Sunny Sudan

Congrats to Mr. Glyn Hughes and George Mac for getting UNESCO accreditation by introducing development themes in the classroom! Who would have thought the world could be such a small place that Airdrie is recognized by the UN. Maybe I can put it on my resume....
www.unesco.org/education

Despite being incredibly tired after 9 hours of working yesterday, I went to a local restaurant(rember kids no pubs here) to watch Argentina v. Cote D'Ivore while enjoying an alcohol free guava juice. The match was shown on an incredibly small tv (which actually cut out a few times) with Arabic announcers . The place was pretty crowded and I couldn't help noticing that I was I was the only Argentina fan present (although I do harbour great affection for Drogba) - so I muffled my cheers as they went on to win. I was also the only woman present a situation I have come to accept.
Many Khartoum Sudanese are "funny" this way; they pretty much seem to claim an Arab identity when it comes to anything (culture, dress, language, religion, etc.)- except football (soccer). During World Cup everyone here is supporting the continent an odd brotherhood of convienience forged perhaps because they know Senegal has a far better shot at the Cup than Saudi Arabia does.

After about one hour of sleep the night before I headed out to see the Pyramids in Merowe. Amazing! You would have to be a fool to see them in Egypt when these ones are cheap, untouched and tourist free! We were pretty much left to our own devices to roam around the place accompanied by a local 14 year old solider acting as a tour guide. The "tour" was in Arabic so I was only privy to the few scraps of translated info my friends decided to ocasionally toss my way. It is about 10 degrees hotter there so I'm guessing 56ish- like standing on the surface of the sun! Because I was wearing flip flops I actually had to pull down my jeans a bit so the legs would cover my feet...

There has been a dust storm here for the last week, fun stuff. If I had a quarter for every grain of sand crammed in my sinuses, I'd be rich....

Here is the view from the kitchen of our new apartment. If I wanted a death wish I might even think about suntanning on the top of the nearby flat roofs- my guess would be that the temp on there is about 65 degrees. The new place is really nice and bright, ant infested and about 5 degrees cooler. Although with the AC on throughout the 30 degree nights we use up A LOT of power.
Last Friday I went boating with some new friends to a place called crocodile island in the middle of nowhere. Whilst on the boat I remarked to one of my female co-passengers "say, is that a bathing suit you are wearing under your clothes?" she confirmed my suspiscion whilst I silently wished I had thought to wear mine. Long story short, I ended up going swimming in my underwear risking possible arrest but it sure was worth it.

Here are some pictures from the balcony of our new place.Tit is on the 4th floor so we can see the Nile. The call to prayer from the (very) nearby mosque can be heard clearly 5 times daily maybe if we could understand the words it would be annoying, but we find it quite nice.

Here are two pictures that just about summarize my spare time: Drinking fresh juice while enjoying an air-conditioned climate; and watching a sheep being slaughtered on the banks of the Nile. If you have never watched a sheep being taken apart piece by piece with one small knife, I highly recommend it- fascinating stuff. Although, I did get quite a lot of flak from one of my friends for grabbing a lawn chair to watch the process a little more comfortably...
I have now moved 5 times, this time the place is a lot nicer and COOLER with a gorgeous view- pictures will appear soon.
I recently had my fortune told by a diviner who can read shells. He told me a lot of (detailed)stuff from my past that he would never know, so I was inclined to believe his predictions for the future. The most frightening one is that he knew I had been feeling sick for a while- he told me that the pain in my stomach is caused by the "evil eye." Now, I am not one to believe in such stuff but based on the aforementioned information he had, I was nearly worked up into a frenzy. I didn't sleep for most of the night thinking about this damn evil eye, and the next day I promptly set to researching how to rid myself of it. I ended up going to the souq and buying a chain with a hamza caffe on it to protect me from future damage. However, it does not get rid of the old evil eye. I have to get some black seeds for that...

Sometimes teaching English reminds me of waitressing. In fact I often find myself asking students "how is everything here?" or "can I help you with anything?" This job relies almost 100% on your personality which is good and bad, and your customers are never there forever. The classes are only 2 months long, that means I get to meet new people often. To summarize it is ok for the time being but certainly not a career I wish to pursue.

Sorry for the lack of pictures I keep forgetting my camera at home.

When I first heard this from my dad I was sure it was a joke. What kind of link does George Clooney have to Sudan? Why now, the war in Darfur is 100s of years old? Does he plan on fighting the Janjaweed with his Oceans Eleven Suave?
This looks to me like a Bob Geldof type situation all over again.
If anyone is interested there is an excellent book by Robert Kaplan about political famine in the Horn of Africa(including Sudan) called Surrender or Starve. Maybe george should pick up a copy.
Also apparently Oprah is having trouble sleeping at night because of the "genocides in Africa." Perhaps it is just her guilt from over consumption, stress from holiday iPod giveaways, and her unending quest to find the best burger in America while losing weight and fixing your marriage in a week formula. At least it will succeed in making North Americans feel sorry for all Africans instead of just those in the richest country in Africa ( South Africa). I doubt very much that Oprah or Clooney or Beckham or Jolie have given much thought to giving up their hordes of ill gotten gains in favour of more modest salaries and redistribution of thir wealth.
It would be nice if the celebrity pity parties would end.