The Return of Rainy Season….

So here in Kenya, there are 2 rainy seasons- the Short rains (in Oct/Nov) and the long rains (March and April). Pretty much every evening during the long rains, the storm clouds roll in and we get major downpours- I mean MAJOR downpours most of the night. And with the downpours come cold cold nights, power outages and some uninvited guests- flying termites (aka “flying ants”, or “my evening exercise” as I try to kill all the ones that get in my house!). So the termites come out in SWARMS when it rains and they all fight like mad to get into houses (if the lights are on). They fly all over like crazy, bumping into everything and each other until their wings fall off, then they crawl around. Last night they kept dive-bombing my dinner! These flying termites are a delicacy in some parts of Africa, but I wasn't really felling like being all that adventurous, and eating one last night. Here is a picture of my window sill last night: fun fun!!!

So far, my best termite attack story happened during the short rains (in November) but I saved it until I could back it up with pictures. I had gone to my classmates’ house to watch movies one night; we were all watching the movie when one lady went out to the kitchen to get something. Next thing we know, she is screaming so I stayed with the kids and the other lady runs into the kitchen. Then they are both screaming so I run into the kitchen to see them dancing around, flinging dish towels at all the huge bugs that are attacking them. So we all start flicking dish towels, trying to kill all the termites. It was absolutely hilarious! We eventually get all the ones in the house, but no windows actually close all the way here, so went outside to try to stuff something into the widows to keep the rest of the termites out. So we are all outside (2 of my classmates, 2 kids and me) and the window sills are COVERED in termites. The lights were on in the bathroom, so there were literally hundreds swarming that window sill. I was standing back a little bit, holding the toddler, when someone inside the house tuned off the bathroom light and all the termites swarmed the nearest light- the porch light that I was standing under! All I could see was a wall of termites flying at me, everyone is screaming, I’m twisting around so they don’t hit my face, so my hair fans out and all these termites get stuck in my hair. The toddler I’m holding is screaming and I hear the door slam shut as her mom and everyone else runs in the house and locking me and the toddler outside. With the bugs. All crawling in my hair and clothes. Sooooo disgusting! My classmates had to help me pick the bugs out of my hair. But it was seriously one of the funniest things I have ever seen- would have been funnier if it didn’t end up with me having termites in my hair, but still funny!