The other day I got online and received an email from my mom about how she had just been outside and it was "a perfect fall day" and then preceeded to read a facebook note from a friend about how she had walked outside that morning and the crisp air hit her face and she knew fall was on its way. A sharp pang of jealousy hit. As I was reading those it was about 8 am, I had just woken up and was lying in my bed in a puddle of sweat.
It's hot season.
Zambia has three seasons a year. When I arrived in February it was the middle of the rainy season, though by that point in time most of the rain was already done. Around May, about when I got posted, the cold season started. Cold season was pretty nice. In the afternoon it may get warm enough for you to wear a t-shirt and jeans, but in the morning and night you're in sweats, and sleeping can be chilly, but the kind of chilly where you bundle up with a couple of blankets and you're really cozy. It's comparable to the beginning of fall, or even some of summer in the northern U.S. Around the week before I headed to Lusaka for IST things started to warm up. I was gone for a couple of weeks and came back to discover that the cold season was gone. My site is in a valley, which makes things hotter. So I spend most days drenched in sweat, trying to find places to stay cool, like the stream behind my house where most boys tend to swim every day during hot season. I bathe and immediately start to sweat again, and I go to bed marginally sweaty. Once the sun goes down it cools off a little.
So please, all of you living in a temperate climate, enjoy the fall, the cool air, the leaves changing colors, being comfortable in a sweatshirt and jeans. Because in a few months I'm gonna get on chicagotribune.com and the temperature is going to be below zero, and then it'll be your turn to complain.