More of the beach

We spent all day at the Nile. No shade- something that isn't really a factor for our Sudanese friends. But we were hurting. It was hot. But the cool water of the Nile was so, so nice. The currents weren't too bad, and it was fairly shallow until nearly the middle. Plenty of room to frolic and play! Of course, we were all making attempts to be modest. I was swimming in basketball shorts and a tee shirt. In any other world, I would say we looked silly. But here, well, we still looked silly. But we had a blast!And I swam across the Blue Nile! And then back! (you can see my accomplishment in the background of above photo.)
Everyone brought food and we shared a big feast. Some of the guys grilled meat, others made a traditional cucumber/tomato/peanut salad. It was pretty awesome to have so many cultures and people on this random outing. Students. Teachers. Doctors. Aid workers. French. Austrian. Palestinian. Sudanese. American. Italian. There were all kinds of languages being thrown around. And it really was amazing and fun, probably one of my favorites here in Khartoum. Below photos show us smoking sheesha in the Nile with Nile water. Well, that's what they show if you can look past the white legs.