The Rains of Namaacha

When you don't have paved roads and it rains, things get muddy.  Really muddy.  When you don't have a dryer and it rains, you can't wash your clothes because if you do they won't dry.  When it rains you have to be very careful about which clothes you wear outside because they will inevitably get muddy and there is no way to clean them while it's raining.  When you are a Peace Corps trainee and didn't bring very many warm clothes to Mozambique and it's cold and rainy you have to be careful to keep some clean warm clothes to wear inside and some dirty warm clothes to wear outside.  But these dirty warm clothes must be clean enough to be presentable to Mozambican society, which is really hard to do when everything is muddy.  When it rains in Mozambique and you live with a host family that won't let you go barefoot inside the house you have to keep some clean shoes for inside and some muddy shoes for outside.  When you live in Namaacha and you have to go outside a lot even when you are at home: to go to the bathroom, to take a bath, to cook, you have to be very careful to remember to change your shoes and not to wear your inside shoes outside or else they will also get muddy and then you won't have any inside shoes to wear.  When is rains in Namaacha for 5 days and finally it is sunny you are very thankful and wash your clothes (but save some dry ones in case it starts to rain again before your clothes are dry so you won't be left without any dry clothes).  When it is sunny in Namaacha you are excited by the little things, like being able to go outside without changing your shoes and having clean, dry jeans.