There's Water in the Air.

  I've mentioned a few times that it's rainy season in Cambodia right now and for most of the country that means constant overcast and generally rain a few times a day if not all day long.  Here there's a saying, "mayk jong plee-ung" or "the sky wants to rain" which I say a lot - when I'm not saying "it's raining".  There are a lot of things that change in a life so pervaded by rain.  You might be thinking, "wow, you have to put a raincoat on every time you go outside, big deal," but constant rain has a strange impact on parts of life I never would have suspected if I did not experience them for myself.  
     For one thing, it is always humid.  Humid, or muggy, or foggy, or whatever word there is to describe constant wetness in the air.  Life during rainy season is just damp .  There is really no other way to describe it.  The best way to I can think of to convey this is that I can feel it in the paper.  You know (or not) when there is dampness in the air or you have a sheet of paper that is damp but not wet - that's how all of my paper products feel.  I can feel it in the paper.  
  Another way the damp pervades life is in my clothes.  I hang my clothes up to dry and maybe sacrifice some precious candy to Buddha for a few minutes of golden sunlight shining on the line.  This rarely happens (ComeOn Buddha). More often than not, the clothes get moved to a line under protection of a roof or awning, and they sit there. For days. Until they drip dryish, and even when I pull them down I wouldn't describe them as "dry".  More like, "not wet".  So it goes. This doesn't apply to any of the dry-fit shirts my mother has sent me.  They actually dry in about a day even if it's raining - now that's magic if I ever saw it.  
  I have thrown away shoes that sat under my bed for two nights and grown mold (this actually made me cry...I'm not ashamed to say I love my shoes), my hair is never completely dry, and it seems my skin is forever enclosed in this kind of sweat/oil/rainy sheen that washing does not really get rid of.  
  A kind of funny way this wet air has entered my life, and the first time I laughed out loud about it was when I discovered that it invaded my envelopes.  All of the envelopes I have in my room have sealed themselves shut due to the moisture in the air activating the glue on the flap.  Ever resourceful, I have tried boiling water and then steaming them open to reuse them...but in case anyone receives letters bound by hopeless amounts of scotch tape- now you know why.  Memo to self: seal all future envelopes in air-tight ziploc bags or tupperware (and I never thought that would be something I would use a plastic bag for).
  It's just a way of life here - the rainy season has it's disadvantages just like it has advantages: I can bucket shower to my hearts content because there's so much water! I can drink tea, and instant coffee, and water with crystal light packets until I can drink no more.  Running in the rain is 10x better than running in the heat - I feel like I could run a marathon (not that I know what running a marathon feels like)!  And the rain brings breezes sometimes.  Even though it's hot here, it's a comfortable kind of hot where I don't have sweat running down my back as soon as I step away from the fan.  There are good things and bad things about the rain - I've just discovered a few. I'm not excited for rainy season to end because I know I haven't discovered them all.  

Stay dry!
xo-Amanda