It’s raining men!

There are two pieces of news I would like to share today, and since I couldn’t pick which one I liked more, I figured I would just combine them together, hence the blog title.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, springtime has arrived, and with it has come the heat.  Though it is only the second week of spring, today the temperature reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37C).  Did I mention I don’t have air conditioning?  I was told recently that we needed to pray for rain. “If it rains in October it will be ok.  If it doesn’t rain until December we are in big trouble because the heat will be unbearable.” Apparently everyone got on their daily prayers early because last night we enjoyed some magnificent rain.  It poured and the lightning and thunder was amazing.  Hopefully this will continue and maybe they will ease the restrictions on water.  Currently we only get water 5 days a week, so it will be nice not to have to worry about storing water ahead of time.

My second piece of news: MEN. For more than a century we have been celebrating women.  The earliest women’s day observance on record was in Chicago in 1908, but it did not become a global event until a few years later.  In 1910 an International Women’s Conference was held in Copenhagen with 100 participants from 17 countries.  In an effort to promote a common platform in which to unite females across borders to promote equal rights and suffrage, and to protest employment based upon gender discrimination, the idea of an International Women’s Day was proposed.  A year later the first International Women’s Day was held on March 19, 1911.

Apparently the men are now getting their turn.  In an effort to be equitable the Women’s Affairs Department here in Botswana was recently renamed the Gender Affairs Department.  And in the spirit of fairness, Botswana has announced it will host the first International Men’s Day on November 19^th. Thus far, not much has been advertised about the event, but I will definitely keep my eyes open and report back soon because I am very interested to see this myself.

It’s that time, spring time!

When I lived in Alaska, I lived pretty far north.  I make this statement because most people don’t realize that Alaska is a big state.  Remember that blog post about the maps and how they are presented inaccurately?  If not, check it out here.  Alaska is almost as long as the entire east coast if we were to ignore Florida.  Thus, the climate differences from north to south can be considerable.

Now, to avoid a common misconception, Alaska does NOT get 6 months of darkness and then 6 months of light!  We don’t flip a switch from dark to light; though it would be much easier if we could.

Here’s what really happens: If you live far enough north to get days with 24 hours of darkness/sunlight at a time, you get 82 days of darkness, and then as the earth begins to tilt the northern hemisphere towards the sun you gain about 11 minutes of daylight each day until after a couple of months you are at 24 hours of light.  Then you have 82 days with 24 hours of sunlight, and then the opposite happens.

When the transition from summer to fall to winter occurs and you lose those 11 minutes of light each day that is one hour in a week.  So on Sunday let’s say the sun rises at 7am and sets at 7pm.  By the following Sunday the sun is rising at 7:38am and setting at 6:21pm.  This may not sound dramatic, but it occurs quickly.

Due to the change in sunlight, the seasons change.  Now, this IS very dramatic.  And I’m not exaggerating when I say that on Sunday all the trees are green and full of leaves, by Wednesday the leaves have turned red and brown, and then by the following Sunday there are NO leaves on the trees at all.  There you go, summer to fall and straight on to winter in a week’s time.

September 1^st was the official start of springtime here in Botswana.  And in the last two weeks I definitely feel that we have entered spring and headed toward summer in full force.  It is getting warm quickly.  And even better, we are starting to get flowers.  I was surprised this morning as I was looking out into my backyard to realize my tree had bloomed.  I don’t know what kind of tree it is, or if it is considered a bush, but you can examine it for yourself:

And here is a close up of one of the flowers:

Only a few days ago there were no blooms at all, but apparently the seasons are beginning to change quickly here as well. 

And even more surprising, it appears I am growing seashells as well:

For my friends back in the northern hemisphere I know fall is approaching, so stay warm.

PS- In Alaska we used to have to go Trick or Treating in boots because most years there were already several feet of snow on the ground by October 31^st.  Keep that in mind my friends from Texas! ;)