Weather you like it or not...

I have always had the feeling that my general mood is loosely tied to the weather conditions.  But I have now realized that I need to separate those two things as soon as possible or it is going to be a long two years.  It is colder here than I expected – it is not colder than normal, just colder than I expected it would be at my final site.  It is also very rainy – which is actually great news for the area as rain is desperately needed after an extremely dry winter – but being cold and wet is not one of my favorite states of being.  On Saturday I gave in to the weather and barely stepped outside the whole day.  I was grumpy and annoyed and accomplished nothing in the process.  When I woke up Sunday to find the same conditions, I decided that I it was not going to make things better to have a repeat of the day before.  Instead, I got ready for the day in my usual fashion and made breakfast and started to clean things around the house…all tasks that I skipped on Saturday when I opted only to lay in bed.  I started to feel quite a bit better and even though it was still very cool, very gray and very wet outside, there were things that I could do that did not make the day feel like a waste.  Even though I could not get my “outside” things done (laundry, trip to the store), I found a few “inside” things to keep me busy – and as a bonus, I discovered that I can listen to several local radio stations on my cell phone.  One of them is even an English-speaking station that plays popular American and South African songs from the “80s, 90s, and today!”  While I am sure that I will continue to lose the weather v. mood battle from time to time, this one small victory makes the rainy days to come seem a little brighter.