I had a blog post all ready, but I’m not going to post it, because it was mostly a big whine about how I have to use a PIT LATRINE and how there are BUGS, and isn’t my life terrible? Which would lead everyone I know to ask, “Isn’t that exactly what you signed up for? How dumb are you?” And that is a very apt question, because what DID I think I was signing up for, going to a town that does not even appear on any full-country maps of Sudan, if it wasn’t a pit latrine and some lovely bugs? I don’t really have a good answer, except that somehow, if anyone had mentioned a pit latrine, I had blocked it out, and when I arrived in Tiny Little Town, I expected a real toilet.
Also, I had been informed that all there is to do out here is surf the internet and watch satellite TV. Which I was fine with, really. I haven’t watched any TV in a while and I heart smiley face ex-oh-ex-oh the internet. Except that neither the internet nor the TV are currently working.
New Plan: Dramatically Lower Expectations.
At the Africa safari exhibit at the closest zoo to my house in
Guess who’s laughing now?
I could get used to this outdoor shower thing, though. It’s nice to see the blue sky above you as you shower in a little tin room. And it’s eternally hot enough here that the water is never actually cold. The water flow is much weaker than that outdoor shower at the zoo, though, and my other New Plan is: Wash Hair As Seldom As Possible. Ponytails are our friends.
Today for breakfast I had a sweet cake whose wrapper was completely in Arabic, so I have no idea what it contained. Or even where it was made. For lunch, I had plain rice, because the sauce was all meat. I also drank, throughout the day, three cups of tea with lots of powdered milk. I’m pretty hungry. I have a feeling that’s going to be a theme of the next few months. I brought 73 granola bars, but I can’t quite eat one per day if I want them to last until November. I’m going to have to strongly encourage the frequent cooking of the peas and sauce that I ate over rice last night. I’ll beg, if necessary, because 1. vegetarian friendly! and 2. green vegetables!
Someone just asked me if I had eaten fish for lunch, because he’d told me that the fish here were good. “Oh,” he said, “you should ask the cooks to make some.”
“I don’t know how to ask them.” I said.
He looked at me in astonishment. “You don’t speak even a few words of Arabic?”
I knew I’d forgotten something. And where IS my rusty Kiswahili? Why can I only remember the words for water and cold, when what I need is some peas? And when the fridge can’t be plugged in because the solar panels don’t give enough power? There is going to be no cold anything for the next few months. (As soon as I thought that, I started craving a cold drink in a serious way.) At least chai translates.
Other things that make me happy:
- It doesn’t seem quite as hot as it was in
- This is not the season for snakes or scorpions. Also there are monitor lizards (?) in the bush behind the latrine and they keep snakes away (?). (NB: I SAW ONE! They are crazy-looking huge – like three feet long – lizards. I would be scared of them except that I will befriend anything that keeps snakes away.)
- The yard has dried up and I don’t have to wear too-small gumboots (ouch) to walk around today. And I’m getting non-child size gumboots tomorrow.
- I got to fly in a one propeller (on the nose) plane. I sat right behind the pilots and watched the altimeter. We got up to almost 10,000 ft. ALSO (the coolest part): we had to do a flyover of the airstrip, just to check that there were no obstacles, before we could land. That’s when you know you are in the bush.
- I’m pretty sure that the $100 in Sudanese pounds that I have in my pocket? Will last the entire three months I’m here.
- I have a Life Plan for when I get back. For a few years, anyway. And I like it.
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