Day Eighteen - Nylonge

I met the woman who has been making me tea. Her name is Nylonge. I am sure I am spelling this wrong. I sit in her shop all day at the market. She is beautiful, has 4 children and only returned to Gok Machar in March. She doesn't know English so this was all translated for me. She asked if I was married or had children and was quite surprised to find out I am not married and have no children. I also got to watch her roast and grind coffee beans and then prepare a cup of coffee. Very cool.

We finished in Gok Machar today. Which means 40 extra minutes of driving for the next two days. Yay...but not really. I was so tired on the way home that I fell asleep sitting in the front seat.

I think I am being attacked by mosquitoes as I write...

I have to re-download only one survey on to the phones and send off the data then they will be ready for the Ariath market.

I am going to bed early tonight! Yay. I am excited to sleep.

Until tomorrow....PEACE

Day Seventeen - RE-DO

The alarm went off at 5am and I cringed. I had only gone to bed 4 hours before. NOT enough sleep. Still issues with the surveys so I ended up printing off the questions that were not present on the re-downloaded surveys...I am currently re-downloading them again and all I can think about is sleep and how I want to destroy these phones.

We had a different driver and different land cruiser today. This was NOT a good thing. He took 3 hours to get to Gok Machar instead of 2, and the land cruiser was horribly uncomfortable. I tried to sleep on the seats in the back on the way up, which in turn made it look like I had rolled around in the dirt.

I sent the data collectors out to do the work they couldn't do yesterday, had some tea and wrote. In the afternoon I took the computer out and attempted to start working on making tables for the final report. I don't really know what I am doing so it didn't get much done :)

Another bumpy loonnngg ride back. Chicken and rice. Work with phones....which I wish would find their way into someone else's hands...

PEACE!

Day Sixteen - Two Words: Gong Show

Our trusty land cruiser and driver Sahdala

I was awake until 2:30am last night doing work, which ended up being a waste because things were still messed up once we drove the 2 hours to Gok Machar. We have no cell service there, unless you stand on a hill and even then it cuts out horribly, so that meant we had no way of fixing the data on the phones unless we drove back to Aweil. We made due with what we had, but I was very frustrated for the rest of the day. My first big mistake working for Forcier Consulting. Hopefully I will never make it again...I will just say I really dislike smart phones and technology...So all in all, work today was a gong show. AND at the end of the day one of the data collectors was late which put us in a huge rush to get to Aweil before 7, which is curfew and when they close the gates for the night. We made it so that crisis was averted but the drive seemed to take twice as long...

I met a man with two wives today...

The women here amaze me. It is a very common sight to see women of all ages carrying buckets of water, or logs, or bags full of something, on their heads. They make is look so easy. And often, the woman or girl will be carrying a small child with her. Incredible. So foreign to me. I am certain if I tried to do the same I would break something or myself. It is natural for them. There is also the skill of kneeling all day breaking up the soil for planting with just a hoe. Back breaking work. Men and women of all ages do it. The people have such a different way of life here, which is not a surprise. On the drive home I was trying to imagine what it would be like to live here...I can't quite do it. Dirt floors, mud walls, no power, no running water, nothing that I grew up with. It is an entirely different world...

Day Fifteen - Looks Like Rain

I woke up at 7:10 to the roosters, dogs barking and the wind blowing. It looked very much like rain which would not have boded well for our drive. After an hour of driving it started raining and didn't quit until about 11...

We had bread for breakfast. It was amazing. So good. A very nice change.

We have a new driver and vehicle now. We are in a massive land cruiser and our driver is Sahdala, he is from Darfur and very nice and a good driver. There were children upon children walking to school. The road is mud and puddles due to the rain storm we are chasing and slowly catching up to. Rained on roads means no dust which is nice for the people on the side of the road. The land cruiser handles the road better than the HiLux but we have to drive slower...My seat belt constantly locks and chokes me. My hair falls out of my elastic because of the the bumps. I saw a farmer who had his goats all tied together so they wouldn't get away from each other, very effective, quite entertaining.

The rain caused issues because people don't really come outdoors when it rains so we couldn't do any surveys or interviews. Delayed...We bought lunch in the market, Sudanese ful and bread. It was good but I didn't have much of an appetite eating while I knew everyone else around probably was not eating lunch today. And there was a beggar lady which hung around all day making the situation even worse. Definitely not a rare situation or emotion with me...It was overwhelming...

We worked in the market until 4 today. I had to get our driver to stop on the way home to let me out and go the bathroom. There are no bathrooms per say in the market so I could not hold it anymore on the bumpy roads.

I am very thankful for mosquito nets...

Day Fourteen - Two Weeks

Two weeks ago I was getting on a plane in Calgary on my way to Africa. Hard to believe. Hard to believe that is has only been two weeks since I left and only ten days in Sudan. I am reading a book, Six Month in Sudan, and he gave a good description of how time is different here. "I think some of the reason the time feels differently here is that there are few distractions. There is no morning paper to read while we eat breakfast. After dinner, there are no concerts to go to, nor walks to go on. We sit quietly and the moments stretch." A good analysis regarding time in Sudan.

Technically it was our day off today but we were having major issues with the surveys so had to spend a few hours working on those. It began to thunder, which meant our internet would go out, so we frantically had to make notes and send them off to Juba for Natalie and Akshaya to work on tomorrow. Rain messing up our day.

Lunch was chicken and rice. I actually ate some of the chicken today. My intestines are not liking Aweil. I am not sure if it is the food or the water, but something has definitely decided not to agree with me.

Tomorrow we are hoping to leave at 7:30am. We now have two markets to do surveys at so that complicates things more and means more time on the road. OH JOY! We get the land cruiser tomorrow. It is a bigger vehicle than the truck so we shall see how it compares to the HiLux.

I asked about the jumping spider, and after some unkind joking about the fact they could jump off the walls onto you, I was informed that in fact they do not jump. I am NOT convinced. I swear I saw it jump...never trust a spider...

One of the guys that works with UMCOR got stranded and had to sleep out in the bush! And after that he had to get a boda to take him the rest of the way to town! I will not complain about the drive tomorrow....We had a much better day than he did that's for sure.

PEACE!

Day Thirteen - Potholes NOT People or Animals

I woke up to the roosters...I finally got a real night of sleep. I credit the bed and the awesome mosquitoe net which covers the whole bed and leaves room for movement. Could be because the bed is huge but still. AND I have foam between me and the bedframe unlike at Transmillenium.

It was very humid and overcast this morning. From my side of the bed, I could hear roosters, water dripping, goats bleating and besides that it is silent. No traffic noise at all. As I am getting ready for the day I grab my backpack which was up against the wall and guess what just so happened to be creeping behind my bag? A spider the size of a tennis ball, it was flat, it may have even been as big as a baseball...regardless disgusting and way to big.

We didn't get on the road until 9:40 which was way too late for how long of a drive it is to Gok Mashar from Aweil. The drive takes 2 hours on a very very very very bumpy road. It shouldn't take this long but from what I understand a main bridge has been washed out by the rains so this road is our only option to get to Gok.

The drive...People. people in trees. on bikes. walking. Trees everywhere. Huts. Children. Men and women working the soil with hoes. The bumps take my breath away making breathing surprisingly difficult. A very strange feeling. Passed villages. Passed one check point (which is actually Aweil Town city limits). Herders and their cattle are everywhere. Along with broken down trucks. We have a Toyota HiLux and it handles the roads like a champ. I would not want to be riding in a land cruiser. At this point, my overly oily chippati and eggs are sitting very heavy in my stomach....not ideal. A full stomach and a very bumpy road are a bad combination. I am reminded of the lion king as we drive down the road...it's the circle of life!!!! We pass by girls who wave their hands at us to slow down...they go unnoticed as we fly past them leaving behind a sheet of red dust. There were speed bumps in one of the villages. And we pass over one bridge called the Wattok Bridge. I was so nervous the driver was going to hit someone or something...he is a great driver but man, I would not want to drive these roads. BRAKE-BUMP-SWERVE-BUMP-ACCELERATE-REPEAT. This sums up the 2 hours of driving each way...

We are doing data collection, focus groups and case studies in Gok Mashar. The organization we are working for is having us do a livelihoods assessment to obtain information about returnees, women and youth in the area. It is very interesting. I worked with 5 men who we have hired for our data collectors. It was really nice to be able to start doing the work instead of hearing about it and trying to learn how to do it on paper. We sat in plastic chairs in the middle of an empty dirt floored concrete room with 6 windows and a door. In the afternoon children were gathering around the windows and doors to gawk at the foreigner...it was cute.

We left Gok Mashar at 4, and our driver drove a little faster on the way home, so the bumps were magnified. He was driving faster for a purpose. Aweil Town closes it gates at night from any time between 5 and 7:30 so if we don't make it back before they close the gates, we have to park the truck and walk til we find a ride to take us to the compound. Not an ideal situation. Regardless of this rule, we made it back to UMCOR compound in one piece, rather shaken and tired, but we made it.

The food here is, well it is food. Yesterday we had rice with chicken and broth. And today was rice with, I think beef and broth. I ate some rice with broth, no meat or chunks...

Tomorrow is our day off, but due to time constraints and deadlines we will surely be working tomorrow.

Leaving you with this...there are jumping spiders just bigger than a nickle...EWW.

Wau Airport (that is what my plane to Aweil looked like)

On the way to Gok Mashar

Dusty bumpy road

Hello:)

Until next time...PEACE!

Day Twelve - When The Cock Crows

I had a conversation with some locals awhile back and they were so confused by the fact that I did not wake up to the sound of the cock crowing. I proceeded to tell them that on farms there are cocks that crow at dawn but nowhere in the city will you find one. We use alarm clocks to wake us up. I tell you this story because I woke up to the cocks crow at 6:30am to get ready to go to the Juba airport.

Juba airport. Gong show. That is what it was. All my fault. I think it would be a crime for things to run smoothly for me...I did not print the appropriate documents therefore could not get on the flight. I had to call our driver James to come get a flash drive from me with the appropriate documents, drive to the printer and come back with hard copies for me so I could fly to Aweil. After some frustration and panic, I made it onto the WFP UNHAS flight to Wau, then on to Aweil. The WFP flight held about 46 people and then from Wau to Aweil I was on a 10 seater. I liked that I could see the ground the whole time. Seeing green for miles is nice and very amusing when you see green and then black and white spots because you knew those were were cattle were grazing...I had to wait for my ride from the Aweil airport which consisted of a runway and a hut. A soldier who looked way to young to be carrying a gun, sat on his star covered bicycle and tried to convince me to give him my phone because he didn't have one. He certainly had one, and there was no way he was getting mine. He grew tired of me and eventually wandered off...

Aweil is the capital of the state Northern Bahr el Ghazal, "the real Sudan", as Natalie put is. There are mostly tukuls (mud huts) and small buildings here. The landing strip was a rough road of wet dirt. It is the rainy season and Aweil gets enough rain to flood half of the population out.

Because of the rain, the main bridge is out, so we have to drive 2 hours to our research area so I spent the rest of the day at the UMCOR (The United Methodist Committee on Relief) compound doing work and using their awesome internet. My colleague Nicole got back around 5:30 and we went out with the people who run the place here. They are nice people.

Driving 101 Juba/Sudan: You cannot get anywhere quickly due to the fact many of the roads are more like river beds. No speeding on these babies. It takes 10 minutes to walk from Transmillenium to the office and I am sure if you walked and someone drove you would get there at the same time, if not faster walking. There are paved roads but not much and you still have to be careful on those. AND they may drive on the same side of the road as we do but that doesn't mean the steering wheel of the car is on the correct side. Depending on your vehicle you could be driving on the left or right. Quite bizarre.

That is all.

PEACE! from Aweil where the air is clean...atleast where I currently am...

Day Eleven - The Toad

There is a toad in my tent!!!! It must have come in lastnight...so gross. I really hope it is gone when I get home. Lisa and possibly Uncle Al have so kindly named my cricket family, Paula, Jimmeny and Ferguson. I am sure they will stick around. Pauline and Akshaya have both said they have not seen so many creatures around since I got here. I think I must attract them which is horribly unfortunate...

I went to a meeting with community leaders of one of the Payums(I think this is correct) today with Akshaya. It was very interesting to hear from them what they thought of the situation youths are facing today. It was very proper. Our translator felt nervous because he was surrounded by so many men with so much power. It seemed to be a very successful meeting and we even got a meeting set up with some women from the community. Score!

Lunch was beans, rice, cabbage and chappati (flat bread type thing). Salty but good.

And I have been preparing for Aweil all afternoon. Dealing with all of the survey phones we have is very time consuming...I am leaving for Aweil tomorrow morning. It is in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal state. I am staying at the UMCOR (The United Methodist Committee on Relief) compound, pretty sure in tents. Nicole is already there. Originally I was not supposed to be going up there, so I could only get on a flight this Friday instead of Wednesday.

I have discovered that South Sudan is made up of states, counties, payams and bomas. Spelling of these are questionable.

Rock City

Some road...

Boda Boda

Independence banners

Work...too many phones to deal with...

Day Ten - Keep Juba Clean

With Independence near, there are campaigns to keep it clean/clean it up. There are trees being planted, roads being cleaned up and fixed, the trash is being picked up, and there are trash/recycling cans at the major areas. And a ton of signs say KEEP JUBA CLEAN. DO NOT LITTER. It is great.

This morning I got a crash course on the work I am going to be doing in Aweil. It is a lot of information to process and think through but it is going to be good.

We had carrots at lunch in a salad. Oh my goodness they were sooo good. So sweet and flavorful. I thought about them for the rest of the day.

I met a rep from CIDA today. We were very late for the meeting due to driver issues but he didn’t have much to tell us anyways. Haha. He was new so did not know everything that we were asking him. It was still interesting to talk with him and meet someone who works for CIDA. It is a very common occurance to meet people who work for big organizations like that. Tons of UN people around.

Akshaya, Banja (our translator), and I went and did a focus group with youth this evening at a football field. It was very interesting to talk with the youth, even though at times I couldn’t quite catch what was being said….We were surrounded by youth by the time we were done asking our questions.

We had supper at a place called Spice and Herbs. We shared some Indian food. It was good. The place was really nice. We sat outside beside a fountain. I got too many mosquito bites though….

So the system for laundry at Transmillenium is that we just set it on the ground in front of our tents and the ladies wash it and dry it during the day. I came home to clean and folded clothes on my bed. Only thing is that they are super rough with them so I will most likely end up washing a lot of clothes myself. And they don’t wash underwear so that is also on me to do…very understandably so…

Day Nine - It's Tuesday NOT Wednesday

So I thought it was Wednesday today and I took my malaria medication...it is Tuesday. Fail.

I got about 5 hours of sleep. Yaya! I went to the markets Gudele and Konyo Konyo today with Pauline to deal with the data collectors. We now have petrol for the company car so Natalie drove us around for the morning. It is nice to have the SUV instead of calling taxi's or boda's. We spent most of the afternoon at a place called Logali Lounge. The coffee at Arkel was AWFUL!! So that is why we switched locations. For lunch I had a delicious salad and pumpkin soup.

From here Natalie, Pauline and I went to see where our new office is going to be. We are going to be renting a room from an NGO Compass. Natalie knows them and it is going to be very interesting to be working in the same place as them. I am sure they will be very useful resources and good workplace mates.

I was re-acquainted with Nicole at a place called Central Pub for supper. Nicole worked for Natalie in Cairo so I have met her previously. I will be in Aweil with Nicole.

Tonight is my first night of stars!! It is not a full sky but more than just 2 stars are showing their shining beauty.

There is a family of crickets living at the back of my tent. Eww.

At one of the traffic circle here in Juba there is a digital countdown for Independence Day. It is fun to drive by and see exactly how much time is left until the 9^th. 16 days left I think….

Day Eight

I am actually writing this from my bed at 10pm because the Internet would not work at Arkel so this will have to suffice and I will post it later.

I may mention from time to time the term boda so just what you know what I mean, boda's are motorbikes. They got their name because they were used as taxis in the border regions of Sudan, Uganda and I can’t remember the other country. They were originally called border to border and it became boda boda.

I was awake until 1am so I laid in bed reading trying to get tired and my mind wouldn’t shut off so my thoughts kept going in circles... The night was surprisingly quiet. The bugs weren’t too disruptive which was lovely. The few hours I did sleep felt really good. I actually slept more than an hour or two at a time. I woke up to the voices of about 20 soldiers who use Transmillenium as a training facility. It felt like they were all sitting in my tent, due to the fact they were sitting in the common area, which is right behind my tent.

It was cool throughout the night. A huge relief. It must have been raining or something. And I froze during my shower this morning. It is always a strange feeling to be so cold, when the instant before you were sweating.

I am going to attempt to give you a mental visual of Transmillenium. I am going to guess there are about 20-25 tents in the compound. It is all enclosed behind walls and a gate that is watched by security 24/7. There is an open area when you walk in, an office building to the right and the bathrooms are to the left. Straight in front of you is the common area where there are tables and chairs and a TV that can be watched until 11pm granting there is power. On either side of this common area are the tents. I am on the right side as are the two other girls I work with. My tent backs right on to the common area so when people are there in the mornings it is quite loud. I can watch the TV from my bed though J That in a nut shell is Transmillenium Lodge… a very special place. This is the only picture I have taken in Juba....

This afternoon I joined one of my collegues to a meeting she had with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) We met at a place called Notos. It was very nice and it was cool enough, or rather warm enough, that we could sit outside. The meeting was very interesting and gave me a glimpse into what the qualitative side of our projects look like. It was almost a 2 hour meeting. Right after we finished we rushed off to the EU(European Union) compound to take a pilates class. Yea pilates. It was good. I need to buy a mat. Except they have YOGA on Tuesdays, which I am so stoked about, so when I am here in Juba I will definitely be hitting up the yoga class. It is only 10SDG, which is approximately $3US, and the money goes to a school in the area, not sure on the details. I will have to get details next time. So that is awesome. I am exercising for a cause!!!!

I also just found out that I am going out into the field either Wednesday or Friday to do data/survey work. I am getting a crash course from one of the girls tomorrow on how to do everything so that will be very interesting. My first adventure!!!

Day Seven - Day Off

Last night I ended up staying up later than I should have. I went for supper at a place called Kilimanjaro. It was good and I met some other ex-pats who are here until August so hopefully I see them again this week and can get some numbers. It would be great to have a few friends around...

I slept a combination of 8 hours last night which is the most I have had since I left home. I also had a crazy fast creature luring about in my tent last night. I only knew that it was fast because I tried to kill it but couldn't...I think it was a cricket but I am not sure. Sunday's are my days off so I am free to do what I like. There are these trees behind the tents that have flowers that look like daffodills. Very pretty. The air is always really hazy and think. Don't know if it dust or from the humidity. Probably a combination...

I experienced my first Juba storm this morning. The thunder was very loud and it was the first blue skies I have seen. The rain didn't last long but it was refreshing and really cooled the air down. The 2 girls working for Natalie and I went to a place called Rock City this morning and had a late lunch and just relaxed. There was a pool there but we didn't venture in. We could see the hills from there which were pretty cool. We ended up going to another ex-pat hangout called Jebel (which means mountain I think). There was American music playing like Adele and Rihanna which was fun. I got my first sunburn. I am just a little pink (don't worry Mom). I definitely did not bring enough sunscreen and bug spray...

I saw rock chippers, or gravel makers, on our drive today. Mostly women sit for hours and hours chipping away large stones to make gravel. I could not imagine doing that. Wow.

The power is currently off at Arkel but the internet is still working which is excellent. Power outages happen a lot, but I do not think they usually last this long...

I am slowly seeing more of Juba. I am learning that transportation is expensive, even more so now because of the fuel shortage, everything is imported here making everything expensive. Haha. Quite different from other places I have been. Juba is a place of its own....

Day Six - Sudan

It is Saturday and I am in Juba. My second day here. I did not sleep last night. I may have got an hour or two in but that is all. A combination of jet lag, the heat, my bed and new surroundings made it impossible. Music from pubs down the street was booming away. The bugs, which I think were crickets, seemed impossibly loud. Seriously. I was lying in bed trying to figure out if they sounded like sprinklers in a park or more like when a kids bike has the plastic things on the spokes and the tire turns...I got out of bed at 8:00. One of the girls took me to the office, where I had coffee and breakfast, chipolte and eggs as I understood it. Regardless of what it exactly was it was very good. I spent the morning trying to unlock my blackberry to make it work with a SIM card here and that failed. I have no clue why it won't work and that frustrates me. So Miriam, Natalie's secretary, took me to Juba Town to go to the bank, which was closed and to find a charger for my phone I used in Cairo. This meant I got to experience my first Bota ride. A bota is a motorbike. It was fun. It turned out to be a long adventure of testing cords, seeing if my phone was wrecked and eventually we just got a universal charger which charges my battery. It was fun though. It was nice to see some of Juba and get to know Miriam. And now I am at Arkel, which is predominantly an ex-pat hangout and Natalie's unofficial 2nd office. The plan for the evening is to find something for supper, possibly shower and go to sleep. I hope tonight is more successful than last night was.

The bug situation has been good so far. I have seen more spiders than I would like to but they have all been smaller than a quarter so that is great. AND the sandals which I thought would last me forever broke!! I should have got my burkinstocks...They are still wearable but the toe strap broke. I was so unimpressed. I have surprising taken hardly any photos yet which is a good thing actually because I learned today that taking pictures here can get you in trouble. I promise once I take some I will post them so you can see a little bit of Juba...until next time...

This is going to be a catch up post, which I am sure there will be many more of these to come. Here we go...

Day 5 - June 17th: Cairo - We (Natalie and I) woke up a half hour late, after only sleeping 3 hours, but due to the fact it was 5am we were only 10 minutes late to the airport. Our taxi driver was great. I rocked a coke at 5:30am and jammed to the lovely voices of Whitney Houstn and Tiffany. All went smoothly at the airport, although the security screener was convince I was trying to smuggle a knife on to the plane, but it was in my checked luggage so there was no problem, just confusion. Somehow we managed to get away without having our luggaged weighed which was excellent because we were both definitely overweight with both our bags. We ate breakfast at a place called Hippo's in the airport. On the drink menu is said, "Drink wine to be happy". Hilarious! The flight to Juba was totally full and overloaded with luggage. People were actually starting to fight over space for the carry ons. It was crazy. Being overweight meant for a bumpy landing...that was not fun. Initially we thought we were supposed to stop in Khartoum and then be off to Juba but this ended up being a direct flight which was fine with me. I was very tired of being on a plane.

Juba: There was an unexpectedly large amount of trees which I saw from the plane. The heat just about knocked my off my feet the moment I stepped off the plane. Instant sweat. The airport was a jumble of people scrambling to get their passports stamped and find their luggage. The luggage was loaded through a large window off of a tractor trailer by men. Definitely a new way of recieving my luggage. No fancy conveyor belts in Juba folks. A friend picked us up in his bright orange land cruiser. We loaded up the vehicle and were off. I had to sit on Natalie's lap so that was a sweaty and uncomfortable ride. Not too long though. I am living at Transmillenium camp, which is a tented camp with communal showers and bathrooms. My tent is about 8x8 I would say. It has a bed and a mosquito net. The bed is too short for me so that makes sleeping a little uncomfortable especially with the mosquito net but oh well. I will get used to it. It is surrounded by other tents so getting a breeze is not very possible. Hot hot hot. I will get used to the heat eventually but oh man... I met two other people who work for Natalie short-term. They are nice and seem to have got the hang of things here which is reassuring for me. There is a major fuel shortage so that is causing all sorts of issues here... I went for Chinese, yes Chinese food in Juba, for supper with the two girls I just met. It was good but I am finding even when I feel super hungry I don't eat too much. Must be a mixture of jet lag and the heat. The little distance I walked today brought back memories of Honduras and the townships in South Africa. The roads are sand/dirt. There is garbage piled everywhere. Little shops on every corner. And one of the cutest things, the little kids have learned to say "good morning" to you as you walk past no matter what time of day. So it could be in the afternoon and kids will yell out "good morning good morning". The smells are very distinct... It has been an eventful day full of new sights, sounds and people. A lot to take in and process. One day at a time...

Day Four - Just Another Day In Cairo

The lunar eclipse was very cool last night. I am so happy to have seen it. And tonight the moon is so big and so bright and as it was rising it was very orange/red. I love the night sky and in Cairo you usually can't see the moon so clearly so it was amazing.

Today has been a relatively lazy day. The time change was really raging in my body today. I slept so much and am still very tired right now. Oh well, jet lag doesn't last forever.

I hadn't been off the boat until about 6:30 and once I left while standing still I felt like I was rocking. It was so weird. The boat only really rocks when boats go by quite close thus creating waves which rock the boat. Its fun. I went and got a manicure with Natalie this evening. It was on $10!! So cheap. It was funny because I sat there for so long and the lady doing my nails asked if I wanted light or dark color and I said dark and she totally disapproved. She tried to get me to do a light pink color and I said no pink. Natalie translated for me and she said the lady wanted me to do a light color because of my skin tone, a dark color would look bad. So you know what color I chose? Maroon. Its pretty and my nails have never looked better. Then we ran some errands as we as leaving for the airport at 4:30am so we needed to get everything done this evening. We stopped and got a coffee. The shop we went to had a burst pipe so their was water pouring from the ceiling and all over the floor and all over outside. It was an unfortunate situation but the coffee was delish.

So now I need to re-pack my bags, which will make this about the 6th time I have back my silly bag. Malesh (oh well). It has to be done.

And forewarning you all, I do not know what internet will be like in Juba so my posts may be lacking....

Picture one - they row here! It would be so much fun to row on the Nile. I also saw a group of guys running along the Nile which I had never witnessed before. Very interesting.

Picture 2- This is the wonderful house boat. We live on the first floor.

Picture 3 - Post-revolution

Picture 4 - Pre lunar eclipse

Picture 5 - Lunar eclipse starting

Day Three - Back in the Cairo Groove

Once again I am crashing on a couch, but this time it is on a houseboat so nothing can beat that. I only slept until 10:30, which may actually have been 9:30, I was having major time problems since getting to Cairo. I went to St.Andrews this morning which was really nice. Not too many people remembered me but enough did remember me that it was fun. I saw some of my students and it was really nice. Obviously I could not expect any of my younger students to remember me but it was great to see them again. They all looked so much older :)

The call to prayer bring back memories. That is what I am listening to right now. When I was living in Cairo I used the prayers as a clock. When prayers came on at the mosques I knew what time it was. Like right now it is 7pm, which I think is the 4th prayer of the day.

I went a got some koshari for lunch. It was as delicious as I remember it being. It was nostalgic to walk down in my old stomping grounds from 2 years ago. It was very cool to see the graffiti from the revolution and the changes to the area. Tahrir square was definitely different. It was evident there was a greater military and police presense. I saw a few tanks driving down the road. The guys riding in it ever so graciously stared at me, being the white foreigner, as they drove past. I did not miss the hissing and stares but that is just part of life here...

The rest of the evening has been spent relaxing on the houseboat (which I am in love with). The breeze off the Nile is beautiful and so welcoming....

Oh AND there is a lunar eclipse tonight!! I am so excited!

Day One - CAIRO!!

I have officially arrived in Cairo. It feels so amazing to be back. Everything feels familiar, the sounds, the smells, the people, everything. I like it. The weather is beautiful right now, expecially down on the water. I imagine tomorrow will be a nice 35 degrees...

My trip went as well as it could have. Goodbyes at the airport on Monday were of course tear-filled but definitely not as much as I thought. We all held ourselves together quite well I think. Mom, Dad, Cherilyn, Lisa and Tyson all came to see me off which was great. My route was Calgary to London to Cairo. Not having a layover in Toronto made for a long flight, 8.5 hours. I came to the conclusion that Air Canada has the most uncomfortable seats compared to all of the other airlines I have flown with which made sleeping on the plane a little difficult. I did get a decent amount of broken up sleep which helped keep my sleep schedule from getting messed up. And I got an amazing plane survival kit from Cherilyn so that was fun to go through and use :) I was feeling quite ill when I got off the plane so I had a little nap and felt better afterwards. I distracted myself with people watching and my book, Six Months In Sudan, while I was in London. Lisa the trail mix you sent with me was delish! I was only there for 4.5 hours so it wasn't a long layover at all. When I booked my flight I made the excellent choice of checking off vegetarian for meals. My meals were all really good. My flight from London to Cairo was good, had a nap and read. It was interesting to hear what countries we flew over on the way - Germany, Italy, Croatia, Serbia and Greece. By the end of the flight I was feeling quite ready to be off the plane, and it was a very smooth landing which is alway appreciated.

Everything went smoothly at the Cairo airport. All my luggage arrived, after a few thoughts of how it would be my luck to not recieve my luggage, I got a decently priced taxi which brought my right down to the Nile where the houseboat is. I did have a "New York Moment" because I couldn't quite remember exactly where the houseboat was, and I didn't have Natalie's correct number, so I ended up getting help from a woman named Sam, who is living on the houseboat I stayed on last time I was in Cairo. It was bizarre and Sam was very helpful and she actually used to live on the houseboat Natalie is on. Crazy stuff. But I am here, all in one piece, a little tired and a little in disbelief that I am here. The whole way here I could not wrap my head around the fact I was on my was to Cairo and then heading to Juba. I am across the world in AFRICA! Yay.

I also decided clouds are so amazing when you are looking at them from above and so are big cities. Cities at night are beautiful with their lights sparkling like stars on the ground.

Cairo has welcomed me back, and the curfew that was in place has even been lifted today so if I really want to I can stay out after 2 am now! haha. It is fantastic to see Natalie. She is as awesome as ever. I am very excited for what is in store! ADVENTURE!

PEACE!

The Beginning of A New Adventure

In 17.5 hours I will be sitting on a plane waiting to take off for London. After a 4.5 hour layover I will then fly to Cairo where I will stay for 2 days. On Friday I will be getting onto another plane with my dear friend Natalie to Juba, Sudan where I will be living for the next year or so!

Just a little background: It was March when I got an email from Natalie (who was my amazing roommate in Cairo) and she just threw the idea out there of me coming to work with her in Sudan. After being rejected by all of the other organizations I applied for internships with I of course was on board with this proposition. After many emails, lots of thinking and a delay in booking my flight, June 13th became the day I would head out on my new adventure as a research assistant in Juba, Sudan.

I have butterflies in my stomach that feel more like birds at the moment, but that is normal.

I am extremely excited for a new adventure to begin. To leave and work overseas, and to experience a new country and culture.

Rock on, I am going to JUBA!

PEACE!