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.