back to life here...

We made just a *few* purchases in India... a couple of which are shown in the photo above. With color coordination comes the feeling of it finally starting to feel like home! (Toab loves the new blanket almost as much as I do!)

Most Amazing Hotel Ever

We really couldn't help but have a photo shoot once we arrived to our final hotel and had a look at the room. Never, ever in my life have I stayed in anything even coming close to this one... I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory. And besides, I'm still pretty speechless. Write it down, yo. Hotel Blue Bird. Mumbai.

lawn care

We saw this several times- people hunched over the ground, cutting grass with clippers, blade by blade. It gives new meaning to the term 'cheap labor'. It also looks pretty miserable. We got it good, ladies and gents...

Goa

Do we look sweaty in that last shot? We hiked up a mountain to an old Portuguese fort overlooking the coastline. It was hotter than warm. But worth it!

Oh, State Department

The headline, our first morning in India.
What can you do?

Elephanta caves

A few photos from inside the caves- a UNESCO heritage site. Pretty impressive carving, suspected to be created in the 7th or 8th century by the cult of Shiva.

Beaware of Monkeys

From Mumbai, we took a boat ride to Elephanta Island, where they have discovered amazing temples carved into the caves. More on that later.

When we started, we saw a sign saying "beaware of monkeys." We paid our entrance fee, bought a coke and started our hike. It was made enjoyable by people selling jewelry and scarves along the stone steps.

A large monkey landed on the rail, startling me. He then jumped in my path. Aggressive. Suddenly, the monkey jumped up and grabbed the coke out of my hand! He scurried away, climbing the nearest tree.

Em and I were both pretty shocked. As we took the next step to continue up the mountain, we heard it. Shhhhhhh. The monkey had OPENED the bottle of coke!!! We turned to see him tip it up and guzzle the bottle of soda. No way! We snapped a few pictures to prove it.
That is our soda. It was sealed when he took it. Unbelievable.

a small bit of Mumbai

Arriving in Mumbai, we spent a day there before continuing on to Goa. These are a few sights of the city- the large building behind the lights on the water is the Taj Hotel- the one that we all remember from the bombings last November. The palace is still not reopen, but construction is well-underway.

Bahrain layover

We just returned from a week in Mumbai and Goa- and what an awesome intro to India!
We had an absolutely fabulous time. More on that later.

Before showing you all what an amazing time we had in India- I would briefly like to touch on the joys of traveling through Bahrain. We were told it was a small airport, but I was completely delighted by what we found!

We enjoyed Caribou Coffee on the way there- and Chili's on the way back! (And what a delicious birthday breakfast it was!) While I have never been the type to enjoy home establishments while traveling abroad, however, living in Khartoum- a little treat really is nice.

Eid Mubarak!

Happy Eid!
While Sudan is celebrating Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan, we are sneaking off for a lovely week in India!

Don't look for any updates in the next week- I'll be on the beach in Goa!

Live from Bahri...

Hila Hop

We found another friend-of-a-friend through a New York connection. Sometimes, I really do believe it's a small world!
She is here working in the arts scene here- a scene that we certainly never realized existed!

Last night she took us to Khartoum North, to a cultural center where they have been having live performances every night for the entire month of Ramadan.

It was pretty awesome. We were the only khawadja (foreigners) there, and many people were really excited to welcome us. There were several different musical performances, representative of all different parts of Sudan. It was definitely something that I knew must exist here, but haven't had any connection to help find it.

We had to leave early, just missing the comedy troupe's performance. See some of their work HERE. (I don't understand it either.) In the end, we did meet a few of the actors, and will hopefully be more connected for going-ons in the future.

Below you will find a couple of short videos of performances. A few more photos will follow!

A journal prompt

Sixth grade journals can be pretty fun to read. See below.

Some Questions for Ms. Pregont

Hello Ms. Pregont, I want to ask some questions to you.
#1. Why you have a ....What's that call? The thing on your chin? I think its quite interesting.
#2. I love your belly. It not look like fat. It's lovely. What did you eat before? I want to try that on my little thin cousin.
#3. I never see you wear dress, no skirt. dress. Can you wear dress one time?
#4. Why you are a funny teacher? Why does everybody think you are a good teacher? What's your experience? Because I want to try that on my madly Mom.

Or maybe there are some more questions I can ask you, but that's the end.

I'm glad that was the end- I'm scared of what would come next!

New plague, please

Things kinda run in plagues around here. We are reaching the end of the rainy season, so its only natural to ask- What comes next?
Frogs. They are pretty tiny, as you can tell by the photo, taken by a friend. AND they are everywhere.

What I deal with

These are two of my seventh grade students- one from China and the other from Korea. They were dressed this cute 'just because'. And they are awesome and adorable. That's reason enough to post!

Pants

The woman charged with being indecently dressed by wearing pants in public was spared the lashings, instead fined US$200. Article here.

As most of the media has mentioned, many women here do wear pants. Of course, most Western women wear pants in public on a daily basis, but additionally, so do many Sudanese- especially non-Muslims.

The past two days, magically, hundreds of posters appeared in our neighborhood. Nearly every light pole is covered with them. I didn't need a translation to understand its meaning, but I had a student translate just for fun.

Yes, it seems someone with enough money and energy to print these thinks all women in Sudan should be wearing hijab. I would maybe need a little more convincing...

Hash walk by the Nile

A few photos from this week's walk

In the news

Sudan always finds its way into the International news.
It just can't help itself.

THIS is the latest.

Pub quiz night

Rather than just hosting a regular happy hour, a friend from the British Embassy stepped up and organized a 'pub quiz night'. You were only on the list for the happy hour if your name was already submitted as part of a team. And trust me, we were ALL OVER that list!

Despite knowing we were out-trivia'd here, we still managed be make this highly competitive! And great fun! It was really fierce to be in a trivia challenge with 120 people that ALL rock the geography questions (and politics and everything else!)

Em with new friends from school

Lightning striking again and again and again and again

Here you can see a little of the crazy-awesome lightning that followed the haboob.
Immediately after capturing this, I was scolded for being on the roof in lightning, and I scurried back down to our apartment.

The thunder and lightning doesn't compare to a good ole Midwestern thunderstorm, but it does dazzle us here!

Haboob!

I have finally snapped some pictures of an infamous 'sandstorm'! While I have experienced several, I hadn't taken photos for two main reasons- 1), I had never been at the right place with my camera. and 2) Often, they are small and not very photogenic.
These 'haboobs' come out of nowhere. Sometimes you can smell it- the metallic taste of sand is in the air. Other times, a headache tells you one is on its way.
This time, it was our friend Rosie, calling to tell us to hurry to the roof to catch it coming in.
We ran upstairs to our roof and within three minutes, the daylight was consumed by the large, dark cloud. It was abolutely amazing to see the process.
I only wish the photos could capture the whipping of the cool wind and the frantic feel on the streets as people run for shelter.

The best part of this whole process is that it tends to cool the city for a day or two. This time, it was followed by amazing lighting storms (video to follow) and then, unfortunately, more rain.
We are NOT ready for more rain!

From a week ago

Photos from last week's hash run/walk by the Nile- taken by my friend Malou. (I'm the chick behind the girl in the hat in that second pic. fyi)

a lovely surprise

I received this photo (expertly photo shopped) in an email last night. It seems a Malaysian student of mine took the photo last year at the pool party and just got around to fixin' it up and sending it. A little silly, a little sweet and only a tad bit creepy.

Limitations

Our mantra for the year has become "nothing exciting happens at home". This is meant to encourage us to get out and do things.
We were really buying it, too, until the rains came, making transportation difficult.
Our lives have been significantly shrinked by the rains and their aftermath.

You can find a poorly-written but mildly-interesting article about the flood devastation in the city HERE.

More water (getting it while we can)

A student of mine, made giddy by rain yesterday.

It rained for four hours that morning. The kids were crazy and water was everywhere! Friends say that was the longest daytime rain they had seen here in several years.

As you can tell, there is nothing in place to help with drainage. The water just creates rivers and lakes in fields and roads and everywhere until evaporated by the sun- which takes much longer than you would think despite the Sudanese sun and heat.

I've included a few more photos of the school day. I know that you all see rain often. Lucky you.
We are enjoying it while it lasts!

Adventures in Waterworld

After our hash runs, everyone hops in their cars and goes to someone's house for the after-'party'. We knew the house, and made our way there- though not uneventfully.

There were still rivers of water in many of the streets! We were in a friend's 4WD, and didn't have any problem, but our other friends weren't so lucky! Their poor little car (already with a fitting name- Rascal) got stuck- both before the party and again after. Both times we had to jump in and push the car a fair distance to dry land, comforted by the numerous other drivers doing the same thing we were- shoving and sloshing their rides to safety!

It was pretty surreal- the lights reflecting on the water, darkness falling... everyone laughing, frustrated, trying to help each other out. Definitely a bonding experience for the lot of us involved.

before getting stucklocal boys eager to help!

the final push. (I'm the muscle in bright blue.)

By the Nile

A water pump used to water the fields along the banks of the Nile.
(thank you, Hash run, for opportunities
to take pictures in random places)

The floods!

A few photos from campus, the morning after the crazy rains.
These 'lakes' were once garden and soccer fields. ha!