The rains

The dry season is a tough time of year in Africa...the parched Ethiopian ground has not seen rain since October 7th.  In some areas, the dust is measured as we measure snow in Pennsylvania.  This past week, we had a nice rain shower that settled all of that dust and brought a refreshing scent to the atmosphere. This does not signal the beginning of the rainy season, but it is common to have an occasional shower from February to March.  The real rainy season begins in June. 
However, as I experienced in Burkina, while the rains are always most welcome and celebrated, they do have an unpleasant consequence...bugs!  This time they aren't termites...in fact, I asked someone if there were any insects that they eat here, and they looked at me like I had 2 heads.  Clearly, Ethiopians are not into eating 6-legged creatures.  The critters that intrusively arrived after this rain resembled flying ants.  They don't bite or sting, and they don't even fly around your eyes like gnats.  They just swarm around your head and get caught in your hair...well, at least "ferengi" hair.  So it's just an annoyance more than anything.  And to be honest, it's worth that annoyance to have the earth refreshed with moisture.