Visitors from Abroad

By the time I felt well enough to travel back to El Obeid, it was the last day of the semester at the university.  As I felt more than a little guilty for taking what turned out to be an extended break in Khartoum, I decided to go straight to the Extra Institute when I got back, then call in at the supermarket on the way home to restock my fridge.  

It was great to catch up with my friends in the Speak Out Club, even though I was tired from the journey.  After we had finished our session I found out I was invited to eat with Mohammed, Hammid, Saleh and their guests from Ethiopia and Northern Ireland, who were visiting El Obeid as part of "Connecting Classrooms", a British Council Initiative.  I suggested going home to freshen up and change, but Hammid insisted I looked fine and we set off to pick up the guests from their hotel.

This was the last night for the 3 guests from Ethiopia, who were travelling early the next day.  All of the group had spent the last week visiting various schools in and around El Obeid, as Mohammed and Hamid had done on their visit last year to Northern Ireland.  When we arrived at the "Roast House" restaurant we were joined by some of the teachers from the local schools, all looking very elegant in their colourful tobes - suddenly I felt shabby and grubby in the clothes I'd been travelling in all day.  I had been to the Roast House many times, but I'd never been upstairs before or fully explored the menu!  

One of the Irish guys, Russell had sausages - I haven't seen sausages since I got to Sudan - they were lovely!  There was plenty of food everywhere in true Sudanese style.  It was wonderful to see my friends being such fantastic hosts, their guests were truly bowled over with everything; the schools they'd visited, places they'd been and the way they'd been looked after and made to feel totally at home - things I suddenly realised had just become an  part of my everyday life in Sudan.  After a wonderful evening we said goodbye to the Ethiopian guests and wished them a safe journey home.

The next day I went to meet Mohammed and had a lovely breakfast at his home with his family before we headed off for a picnic.  Our destination turned out to be not very far from my apartment, a beautiful spot at the local reservoir.  It was the first time I had seen an expanse of water in El Obeid - I never knew such a place existed, and when I said as much to Mohammed's wife, she said she had lived in El Obeid all her life and not visited it either!  Of course a picnic in Sudan is not just a small blanket on the ground, a few sandwiches and other cold foods - there were plenty of plastic chairs, large mats, salads, bread, agashay (meat cooked over coals), 

cold drinks, fruit and tea.  We spent a lovely day walking, chatting, eating and drinking before saying a tearful farewell to the Irish visitors.  As I watched the emotional hugs and handshakes all I could think was,  if it's this hard parting after 5 days,  how will it feel saying goodbye to all these wonderful people after 9 months here?  Luckily I still have 5 months to go before I have to worry about that!

Examinations

Just after I returned to El Obeid end of semester exams began.  Suddenly the university seemed full of students carrying around armfuls of revision notes and wearing worried expressions.  As there are no lectures I have a new role - typing exam papers!

A couple of days after my return I invigilated my first exam, which was held in one of the classrooms near to the English Office.  Students were packed in like sardines with barely any space between desks, those who came late had to bring their own desks, and one poor girl didn't even have a desk as we couldn't fit any more in the room!  

It reminded me of my own university exams, that feeling of complete dread, the echoing sports hall and the two cheery pensioner invigilators complete with flasks, snacks and squeaky shoes.  Total silence abounded except for one occasion when the fire alarm went off and we were told "not to worry - that often happens - someone will let us know if there IS a fire!"  People walking past the exam areas were castigated if they dared to speak let alone make some serious noise.  You sat and waited with baited breath to be told you may begin, and kept a careful eye on the clock throughout the exam, dreading the words - Stop Writing.

In Sudan? - not a bit of it -  Invigilating in Sudan comes complete with regular supplies; cups of tea and breakfast or lunch depending on the time of day.  Students breeze in casually (some over half an hour late!) and start as soon as they get settle and have their paper.  There is not a clock to be seen anywhere,  from time to time the lead invigilator checks his mobile phone to see how long is left.  Life outside the exam room carries on as normal - During that first exam there was a celebration outside for the opening of new water fountains, with speeches, cheering and clapping.  I was about to go and complain on behalf of the students when someone bought me a lovely breakfast and told me to "take my rest."   For the mature students, the exams take place in the large lecture hall at the Centre Campus of the University, just below the windows there are tea ladies where groups gather to engage in lively banter.  Many students seem to finish the exams long before the time is up - at the half way point when students are allowed to leave, there is almost a stampede.  Some students seem to prefer to "take their rest" during the exam, and will sit with their head on the desk seemingly asleep for an hour or so before springing into action towards the end of the time.  After 3 weeks of invigilating; two exams a day on some occasions; I was glad of the diversion of travelling to Khartoum to attend an English Teaching forum.

A couple of days before I travelled to Khartoum I had been getting stomach pains again, and was considering seeing the doctor.  However, I didn't want to miss the trip to Khartoum and felt well enough to travel so off I went.  Luckily for me, my friend Mohammed from Extra was also travelling to Khartoum, so he kindly arranged my ticket and met me at the bus station so we could travel together.  Not only did he manage to get me a discounted ticket for just 50SDP, but he also negotiated the price for my taxi to Billie's once we arrived in Khartoum.  All the SVP gang were in town for the forum, so it was a great chance to catch up with everyone again.  Unfortunately after the forum I was feeling unwell again, so Billie kindly took me to the doctors, where I was thoroughly examined and asked to take various tests.  

Well, obtaining samples for tests is difficult enough at the best of times, but have you ever tried it whilst trying to hold your maxi skirt up above the hole in the ground toilet, concentrate on the job in hand and keep your balance at the same time?  Mission eventually accomplished, I flushed the cistern and a great tidal wave of water surged towards me, completely soaking my skirt and feet!  Great!  And then to add insult to injury as I came out I noticed that the previously occupied next door cubicle had a standard toilet after all!  Still nice to know that the samples were not produced in vain - I was diagnosed to have a parasitic infection in my stomach, and prescribed various drugs to clear up the problem.  Just to be sure that there was nothing else serious going on they asked me to come back the next day for an ultra sound.  Mary kindly accompanied me, complete with dictionary, should my diagnosis prove beyond the realms of normal everyday Arabic conversation!  As it turned out we need not have worried as the Doctor had lived in Norwich for 14 years!  Still at least Mary got to see some of the football whilst she waited for me!  I was subsequently reassured that there was nothing major to worry about and I should soon start to feel better once the medication kicked in.  Feeling just a tad sorry for myself, I then preceded to lay around Billie and Mary's apartment for a few days doing a very convincing impression of a dying swan until I felt up to chancing the 8 hour bus journey back home, feeling thoroughly grateful that I have such wonderful friends here!