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Africa » Sudan » North » Khartoum
October 16th 2008
Published: October 16th 2008
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Wednesday 16 October 2008

A pretty long day - 11.30 am Phil picked me up to give me a lift to the coach station. Precedby this by Jill ringing me up to say goodbye, find until final 'bye, then floods of tears from her. She nearly set me off. I promised I would phone/contact her asap. Met up with another volunteerat airport. Uneventful two flights, arrived Khartoum 3.45am (2 hrs ahead of us). Met SVP representatives (lovely older couple) who whisked me off to their house. I'm staying till about 5pm tomorrow when I'll get taken to Dr Amna's house in Omdufrman, swhere I'll be staying. So, I can relax for the day. According to the woman (whose name I simply didn't manage to get) I'll be about a five minute walk from the Nile and it's absolutely beautiful. Souds great. I've also got three groups set up ready to teach communications to. Ooh, now that's its getting to crunch time I'm getting nervous. Hey, how stupid is that - I've been teaching for years, so it'll be a poor show if I can't hack it. Collapse into bed at approx 5am.

Thursday 16 October 2008

After a not too brilliant sleep, I finally bit the bullet and turfed myself out of bed at about 10.45am. I must have knocked the on/off switch, 'cos the alarm went off at 6am. Definitely not what I wanted. The lady of the house is going to be out all day, but she told me I could ask Semira, the domestic/cleaner/bit of everything ifor whatever I needed. Anyway, I mooched along to the kitchen - bit of a language barrier - me zilch Sudanese, Semira limited English. But, she finally gave me a cup of tea from a pot already made - stewed, but fairly OK, and I manage to communicate to her that I'll have breakfast after I'v e showered. I feel a bit more human once I'm showered and dressed. Semira made me a plain omelette and some cheese separately, a bit like feta but slightly harder + a soft roll. much needed. After a bit of rearranging my suitcase ready for the next move (it's probably less well done than it was before!) It's out into the courtyard/garden to write this journal. It's shaded, there's aconstant breeze blowing and it's actually quite idyllic. Apparently the temperature in the sun is somewhere around the 40oC mark, but that doesn't come across just here. I think I'll notic it though when I finally get our into the full sun.


I've just mademyself a lovely cup of tea. I need to get used to the idea that the milk is boiled and cooled beforehand and kept in a saucepan in the fridge, and that the large fat deposits that float on the top are part of the experience. The tea isn't good. The blobs are offputting, as it the slightly sweetish taste. I've just met Deena, the niece of the couple, who also lives in the house. I don't know where Semira is. The house is right by a fairly busy road, but because it's got a walled courtyard/garden , although I'm aware of the traffic, I can't actually see. Over the course of the afternoon Arcan, the husband, comes back to check how I'm doing and i meet his daughter (again, I didn't catch the name!!!) I've really got to get to grips with 'hearing' what's been said to me!

Arcan is very solicitous, and offers me the use of the internet, thus the blog.

That's it for now.



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