Today was the first time it really seemed hot. I went sailing on the Nile (like I do every week) and spent some time looking for food in the Khartoum Sook. It was hard to find because everything is closed on Friday. The digital thermometer said 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit). It wasn't unbearable like the Florida heat though. It felt much cooler than it was, which is not saying much.

My Zoology class was canceled yesterday. Although none of the students had my phone number to inform me. When I showed up, they invited me to dissect mosquitoes with them in the lab. I happily accepted the invitation.

The mosquitoes were held in a bucket with a piece of mesh across the top. The students had to remove the mosquitoes one at a time, to check their gender and dissect them. They extracted each mosquito by putting one end of a clear glass tube in their mouth and the other end in the cage. They then used the end of the tube to suck up a mosquito and inspect it.
The dissection was done under a microscope (very carefully). When they were done, they showed me all of the different organs.

For dinner we went to George and Xena's house. Xena is a masterful chef; she cooked a feast! We haven't eaten like that for months. They also have satellite TV, which was a luxury we rarely have in Sudan.

I had a very typical conversation with one of the women in my Police Officer class. She asked me what I though of Sudan. "The people are so friendly and generous," I said. "What do you think of Americans?"
"They're the enemy."
"So, am I the enemy?"
"No, Bush is."

I had an incredibly rewarding experience today. I've been studying Arabic on and off since I got here and picking up words from flatmates and people on the street. Today, for the first time, I was able to read some Arabic script in my book. Then I went to the market and had a conversation (almost) entirely in Arabic!

Things are already starting to seem normal here. It's weird. Just a month ago it was all so foreign: the noise, the people, the language, the culture, the food, the dirt. It is not new or different anymore. It's amazing how quickly we can adapt to a new environment.

My classes at Khartoum University and at the police station are going well. I was talking to the highest ranking police officer in my class the other day. Asking him about the most difficult parts of his job. He said that when he kicks down the door and storms someones house with his automatic rifle and 30 of his closest friends, it is quite scary. He also had a hard time when they shipped him off to Darfur to fight the rebels. I asked if I could come to the rifle range with him, but he said that we would both be arrested (they would think I was a spy). Oh well. Malesh.

Emily came to my classes today at Khartoum University. We were teaching the Zoology students in on of thier lab rooms. There were mice and rats in the back of the room and chickens under the tables. In the middle of class, Emily started screaming and pointing outside. There was a monkey climbing the bars on the window! Apparently the Zoology department use to have many monkeys, but a few of them escaped. Now the campus has a problem. The students said that they have to watch their food closely, or the monkeys will steal it.

The weather was actually quite nice today, because there was an enormous sand storm blocking out the sun. It wasn't sandy at ground level. Guess it was just all up in the atmosphere. It made the temperature very pleasant.

My class of police officers is off to a slow start. Some of them have a fairly good knowledge of English, but most of them don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I have to get the ones who understand me to explain the activities to those who don't. They seem to be enjoying the class, regardless.

I started teaching at my main placement today. I thought that I would be teaching members of the Wildlife Federation, but again things were not as I expected. My students were actually police officers! They were quite shy at first. They had all studied English before, but were not confident with the language or able to hold a conversation. I tried to get them to describe things in their house, but ended up teaching the difference between the words is and are. Regardless, they had a great time and seemed eager to practice the language.

Here are some random photos, including some from our latest sailing trip.

We are both starting to get very busy with our teaching jobs. My first class at the Wildlife Center is tomorrow. It takes an hour and a half on the bus to get there. We attended a party at our friend Rosa's house last night. The attendees were the usual mix of volunteers, NGO workers and English speaking Sudanese. Rosa's downstairs neighbor brought up a few pitchers of her home brewed beer. It was delicious and gone very quickly. Stupid Sharia Law has everyone thirsting for a good pint. On the way home, we were hassled by the bus driver, who tried to collect more money than he was owed. The people here think all foreigners are rich, so they constantly try to rip us off. It gets old very quickly.

So many people, so few limbs.

Here is how you ride the bus in Sudan:

There are two types of busses, large and small. The large busses are slower, stop frequently and cost 50 Dinar (25 cents). The small busses are faster, stop less frequently and cost 100 Dinar (50 cents). There are two people who work on the bus, the Driver and the Money Collector. Soon after the bus leaves, the Money Collector snaps his fingers; this means it's time to pay. Everyone sends their money forward and waits for change. When you want to stop, you snap at the Money Collector and he, in turn, hisses at the driver. After you get off, the Money Collector will again hiss at the driver, signaling him to go.

I got my placement! It isn't at the Koranic University, like I though. I will be teaching at the Wildlife Federation. They are in charge of a large wildlife preserve in the Blue Nile State. I will even be able to visit, camp at the preserve and see the wild animals. The students are not very advanced and they are shy about speaking English.

I also had my first class at the Khartoum University today. My students are all studying Zoology and seem to have a strong grasp of the English language. The class will probably end up being just a discussion group. The first day went well. I had them introduce themselves and tell me about their interests. They could speak and understand much more than I expected. Rachel, another SVP volunteer who has taught this class before, said that she usually just gives them a topic and lets them discuss.

Emily and I spent the evening shopping at the largest market in Sudan. It is located about 1/2 a kilometer (don't give me crap, they use the metric system here) behind our house, but we rarely go. Apparently foreigners don't get good deals like the locals do. Our friend Muja (who is Sudanese) came with us to help bargain. It was great. She argued in Arabic like a champion. I got some very nice, sturdy leather shoes for $15 and we got small book bags for $5 each.

A couple quick antidotes about the bureaucratic incompetence of the Sudanese Government:

I was talking about the fires in the trenches with one of the SVP organizers. He is from a well to do family (and their house is apparently not made of mud). One day his house caught fire. They called the police and waited for someone to help them put out the fire. It took an hour for the fire department to show up, and they forgot the water!

The government here (like most governments) can't seem to contain it's growth. There is a ministry for everything. Today, while I was on the bus to town, we passed the Ministry of Ministries!

Our University placements are slowly coming together. If all goes according to plan, Emily's main placement will be at the Omderman Islamic University and mine will be at the University of the holy Quran and Islamic studies. Should be interesting. I will also be teaching at the Univeristy of Khartoum for a couple hours each week.

The money situation here is very confusing. They have recently switched from the Pound to the Dinar and finally to the Sudanese Pound. There is no difference, besides the number of zeros. It becomes difficult though, because most people still talk in terms of the original Pound and the new Sudanese Pound is not really in circulation yet. What ends up happening is that when someone says that something costs 1000 Dinars, they actually mean 100 (the equivalent of 50 Cents).

A friend of mine is teaching English to a group of soldiers who come from both the Rebel groups and the Government forces. It is part of the peace agreement, which allows the opposing factions to interact with eachother and hopefully facilitate the peace process. The problem is that they all bring thier guns to school. My friend didn't know that this was a common practice, so on the first day of class he freaked out when the opposing soldiers walked into the room with Rocket Launchers and AK47s!

Today Emily and I visited the Mahdi's tomb and the museum at the Khalifa's house. It was very interesting to see some of the artifacts from when the Sudanese were fighting the British. I especially liked posing with one of the machine guns used by General Gordon's Army in the battle!

The last photo is of a fire in the trench next to our house. These crazy trenches are always on fire because they are full of trash and people toss in thier cigarettes. No one seemed to care that it was on fire though. Everything here is made of bricks and mud, so the buildings don't burn down.

I woke up early this morning and made my way into town. Friday is the weekend here, so downtown Khartoum was abnormally quiet. Before I left, I asked my friend for directions to the Blue Nile Sailing Club. His directions were, "from the SVP office go back and to the left". So I walked in that direction and eventually ended up beside the Republican Palace. The guards didn't understand English (and I don't speak much Arabic), so I drew a picture of a sailboat on my hand. They pointed me in the right direction. I walked around the Palace, back to the Nile and kept going until I hit the Sailing Club.

Not many people were there when I showed up, but before long the place was crawling with Hawaja's (the Sudanese term for foreigner or white person). Each Hawaja went out with an experienced Sudanese sailor on a small, two person boat. We raced around buoys up and down the Nile. Mohamed and I came in third. Not bad, but he said that I needed more practice.

After the race, a huge bowl of Ful was served. We were all hungry. Emily and Nick (a friend from SVP) showed up a little while later. We sat around chatting in the shade beside the Nile enjoying the cool breeze. For lunch, one of the Hawaja's called his driver (apparently you are treated very well when you work for a NGO) and we went out to eat. Many of the people we were with came to Sudan with SVP, but got jobs with NGOs after their teaching stint. They took us to the nice part of town (a far cry from where we live) and we ate at a Turkish restaurant.

Made it back home sometime in the afternoon. I called the SVP coordinator and found out that we should have placements with local Universities by sometime next week. We'll see what happens.

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).