Some say Swazi’s are lazy

November 12^th, 2011

I disagree.  Yes I have my frustrations at the constant begging rather then providing for themselves, or the complaining with no willingness to make change, but I don’t think Swazis are lazy.

They are just hot.

For real, the Spanish think they need a siesta?  From 10:00am until the suns goes down is pretty much worthless hours once it is 40°C (that’s over 100°F).

Now that I have had a constant stream of 40 degree days, I get it.  The heat makes you lazy, and crabby, and impatient, and tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and it’s too hot to even begin thinking about fixing any of those problems.

Seriously, when the wind feels like someone just opened the door to a sauna, your water is at a degree suitable for a class of tea, and you realize that you haven’t slept in days because your drowning in a pool of our own sweat it makes you just want to give up.  You just lay down on the coldest cement you can find, and move as little as possible.  At this state your brain can’t even function and proper sentences don’t exist.  I believe at one point when describing a fan I bought I said “it work good don’t it.”  I knew it was wrong but couldn’t figure out how to make it right.  Things that aren’t funny become hilarious, ideas that would never be deemed sane seem plausible, and visions of venti iced chia tea lattes bring real tears to your eyes.

It is at this point in my PC experience that I forget the awesome adventures that I’ve had here and the goals Id like to see accomplished for this community, and I sulk on the fact that I am living in poverty and its f*#$ing hot out.

But then the wind picks up and I notice that it contains a hint of a cold front, and within hours a storm has rolled in.  The night gets cooler, the birds seek refuge in my roof, I wrap my sheet around me (its still too hot for a blanket) and I get sent into a much needed slumber by the sound of raindrops; cooled at last until the next heat wave. I wish on the first star I see every night that tomorrow won’t be another hot one.

Follow ups:

Penny my chicken is in her ugly teen-age phase.  She thinks she is a human.  Just the other day I was sitting eating dinner and she jumped into my lap.  Scared the crap out of me but it was kind of endearing.

The King’s men came back through my community and I had to pay them one rand when they came to our homestead.  They were much more cordial this time around, probably because it was Sunday and they were sober, but I still would rather they skipped my community next year.