nice to just have a quiet evening at home and, as far as I’m concerned, now is one of those times. This weather is definitely conducive to getting cosy and bunkering down at home. It was so dark and dreary this afternoon that by 4 PM I had the choice to either turn on a light or to stumble around in semi-darkness.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining about the weather at all! I love rain. I love hearing the black cockatoos screech and squawk in anticipation of an imminent rain. I love the smell of the first rains falling on dry ground. I love watching the way the plants revive and recover from a long, dry summer… And I also love listening to the rain falling on a tin roof. That’s why tonight is a good night to stay home: I can enjoy the sound of falling rain!

Another reason why it’s a good time to stay home is that tonight is one of only two evenings I’ve spent at home in the past two and a half weeks. I have just returned from a trip down south where I caught up with many different people and shared about what I’m going to be doing in the Philippines. I had a great trip and it was lovely to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for years, but it was also quite a busy time. In the past couple of weeks, I have slept in five beds other than my own (well, four beds and one sofa, actually). So it’s nice to stay home tonight simply because I can! I haven’t been home much recently.

Staying home also means that I can spend the evening doing things that don’t require me to talk to anyone! Call me antisocial if you like, but I am totally fine with this arrangement right now. I have met far more people in the last few weeks than I can ever hope to remember. Today I spent the morning chatting with mums at a homeschool group and, whilst this was helpful and informative, it inevitably involved introducing myself and having some variation of the same conversation repeatedly with different people. I wish I had a recording that I could just play so that I didn’t have to say the same thing over and over again! It honestly gets rather tiring after a while... Yep, I’m definitely thankful for a quiet night at home tonight!