The End of Rainy Season

It is still raining. Apparently the rainy season is supposed to be done by the end of March but the humidity remains in the high 80s and it rains every day. One thing that has changed is that the nights are cooler, it may drop down to 26C or 27C, but during the day the temperature is still in the low 30s. In one part of our house, where we don't have fans running, the temperature is 31C.

For the most part, it isn't a big deal that the rainy season continues. One plans on the fact that it will rain late in the afternoon and perhaps in the evening. We try to walk as much as possible so if there is somewhere we have to go, we plan on doing it sometime earlier in the day. And I love thunderstorms. For a while, we had great thunderstorms three or four times a week. Around our place, there is very little wind so the rain falls straight down and creates a nice breeze around the house. The other day we had a thunderstorm that knocked out the electricity. While I sat on our back veranda the girls played in the rain. (The Indonesians are troubled that I let our kids play in the rain. They believe that getting rain on one's head leads to one having 'angin', which is usually translated as 'wind'. But in this case, 'angin' means something like a cold or flu or general internal distress. So there are many advertisements for medicine that cure 'angin', which doesn't mean what one might think if 'angin' means 'wind'. Anyways, the Indonesians don't like that our kids play in the rain and our helpers are not impressed with this aspect of my parenting skills. But the kids love it.) The rain was so heavy that it overflowed the gutters and flooded the back yard, making great puddles for the girls to splash in. If that was all, the rainy season would be great.

However, when it rains every afternoon, and the humidity is in the high 80s, and one air drys ones clothes, it means that clothes take more than one day to dry. I really am getting tired of wearing almost dry clothes. And it's a problem because Katie and Mia have school uniforms that are either dirty or not quite dry. Every morning I have to evaluate whether uniforms are dry enough or clean enough. I look forward to those days when our clothes dry the same day they are washed.

I have been told that when the rainy season finishes, it won't rain again for four or five months. I remember there being no rain through September and most of October but given the climate I would be surprised if there was no rain for several months. In Nigeria we had dry seasons that lasted half the year and it literally did not rain for five or six months, but it was bone dry. It just seems too tropical for there to be no rain. And apparently it gets hotter. I hope the humidity drops so it is more comfortable in the shade. I can't say I am looking forward to higher temperatures with this humidity.

But all this interest in the weather is such a Canadian thing. Just like Nigerians, Indonesians aren't interested in the weather except if it is of the disaster sort. In large part this disinterest is due to the fact that there are only two seasons and very little variation. But I like a change in seasons and having weather. I found it a bit disorienting when I would realize that it was January or February and too hot to take a walk outside. On the other hand, the kids love the fact that they can just run outside and jump on their bikes.