A Warm and Sunny February

One thing that is better about Malawi than I ever expected is the weather. December and January in some African countries are oppressive months, marked by 100 degree days. In Swaziland I couldn't be inside of my house between the hours of 9am and 4pm because the low tin roof made me feel like I was being cooked alive. I would lay outside under a large tree, reading and sweating. Even baths couldn't cool me down and even at night it was so warm that you would sweat even when you weren't moving. I spent every night of both years laying directly in front of a fan (ok, there was actually one night in June where I had to sleep in a fleece jacket when it dropped into the 40s).

But January in Malawi is totally different. We had one week of straight rain, which meant that our clothes began smelling mildewy and the wicker furniture in our room gave off an odor redolent of hamster shavings (wet sawdust, you know). That wasn't very pleasant but it was still mild weather and being from Oregon, it didn't seem so terrible. And for the past week we've been in the low 80s, with no humidity and some of the most beautiful clouds you've ever seen. We spent today lounging under the tree in our backyard and playing cards at an outside table at our favorite cafe, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and enjoying iced tea. The weather couldn't be nicer.

Here's Zach planting the leek seeds sent to us in a package by my lovely friend Margaret. Great pastime for a sunny day!

Good luck to those of you battling the rain and snow in the Northern hemisphere!