Sunny Sudan

I have decided to write a special "3 months in Review" post this time.
Over the course of the last months I have learned many things about this country and have had to adjust to a great many cultural norms. Some of them I welcome with open arms such as the warmness of the people, the food, no alcohol, no "crime," daily marriage proposals etc. There have been a few other things that have been harder to swallow such as the prevalance of female genital mutilation, the fact that the cops down the street are watching me and not protecting me, the display of indifference many of my friends show towards Southern and Western war victims in the city, the overbearing presence of NGO's in the city driving prices up for EVERYTHING, and the idea of female and male roles.
Having said that I have managed to find a couple of sanctuaries to escape this daily attack on my mental well being. One of them is pictured at the top, my friend's Ethiopian coffee room, another is cooking Indian food for my friends, nothing like rolling out some chapatis to release stress!

Here is a list to give you an idea of what shopping is like here:

cheapest thing to buy: Sugar, about $ .20/kilo
most expensive: Shampoo and conditioner, $20 for Pantene 2 in 1!
easiest thing to find: Olives and a feta like cheese
most difficult: Pesto, I looked in 5 "supermarkets" but finally found it!
non-existent: pork, butter, tater tots, sushi
ever prevalent: "fairness cream," almost as bizarre as self tanners. Instead of girls looking like pumpkins, they look ghostly.

Finally, I have gotten used to seeing various armed police and solidiers in the streets in their variety of different uniforms- it is similar to a village people performance. It is usually hard to take them too seriously when they have an ear to ear grin and have ditched their second hand combat boots for more leisurely flip flops!
I laugh everytime someone (not everyone) thinks I am rich, espescially after visiting their sprawling multi-story houses/compounds complete with ornate furniture. Even after explaining student loans and working through university this is an imposibility for them to believe that anyone who is white can be poor. At the other extreme some think that I have been banished by family- why else would I live in Sudan by myself unless in exile???