Down and dirty

Let me first start by saying this: South Africans have a skill…a talent…a gift.  Somehow, no matter what they are doing, they stay perfectly clean. Last week, I attended a perma-gardening training. The majority of South African women were wearing nice dresses- some even wore heels.  The Americans were wearing jeans, sweats…what one would think to wear when gardening.  After a day full of digging around in the dirt, the Americans left covered in mud and in need of a shower. The South Africans left spotless.  They worked just as hard as the rest of us; but, like I said, they have a gift.  Their whites stay pristine white and their shoes stay polished.  On the contrary, my whites are slowly fading into a brownish red, the color of the Drakensburg dirt. My socks may never be the same.

 

South Africa has four seasons: cold season, windy season, rainy season, and harvest season.  As we transition from cold to windy season (winter to spring), the trees are starting to bud and I have hope that soon I won’t be able to see my breath in my house.  The past couple days; however, have brought a taste of rainy season. I kid you not; it has rained for three days straight.  To walk from my house to work, I have to navigate down a fairly large, steep hill that has now turned into a slip-in-slide.  On my way to work this morning, despite my attempt at careful steps, I slipped and fell to my hands and knees. Covered in mud, I walked to work where I could clean myself up.  I hope that by the time rainy season actually arrives I have learned the South African gift of staying clean.  If not, let’s just say-it’s going to be a long and treacherous rainy season.