-^-for posterity-^-

the dry season was aptly named. about a month or so ago, some heavenly being turned off the spigot. since then things have slowly turned from soggy to wet to moist to damp to dry to arid to dune-like.

the dirt road outside of my home used to be a small river overflowing with muddy goodness. the river has turned into a sand pile and biking becomes exponentially more difficult. driving a chinese made schwinn in the sand is a challenge. small, grip-less tires are no match for rocks and loose dirt. one minute the bike is firmly rested beneath your body and the next it is sliding oddly to one side.

dust overtakes everything. a small wind can kick up quite a cloud and one has to clear small dirt chunks from their eyes when traveling.

if some heavenly body turned off the spigot, they also turned up the thermostat on our collective oven. the temperature has steadily risen the past few weeks. it went from brutally hot to scorching hot to could-fry-an-egg-on-any-sunlit-surface hot. they say that the temperature will only continue to rise until may.

the sun also plays tricks on your skin. it has a nasty habit of burning it. my face is the color of a rose and my arms are a bit brighter. my feet are tanned but my legs are pasty white. (i have to wear long pants to be a teacher but still am afforded the comfort of sandals) i met two dutch people who were bicycling around the mekong. sunscreen must not have reached that part of the world because they obviously hadn’t applied any. their faces were beacons. it looked like they had fallen into a vat of red food coloring except their hair was still white.

two seasons doesn’t make for too much diversity. we don’t have the leaves that slowly fall and die in the autumn. we don’t have the blistering cold and exciting snows of winter. we don’t have the rebirth of spring that makes everything lush, green and wonderful. we do happen to have the scorching heat of summer. it’s like i’m standing on 52nd and market at the end of july surrounded with small campfires and covered head to toe in crisco. the first rain of the rainy season will be incredibly refreshing. i’m already daydreaming about it.