The Time of Year When You Wished You Lived Somewhere Else

This is the time of year when I (along with most of my neighbors and friends probably, too) wished we lived somewhere else. It’s hot season, and it came with a vengeance this year. It’s the time of year when you can’t really think since the main thought in your head is, “It’s hot.” And yet you can’t really rest, either, since your brain keeps saying, “It’s hot.”

For example, today I think I took 5 showers, though I can’t really remember. This afternoon it was 99-100 degrees in my living room, hotter in the shade, and it would have broken my thermometer if I left it in the sun for a few more minutes (it got up to 120 or so before I took it in).

To give you perhaps a bit of perspective, it’s as hot both inside and out as an infrared sauna (I just did a bit of research – infrared saunas are cooler than regular saunas, and more like the temperatures here). So imagine that you go into the sauna, but instead of staying in the 30 minutes that they advise, you stay there 12 hours. (Yes, it’s about 12 hours a day when it’s at or above 90 degrees outside now. The lows are in the low 80s.) And you don’t just sit and relax. No, you’re here for a purpose and you have things to do. Things that have never before been done, and you’re the pioneer, trying to figure them out and accomplish them. So imagine that you go in the sauna and your task is to write that big research paper or that big project proposal. Remember, it has to be good! Think, think, think – there must be some thoughts in that brain besides, “It’s hot.” Just writing, “It’s hot” wouldn’t make a very exciting research paper or a very convincing project proposal!

So yes, here we are, in the heat. I’m not quite sure what I did today, but I know it was something. A lot of it was while I was wearing wet clothes with a fan directly on me (at least the electricity was on!).

And yes, even the locals are complaining about how hot it is. It is one of the hottest months (next month should be hotter) in what is, by some measurements, one of the hottest countries in the world. (There are other countries that get hotter than this, but they also cool down in winter. Here our winter temperatures are still highs in the 90s, lows in the 60s.)

Oh, and if that’s not bad enough, a large percentage of the population is currently fasting all month for religious reasons – no food, no water, for 13 hours each day.

So next time you see a sauna, think of us and pray for us (and others in even hotter parts of the world). And if you’ve never been in a sauna, next time you’re at the fair or somewhere you can try one out for free, step inside, imagine writing a research paper in there, and pray for us. At the moment, a good prayer would be for rain, since it usually brings in a cool front, which would be wonderful!