Sudanniversary!

Today is my 6 month anniversary in Sudan! Has it been that long, really?

How am I feeling at 6 months?

Good. Settled, mostly. More or less competent in making my way around/paying bills/food buying/public transportationing. My Arabic is now at a broken converstaional level. I'm pretty happy with that. It's hard, but I'm making progress. Whoop whoop.

This particular week and next I'm feeling a little...stretched. I'm filling in at a local international school as a middle school language arts teacher for two weeks. This is not something I feel confident or excited about. But it is what it is and I don't mind helping out as I was literally the only possible substitute. The big thing is though that I am doing this on top of my Arabic classes, tutoring, and time with the boy's. And it's still Ramadan so there are still loud neighbors late into the night and 4am drumming and sometimes preaching from the mosques too. So it's going to get a little interesting and I'm pretty sure that tears may be involved at some point (if I'm being honest). But...you can do anything for two weeks. That's what I'm telling myself at least. Middle school language arts...yeah.

But back to my Sudanniversary...it's been a great 6 months so far. I still can't believe that I get to wake up in Africa everyday. It is such a gift and I feel so lucky.

First Day of Ramadan

Monday was the first day of Ramadan--which is a Muslim month of fasting from sun up to sun down. No food, no drink (not even water), and no smoking.

I was warned about a few things and am aware that this month is going to be different in a couple of ways. For the next month I can look forward to drums being played up and down the street every morning at 4am. This is a kind of wake up call to folks. Get up, eat, drink, have your last cigarette before prayers at 5am.

Resteraunts are closed, people stay up much later to eat into the night, food prices are much higher this month, and I've heard that towards the end more shops and things are closed because people are tired and sleeping during the day. Understandably people become a bit more irritable. I can't drink any water or anything in public. It is considered really rude. Which could get interesting on my long days and sometimes 1.5+hour bus commutes....esspecially in the heat of the day. Or during my tutoring session. I take a bus there, I'm at her house for 2 hours, then it takes me usually an hour to get home. Do I just not drink anything for 4 hours? Sneak my water bottle in with me to the bathroom? It's still darn tootin' hot this time of year and I don't know how they do it without getting really sick. (Though there are exceptions made for pregnant and nursing women, as well as people with medical problems. As well as children are excluded from the fasting. Though for strict Muslims women are expected to make up the time eventually).

The breaking fast meal in the evening, as well as early morning breakfast are apparently pretty impressive spreads. It is a big time for visiting neighbors and family. Our upstairs neighbors have invited us for fatuur (breakfast) one morning with them. I'm looking forward to that. Going to be an interesting couple of weeks!

Tap Water

Sometimes the water in the tap comes out like this. This is why we filter. And why I check before I hop in the shower. Because if I shower in brown water, then it kind of defeats the purpose I think.

On Vacation I:

Learned how to care for chickens. (A dream of mine for down the road someday).

How to dry artemisa leaves and make into malaria preventing tea.

How to de-worm my insides by chewing up papaya seeds.

That chickens have a funny sort of growl.

Got better at yoga.

Read 6 books.

Ate a LOT of the beautiful, cheap, abundant Kenyan produce.

Stayed with a lovely NZ couple that I got to know while waiting on my visa at the beginning of the year.

Shared chocolate bars and good talks all week with one of my dearest friends from the US.

Saw the crater.

Played with puppies.

Wore short sleeves!

Slept under covers for the first time since February.

Roasted marshmallows in a fireplace.

Went running and walking along beautiful, peaceful roads surrounded by trees and other green things!

Learned about composting.

Learned how to make Pavlova. (You should too! It's awesome.)

Went to a grocery store almost everyday and stocked up on things that I can't get here.

Caught up with the folks at Tumaini Kwa Watoto. (The street kids project I worked with in January).

Made this and these and this.

Stayed in a treehouse cabin with my fav person to go camping with.

Enjoyed a good thunderstorm.

In spite of myself enjoyed watching a show called Justified.

Now I'm back and happy to get back into the swing of things. Readjusting to the heat, back in school and at the centre's. Had to explain to my fruit guy where I'd been the last 2 weeks though. It's nice that he noticed I was gone! ...Which I guess isn't hard since I'm pretty sure that I am probably his only white customer.

It's good to be back.

Breaking

At the beginning of the summer I was feeling a little guilty about planning a break from Sudan already. But these last few weeks have been intensive--lots of time at the centre's, some extra work, lots of heat, visiting with neighbors, most of my interactions being in Arabic. I am exhausted. So, really, this "required vacation" to Kenya could not have come at a better time.

Yesterdays flight was supposed to be pretty quick and easy. Was at the airport at 1:30am, was supposed to land in Nairobi about 6:30am. Thanks to a little dust storm and some other difficulties we didn't actually get to Nairobi until about 3:30pm. I got to know the Khartoum airport really well. But I made some friends and made it here. And I am FREEZING. It is Kenya's winter. So really we're talking only like 55 degree lows and 75 degree highs. But that is a far cry from the 100-120 degree days I am used to. But last night was the first night in 5.5 months that I slept below any sort of covers, it was nice.

I am staying with a fabulous NZ couple that I go to know when I was here waiting on my visa at the beginning of the year. We stopped at the store on the way home and I got totally stoaked about all the amazing fruit and veg Kenya has. Such a big, beautiful selection! And all pretty darn cheap too--unlike Sudan! Avocado's, asparagus, papayas, passionfruit, plums, broccoli, sweet corn, sweet potatoes...I am going eat very well these next 2 weeks!

But the best part is that one of my best friends is here in Kenya with her church, and she will be sticking around for an extra week to hang out with me. And we're going camping!

Good food, great friends, a backyeard, a break from nonstop sweating...and getting to run outside in daylight. I'm feeling refreshed already!

Maybe not Treasure, but Certainly not Trash!

In Sudan the bed frames are strung with really sturdy plastic string. People throw a mattress on top (or don't) and that is where you sleep. They are actually pretty comfortable. When the strings start to sag or get old, it is cut off and the beds are re-strung. This is used on chair frames as well.



This is what the beds look like.

 The older boys centre has recently had all of their beds restrung. Leaving a grandiose pile of dusty, used, but still really sturdy plastic string. Trash? No! Potential!

I took an armful home and started playing. Over the course of a few days I made a bag. I took it to the centre and a few of the boys were pretty impressed and when I said I could teach them they were enthusiastic.

So, the last two weeks I have been teaching the older boys some macrame. I'd be lying if I said that the enthusiasm continued. Mostly they don't want to do the work involved. But a few of them are really into it and really good at it. Most of the rest of them humor me and half-heartedly work on it while I'm there. Oh teenaged boys. The fact that a few of them like it and even work on in their spare time is enough for me for now! There are plenty of projects and things I have in mind. Hopefully each will find a little niche, and maybe make a little money and start the road to self sufficiency (while improving their motor skills which very surely need some help). 

At the very least hopefully a few of them are starting to see the potential in the things around them and in themselves.

Using My Fingers

My parents would attest to the fact that table manners were not exactly my strong suit growing up. A fact that I kind of delighted in. It was partly snarky middle kid syndrome and partly that it was just more fun to eat with your hands. I finally learned to eat at a table in a respectable way (thanks Mom and Dad for not giving up). But the joy of eating with my hands has always remained.

This is one thing that I love about Sudan. People eat with their hand! (Yes, not plural. You only use your right hand). I'm a big fan. One of my friends who teaches here the other day was sharing about how one of her students, a boy of about 9 or so, was talking with her about the use of silverware. He spoke quite impassionly (as Sudanese often do) saying, "I don't understand why you use it! It makes eating not....not relaxing!" I would have to agree that it does make eating easier. No clanging silverware, no fussy knives, you can easily scoop up the last bits with your fingers.

Most meals are served in a big bowl on a large round tray surrounded by bread, and sometimes some cut up raw onion, shatta (fresh chili sauce),  or other veggies. You tear off a bite sized piece of bread with your right hand and scoop up the stew/fuul/whatever and pop it on in. It is a very communal way of eating and it really does cut back on clean up. No plates or silverware to wash. Most little restaraunts that you go to don't even have silverware at all. Many do--those that are right in town and mroe expensive and have many foreign customers. The other day I was having lunch with two friends from other countries. We all started out with the silverware, but without realizing it, by the end we were all using our hands. Love it.