Here is a quick video of the market / bus station near our house. Emily and I are here just about every day to catch a bus into the main part of town.

We're back from Al Obied. It turned out to be a total disaster. I knew we should have sent an SVP person to check out the accommodations ahead of time. Too bad Momen fired everyone last week.

Took the bus to Al Obied last Thursday. We didn't do much on the day we got in. We were picked up by a guy claiming to be the head of the English Department at Kordafon University. He turned out to be an asshole, not to be the department head. They put us up in a small "guest house", like a hotel with shared bathrooms. Friday is the weekend here. It is the Muslim day of prayer as well as the only day they have off work. We were taken by this jerk to the home of the town's deputy mayor. There we met the mayor and all of the other authorities in town. They treated me kindly, but they were very sexist toward Emily. They insisted that she pour tea for everyone (because she is a woman) and encouraged me to get a second wife. If she wasn't already offended enough, the guy told Emily that she is fat and lazy for sleeping 8 hours a night.

Soon many other officials showed up and what must have been every high ranking military officer in Kordofan. We were driven to a small field, which was filled with just about everyone in the entire city. They had us sit up front, behind the stage. It turns out that one of the Army Generals from the town was retiring. The entire town showed up to celebrate. Various military brigades reenacted battles and showed their skills by fighting one another.

Saturday they showed us where we would be living, while we taught at the university. It was a small, half built room in the middle of the desert, at least 30 minutes from anything! The students also lived here. So we would basically be stuck in the middle of nowhere with all of the students, who would no doubt harass us daily. This is besides the fact that the house was not built yet, did not have a bathroom and did not have a kitchen. We told them that it was not going to work, so they showed us a place in town. This one was finished being built, but again did not have a bathroom or kitchen. They told us that it would be constructed just outside. Riiiiiiight.

It was obvious that they were not prepared for our arrival. Momen did not believe us at first and he seemed annoyed that we would be coming back to Khartoum. Too bad. We were not going to live in their half built room in the middle of the desert. Now we are back in Khartoum. It almost feels like being home again.

Haven't gotten a chance to write for the last few days because I have been laid up in bed with some kind of mighty African viral infection. Emily got it too. It was horrible. The only time I got out of bed was to got to the hospital.

Let me just tell you, African hospitals are not like American hospitals. They didn't bother checking our temperature, but they did test us for Malaria. The test was actually quite interesting. The doctor pricked our fingers to draw blood, then sucked the blood through a straw with his mouth. He then spit the blood into a vile for testing. The test came back negative, but he said that it isn't very accurate. So if we still felt sick in a few days, we could come back for the other (more accurate) Malaria test. He also gave us antibiotics, which have made us feel much better. We're still not up for traveling yet.

Two nights ago we attended a lecture about Darfur at the British Council. It was a thinly vialed plea for money from a local NGO. Very boring. We didn't stay long.

Woke up very late yesterday. We are both feeling the effects of the time change (it usually hits about a week into the trip). Many of the local SVP volunteers and some friends came over last night. The apartment was packed. We ended up getting a bowl of Ful, smoking the Sheesha (hookah), and going for milk. The milk is like melted ice cream. Packed with sugar, like everything here. It is served from a small, nondescript window which doesn't open until about 11:00 pm. Keep in mind that alcohol is illegal here, so people find other things to drink at night.

When people come over, they often end up staying the night, because the buses stop running before midnight. So the people who were here yesterday were also here today. Fridays are the religious day of rest in Sudan, so today was like the weekend. We hung out most of the day, then went to watch the Sufi dancing just before sunset. It is one of the main attractions in Khartoum, but it was quite boring. The Sufis mostly just played drums, chanted and stood around. When the drum beat got going very fast, a few of them danced. But it was lame.

We found out that we are being placed in Al Obied, the capital of the Kordofan state. It is located almost directly in the center of the country and it is a large city, like Khartoum, but not as big or crowded. We are very excited to head out there and start teaching. The city is an 8 hour bus ride from here; we are suppose to leave on Sunday (En Sharlot).

The party yesterday was fun. We met one of Johanna's crazy friends near Suuk Arabi and drove to the posh area of town (which I didn't even know existed, given we live in the slums). The guests consisted of many SVP volunteers, Westerners from other organizations and English speaking Sudanese. Everyone was asked to bring food, so Emily and I decided to get cookies. We stopped by a local bakery before the party and they asked us how many kilos we wanted. Well, Emily and I have no idea how many cookies are in a kilo, so we ordered three. It seemed like a good amount, until they actually started putting the cookies into the box. They just kept piling in more and more cookies! We were laughing hysterically, because there were just so many of them. Finally they put the large box on the scale. It wasn't enough. They added about a dozen more cookies before it was enough. We now have more cookies than we know what to do with!

We attended an English class with one of the other volunteers yesterday. The highlight of the class was when we were trying to describe the word "rude". Most people didn't understand, but one girl knew all too well. She said, "oh, you mean like a bitch?"

Last night we went to Mohamed's house. He is the main coordinator between the volunteers and SVP. Sudanese people are know for their generous hospitality and he was no exception. He served an enormous try of Ful with bread and vegetables.

Today we attended class with a woman named Raga. She teaches at a small elementary school two bus rides away from our house. They didn't give us any training or warning, they just split up Emily and I and gave each of us our own class to teach. I had a great time, because my students were a little more advanced. We went over the names of various animals and sang Old McDonald. Emily had a tougher time, because her students were still learning the alphabet.

After school we made it to the main market in Khartoum and took the bus home by ourselves (for the first time). This evening we are going to a party hosted by another volunteer. We have events planned every night this week. My social life is better here than in the US!

Woke up yesterday at 3:30 am, checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to London's Heathrow Airport. We arrived much earlier than expected, so we had to wait a while for the flight. The plane taxied out of the gate, then waited 45 minutes to take off. By the time we got to Frankfurt, our connecting flight to Khartoum had left. It took a couple hours in line to book another flight. This time, instead of flying directly to Khartoum, we had to go through Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at 6:30 pm. Our connecting flight didn't leave until 11:30 pm, so the Egyptian guards kept us in a small room at the bottom of the airport until just before our flight. There were other people down there with us, but we were kept longer, even when the other people's flights left later. Our flight left an hour late, so we got to Khartoum at 3:30 am. Momen, the SVP coordinator picked us up.

Just after we laid down in bed, we were awoken by the Muslim call to prayer. The many mosques in the area seemed to be competing to be the loudest. We finally got to sleep as the sun was coming up. A few hours later, we were awoken to loud music and activity. I looked out the window and got my first glimpse of the city. The streets are dusty and unpaved, with large trash filled ditches on the side. Small bridges cross the ditches. The buildings are made of brick, but the bricks seem to be made of mud from the street. Most are falling apart, few have real roofs. The people are surprisingly well dressed, wearing long with robes or western style collared shirts.

We borrowed 200 Dinar (about $1.00) from another volunteer and bought breakfast. I didn't know what to order, so I just gave the man our money. He brought two falafel sandwiches. Not bad!

After breakfast we met up with Johanna, the same woman who lent us the money, and her friend KuKu. The four of us took the bus into town. The main square was dirty, packed, and bustling with activity. It is the city's main market. Vendors sold all kinds of food, clothing and junk. We fought our way through the crowd to the SVP office. There we met some of the group's organizers and changed money.

We ate lunch at a small corner cafe. The food was Egyptian style rice with pasta and sauce. From there we walked to the British Council. This is where most Westerners meet and hang out. They have a nice library, computers and TV. Meetings and discussion groups are held a few times a week. At 4:00 pm we headed home and took a nap.

For dinner we went to a nearby restaurant and were served a large bowl of Ful and strips of bread. No silverware. You must scoop up the Ful with your bread. After dinner we went to a small courtyard off the main street to smoke a hookah. A large group of men were gathered around a TV watching American Professional Wresting. Apparently people in Africa love it! Before going to bed, we gathered around on of the guy's laptops and watched the Matrix: Reloaded.

Our flight to London was on Thursday evening. The flight was uneventful, but getting through customs was a problem. The woman questioned us endlessly and we told her everything we knew, which wasn't much. We didn't have any of the contact numbers with us and knew very little about what we would be doing in London. She wasn't happy. Finally, after recording everything we told her and vowing that we would be hassled every time we entered London for the rest of our lives, she let us pass. The trip to our hotel involved a train ride, a taxi and much confusion. We had reservations at a hotel recommended by the organization. It looked bad on the internet, so I promised Emily that I would get us reservations elsewhere. Well, I didn't and the hotel ended up being worse than we expected. Emily was pissed. We met the guy who had organized our trip and got a ton of useful information. After meeting him, we went up to our room and it was terrible. We ended up hauling our heavy bags through the freezing rain to another hotel. This one was better, so we booked a room.

A couple hours later we were met by a former volunteer named Katy, who took us to the Sudanese Embassy. It was a nice long walk through a beautiful park, but we were immediately turned away. The woman told us to come back the next day between 3:00 and 3:45. We walked back to the hotel, ate at a nearby restaurant and struggled to stay awake until 8:30.

Thursday we walked down Oxford St. (a big shopping district) looking for sandels. Apparently they don't sell sandels in London in January. We made it back to the embassy at the appointed time, met Katy and were again turned away. This time they said that they must send the applications to Khartoum for approval, because we are American. Katy got on the phone with someone who knows someone who knows the Ambassador. He said that he would call someone else to meet us at the embassy the next day.

After a long, cold walk, we made it to the British Museum. There we saw ancient Egyptian mummies ad the Rosetta Stone (among other things). We met Katy, a Sudanese man, another former volunteer and someone who will be going to Sudan in a couple weeks for dinner. It took an hour on the subway to get there (it was located in the ghetto) and the food was definitely not worth the trek.

Today we were at the embassy again. Osama Salah met with the Ambassador on our behalf and we were assured that everything would go through. After many delays and a sprint to the bank for more money, we got the Visa approved. Tomorrow we are off to Sudan!

On Wednesday, after a long fight to get the U-haul trailer that we reserved, Emily and I packed up our apartment and started the journey North. We stopped at a hotel in Georgia and finished the trek on Thursday. Finally we are out of Florida! It's not that we didn't like living in Orlando... Well actually it is that.

We have spent the weekend organizing our stuff and shopping for some last minute clothes. Everything that we aren't bringing went into storage. Soon we will be on our way to Sudan! Hopefully I will be able to keep my blog updated while we're gone, but the Internet access will probably be spotty (at best).

Emily and I have only been married a month and we're already old farts; we hung out at home for new years. We had fun though.

At 3:00 we started making our famous meatballs, which simmer for 4 hours. After dinner we had a bonfire in the backyard and made smores. Then we hooked up the DVD player in the bedroom (the couch in the den is gone, so we can't watch TV there) and watched Jackass 2. The movie ended at 11:00, but we didn't get out of bed. I actually had to wake her up for new years.