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!!!