22 Jan 2012

Happy New Year, Independence and other occasions!

Much as I had a brilliant time in Khartoum, it was good to get back to El Obeid.  People were so happy to see me back, even the man I just say hello to every time I walk past his house on my way the Extra Institute was delighted to see me!

Being in Khartoum for "Independence Day", we thought we might see some of the celebrations, however in true Sudanese style celebrations began after the actual day itself!  Driving to work on my first day back in El Obeid, we passed a military mounted procession gathering.  Lines of men on horseback, looking very smart in their traditional "Jalabias" bright white in the morning sunshine.

Later that day I went to the main campus of the University to meet Hassan as Mohammed had told him I had returned from Khartoum "bankrupt"!  They were staging a celebration to mark the Independence of Sudan from Britain in 1956.  A group of students sang a number of traditional Sudanese songs, to which there was much dancing and cheering from the crowd of Staff and Students that had assembled to watch the proceedings.  As usual I had found myself in prime position in the front row.  Amongst the singing, speeches and poetry there was a lively drama, which was very entertaining, despite not understanding the dialogue!  The portrayal of an English Gentleman Soldier was hilarious, complete with the clipped upper class accent.  Little did I know at the time that I was yet to enjoy this celebration a further two times - at Khawr Teggat on the Sunday and again at the Faculty of Education on the following Tuesday!  Although each subsequent occasion had it's surprises - at Khawr Teggat, Hassan joined the students on stage and sang with them, which was great to see!  And at the faculty of Education Mrs Helen was led up in front of the stage to dance in front of the crowd - to much cheering and clapping!  If only they knew - in England several units of alcohol would had to have been consumed for me to make a public spectacle of myself like that!  It was just lovely to share in the joy and celebration with my colleagues and students.  One of whom gave me the best accolade "You are the best English/Sudanese dancer we have seen!"

That evening I met my friend at the centre campus for coffee.  We could hear the sound of drums in the distance so we went off to investigate.  There was a group of boys and a group of girls performing a dance around the basketball court.  One of my students was nearby, and told us that it was a tribal celebration, welcoming new students to the university.  The dance was very similar to the one I'd seen performed at the French Institute before Christmas - lots of fast footwork, as my friend Ness described it - a bit like shuffle! This time I did have my camera but the battery was dead!  Seemingly I am not destined to record this for future reference!  Though it was wonderful to be amongst the crowd, cheering and clapping, enjoying the spectacle.

On the Friday of my first week back in El Obeid, I went to a "circumcision celebration" for two adorable little boys - who's feet you can see in the picture!  Like all family gatherings and celebrations, the ladies and men were separate for the occasion, and of course food was involved too!  After a sumptuous  breakfast, the boys were prepared for their celebration.  Beautifully dressed in their jallabias, with their feet hennaed, they then had red ribbons tied round their heads, with a gold medallion at the front and sticks around the sides which gave them the appearance of crowns.  Then an orange paste was applied to firstly their heads and then to everyone else's (including me!)  The little boys obliged by punching the air in celebration to the delight of everyone there.  There was lots of singing and trilling and at last - I have learned how to do it!  So I can now trill with the best of them at all future celebrations!  I just wish learning Arabic was that simple!

7 Jan 2012

Khartoum Capers!

After the excitement of Christmas Day we spent Boxing day relaxing around the apartment venturing out after dark for some delicious ice cream at a very swanky ice cream and cake shop appropriately named "Luxury" on Africa Street.  It is easy to forget you are in Sudan in this part of Khartoum, as you can go for ice cream or a meal and hear English being spoken all around you and all the waiters seem to understand English much better than my broken Arabic!

The next day we start out with a plan to go to Souk Omdurman, then on the way back stop at Souk Arabi and see Paul the SVP coordinator.  However, it takes us a while to get going (as is often the case here in Sudan!) so we have a brief shop in Souk Arabi after something to eat, and go directly to the SVP flat.  Whilst we are out and about, Brent, calls and invites us out for something to eat.  Given the choice of Fuul, The Yemeni Restaurant (where we have eaten many times), Pizza or Indian - the Brit in me straight away opts for the Indian!  The Tanoor Inn, Khartoum 2 does not disappoint!  The food and service is fabulous and the price is reasonable too.  So having had a Chinese in Goa, I have now had an Indian in Sudan - what next?

My holiday in Khartoum seems to default into lazing around for most of the day then eating with friends in the evening - quite the opposite to my daily life in El Obeid, where I tend to spend my days at the University and my evenings alone in my apartment recharging my batteries!

Jess went back to Wad Medani on the Thursday morning and Billie was working at Neelain University (www.neelain.edu.sd/) , so I decided to go along for the ride and see what Neelain is like compared to University of Kordofan.  It is situated in a very nice part of Khartoum near to the Nile confluence (hence the name!)  The building is quite spectacular, beautiful architecture much more in keeping with the style of some of the more traditional buildings in England.  The lecture halls are similarly equipped although they have white boards, instead of chalk boards and the head of department shouts out of the window to order tea as they do at University of Kordofan.  The difference being that the tea lady is downstairs and across a busy street!  However, she happily brings the tea, just the same!  I guess it's good exercise!

That evening we joined Christine, Brent and Rebecca at Ozone, a well known cafe where anybody who is anyone in Khartoum hangs out!  I'd driven past it many times, but hadn't previously sampled it's delights!  Whilst we were there I got a call from my friends Jenny and Paul to tell me they had arrived safely in Khartoum and would arrange for a car to come and pick me up in the morning.  Billie, Mary and their friends were going to Port Sudan for New Year, but were happy to let me stay in their apartment for the duration of my stay in Khartoum.

It seemed surreal seeing Jenny and Paul sitting in the back of a car in Khartoum!  The last time I'd seen Jenny was enjoying a meal with our dear friend Julie, in the Butchers Arms, Greens Norton (http://www.thebutchersarmsgreensnorton.co.uk/), shortly before I left for Sudan.  It was a wet August evening and I remember vividly the view out of the window and across the street - a quintessential English village view - houses and cottages and the church spire.  I remember thinking "I don't suppose I'll see a view like this again for a while!"  And here they were in Riyahd!  

We spent a very pleasant day being driven around in their air conditioned car past some of the sights of Khartoum.  I don't think Jenny and I really noticed them, we were just happy to be having a good old girly catch up!  After our sight seeing trip we went back to Hotel Assaha, where Jenny and Paul were staying, for tea before getting ready to go to one of Paul's Sudanese colleague's weddings.  The wedding was beautiful, a lovely mixture of Sudanese and English style wedding (Mohammed was bought up in Solihull!)  Jess joined us at the wedding as she'd arrived back in Khartoum to celebrate New Year with Martha and Christine, so after the wedding Mustafa (the driver) kindly dropped us back at Billie's apartment.
 
On New Year's Eve morning I packed an overnight bag, as Jenny and Paul had kindly booked me into their hotel for the night (only one of the best hotels in town!)  They arrived to pick me up with Mohammed, who is a business contact of Paul's, and we headed off to the Camel Market which is some way out of Khartoum.  I had been to the local El Obeid Camel Market, but this one was much bigger and far more spread out.  We were allowed into an enclosure with half a dozen camels, but we weren't allowed to take photos - presumably because these were top secret racing camels or something??!!  After a bit of a wander round we went and had a very delicious breakfast of lamb and camel meat, with lashings of  "Leban Up" to wash it down with.  "Leban Up" is yoghurt mixed with 7 Up, and is not only very nice, it is said to aid digestion of the meat!  I vow to start making my own at home!

When we get back to the hotel I go to register and check in - only to find that as I have Sudanese residency they do not need to hold on to my passport or fill in any forms!  I take my belongings and the case of "swag" that Paul and Jenny have bought me over from the UK to my room and unpack. It's a good job that I've bought a large bag with me to take everything back to Billie's!  The ever thoughtful Jenny has included some extra presents - body shop pink grapefruit body butter and emergency chocolates from non other than Hotel Chocolat, which I will try and keep as a treat for my birthday! The Hotel Assaha is famous locally for it's Lebanese Restaurant, and they had program of entertainment planned so they suggested that we didn't come down too late for dinner.

We had a relaxing drink together before going down for dinner.  During which time we kept a watchful eye on the restaurant below, to ensure we managed to get a table!  The food was excellent and as we were eating the restaurant filled up to full capacity and the entertainment began. There was music and Sudanese dancing. I had been pre-warned that New Year is not such a big deal here in Sudan, so was not surprised at the lack of countdown or cheering!



However there was a nice atmosphere, the music was good and we had sparklers!The biggest advantage was that you could send texts around midnight without any problem!  In fact Karen rang me on the stroke of midnight, bless her, if she was hoping to hear a rowdy countdown and raucous celebrations, she would have been surely disappointed!  At least we were able to have a decent conversation! Things quietened down further around 1am so we headed up to Paul and Jenny's room to stay up for New Year UK.

In the morning I treated myself to a bath, my first in over 4 months!  Then I sat around in the fluffy bathrobe for a bit before getting ready to meet Jenny and Paul for breakfast.  We decide to start the New Year with a walk and ventured out of the hotel to walk to the Blue Nile Sailing Club - another one of Khartoum's haunts that I have driven past many times but never been into.  It turned out to be quite a long walk, so we are glad of a relaxing, well deserved Shay by the Nile, when we got there.  We had hoped to find a boat trip to take us up to the confluence, but no such luck.  Seemingly most of down town Khartoum was shut, it was a public holiday after all!  The walk back seemed quicker, after which we treated ourselves to a drink at Ozone, where I bumped into a chap from the French Embassy whom I'd met in El Obeid - small world isn't it!  

Later we went for dinner at Tanoor Inn (Paul and Jenny asked for my recommendation, it was good and I figured it'd be a while before I got the chance of another Indian!)  Once again it did not disappoint! After the meal Mustafa dropped me back at Billie's apartment, where not only did I have the embarrassment of having the security guard insist on struggling up the stairs with my extremely heavy bag, I then had the shock of seeing a light under the door of the apartment!  Luckily it was Mary and her parents back from Port Sudan and not burglars!


The next morning Mary kindly offered to come and help me get my bus ticket! Thank goodness! Her Arabic is excellent, so I could rest assured that I would be on the right bus, at the right time and the right day!  Mustafa and Jenny came to pick us up and Mary explained in her brilliant Arabic where we needed to go. Once we got there he was a man on a mission, finding the same bus company that I'd travelled from El Obeid with and he and Mary sorted out my ticket, before we dropped Mary back home.  Jenny and I met Paul for a spot of lunch at Ozone, where this time I bumped into Paul Fean!  I find it so strange that I'm bumping into people I know all the time in Sudan, but back in Milton Keynes I can go all over the place without seeing a single familiar soul!  After lunch we went back to Assaha where Paul and Jenny packed before going to the Airport.  I have to admit I felt pretty emotional when we dropped them off  - realising that they were going home to England which I wouldn't be doing for nearly six months yet!  

When I got back to the apartment, Mary was busily cooking.  We'd invited people round to spend my last night in Kharotum with us.  Billie was back from Port Sudan too.  My last night in Khartoum was spent eating all Mary's delicious cooking, chatting and smoking sheesha with Mary, Billie, Bob and Omar!  A perfect end to a brilliant holiday!

Again I was up before Dawn Prayers the next morning - I'd booked an amjad to take me to the bus station at 6:30am for my epic journey back south!  By the time I'd got on the bus I was looking forward to getting back to El Obeid, and it's slow pace of life!  Kharotum is far too busy and expensive for me! I'd got barely any money left - Though it was worth every Sudanese pound to spend such a great time with fantastic friends old and new!  I know I will always remember how I saw in 2012!

4 Jan 2012

Khartoum Christmas!

On the 23rd December I got up in time for dawn prayers for the first time since I've been in Sudan.  No I haven't finally found religion - I was catching the 715am bus to Khartoum and Hassan was coming to pick me up at 645am.  I had no idea what my first Christmas away from home was going to be like, but I'd figured it was all the excuse I needed to take the long trip back to Khartoum, to see my SVP friends.

My friends at Extra had been laughing at me as I'd been fretting about the bus ticket for the whole week, worrying that they might sell out and I wouldn't be able to get to Khartoum for Christmas!  In my mind I had visions of it turning out like one of those cheesy American "Home for Christmas" movies, where everything that could possibly go wrong on the journey does, although in my version I couldn't picture the happy ending!  However, seemingly as long as you avoid travelling during Eid you can pretty much bowl up at the bus station on the morning you want to travel and you'll have no problems getting a seat.  

Much as I was looking forward to seeing everyone in Khartoum I was dreading the bus journey.Spending ten hours on a bus without a toilet and only one stop halfway was not on my bucket list strangely enough!  Still I needn't have worried as it was a relatively painless mere eight and a quarter hours, with a driver who wasted no time and ignored the speeding alarm constantly beeping all the way!  By 3:30pm I am standing in the sun outside the bus station in Khartoum, waiting for Billie to arrive.

Billie rang and asked me if I was standing next to a Sudanese person, which made me laugh so much - I was the only white person outside the bus station!  Of course I soon realised the reason she was asking me was that she'd got lost and a Sudanese man was helping her with directions!

It was so great to see Billie after all this time, and to know that Jess was on her way too.  Billie's apartment  in Riyadh (which is a very upmarket Ex Pat area of town) is amazing.  Her bedroom alone is bigger than my apartment!  At one point there were four volunteers living there together, but now it's just Billie and Mary, with Mary's folks in town for the festive season.

We had all been invited to Paul Fean's; a fellow SVP volunteer's house; for the big day and each needed to provide something to eat and a secret Santa present.  So on Christmas Eve, after a nice long lie in we headed for the Ex Pat supermarket in search of edible goodies and then off to the mall for something for secret Santa.  

Later on we had arranged to meet Martha and Christine at a Restaurant called "Solitaire"  for something to eat before attending Midnight Mass at the Catholic Cathedral.  We surprised ourselves by arriving relatively on time and found a nice table and settled down to wait for the others.  After a fair few minutes of waiting with phone calls back and forth we realised that there were in fact two "Solitaire" restaurants in Khartoum!  Martha and Christine were waiting patiently in the other one!  So we went and hailed a rickshaw to take us to them, aware that time was moving on and we were all starving.  

However, this proved to be no simple feat - we had picked the rickshaw driver who had just arrived in town and had no idea where anywhere was including Khartoum 2, a whole district!  After he had stopped and asked for directions for about the 4th time we abandoned the rickshaw paid him something towards the petrol and got an amjad to take us there instead.  By the time we arrived it was 11pm and Martha and Christine were just finishing off their meal so that they could get to the Mass in time.  Luckily the service was very quick so Jess and I still managed to get to the Cathedral before the Mass started.  

The place was packed, mostly by local people with a smattering of Ex Pat's here and there.  Unlike in England the Mass actually started at midnight and went on until close to 2am!  It was the most up beat "jingly jangly" Catholic Mass I have ever attended, although we were slightly disappointed by the lack of Carol singing opportunities.  However we did manage a few versus of  "Oh come All Ye Faithful" on two occasions!  I finally fell into bed around 3am, feeling quite Christmassy at last!

On Christmas morning I awoke to find a card and present of a much needed Arabic book from Jess - bless her, she's so lovely and thoughtful.  I also had another gift to open from my dear friend Rabha, who had given it to me the night before I left El Obeid - nice perfume which I have been constantly wearing ever since.

After a very relaxing start to Christmas Day, we set off for Paul's in the sunshine wearing tinsel with Billie carrying a small Christmas Tree she had made with the children at the Coptic Catholic School. On arrival we were greeted warmly by Paul and Brent who were waiting outside so that we could find the house.



The house was full of SVP volunteers, friends and family, with more friends arriving later on.  We put our secret Santa presents under the tree and set to work in the kitchen preparing our feast. 

My contribution was cauliflower cheese, to go with the roast chickens and stuffing provided by Brent and Paul.  The table looked amazing, full of delicious food that everyone had made.







After dinner we played pass the parcel - which was new to both the Sudanese and Americans!  It's amazing what SVP does for international relations!  Then we opened our secret Santa presents.  Mine was a beautiful handmade box with a two bank notes in it; one Sudanese and the other from South Sudan; which I know will prove to be a truly memorable souvenir in years to come!

I chatted to my mum and children on facebook and by telephone, although it was hard hearing their voices and not being there with them, knowing they were all happy too made my day complete.  I also had calls and texts from my friends in El Obeid wishing me a Happy Christmas, which was lovely and unexpected, especially bearing in mind that it is not a day of celebration here in Sudan.

Christmas Day 2011 may have been spent thousands of miles away from dear friends and family, but all the friends I have made in Sudan since September made it truly wonderful in it's own unique and special way - I am sure I will always remember my magical Sudanese Christmas!