A Day of Hibernation

So I returned from Phily to DC with a minimum of traffic on Saturday afternoon. A small post-Christmas miracle..... I spent some time panicked about how much I need to do in my small condo (exploding with post-Sudan stuff and Christmas trimmings) and decided to avoid by hiding in my room reading under a book in my blissfully comfortable bed. (Though it was a bit different to not have my sister's Bernese Mountain Dog trying to sleep on me each night....)

Today though, I returned to industriousness and work up early. Though CBS Sunday Morning sucked me in, I rallied and took my dog for a long walk in Rock Creek park. Unfortunately she has no water boundaries and despite my best on-again/off-again leash efforts, she outwitted me and managed to get in to the coldest and most polluted waterway in the DC metro area. Hmm.

Back at the ranch, and after a bath for the pooch, I got to work. Now, four loads of laundry, one grocery shopping trip, a pot of chili, and a massive cleaning spree later, I'm chillin' and constructing the "to do" list for tomorrow. Starting with "Swim in the New Year"......

More soon
Jane

Almost 2008!!

Hi everyone,

It's Friday the 28th! I'm still in Philadelphia with the fam. On the 26th we had a non-tearful (though I did well up a bit) reunion with my sister Molly and her husband and two kids who I haven't seen for over a year. It was great!! Though, as you can imagine, 4 kids under 10 who want to open presents can be a bit crazy!! Anyway, it's good to have the Strachan sisters together...

Christmas was good. Lots of presents to open, lots of shrieking when my nieces opened their dream presents (for Paige it was a talking parrot (electronic--not real) and for Zoe it was an acoustic guitar). All of us got presents we like...and some that may see the store again. But, as the old adage says, it's the thought that counts....and there was a lot of thinking.

Anyway--tomorrow it's back to Silver Spring. I've got to get my sh** together before I'm back at work on 1/2. Let's see...that means cleaning up, finishing the unpacking, switching my clothes from summer to winter....and starting the exercise regimen again! There is Swim in the New Year with my Terrapin Masters team and other swimmers. And since I haven't seen most of them since August that should be fun but I've got to get on the treadmill and bike again too!! And of course--I can't neglect Lily!! To compensate for being gone for so long, she's getting some nice walks! So as long as the weather stays tolerable, she'll get a nice run outside and the treadmill will wait!!

Anyway--no New Year's plans yet...anyone have any ideas?!?!?!

Love ya,
Jane

Bad Santa!

Hi all,

It's 7:13 in the a.m., my belly's growling for shredded wheat, and I need to take Lily for a walk and then head off to work. (We did take a nice long walk last night though so I might go short this a.m.!!). But I thought I'd take a minute to say that to those of you, and there are many, to whom I have not called or written in a while, I'm sorry. Things were crazy in the few weeks before I left Khartoum and since I've been back, time has been busy or I've been asleep. I was hoping to get a lot done last night but after my walk with Lily I just ate dinner and pooped out. My main goal today is to get to the post office to send the present that one of my Khartoum colleagues sent back for his son!!


So, no one's getting holiday cards this year, many of you won't get anything in the mail from me until after the holidays when I have time to write cards and go to the post office. It's a busy time for all, and for some, this posting will be impersonal and insufficient. But, even if I don't write or call, I do think about you, your spouses and kids (as applicable of course!) all of the time.

So please know that even if I don't have a chance to talk to you before Christmas, or maybe even right after, I'm sending you my warmest holiday greetings and a huge hug. I'd love to talk to you...and I'll call....soon.

Miss you!
Hugs and kisses to all,
Jane
(and Lily)

Settling in and back to the grind

So I've been back for a few days and am settling in. I picked up Lily on Monday night. She seemed excited to see me, but not excited to leave Kasey and her family! When I opened the car door, she looked at it and ran back to Kasey's front door. Hmmm. I'm starting to get a complex!! She did remember which door was ours though, so that was good. And she seemed to perk up when I took her for a walk yesterday morning.

Last night we went for a walk with her friend Moose--a newfoundland--and she was pretty happy about that. My new, svelte, highly-exercised dog will have some adjusting to do!!

My adjusting is going well. I've been busy with little task and haven't relaly managed to put my luggage away, get out the wrapping paper, etc. Tonight might be my only chance to do that!! But it's nice to be home and sort of nice to be back at the office. Somethings never change....but rumors are afoot of people leaving, changes within, etc. So maybe 2008 will bring new and exciting opportunities!!

So, just a quick update!! I'm off to Baltimore on Friday for a much needed haircut (it's been 5 months!) and then to Phily on Saturday for the week. I'm sure I'll be on again, but just in case, have a great holiday wherever you are!!!

Love,
Jane

I'm home

I got home last night and had a great meal of veggies, veggies, veggies. Today it was in to the vast world of Target and Old Navy. And tomorrow first the mall, and then I'm picking up Lily!!! Yeah!

Talk to you soon,
Jane

Homeward Bound

Hi all,

I'm at the lounge in Schipol airport in Amsterdam. This is my first induction in to winter weather. I'm looking out over the KLM planes at a cold and foggy Amsterdam. Yesterday when I left Khartoum it was still in the 90's...though it didn't feel as hot as I think that should feel. But now we're fully in to the cold weather. And Christmas! Decorations are everywhere, there are KLM ornaments, little dutch white and blue ornaments, and trees...but no carols.

So I'm halfway home....arriving tonight--dinnertime--in DC! Yeah!! Then just a week of work and then some vacation with the family for Christmas. Looking forward to it!!

Talk to you soon,
Jane

(Movies watched so far: Stardust, Death at a Funeral)

Cairo, Part Two

So the last two days we were in Cairo we had a bit of time to run around and see things. So We went to the pyramids at Giza....great in their sheer scope, but it's disappointing that the government of Egypt doesn't take better care to protect the site itself or the area around it. But here are some photos nonetheless.

Then we went to Coptic Cairo--or old Cairo--which was really interesting and much less overwhelming that a lot of Cairo--mostly because streets were blocked off so you could actually move around.

We had a chance to see the Citadel and some of the old mosques in "Islamic Cairo" though there was much more to see than we could get to in a day. And finally, a quick stop in the National Museum to see King Tutankhamen's tomb treasures.

I'll write about the trip a bit more but as I'm leaving Khartoum I'm running out of time!! So I just wanted to post a few pictures to tempt your taste buds.

More soon,
Jane













Jane in front of all three of the larger pyramids of Giza (though there are an additional 6 smaller ones)













From left to right: Anita, me, Sureka, Mickey and Tiare (in front) pose for the cameras. We're just missing a few of our team members---but you're looking at the masterminds behind the USG's humanitarian response in Darfur.













Two of the large pyramids. You can't really get the scope from these pictures, but as you've seen from other photos I'm sure, each rock is massive.













A dome in Coptic Cairo as the sun starts setting....



















Fireworks over Cairo that I could see from my hotel room. It was the last night of the Cairo film festival. I could see the red carpet from my room!!













Well, I can't figure out how to turn this picture, but this is one of the minarets from an old mosque. The mosques in Cairo were absolutely gorgeous. Especially compared to those in Khartoum that are essentially plain concrete painting a heinous green color.

More photos from Cairo

Here's the view from my hotel room at The Sofitel Gezirah













Above is some of Cairo......












.....and there's the view of the Nile and more of Cairo

Cairo, Part One

Hi everyone,

I'm in Cairo this week for a work retreat. No seriously, we are working. Today we hit it 8:30-4. But we got a lot crammed in during that time!!! Here are a few photos on the drive from the airport to our hotel...


This is the facade of a building we passed. There were a ton of these on this building....it's unclear what building it was !!!













Most of the time we were on this elevated highway---charging over nice looking streets. Later I realized that traffic is actually worse than Khartoum!!!!

The guys in the truck below were actually sitting around a bowl of food and eating while we were zooming down the street!!!



I have some other good ones....but it's late here.....I'll post them later....


In other news, I asked for Christmas lists from my family. This is my youngest niece's list:
a life size stuffed zebra
a dog (real, lap size)
a parrot
an iphone
a koala
a baby sister !!!!( she is tired of being the youngest)
a platypus webkinz
and finally- magic wishing powder

Do you just love it?!?!?!

Miss you,
Jane

Cooper the Crazy Dog

Hi all,

So I'm just back at home after 4 nights with Cooper. He's a lot more aggressive towards dogs while we're walking so it was even harder. But I had some company on a few walks so it wasn't too bad. Anyway--I snapped a few photos of the 125 lbs beast.....

What you can get for $15

So I was buying something the other day that cost 30 Sudanese Pounds or $15 USD. Of course, now I can't remember what it is, but it occurred to me that it might be interesting for you to know what you can get here in Khartoum for $15. So here's a little list:

• 30 pounds of tomatoes
• 20 pounds of bananas
• 6 little boxes of strawberries--you could probably get 8 if you bargain well.
• A large can of powered skim milk (my can lasted me from the beginning of September until yesterday)
• Roughly 6-7 pounds of beef, or 4-5 pounds of lamb
• A regular size Cracker Barrel cheese block. (You'd have enough left over for some crackers because it's only $10. That's right people. $10 for a block of cheddar!)
• A box of cereal--like shredded wheat and two quarts of locally produced whole milk (safe to drink)
• 5 drinks or 15 sodas at the American Rec Site during an event
• Dinner at an "expat" type restaurant (last night it was so-so Indian)
• 1 pair of custom made leather sandals (like mine!) It's actually cheaper if you have smaller feet--mine are big.

• A manicure at a local salon (not shown above!)
  
• Some baskets made by women in a Darfur IDP camp women's program and brought here to sell by one of the non-profits we fund
• About 7 gallons of gas

In other news, I'm staying with Cooper the crazy dog again. I'll take some pictures and add them to this blog post in two days.....stay tuned!!!

Miss you,

Jane

Exciting Opportunity for my Friends!!

Hi peeps,

So I'm getting ready to return home and it occurs to me that the tragic state of my dating life (or lack thereof) must change. And despite my intriguing social life in Khartoum, I have yet to meet the love of my life!

So for those of you that I've talked about this with, I'm opening myself up for your help. If I sign up for match.com I need a few people to help me with my profile and troll through the options and pick out some people for me to meet. Who's in?? (Email me--don't post your comments here).

This could be because I took a long nap yesterday afternoon and then didn't sleep very well last night, and may be rescinded.....but let me know.

Otherwise,

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a lovely thanksgiving!! Here it was a festive affair. I spent most of the day on the couch as I had been out late saying adieu to one of my French friends who has left Khartoum for good! Then, a quick stop at the veg stand for 4kg of potatoes, a quick stop at the store for butter, milk and frozen peas and I was on my way!

Sureka (colleague) had a bunch of us over for dinner. The photo shows part of the crowd...there were a few more (5 or so) who came later. You can see our bountiful feast!!! (Check out that mountain of mashed potatoes!!!)






You can kind of see--we have two turkeys. One came in Sureka's luggage from the US and the other was brought in by the Embassy. It's from Brasil. The carver named him Paolo. :-)

So after hours of eating and sitting around we had several pumpkin pies....yum!

Last night was Salsa Night at the rec site--so another fun evening. There were some Colombian dancers here (don't ask me why) so they did a little show, then we had some quick lessons. Then it was just dance, dance, dance. Not a bad weekend overall. No football (not that I really care) and it's back to work tomorrow!!!

Miss you all,
Jane

Back to Tutti Island

So, there's not much new here. This week I survived the program reviews (for the whole USAID Sudan Mission) and that was a nice change from other meetings. But things are still a mess in Darfur so there's never a dull moment. And someone deleted a much needed document off of one of the house computers so I'll have to redo that. Bummer. Looks like it will be another fun week!!

Anyway, on the fun side, we had some friends over to the pool yesterday so that was a nice reason for a get together. Then today we went to the leather shop again and then for a boat ride around the island.












Tiare and I smile for the camera!!

Here are some photos of daily life on the Nile. The change between riding around in September when the Nile was flooding and now, back to regular levels, is tremendous.












Clearly--at some point this boat was in the water...now it's about 10-15 feet above the river!







Just giving the donkey a little bath!




And a little fishing......












...and all of the background in this photos was underwater last time I was out and about.













As was what is now fertile crop land......



I've got more pictures I can post, but the internet is slow right now, and it's late here.

I'll talk to you all soon, and see you on or about December 15th!!!!

Love,
Jane

On the mend

Hi all,

Happy Veteran's Day! I celebrated by working from home in my pajama's for 4 hours. Someone's gotta do it! But it was nice to at least have a "casual day".

Now I'm back at the office full time and working on lots of different issues. It's still not good news. There's something to be said for job security--but this isn't the kind I'm looking for.

I got a link to a photo site by a guy in Darfur...thought you might like to take a look.
http://www.diegofgphoto.net.

Also, while channel surfing I saw this video (basically because there aren't commercials they show videos to fill the void). This is a new one filmed in Chad/Darfur. It's pretty interesting. You can cut and paste either of these links in to your browser to watch it if you want. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3agef_mattafix-living-darfur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJtvNHPWUO8

Anyway--hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share in the next few days. In the meantime....

Miss you,
Jane

Follow the trail of Kleenex

Hi all,

Hope all is well where ever you are. Things are going along just swimmingly here. I'm on my last day of training. We've been training partners on our grant guidelines for the past week. Three 2-day sessions. The first group was great, the second--not so much, and the third is back up to the standards of the first! So that's been good.

But during the weekend between the first and second workshops I caught the cold that is going around. Some people are getting the flu, others something weird where your glands swell up. Fortunately I don't have that. Just a persistent sore throat, not a head cold. Good times. Nothing better when you have to stand up in front of 25 people and talk!

In other news, work has picked up since the government has decided to PNG (persona non-grata) the Head of Office of a UN agency at one of the areas where we work. So that's not so fun. People are in a tizzy--and rightly so. Let 's hope we can get a united front and encourage some movement on this. Or else I fear that things will turn increasingly for the worse.

There's always something!!

Miss you,
Jane

Daylight Savings Time

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that you are now 8 hours behind me--instead of just 7!!!

Also--Nomadette24, who are you?? Bob and I can't figure it out (I thought I knew but I was wrong).

Miss you all,
Jane

The Last Few Days

Hi all,

I spent the 31st and 1st leading a training for our NGOs on how to write an OFDA proposal. It was a great workshop with great, involved participants. That was the first of three. The next two are this week. So I will be busy! After two days, well I was exhausted!

Fortunately, we had our halloween party at the rec site. It was a great party. I went as a flapper. We had pirates, grapes, cats, doctors, surfers, dead people, mummies, german bar maids, "nudists on strike", gladiators, chess pieces, colonel mustard, a wounded British rugby player, a black widow (spider/person), Flav-a-Flav, and some who chose not to dress up (of course). Great fun was had by all. I'll see if I can put up a photo once I get a copy.

Anyway--this week's entries will be light as there is much training to be done. But I did attempt the Khartoum triathlon again. We ran from the house to the rec site thinking we would jump in the pool. But by the time we got there (and extra 1 km maybe) we were too tired to change into our suits so we gave up and came home. Exercise has its risks and rewards here I guess!!

Hope you're all doing well and I'm enjoying hearing from you. I will write back to those of you who have written, it's just taking longer than I thought!!!

Miss you,
Jane

The Khartoum Triathlon

So today, after bemoaning that there is only one treadmill for USG staff here, and that my intake of carbs has increased 10fold, my friend Tiare and I decided to run home from the office. This is estimated to be somewhere 6 kilometers. We sent off, much to the delight of our drivers at about 10 past six. I soon realized that Khartoum, in its own way, has presented me with a triathlon experience.

As most of you know, I enjoy participating in triathlons. I don't "race" them but I do "complete" them. They involved swimming, biking and running--in that order--and in various distances depending on the race.

The Khartoum triathlon experience is something like this:

Event 1: Extreme Focus:

Avoiding or tuning out all of the comments and beeps you get from the novelty of two white women running (and not being chased by a pack of dogs, or anyone else). I successfully completed this way in approximately 10-15 minutes.

Event 2: Traffic Dodging:

To get home we have to cross several smaller streets and two large streets. After practicing our traffic dodging skills on some of the smaller streets, we darted through traffic fairly easily on the larger streets...though as with anything, practice makes perfect and our timing on the second larger street was much better. No one was even close to us! This event was woven throughout the run home much like water breaks in a normal race.

Event 3: Combatofpollutionanddust-ism:

After about 10 minutes we were hot and sweaty. It was after all roughly 105 degrees. But the real problem was sucking in awful exhaust from all of the cars, trucks and tuk-tuks. Then you have the dust--always pervasive but more noticeable when you're sucking in air for all you're worth. About half way through I was really jonesing for some water. By the time we finished, I couldn't even make it to the third floor (where I live) without stopping for water on the first floor.

But the event was completed, and though there was no medal for me at the "finish line" we did got out for Indian food. Yum!!

Even though I'm sore right now, I'll definitely do this again. It's a good way to get rid of the stress of the office--and these days there is definitely stress. And it means that when I get home and collapse on the couch, I don't have to feel guilty about it! Note to self: next time take a small bottle of water and ipod.

Hope your exercise regiment is going better than mine!!!

Love,
Jane

Oye

Well, it's been 5 days since my last entry. And in those five days....well...lets just say all is not well in Darfur. So things have been busy. And of course events began to unfold last Friday night and into Saturday--our weekend here. So, after a hectic week we come to another weekend. I can only hope that tomorrow we don't have any more surprises.

My plans you ask?? A good swim at the rec site since Sudan is the anti-Atkins and I basically only eat carbs and sugar here. Then maybe a pedicure for my new sandals (which I love dearly) combined with open toe shoes and tevas make for some nasty feet. Then it's off to make Halloween decorations for the party next weekend. And finally, we have happy hour. Which isn't so much happy hour as hours. Then Saturday, it's off to get my sandals!! Yippee!!

So that's about this from this end.....feel free to drop a comment. So far I think only three people have read this (thanks Kelly, Stefanie and Mom!!)

Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Jane

(oh--and Grey's Anatomy still rocks!! Watching via iTunes downloads....what did we do before satellites, internet, apple???)

The littlest things....

So exciting news! I found, courtesy of the French, a great leather shop where I can get any sandal made I want for $15!! I've already bought one cool pair and then ordered another!! And they have purses, ec. They'll make you anything! The only drawback---you can smell the tanning....ew. Even if I wasn't a vegetarian it would be nasty. Anyway--if my family is reading this--don't be surprised when you get sandals for xmas!!!

But, trying to go to the pool later was a example of how the simplest thing can just be difficult. We had only two drivers today--for many, many people (exact number unknown). So to get to the rec site to swim today (ok--I acknowledge that I'm lucky) I had to call three people---the dispatcher, a driver, and one of my friends--who was supposed to have a car. After I found a car, we had to take another driver to get his car but on route we had to pick up two people. So getting there took 50 minutes instead of 15. Granted, my French friends had the same issue--waiting 40 minutes for a driver--so it's not just us. But still. Though I would be terrified of driving here, it would be lovely to go where I want, when I want.

I also discovered, from my UNICEF friend, a lovely Egyptian woman who will come to the house and do manicures/pedicures, facials, threading (eyebrows), waxing with this stuff that's sugar, honey and lemon--weird--but less painful than waxing in the States. Anyway--good stuff and a nice treat.

So that's about it from here. Work will be crazy this week as things are not going well in Darfur. Lots going on and I'm sure you're reading about it in the papers. We're a bit worried. I'm more glass half-empty for Darfur.....que tristeza!!!

Talk to you soon!!!
Jane

The Temples of Naga

After our visit to the Pyramids of Meroe (see previous blog entry) we headed to the Temples of Naga.

These are the Meroitic temples and are said to be some of the best preserved Kushite sites in the country. The photo below is the Temple of Amun and was built in the 1st century AD by King Natakamani.


To get to the inner temple shown above you have to go through a series of rams....here's the USAID crew posing by one rams.





If I understand right--the photo above depicts the queen Amanitore holding prisoners by the hair.


I don't really have a description, but these are pretty cool. There were five on the other three walls (excluding the front entry way)./


This is apparently a depiction of Apedemak represented by the body of a snake coming out of a lotus flower--you can just make that out in the photo if you look closely.


This may or may not be the "Kiosk" in front of the Lion Temple.



I have no idea-but it's cool!!!

I have many more pictures (about 200) so if I post them on shutterfly or some other site I'll let you know....

Talk to you soon!
Jane

Finally--a trip out of Khartoum to the Pyramids and Temples!

Hi all,

This weekend a group of us went to the Pyramids of Meroe and the Temples of Naga. The drive is 3 hours north of Khartoum and takes you through some beautiful country. First I'll detail the trip and then the pictures.

We left on Saturday a.m. We had five cars--between 25 and 30 people. The drive took longer than usual--mostly because of concerns about fuel consumption and a flat tire. But we made it. The first stop was the Pyramids of Meroe. After visiting that site for about one and a half to two hours, and a little camel ride (just for the tourists!), we headed to our camp site. Several of us were staying in an Italian run permanent site while others chose to camp out without the amenities. The only problem on day one was the heat. At the pyramids, it must have been between 115 and 120. Brutal. Though there was a bit of a breeze.

Sunday we went to the Ancient City of Meroe--not nearly as visually impressive but with some interesting buildings, and then heading back towards Kharotum and a stop at the Temples of Naga (or Nagaa). The temples were amazing but may soon be covered in water due to the planned construction of a dam. We're vague on the details but if it happens, it will be a loss.

In today's blog I'll cover the pyramids of Meroe. Tomorrow I'll post some photos and info about the Temples of Naga.





It's hot so you grab what shade you can.














I'm learning to ride my camel...much to the delight of my camel's owner's--Suliman.











The Italian camp

The view from my tent--the pyramids are in the background there.

The pyramids are beautiful...both from the ground, and if you climb to the top!



Taking a rest from our walk around, Tiare, Andrea and I rest at the base of one of the pyramids.








We drew a bit of a crowd and the lesser visited of the two pyramid sites.










A bit about the pyramids:
Meroe is the old Kushite capital and the pyramids of Meroe--the cemetery--dates back to approx. the 8th century BC. Kings and queens were buried here until the fall of the Kushite rule in the 4th century AD. Kushite culture was heavily influenced by Egypt due to centuries of interaction and the main gods of Egypt are represented in the Kushite pantheon.

The pyramids, while similar to those in Egypt are much smaller. If the largest was still intact, it would be almost 30m high. Though there used to be 160 pyramids, now there are about 30. Most have had the tops cut off by an Italian treasure hunter in 1834.

Happy Times are here again!

Today is Friday and Ramadan, and 30 days of fasting, is officially over. this is the first day of Eid and everything is closed today. It's a bit like Christmas here. People were out late last night buying food, sweets, clothes, jewelry and more. In celebration, the government takes about a week off. We have off Sunday and Monday so it's a nice four day weekend!!! Lots of people have taken off to go on R&R--rest--in any number of places, Kenya, Tanzania Europe, Egypt, etc. So it's quiet here.

Anyway, some of you have asked for some general photos of Khartoum. So here are some general shots that I've taken.

This is the point where the White Nile and the Blue Niles come together before heading towards Eqypt. The White Nile is the lighter color in the foreground and the Blue Nile is the darker color in the background!!!

The Nile on my birthday (9/14). It was flooding--still is though it's down significantly now. We took a boat around Tutti island (seen here).

The goat/sheep market in Khartoum. There are several, but this is one of the main ones on the outskirts of town.

A camel for sale at the camel market.

Spices, beans, hibicus for sale.

Caroline and I peruse the options.

Caroline, Bob and Jane after a dip in the pool with the Nile in the
background.

Greek food and a doggie tackle

So last night my friend/colleague Andrea made terrific Greek food (and vegetarian to boot!) for a group of women. It was surprisingly "normal" for the Khartoum scene. After stuffing myself I went home to a very hyper pooch. So I decided to take Cooper to the rec site this morning so that he could get some good exercise of leash and my arms would remain in their sockets. Cooper did run around smelling everything but it gets so hot so quickly he wasn't quite as active as I thought he would be.

He did get one of those random spurts of energy and started running around. When he calmed down I tried to get him back to running and started running around as well. Resulting in a "from the behind" sneak attack and a little nip on the shoulder. We told John, the dogs owner, that my hospital stay is short but expensive. Hehe.

Anyway--a few more days and I'll be back "home" to the land of tv and internet. What luxuries!! I'll have a lot to post on Friday with some scenes around town here, and some on Monday of a weekend trip.

Later,
Jane

Very international!

Ni hao! Last night I went to dinner at Panda's Chinese Restaurant. I was the only American with one Australian, one Scot, and three Brits. Two of the Brits ordered the table's dinner in Chinese. Ah, the international flavor of expat living!!! And I had tofu to boot!! :-)

Ah--the joy of a long weekend

Star date 10.08.2007

So as a US citizen I was gleeful for the upcoming Columbus day holiday. (Who doesn't get really excited about this holiday?!?!) Since we work Sunday through Thursday we had Sunday off.

As mentioned below, I agreed to stay and a new-comers apartment while he is in South Sudan. After a long, boring Friday with no internet or tv I decided I had to get out. So on Saturday I went swimming (shocker I know--do you see a pattern here??). By the time I got to the rec site it was about 11 a.m. and after swimming for 1 1/2 hours I was parched! (Don't worry Mom--plenty of sunscreen so I didn't burn at all--barely a shade darker in fact). Since I forgot my water bottle my friend said I should use the distiller in the kitchen. So I bad in, swimming cap and all, grab a glass of luke warm water. As I finish, I notice the security guard grab one of the big 5-gal plastic water jugs, fill it up with tap water and dump it in the distiller. Now, I may not know much about the distiller's inner workers, but I've never seen one filled that way. So I'm counting my blessings that the stabbing pains in my stomach Saturday night went away and I haven't been sick!

Anyway, to continue to fill the hours of my weekend I decided to take my friend up on his invite to watch the rugby quarter finals on Saturday. It was France versus New Zealand for those who aren't closely following this!! France was the underdog--and the house was full of French (and Irish) who were eager. Apparently France had beaten NZ in a stunning upset in the early rounds. The first half didn't look good. The Kiwis (the team is called the "all blacks") started off with their pre-game war chant (impressive) and proved to be agile against the French kicking game leading 13-0 at half time. (Ironically--the kicking game strategy also failed as they missed their three penalty kicks) But the French roared back and made a ridiculous amount of tackles in the 2nd half holding off the All Blacks and beating them 20-18. Needless to say, everyone was ecstatic.

So arriving home around 12:30 a.m., I tried my key. Nothing. I push, banged, etc. Nothing. So I went down to get the guards help. More pounding and banging later, nothing. Frustrated, sweating in the wretched heat of the 3rd floor stairway, and with a moaning dog on the other side I gave up. The guard called someone, who called someone who called me back. The conversation when something like this;
"Who are you?"
--I explain
"And you have the key?"
--"Yes"
"And you have the right key for the right door?"
--"Yes--it's not the key/lock, it's the other part (the little tongue that sticks in). The metal is broken."
"Ok--I'll call someone"

I give up and take my stuff downstairs where at least it's cooler.

1 a.m. my phone rings.
"Hi. This is XX. I'm the Asst. GSO (comment: I don't really understand what the GSO is in charge of but it seems to include all of the buildings). Can you explain what's going on because it's not clear."
--I explain who I am and that I'm locked out etc. And that there's a dog.
"well, I'm glad that you actually have a key. You'd be amazed at how often that's the problem. And I do have an extra set but it doesn't seem like that's going to help you in this case."
--I agreed.
So she called the carpenter to come break me in.

1:30 a.m., the carpenter arrives Banging and hammering ensue. He points to the deadbolt.
"where's the key"
--"I don't have it. No one has it. We only use the bottom lock."
"well, it's the bolt."
More banging and hammer and I watch as he breaks in to the door by ripping out the deadbolt. It was actually harder than I thought--comforting to know!

The dog, Cooper, was cowering in the corner when I finally got in around 2 a.m. he's big, but turns out he's a big chicken. A bigger chicken than Lily.

So between the microwave fire, the lack of internet and tv, and the lock situation...I'm starting to loose faith.

Sunday I napped (since Cooper woke me up at 6:30 to go outside) and watched tv I have downloaded from iTunes and movies. Thank goodness you can get Grey's Anatomy on iTunes people!!

So now I'm happy starting my workweek. Yeah. Work. I know--right? Did you think you'd hear me say that??

More soon,
Bye from "the 'toum"
Jane

Beware of walking your dog

So I decided to help out a fellow USAID employee and stay at his place to watch his dog Cooper, a Rhodesian ridgeback, while he's in south Sudan for a week. This idea was agreed to at 12:15 a.m. on our way home from happy hour and not one of my best thought out plans, but does give me the opportunity to leave the "Real World Khartoum" and be by myself for a bit.

John has just moved up here from Nairobi and hasn't really settled in to his place because he'll be moving from the third floor to the first floor. So it's been a bit of a challenge. Like cooking the risotto I got from Stefanie (yum!) meant I had to unpack a pot, measuring cup, utensils, etc. Of course, this was much better than my snack attempt where I thought I would heat up some microwave popcorn and the microwave caught fire. Seriously. I don't make this stuff up. There's no need!!!

After dinner I decided to take Cooper for a walk. He's having a hard time in the heat so once the sun is down, it's much easier.

Now for those of you who know Lily, you know that even though she's packing 90 pounds, she's easy to control, obedient, fairly uninterested in other dogs, etc. Cooper is big, muscle-y and when provoked by the pack of dogs that live near his house, likes to snarl and lunge. So I'm getting a fair upper body workout. The problem is, at night, I can't really see anything. So we'll just be walking along and all of a sudden there's mass chaos!! Needless to say I'll think twice about this before agreeing again!!

But sleeping in a true queen size bed with new sheets instead of my two twins pushed together with annoying springs that get you every once in a while is very nice.

There's no TV or internet so my communication is a bit more limited....but I'll still be around.

This week I also got a photo of my pooch Lily from Kasey-my friend from USAID who's watching her. Kasey and her husband and two kids already had Thunder the German Shepherd. Now they've also got Lily. And they just adopted Lightening the yellow lab!! But from all accounts (and photos) it looks like Lily et al are just fine!

Ugh...it's so hot here. Everyone swears it will cool off, but it's just hot. Too hot.

Swimming with Kites....

....Not kites that kids play with, but the birds.

Today I was swimming after work--now that I have swim fins here in Khartoum I'm trying to get back in to my swim workouts. Our pool is outside and it's usually nice to do laps and take glances at things while I'm breathing. Today there must have been good wind funnel or something because all of a sudden there were literally about 100 birds flying pretty close. Some of them look at you like you're a big, fat, albino fish that they'd love to take a bite out of. Fortunately they keep a safe enough distance...but I keep an eye out!!

Other news...well there's not much. I was trying to get to an office today for a meeting and was pondering how it could possibly be income-generating to stand in the median and sell stuff. People frequently sell food (grapes and oranges are popular right now) but also sell kleenex, coat racks, cattle whips, serving trays, and all manner of objects. Really--have you ever just been driving along and thought--oh--I could really use a purple inflatable child's chair?? I just don't get it. And at $0.75 for a box of kleenex---well I hope he sells a lot of kleenex.

The sellers are a nice distraction from how bad the driving is here. I think traffic lights and lane lines (where they exist) are considered more of a general guideline than hard and fast rules. So if you're at the light and you feel like going through--you do. If you want to drive across the lane lines, you can. My favorite is when the people are driving in two lanes very slowly and when you beep, they move over and flag you by--as if giving permission. Good grief. Anyway--I'm glad I don't have to drive here. I'd go mad!!

Well--that's about all of my rantings for tonight.

Caving

9-30-07

Hi all,

I'm caving under the pressure to provide information, photos etc about my goings-on. It seemed that I should jump on the bandwagon with a blog.... So here it is, my first one.

I'm in Khartoum right now and I'll be here until December. It's really really hot, though I've actaully missed the hottest part of the year. The pool water is starting to cool down which is nice...I'm enjoying my laps a bit more. Other than that, there's not much new!! I'll see if I can post some of my original email from Khartoum up so those that didn't see it, and maybe some photos. I'm just getting the hang of this.

Anyway--some little tidbits about what's been happening in the last week:

1. I saw a guy with a lawn mower strapped on to the back of his bicycle. That was pretty cool (and frankly and inventive way to transport your lawn mower!).

2. When we were pulling in to our driveway last night we almost got hit by a car. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, braced and said "Mary, Mother of God" which illicited laughter from my car mates. Of course--they hadn't seen it coming so didn't know until the danger had passed. One of my car mates thought I should call my mom and let her know that I was semi-praying in what could have been my "final moments" (though it really wouldn't have been that bad an accident if we had been hit) and the other thought it was interesting that i called out Mary insteand of God or Jesus....laying down my true feminist roots I guess!!!

3. I spent part of my weekend reading ("The Emperer's Children"--as my sister said--there are just too many words), looking for running music and other music on iTunes (my new favorite's are "Here" by Hellogoodby and "Relax, Take it Easy" by Mika) and cooking (there are few words to describe my culinary skills)

Anyway--that's about it for this edition....I'll pass on tidbits as they occur. Feel free to drop me a line!!

Jane