Energy

Whether it was the barometric pressure change from the incoming storms or the fact that I only drank 6 liters of water yesterday instead of 8, I had a wicked headache by about 8pm. I decided against the Hausa language study session and instead opted to go home and try to get some extra sleep. After twenty or so minutes of feeling the wind get stronger, watching the trees sway violently, and hearing a dull roar in the distance, I finally stood up and slowly untied my mosquito net and hoisted my mattress inside my hut. In retrospect, it is easy to see why I got heat rash when I was sleeping in my hut every night during my first week - because yesterday night the wind shook the hut so much that a thick layer of dust came loose from the thatched roof and coated my body. Somewhere deep inside I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep under by dust blanket. Despite the discomfort, the next hour and a half went by pretty fast, near the end of the storm I stood outside, swatting myself with my Arizona flag bandana (thanks Shimoni), enjoying the incredibly cool breeze. My family emerged one after the other from their respective rooms and they began to make tea. I asked the older daughter Mariama if she could wake me up if more rain came. "Ca fait rien!!!" No problem!! She's very expressive. I replaced my mattress outside on my wooden bedframe and strung up my net. One of the ties I made was upside down, but I left it anyways (a regretful decision). I slept like a smal boy for seven hours or so and when I awoke at 5:15am I decided to listen to my iPod to preemptively drown out the roosters, the prayer call, and the women pounding millet. Oddly, the song that came on, a very startlingly high energy bluegrass song by the band, Trampled by Turtles, came on. Energy akin to Charlie Daniels Band's Devil Went Down to Georgia. No more than five seconds later I felt a raindrop, then three more, then seven more. I scrambled again and as I was getting inside I heard my brother Ali say: "Sa'adu, Ruwa!" "Babu Kyau," I said (no good.) "In sha Allah," he replied, if god wills it. I didn't try to get back to sleep before class, I just read a few chapters of Grapes of Wrath and marvelled at Steinbeck's brilliant ability to express emotional realities through language. Soon thereafter I decided to have a small Bose earbud jam session/dance party by myself in the dark of my hut, with only the light of dawn peeking through the cracks around my door. Today will be a good day.