Just a test

You can all see the fun we have in my advisory class. I just borrowed this really, super cool flip camcorder from our technology department, and this was one student's attempt to show me how to use it. If this works, boy- get ready for some VI-DE-Os!
If it doesn't work, well... then I don't know. Sorry. It was really dumb anyways.

Mosaics in progress

A photo of the coolest mosaic so far- a map of Africa. It will have a peace sign running through it. Totally cool! Nice work, Majid! Love it!

no joke

Have I mentioned we're averaging between 115 and 120 degrees?

Earth Day 2009

Em has done some pretty awesome work putting together this community garden. On the 22nd, the school celebrated the garden (and the Earth) with an assembly. It was really cool to see high school kids playing guitar, accompanying the elementary chorus, An Eco-fashion show, poetry readings in different languages. We also dedicated our peace pole. What an inspiring morning! Emily did a great job putting it together.

It's like a garage sale...

We went to another food sale this morning- more embassy people that are leaving town and have extra consumables. As each embassy person gets to ship 2000 lbs of consumables from the States, this often means lots of food left over once their time is up.
(Poor American School vultures enter stage left.)
Pork Sausage! Pace Salsa! Rice Pilaf! Pepperoni! Dr. Pepper! Cheddar Cheese!
It's a holiday over here...

quote of the day

talking to a sixth grader, she tells me...
"It's just a little crush- for a simpleton like me."

It's the end of the year as we know it...

Really, there isn't much excitement here. Except that I have my tickets home! Five weeks from today I'll be on that plane, putting me in Kansas on Tuesday, May 26! Only 4 1/2 more weeks of teaching!

We have a lot to pack into these last few weeks- school is definitely busy.
Emily and I are co-teaching seventh grade language arts. Emily is putting on her high school play.
My classes are making mosaics and creating cookbooks and doing all kinds of exciting things. We will have a pool party and spirit week and a water fight. Boy how time will fly!

We know now.

We got filled in this morning. It seems the 'cultural event' was actually a product launch. DAL group is now making ground sorghum flour. And that's worthy of the largest fireworks display in Khartoum history! Hmmm.

Apparently, most Sudanese use sorghum flour in daily cooking, but until now, they have had to buy it at the market, and then go to the next stall to have someone grind it. Not any more!
This is big!

We still don't know what it was, exactly...

Our boss had a few free tickets for a big cultural event this weekend, and we were quick to jump for them. Though we still, even after the fact, aren't sure what the event was. It seemed to be a free 'celebration of Sudanese culture' for the masses, sponsored by the biggest corporation here- DAL group. We drove our car- our first driving adventure across the bridge and into neighboring Omdurman. It was the most organized event we've seen so far. While it was all GA, they seemed to almost have a system for admitting people! Novel.

We kind of walked right past security and found ourselves in the VIP seats. Oops! That might have something to do with the color of our skin. Nobody asked any questions.

There was a set program- A dance routine by 300 dancers in full costume, local music, laser light show with dj, followed by more local singers.
Odd. Perhaps the oddest being the laser lights and dj, and a stadium full of people sitting in silent observation. It was like a club. With nobody dancing. It was truly bizarre.

All in all, a very quality evening- even if we're still a bit confused.
And a great way to enjoy the 'five week celebration'! Only five weeks left!

Mosaics!

In addition to teaching ESL classes, I also teach 8th grade Advisory and 7/8 Exploratory. Every quarter, I have to come up with something really clever and fun to teach. The last hurrah- MOSAIC STEPPING STONE MAKING! Jumping on the garden bandwagon, my kids are busy sketching and planning their own mosaics for the peace garden. See above. We're having so much fun!

Road Rules

There aren't really any traffic laws here. Not that we can see. And few signs to make you aware of the laws that might exist.This would be an example of a 'no rickshaw' sign. One that, of course, is never followed.

Skillzzzzz

I continue to be impressed by the things we do for ourselves here. Despite there being so many Chinese people here working,resulting in several 'way sketchier than Chinatown' Chinese shops- the Chinese food in this town really isn't very good. Having some insane cravings for quality Chinese food, and having been disappointed in the overpriced Chinese restaurant here, we took it upon ourselves to make it. We spent Friday afternoon putting together a dazzling Chinese tapas party for some friends. We made: scallion pancakes, crab rangoon, spring rolls and steamed beef dumplings. mmm!
All from scratch! (Except for the wraps. We bought the wraps.)

EEKS!

stuffin'

We have tried to get our pillowcases stuffed several times since arriving here. This morning, it finally happened!

Its a funny process, documented in the photos below. You go to the souk, bargain the price of cotton per kilo. Then, you hand them the cases you have, and they estimate how much it's going to take to fill them. They take the stuffing, lay out a dirty old mat, and beat it up, breaking the bunches up. Then, they try like crazy to cram all of it into your pillows.

And then of course, at the end, they tell you a price higher than the one you've agreed on.
In all, we got 5 pillows stuffed FULL of cotton for the bargain price of 8 dollars. I don't even know if that's a good deal or not- I don't often buy super soft cotton by the kilo. But it is super soft, and we're happy.

Driving

We've had our car for a few weeks now. Life is good. Emily is in the process of getting her license, and I'll save those stories for her.

I get to drive occasionally. Not a big deal. But it is quite different than driving in the states- for a few reasons:
1. If there is space, squeeze! A two lane road can easily be four. Or five, as people take to driving on the dirt shoulders.
2. In addition to cars, busses, umjads (mini-vanlike public transport), and rickshaws, we are also dealing with horse-driven carts and donkey-driven carts and man-driven carts.
3. Donkey carts sometimes break down in the road, putting the man on his butt as the donkey scampers through traffic.

More observations to follow...

More of the garden

Out in the garden with my sixth graders, planting the grass- centipede grass, it will spread and cover in just a few short weeks!

Garden Party!

Emily is taking the lead on starting a community garden at school. To kick it off, we had a groundbreaking ceremony at school yesterday, complete with "Big Dig" competition! A few photos from that awesome craziness...
(Isn't it great to be in a school where you can make these things happen?)
All the middle school classes are integrating the garden into their work. My fifth and sixth graders are making a 'community garden cookbook'. With all the fun we're having, these final weeks are gonna fly!

Beauty

Before I return to my usual ramblings of work and Khartoum, I wanted to share a few final Zanzibar photos. These are a few of my favorites that didn't make it into previous posts.

We are now settled again into our life here in Sudan. With a car, this time around- which makes things so much better. We are much happier. An additional contributing factor to our heightened state of happiness? Seven more weeks until summer break! Unbelievable!