Briant and I don't drive to work. Literally hours of traffic to drive a few miles. And don't let the street lights fool you--they don't actually work. ;)
This cozy, dark, rainy day was on my day off. It was wonderful stay at home weather.
The only problem with walking to work in the rain are the large flooded areas of the street because of the lack of drains. And the water is muddy. So you have to watch out and be vigilent about not getting mud or muddy water splashed on your clothes. My Portuguese tutor shared an embarrassing moment she had with a residual rain puddle a few days ago. She's 8 months pregnant, and she encountered a large muddy puddle that she didn't feel confident jumping over like everyone else was. So she looked around and found a large construction brick laying nearby that she thought she could use to step on over the puddle. She picked it up and carried it over to the water where she dropped it in. She was so intentional in all of her thinking and decision to use the brick, however she lost her head and dropped it in the muddy water which ended up splashing up and all over her and a man nearby. She was so mad at herself, and obviously the man was not happy with her either. However, as Angolans tend to be tolerant of things, he expressed his frustration but did not yell at her and walked away. After laughing hysterically together over her experience, she and I discussed why we think Angolans are so much more tolerant than the Portuguese or even Americans would be in that, and all other similar situations. We decided that its got to be a result of the hard lives they lead. What's a little muddy water on you compared to the last 3 days of no electricity at home, a broken generator, being sick with malaria, playing soccer with a rock instead of a real ball, etc. I'm learning that I don't have anything or much I should complain about in my life. My family and I have got it pretty good; including the day and night it rained when I had power to run my air conditioner and many of my English students didn't.
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