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!

you beach!

I don't want to bore you all with amazing beach photos. But do trust that they exist.

Our dear friends

Several weeks ago, several NGO's were forced to shut down operations and services, leaving Sudan. Caught in the crossfire were our good friends Ben and Jenny. (She's the one whose leaving has given me the joy of teaching 6th grade language arts.) Now in Nairobi, they have had a rough bit of time, first in being forced to leave Sudan, and second in being tied up and robbed in the middle of the night at the organization's guest house. It had been a rough few weeks!
THANKFULLY they had already booked their vacation for Zanzibar! And how great it was to see them! As you can see, Zanzibar brings out the smile in everyone- even after all that they've been through!

It is such a small island that we were able to meet up several times, first in Stone Town and then on the beach. Who knows where we'll run into them next!

The Dhow (no Jones)

These are some pretty amazing boats, used up and down the East African coast. (more info here!) Near our hotel in Nungwi, in the north, there was a place where they made dhows on the beach. Thirty men were working at various stages of the boat-building process. With a friendly, "Jambo!", they welcomed us to take photos and observe their work. Later, we would take a dhow snorkeling. And while they are certainly excellent means of transportation, they are also quite photogenic!

The Slave Trade

Zanzibar was quite the hub for much of East Africa's slave trade. It was home to the world's last legal slave market, and still has quite a bit of the relics to show... Very powerful.
We visited the site of the last slave market, now home to a cathedral. Oddly enough, the cathedral was built with the alter where the whipping post once stood. The red tiles stand for the blood (in the photo below you can see the round tile- where the post once stood. And the box to the right is where the auction block stood).I don't really understand. I get why you would want something to commemorate it. But it seems a bit odd to me to see an altar and the pews all looking up to the place where the auction block once stood. Interesting, none the less. There is a powerful sculpture in the yard, of which the above photo is a piece.
Below is one of the two remaining 'holding cells', where slaves were often held for the last few days prior to being sold. In this one, they would keep up to 75 women and children.
It was an odd tour, as our guide was a bit off. While we are struggling to fathom the reality of this room 120 years ago, he was saying to us, "You know, my friend, is like the Beastie Boys. You know the Beastie Boy? 'Where is the love...?' " It distracted. Just a bit.

Africa House

This was a classy holiday by all standards. At the Africa House, we had drinks overlooking the water as the sun set. Below, the evening street food market was setting up as we enjoyed our drinks, so afterward we wandered through the stalls and bargained some DELICIOUS dinner. It was mostly fresh seafood. YUM! spicy lobster, tandoori octopus and squid, king fish... all on skewers. They were all delicious- and cooked while you waited! They also had pretty amazing sugarcane juice with lime and ginger. And spiced tea. And coconut bread. And.... Well, we ate until we could eat no more. Delicious!

The Islands off Stone Town

We chartered a boat to explore the reefs and islands off Stone Town- A nice guy and his dad took us out in their boat. We snorkeled with some amazing coral (and pretty cool fish) and then took off to explore Prison Island. (Em was super excited to see that I remembered to bring a waterproof disposable camera from the states... Oh the fun we had!)On the island, they have a colony of tortoises given to the government of Zanzibar by the Seychelles in the 1800s. They are the second-largest in the world (second only to the Galapagos, Fuzz!) Very cool. Also on the island is a renovated prison that has served time as a yellow fever quarantine and a prison for slaves on their way to market in Stone Town. It's now a fancy hotel, but still offers some amazing views.

Stone Town

Oh, Zanzibar... I don't think I can put the sights, sounds and flavors into words. It really proved to be verything we wanted and more.
Stonetown is a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and with good reason. AMAZING architecture, with beautiful buildings tucked between crazy, windy streets. They all hold so much history- the spice trade, the slave trade. What a beautiful city to explore for a few days! We spent a couple days getting lost in the streets, enjoying the curries (more on that later), and, of course, it's always exciting to get out of Khartoum and find shopping opportunities!

Sports Day

I've learned a lesson- that when the student council 'plans' an activity, I'M the one that makes it happen. And maybe its very clear to me now that I need to work on delegating.

But for now, they planned a field day. And I made it happen.
It went really well- 5 sports, 10 teams... an organized rotation. It went really, really well. And we sent everyone off for the MUCH needed holiday!
Good job, Rach!

Now we're packing for Zanzibar. finally. See you in a week!

Finally, its happened to me...

It was another long, hard day at work. I left our after-school faculty meeting feeling pretty negative, and pretty wiped out. And then- it happened! They told me the car was ready to drive!

Of course, it wasn't really. I had to wait another 30 minutes waiting for the right guy to show up with the keys. But then it really was mine to take home.

And there I was- at school, alone. Em had called in sick, and she was meant to be the driver.
Did I have it in me? Could I get our beautiful baby home alone?

I certainly didn't think about it much- because as soon as I got that AC cranked, I was outta those gates!
It was a pretty uneventful ride- I even tackled some U-turns! No problems.

We'll drive it to school for these next two days, and it will be waiting for us when we come back from Zanzibar! How exciting! Its a whole new world out there!

Our new car, in its spot inside our gate. (view from our kitchen balcony)

approaching insanity

This has been the longest quarter of my life. 11 weeks. No break. Unless you could the ICC day, which we were anticipating for months. And really, it caused us much more headaches and fear than relief.

Its been a long, stressful quarter. And its STILL not over yet.

We also STILL don't have our car, despite it resting in the school parking lot. Its currently just a really expensive way to keep dirt in place.

We're frustrated, annoyed, psycho-busy, and REALLY in need of this break.

Only four more days until the beach. I have never needed a holiday as badly as I need this one.

Is it summer yet?

Nuthin new

We're keeping a low profile.
That means we're a little boring. There are no pictures to post, no good stories to tell.

This place is really emotionally draining right now. Work is hard. And saying goodbye to friends is harder.
I've even forgotten several times this week that its now only 6 days until we go to Zanzibar!
How crazy is it when I forget about ZANZIBAR?!

Back at it

I borrowed this photo from the local news- the president has been making appearances at all kinds of rallies and protests since the warrant was issued. Here he is in traditional Southern Sudanese attire. (It's similar to that worn by the dancers below, no?)

We are back in school today.
It's a little crazy, as one of our teachers was forced to leave this weekend because her husband works for Oxfam. We are also going to be losing several of our students because their parents work for the NGOs that have been kicked out of Darfur. Saying goodbye is difficult, especially as people are forced to pack up their lives and abandon really important work. Work that has been saving lives.

In losing a teacher, we are all having to come together to find ways to cover her classes. I am going to be taking on grade 6 language arts. Its a really, really great class. And it will certainly be a lot of fun. And challenging. I'll keep you posted.

Dry, active yeast

Another relaxing day. In addition to more scrabble and reading,
we brought into the world the following:
a batch of chocolate chip cookies, zucchini bread, monkey bread,
and bacon/pineapple pizza pockets. (all from scratch!)