Sunny Sudan

Stomach infection behind me, it is time for a new post. Last week I went to a place called sebaloga with 10 of my male students. Sebaloga means waterfall, but I didn't see any. Tonnes of fun- campfire cooking, boating, climbing "mountains," it was like camping in Canada- even the weather was like Lethbridge in August. The drive there- not so Canadian, there is only a paved road for part of the 2hour journey. We were stopped at a military roadblock where I gave them my TD bank card instead of my passport for ID- and it worked! I was sure we were going to get lost cause it was in the middle of NOWHERE and I kept saying to myself I should have brought water...
When we arrived we set up camp. All the guys suggested I should start cooking- I say "I don't know a thing about making Sudanese camp food!" So one of the guys calls up his wife and asks her how we should cook all this food they bought! I was placed on stirring duty.
WHat else can I say? The day was fabulous and I took a lot of great photos.

Ah yes, One more thing. I also visited a newly opened art gallery. It is one of those artists cooperatives so I met the artists and we went for pizza. They gave me this wonderful painting to keep. I will visit it again soon and BUY something, the prices are very resonable.

That should tide you over for awhile.

Well, it has been brought to my attention that I haven't posted anything for a while- that's because I have been busy; here are the pictures to prove it!
First 2 pictures: I visited a friend's chicken farm because I am a thrill seeker- apparently there is bird flu in Egypt and Ethiopia but not in Sudan so I had to visit it before it arrives. The farm is a really nice and peaceful place just on the outskirts of the city in a place called Shambat. The girl is my friend Husham's niece.
3rd Pic: Visiting friends and their families, holding cute babies- every time I visit someone they insist on feeding me several courses of food and drinks, it really saves me money on groceries, because people are always inviting me to visit. The down side, as I keep telling everyone is that I am running the risk of getting very fat along with massive cavity counts- they eat dessert before AND after meals here (something my dad would LOVE). I will risk it anyway.
4th Pic: Wedding! I have been to about 3 weddings now, they have all been distant relatives of friends. In the wedding pictured I was agressively encouraged to dance in the middle of a wedding party of 300 strangers! And then with the bride (who I did not know) while it was video taped and broadcast on a big screen tv! Now, anyone who knows me knows I like to dance and I can hold my own- but Sudanese wedding dancing is a completely different matter.
5th pic: I experienced my first Haboob this week, and then the second and then the third... It is a dust storm, much like a Canadian snow storm but with dirt instead of nice clean snow. The dust gets EVERYWHERE. At least it is not cold though...
Besides that I love my job, my living situation sucks right now and I have every day off booked for the next month.

Now that you've finished reading "sweetness in the belly," it is time for a true story.
If you are looking for a book about the history of Sudan, falling in love with a warlord, the misery of aid work and the Kenyan bourgeoise- this is a book for you. It was wonderfully disgusting, it is the true story of an obnoxious Brit who ends up in Southern Sudan wearing mini skirts and starting wars- she falls in love and marries an SPLA Commander and chaos ensues. It also has great insight into media manipulation by the aid industry and how no one in the world is really neutral. It also has a good amount of Canadian content.
Read it- you'll like it even if you don't know a thing about foriegn aid, Sudan(although you should know something about that by now!) or loving warlords.