KAS International Potluck Dinner!

How cool! Last night was the International Potluck Dinner... Every family brings food, spread over 40 picnic tables, arranged by continent. Many of the Chinese students' parents all work for CNPC, the oil company. So the oil company brought in professional trays with burners and chefs! They made me a mu shu pork wrap to order! YUM! So much good food from all over the world! South African pastries, Tortilla Espanola, Apple crisp. Mmmm boy!

In addition to enjoying the food, I was in charge of coordinating the Parade of Nations. We have over thirty countries represented at our school, and it was up to me to take volunteers and rehearse and get them all ready for the Parade. Every country said a few words and showed up tradional costume. What stress! But so much fun!



Emily did a great job as emcee- the kids were all adorable and fabulous. It was a great night for families and friends of the school.

Softball

We played a KAS v. KICS faculty and staff softball game last weekend. I think in the end, we lost by one or two. But we were definitely the better looking team- with borrowed school sports uniforms! It was a great chance to hang out, talk some smack, and eat some good food.

Thanksgiving!

A good friend hosted Turkey dinner. As Embassy, he has access to all sorts of goodies that we either can't find or can't afford. He even has access to real-time American TV through AFN! Hurray for NYC and the Macy's parade!
The embassy also had the day off (and as the American school- we didn't!) so he could cook all day long! Below are a few photos from our dinner and party.

A familiar face

I enjoy going to the supply closet here. I smile before I even open the cabinet doors. I know what's inside. Even in Khartoum, our closet is full of WAUSAU copy paper! What a nice reminder of family and home- in the silliest place!



(For those not in the know- much of my family lives in Wausau. Wisconsin.)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Season over

My basketball season has finally come to a close. 1-5.
I'm ready to be done with that, for sure. And I'm excited to be a better coach. I think I could be a good one, but right now I certainly don't feel like it. While the girls loved to play, had fun, and all improved dramatically... I never lit that little fire in their belly so that they actually cared and wanted to win. Gotta work on that. These aren't competitive girls I'm working with. Which is nice. But its also ok to win, and to want something and to work for it.

We'll get there.

For you, Grandma Grace...

I've just returned from the grocery store. It's an expat place, where we pay ridiculous prices for foods that in our past lives we could buy anywhere. for cheap!
I was really excited to see the stockboy arranging frozen Butterball turkeys in the freezer. Hurray! It's that time of year!
I shimmied in for a glance at the price. For your sake, I have done the conversions. The price of one 12.35 lb frozen Butterball turkey? .... .... ... ...
$151.75!!!!!
For that price, I am really happy I have been invited to someone else's Thanksgiving dinner! Ha!

Last stop!

The Royal City of Meroe! Closer to the Nile, we picnicked and had the kids do their last assignment before heading back to Khartoum. We explored the remains of the great temple of Amon, and tried to shelter ourselves from the scorching heat.

Meroitic fun

solitude is temporary

While I was off enjoying the solitude of the pyramids, the kids were wide awake and ready to scamper about! I was met on the sand dune by 12 of the 13 kids- racing and sliding. They were playing like it was snow! Excellent! (see our campsite below, in the background?)

Early morning

I'm not so good at waking up in those early hours. Thankfully, my friend Audrey is. She whispered outside my tent before sunrise, and I snuck off into the night.

We climbed a large sand dune, unsure of what was on the other side/ We reached the top and looked out- Over there! Pyramids! As we gazed off in the distance, I looked a little to our right. There were more- closer to us! Just a couple hundred meters away! Wow! (I hope the exclamation points convey my excitement!!!)

Audrey went to climb rocks and watch the sunrise. Me, I walked towards the pyramids. Alone. Nobody in sight. Just me and these ancient structures. A cemetary. I sat on a rock, with the sun rising behind me. It was amazing to sit in silence, the desert stretching out for miles in all directions, watching the pyramids slowly light up. Wow.
After the sunrise, we walked all the way to the pyramids and explored a bit (before the kids broke the powerful silence of the moment). Really amazing to experience it as they have been for thousands of years, without rope and red tape and fences and entry tickets. Just pyramids in the open desert. Just as it should be.

Into the night

On the road with a bus full of 7th graders! And mini Pringles and Lays and apple cinnamon biscuits and cotton candy bubblegum and date bars...

There are three police checkpoints between Khartoum and Meroe. At each, we have a stack of paperwork that they want to see. Passports. Parent permissions. Authorized letters from school and Khartoum government. Its a mess. What is meant to be a 4 hour drive is dragged out considerably by whatever whimsical request an officer makes. "Um, the passport numbers are on that paper? Well how about you write all 24 of the passport numbers on this paper. Thanks."

We made it well after dark. We could point in the general direction of the pyramids, but we really couldn't see them. As the bus goes off-road, we're looking for a good place to camp. They tell us that we can camp inside fence, but that we'll have to have everything packed up by 9 am, when people arrive. Nope, too much stress. We weave through rocks and brush. Finally, we find the pitch dark shadows of a huge sand dune. Perfect!
We teach kids how to set up tents by the headlights of the bus. The 2-person tents were borrowed. Most of them were wrapped in IRC tape, borrowed from a parent thats in charge of Sudan's branch of the International Red Cross. What fun!
Burgers, a campfire, cards... The kids were so excited! They whispered and giggled all night. I'm too old for that now- I was passed out early. I had to get up for the sunrise!

a glimpse of our home life

Trying to get Toab to pose for a webcam shot proved quite difficult. But you can tell that, can't you?

Field trip time!

So, last year our school field trips were many. We went to the park, the same park again, the same park again, several movies in Union Square, and once to Coney Island- where we tried to tell kids not to swim in the ocean. Each and every one of those trips was fabulous. I mean it. Particularly because of my dear friends (I miss you!) that shared the joy of chaperoning.

Flash to this year. Our opportunities are limited. Kids say that in the past, they have gone to a milk factory and a water purification plant. My middle school sources tell me that neither was very exciting.

And then here we land.... packing for the OH! So exciting! 7th grade trip to the Meroe pyramids! Perhaps the most exciting aspect is the student-teacher ratio. We have 13 kids in our seventh grade class. They are all going. As are eight teachers! Now THAT'S a ratio!

I'll catch you all on the flip side.

thumbs down

We played in the basketball semi-finals today. Somehow, my team showed up without their brains. They did the opposite of everything I have been saying for the past two and a half months of practice. And in the timeouts. 41-11. I was more than a little frustrated.
After, we had to stay and watch the boys. Then our bus had disappeared. Four phone calls and an hour later, and the bus finally appeared. By that point I was more than a little frustrated with my players (who were also frustrated by the missing bus).

A long day. I can't even upload the pictures to post. I am exhausted.
AND THEN I learn that we still have to play again next week for 3rd place! I need a break!

The school

Zoomed-in, satellite shot of our school, in all its glory. Scary what you can find on the internet. See the basketball court? That's where the magic happens.

The return trip

We packed up mid-morning, and loaded into the trucks for our return to the city. (collective groan) We were riding with a really sweet South African couple. There was definitely a positive to traveling with a couple that had kids our age. They brought us snacks, insisting on feeding us... We were definitely taken care of.
Tinus, the one behind the wheel, was happy to entain us by spinning wheelies in the sand and off-roading even more than necessary- like to take pictures of camels! What fun!
We lost a few minutes time, distracted by the camel, so we weren't driving with the group anymore. Later on, we saw several of our cars off the side of the road. We pulled over, confused by what we saw. All of what was packed into the back of Louie's car was now on the ground.
It took a few minutes to piece the story together. Apparently, something had caught fire in the bed of Louie's truck (hot grill? unused charcoal?) while driving. Feeling the heat, they looked back to see 5 foot flames jumping out of the truck. Quickly, they pulled over, and Louie burnt himself throwing the burning plastic and hot metal out the back. We arrived just in time for Emily and Marissa to work some first aid magic on some pretty serious burns on his hands and arms.
The fire had melted through the big plastic tubs and burnt their bags of clothes and camping gear. Thankfully, everyone was safe.

at the campsite

We set up camp in the falling shadows of some rock formations...
After pitching our tents on the nearby sand dunes, we spent the evening under the full moon surrounding the fire. There was a nice, cool breeze. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
In the morning, we found ourselves circling the fire again for coffee, breakfast, and a short walk.
Think the excitement is over there? You're wrong! Stay tuned...

Me, camping!

A few shots from our drive to the campsite... We met along the side of the road... no landmark to speak of. The emailed directions said "to meet at approx. 90 km north of the bridge". Not exactly specific. We climbed some rocks at our meeting point. (I think the "in" crowd calls it bouldering.) And somehow, everyone found it! We were then eight 4x4s off-roading to the campsite. (to be continued...)

Desert delight

We're off to camp in the desert tomorrow... meaning there should be good pictures to follow!
Hopefully we won't have any problems at the checkpoint...

I suppose the nicest thing is knowing there's no chance of rain! ha!

A WIN!!!

The team warming up in my classroom

Waiting for the French School to play..

Our last game of the season, and we won it!
The opposing team was nearly an hour late, and waiting, I found that I had three separate factions within my team.
1. the kids that wanted to play the game, hoping to win and continue onto the tournament
2. the kids that wanted the team to not show up, thus winning by forfeit and going to the tourney
3. the kids that wanted to play the game and lose, thus celebrating tomorrow with the promised "end-of-season' party.

ha! We played really well. At halftime, we were ahead 6-2. I had to spend four and a half of the five minute halftime convincing them to think as if it were tied 2-2. (The only other time we've been ahead at the half they couldn't stop squealing and jumping around, not realizing we had another half to play!)
And the second half, we played just as well... a victory for my little ball players! I think the final score was 17-4. Ish. It didn't matter, my girls were giddy. My final words- NO PARTY TOMORROW- we have to practice for the tournament! But, while met with a chorus of groans, not even that could bring them down! Victory is sweet, and they are finally tasting a bit of it!

"The Forest"

Tonight's hash took place at a place called the forest. It runs alongside the Nile, and until recently, has been flooded. We showed up late... (It took us about six u-turns to get to the right place) So, instead of walking/running with the group, we walked/ran on our own.
(See, we weren't in any real hurry to sprint to catch up!)

It was amazing to feel the cracked dirt beneath our feet, dried by the hot sun. We abandoned the flour trail and headed towards the water, hoping to find it at sunset. Of course, we didn't move so quickly- we had to take pictures along the way!
And we still made it! What a sight!

Breakfast of Champions

The neighbor ladies invited us over for breakfast. We met next door and then walked half a block to another lady's house. The hostess was a new friend that we had met at the Sudanese wedding last weekend. And Oh! What fun!

I regret telling the ladies that I like cake. It was 11 am, and I was chocking down cookies and cake like you've never seen before! And before we knew what happened, they brought out their wedding pictures from 20 years ago! Girt talk time!

We soon had to leave to go to a work meeting. (On a weekend, I know!) As we rose to leave, they ran off to the back room, carrying out a bottle of perfume. As they explained it, "you have to put on or you break our vessels!" Um... ok...

We sprayed down. And then some more, because we clearly didn't put enough on.
"Oh, it smells so good.... Thank you, thank you"

And we showed up at our work meeting 20 minutes later, smelling really special.

Time slips away!

Suddenly, it is only just over 4 weeks until winter break! How did that happen?

Its going to be a busy month-
We're planning on going camping in the desert this coming weekend.
And following that with a 7th grade camping trip to the Meroe pyramids the following weekend.
That's a lot of camping for a gal like me!

Off to breakfast with the neighbor ladies this morning... we'll see what a Sudanese breakfast looks like!

I Report

I hate I-Report on CNN. Hate it.
However, if I were to ever contribute, it would probably be with this photograph.
Taken at 5:30 am, having already been up for a couple hours. This may have been before or after we opened our door to yell down to our guards. Clearly, it was definitely taken before we got ready for work!

Wow.

What a speech. What a morning.

I think it would be amazing to be in that crowd in Chicago.
But there is also something really powerful about being here.

Waking up at 3:30 to watch the results come in.
Prancing outside, cheering for Obama with our guards and neighbors.
Arriving at school just in time to see the election called for Obama.
Sitting in a small room packed with students and teachers from everywhere watching his speech. Crying tears of pride and wonder and emotion with the few other Americans in the room.
Feeling a pride in my country that is very new to me.
Realizing I still have to teach classes today! ha!


A darn good race, finish, and speech... And I'm sure there will be enough going on in the world to occupy the now void of election news!

Election Tuesday!

Vote, people!
If I'm waking up at 4 am to see some results, they better be pretty! :)

I'm official

You can all rest easy- we have finally received our multiple-entry/exit visas! Meaning we can now come and go as we please. (In theory!) While navigating the Khartoum airport is never easy, its sure to be easier now that we have this stamp!

My passport's status? Simply dedicated to Sudan, I now have two pages of police registrations and FIVE pages of expired temporary visas!

Re-entry to the USA is sure to be a cakewalk with all that, isn't it now? ha!

Wedding Crashers

Invited by our friendly neighbors, we attended our first Sudanese wedding. It seems the wedding festivities go on for several days, and we were invited to attend the final night. We understood that we were going to the ceremony, but it seemed we were there for something closer resembling a reception.
500 people seated at tables surrounded by Christmas lights. (I'm not sure the Muslim world calls them Christmas lights.) The couple arrived, and they were followed by the man with the video camera and the smoke-machine guy. That's right. The couple was followed around by a man with a smoke machine!

I was amazed. But just as I was allowing myself to get caught up in just how absurd it all seemed, I heard it... " You were my strength when I was weak, you were my voice when I couldn't speak..." Celine Dion! I was home! The sappiness of weddings DOES transcend all cultural and language barriers!

And then the dancing! There was something about snapping at people... I thought it was to tell someone "Congratulations- Mabrouk!", but then I was getting snapped at! Hmmm... Didn't ever really figure that one out. It was really refreshing to see all the women in their toabs (with sequins and glitter and lots of makeup!) dancing and having fun.
They all loved Emily. She was definitely a crowd favorite. It seems even in Sudan, the land of minimal dancing, I can't dazzle them with my moves!