The Heat

The heat is unbearable.  It is like being fried.  Most of the time we are inside where the temperature without air-conditioning day and night is a steady 90 degrees  (32).  In Georgia I used to measure the extent of my chest infection / colds by how many packets of hankies I got through in a day.  (“I’m down t 4 a day now!” But here it is the number of showers I take in a day.  In the SVP flat I was on at least 7 a day – I even got up in the middle of the night to have a shower and spent my time in the flat wrapped in my sheet.  Actually, I did that because the other volunteer was doing the same but it turned out that that was a special sarong she had brought with her for that very purpose and so I must have seemed very strange to be wearing my bed clothes all day and night.

If we come back to the flat in the middle of the day the first thing we do is to switch on the air-con in the bedroom (used as a treat), plus the fan, get naked, cold shower, don’t dry and lay on the bed in icy ecstasy.  It is of course short-lived but it’s what keeps me going from stepping out of the taxi, crossing over the busy road and making our way up to the third floor.

The water here is never cold.  It comes from a water tank on top of the building and depending on when in the day you shower it will range from tepid to hot.  The best time for a cold shower is at 5 in the morning as this is the longest time the tank has not been exposed to the sun.  The water is cool. 

The same thing goes for water for drinking.  We freeze bottles of water and then it stays reasonably cold for a while but at night, if we leave a bottle by the bed, by morning it is quite warm.  In fact I have drunk colder tea.

In my first few days here, even though I was drinking a lot of water, I nearly passed out through the heat when walking. My head would start to feel really heavy and I would get lights before my eyes and I just had to get out of the sun (we were mostly walking in shade) and sit down.  It’s a different matter when you are on holiday and you sit in the shade reading your book and drinking cold beer and you wonder how people can actually do the housework or shopping in this heat.  We can do nothing.  However after a week my body adjusted to the heat somewhat and I was down to 4 showers a day!  I think school starts early and so this wont be too bad when we are finally placed in schools.

The other thing is that most of the side roads are unmade which means that there is a lot of sand around.  You know what it’s like when you walk on a hot beach, barefoot?  Well it is a similar effect when you are wearing sandals here with the sand flicking up under your feet.

In Limbo

Fitara - This is delicious! pasta like bread stuff with mince, carrot and yoghurt

Many people who read my Georgia blog believed that I wasn’t enjoying my time there because all I did was complain and say how hard it was.  I didn’t see it like that at all.  It was really hard and grim (a well-worn phrase for Georgia of mine) but also a delight.  Maybe I focussed on what made for more entertaining reading and therefore presented a bit of a lop-sided view of our life there.  I fear that I am going to do the same for our time in the Sudan!  So I beg of you to make allowances for my tone and realise that it is probably a lot better than my blog implies!  Already, in my facebook messages I have said stuff like “On a scale of 0 to 10, when 10 is fab and 0 is really shit, today is 2.5”. My friends anxiously offer us jobs in England and offers of homes because they care for my state of mind.  All I can say that it is quite unpleasant for a number of reasons as it was in Georgia and Ethiopia until we settled into our routines.

Gadding about isn’t as easy as it looks.  We have been living out of a suitcase since June 15^th now which is a bit irritating in itself and in that time we have stayed in England for 2 ½ weeks, 2 weeks traveling around Ethiopia, then  4 weeks in one hotel, 2 weeks in another, 1 ½ weeks in 1 flat in Khartoum and now 1 ½ weeks in another flat in Khartoum.  Our gypsy feet need a rest and are in serious danger of getting bunions.  Next week however, will see us in our own little place with roses growing around the door and birds tweeting in our little garden.  I don’t think so!  But I am looking forward to our first Sudanese home in the 2^nd city of Sudan called Wad Medani.

I am getting excited about what we might need; a bucket (which colour shall I choose?  Will I need more than one? A new broom and what about saucepans?  What indeed as we have no clue as to the type of place we will be living in other than it will be an apartment that hopefully wont be too many flights up.  I have been letting my imagination wander.  It started with thinking how nice it wold be to have our portable hot tub on the balcony, then to well it would have t be a cold tub, with ice, and then to possibilities of building a small swimming pool the size of the balcony.  I went into a lot of detail on this one, how would we sort out drainage, temperature control (a whole freezer dedicated to creating large blocks of ice) and drainage (stuff a plastic bag into the balcony overflow).  Of course, being in a country where the only bits of flesh it is acceptable to show are lower arms, ankles and face would prove to be a bit of a problem, but the solution was found.  Strips of fabric wrapped round poles to make sun / privacy protection and yeah! Free to run around naked and not upset the neighbours!  I haven’t found a solution to the weight of the water which is likely to bring down the balcony, naked Jen and all.  I can dream eh?!

There are three things that I have found difficult so far apart from the being in limbo issue;

1) The heat

2) The no alcohol and

3) Covering up.

See later posts.

We are Here!

Sunrise over Cairo

Our flight to Khartoum left at 4:30 in the morning which meant that we needed to be at the airport at around 1:30.  It was a 3 hour drive to Addis from Nazret and so it felt like we had been travelling all day.  We had an 8 hour layover at Cairo and looked into doing a quick tour to the Pyramids at Giza while we waiting.  However, we had a problem with both our debit cards and could not get any money out at Cairo airport and so were technically potless.  However, we had internet and the time passed quickly enough.  Luckily we had stocked up on custard cream variants (banana and strawberry) and with the disappointing airline food stave off any emergent hunger pains.

Coming into Land in Khartoum

We arrived at Khartoum at 18:30 and were met by Rami and taken by taxi to the SVP flat not too far from the airport.  It was still very hot and we had to carry up the bags to the third floor – no lifts – which was a killer.  We have been separated too which is a killer!  There are only 2 bedrooms and for convenience and modesty have been designated a boys and a girls room.  Since our marriage we have spent only 2 or 3 nights at most and hate it!  The “girls” as we are being gallantly called are myself and Rebecca who is 5 days younger than me and the “boys” are Martin and a young man called Raj.

We were invited straight away to a wedding which I badly wanted to accept but after a shower I realised that I was actually too exhausted to do anything else!

We spent the next day sorting out our stuff which meant repacking so that we could have to hand what we might need for our time in the flat.  We were in desperate need of money as we had no cash at all and Sudan does not use VISA.  I had to ring home and ask Neal to go to a Western Union office and wire us money! 

It is really, really hot.  So hot you don’t want to go out.  So hot you want to just keep getting in the shower and drying off under the ceiling fans.  The covering up is an issue.  I wrapped a scarf over my chest, shoulders and arms which is socially acceptable but means that I am trussed up and worried about falling apart when I walk!  My solution is to tuck various ends under my bra straps and this is doing the trick!

Last night I got up in the early hours of the morning and showered; then switched on the ceiling fan in the bedroom and lay there lovely and cool.  I have felt faint a couple of times with the combination of heat and exertion.  It shouldn’t take too long to acclimatise (I hope)

There is a lot more choice of food to eat here than when we were in Nazret.  There are several good café style restaurants that we have seen and have had some delicious food.  Barbequed chicken is a dish that is commonly seen on street corners and is delicious.  We haven’t eaten a bi g piece of meat and virtually no chicken for 2 months so it is a big thrill! 

The charity has to apply for travel visas for us and we also have to have an HIV test.  The we will all be shipped off to our respective posts.

We are in Wad Medani (3 hours bus ride), Raj is going to be based in Khartoum, teaching at University, and Rebecca is going to be based north of Khartoum in Ed Dammer (5 hours bus ride).  She will be very close to Meroe where there are pyramids. Apparently, there are more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt and with virtually no tourists as well.  This is something that I am particularly looking forward to doing!

There are no land lines in Sudan and so everyone has to have a mobile phone and a dongle for the internet.  Later tonight, Rami is coming over and taking us to buy a dongle each and to get our phones unlocked.  I will let you know my new number!  My old mobile number is now defunct.  I know many people change their numbers regularly but this was my first number and I have had it since 1997 – 15 years!  Is that a record I wonder?!

Scary mask from the Ethnographic Museum in Khartoum

Another one

The stuff of Nightmares