off to Ehtiopia

Well in the final hours my travel visa came through and Im going to Ethiopia for my fall break. I am packing as we speak and leave for the airport in 7 hrs!!
I will write lots when I return...ma sallama!

fall break

well i have a few more days of school and then fall break. (and i also got sick yesterday...hoping ill be better in time for my break...i always get sick when im on break!)
i am not going to Ethiopia as planned (my travel visa is not ready yet).
but i will be traveling inside of sudan.

i will be going to the pyramids of meroe. i am very excited about that. meroe was the capital of the southern kushite kingdom and apart of nubia. an ancient city no doubt and not far from us here in khartoum.
below in green is the info regarding our trip.


Karima - visit the Jebel Barkal and the necropolis of El Kurru and Royal necropolis of Meroe Landmark in the Nubian desert, Jebel Barkal ("Jebel" means mountain in Arabic) can be seen from a few dozens of kilometres whilst still in the open desert. At the foot of this wonderful isolated red sandstone mountain with cliffs and considered holy since the ancient times there is the big temple, dedicated to the Pharaohs of the New Reign and to their patron Amon. The Amon's ancient "Pure Mountain", the Olympus of the Nubians, was the religious Nubian heart for more than 1000 years. Besides the ruins of the big temple there are still several sculptured granite rams that were supposed to border a long avenue that probably led to the pier on the Nile. In the mountain wall there is a big room decorated with bas-relief. The Royal necropolis of he ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital (from 800 to 400 b.C.) before the Meroitic period, had a large number of pyramids in three different places: a few hundreds of metres northwards from Jebel Barkal, at El Kurru, a dozen of kilometres southwards from the mountain and at Nuri, which is located on the other bank of the Nile. We then go southwards to the village of El Kurru where there is one of the necropolis of the ancient capital Napata. Here we can visit two tombs which are excavated in the rock under pyramids - partially collapsed - and are totally decorated with images of the Pharaoh, of the gods and multicolour hieroglyphic inscriptions. The trip goes on with the visit to a site, rich in fossil trunks in the desert. In the evening return to Karima, accommodation at the Rest-House, dinner and overnight stay. The Royal necropolis of Meroe is located at about 3 km far from the Nile on some hills covered with yellow sand dunes. More than 40 pyramids stand out with their sharp shapes against the clear sky. Most of them are in perfect preservation conditions. Just in front there are some small funerary temples with the walls fully decorated with bas-reliefs that shows the King’s life and the gods. Then we move along the Nile to visit the ruins of the royal city. The excavations confirm that it used to be on a large area with a central one surrounded by suburbs and a boundary wall. Most of the area where the city is located, that is formed by many small hills covered by red clay fragments, has still to be excavated by the archaeologists. Dinner and overnight stay at the tented Camp.

Iftar/Fatour Breaking the Fast

This weekend I went with a group from my school to a Iftar celebration at a Sufi Mosque. It was with the extended family of one of the School staff (Mirghani) and it was great.
We sat together and shared the food- Fool- a bean dish and Asida another traditonal dish of flour porriage and a sauce.
I was hoping to see some Sufi dancing but they did not do so when we were there.

It was interesting because the men eat separately from the women. We also had our own special guest room to eat in. After we ate and had tea the women of our group went to meet the women. They were in a different area from where we ate. It was great when we went to meet them. We didn't know much Arabic and they didn't know a lot of English but there was a buzz of conversation in the air.
Asallam walakeum...Walakum asallam...and shaking hands and smiles and laughs.

Then the cameras came out..and we would take pictures of the kids and show them instantly on the digital screen and they would laugh and smile ask us to do it again.

Also this weekend I went to the Omderman Souk (Market). Omderman is an area right outside of Khartoum. This market is Huge! We spent Hours there and still didn't cover all of it. They have everything and its not too expesnive. The hardest part was not drinking water..because during Ramadan it is against the law to eat or drink in public places..I spent my afternoon recovering from that. I don't know how folks do that all day12 hours...in this heat!

a cool 96 degrees

The pictures: A dragon fly my kids caught during recess. The ceramic water containers that are all over the city...like public water fountains. Me on the hash last week...Im near the nile and a mosque is in the background..we also ran by some cows! A picture of the temperature on a cool day...yes a cool 96 degrees..after 114 all week...it felt great...almost cool! crazy right.

I have one more week and then fall break. i am hoping to go to Ethiopia..already have tickets but i am awaiting my travel visa..along with all the other new hires. keeping my fingers crossed. if we dont get them in time we will try to travel around sudan...local vacation...we might check out some of the pyramids north of the city.

a short movie!

ok so i took some footage of me at school, my walk home and the nile. I tried to edit it in Imovie and now im gonna post it. Hopefully Ill get better at it as the year goes on.

We just had our Iftar (breaking fast) with the workers at our school. It was great...lots of food. I tried to talk to one of the staff members...we tried our best...i know very little Arabic and he very little English. We pointed at things and said them our language...we laughed alot and ate well.

Ok hope u enjoy the movie.

full moon

So tonight/today is the full moon. I gave out moon cakes to the kids that are for the Chinese Moon Festival for the harvest. The Chinese Embassy gave them out to our school. It was also very lively in the city tonight. As most nights during Ramadan are but I guess I noticed it more because I was out coming back from the hash. Its like a big party every night. The Mosques are full of people and the streets are packed. At one intersection cars were just parked in the street so folks could go to the Mosque.Its like New Years Eve every night. And as we drove through the city you can hear the different loudspeakers from the Mosques saying prayers and things in Arabic. Its quite an experience.

I've also attached a video of this impending storm that never quite happened yesterday. Its been really hot (115) and usually there is a haboob that cools things down..or rain. Yesterday it almost rained and the birds were quite excited about it. There were cool gusts of air and I think they were just soaring and playing in it. They look liked birds of prey up close and many shed some beautiful feathers.
My friend/collegue Rosie is swimming the the pool. We were there having an afternoon workout at the pool. Hopefully it will rain or cool down tonight

5 1/2 weeks of school

and i can't believe it..but today it felt like we finally hit our grove. the kids all signed in and knew were to put things and wrote and read and conferenced and raised their hands and laughed and played and learned! time is really magic.
ive been busy and ramadan has slowed things down in the streets ..which is really nice.

i went to my first 'hash.' the running/drinking group. which apparently started in Malaysia and has some scary fraternity military traditions (like sitting on blocks of ice if when u were running you took a short cut)...but the one here in Khartoum is apparently not so heavy on tradition and more low key. apparently its the 'hottest hash in the world!'i enjoyed the running w/ others and getting to know people beyond the folks i work with. its every week and each week we run a different course set by the members of the hash...so each week ill see a different part of khartoum. afterwards there is food and drinks! (which are hard to find in a dry city...so lots of folks come for that...).
i met some cool folks who work for the un and i learned the arabic words for 'foreigner' and 'white person.' which is important cause i think when ive gone running or walking i may have been called either or both of those words...so its good to know.

Our school is going to host an Iftar feast for the staff who work at our school next week. Im excited about that too...I see folks in the neighborhood break fast every day but never particpated in the ceremony. All the facutly will bring the food and we will all break fast together with the 60 plus staff who work tirelessly every day (fast or no fast) in crazy heat!

im learning a little more arabic too..the guards who are at our apt help me each day a trudge in from daily walk from the bus stop and i have a mini arabic lesson. 3 new words or phrases a day.
mish mish...is apricots and arna guya min a madressa..is am coming from school and ayom harr (with a rolled rrr ) is ...TODAY is HOT. which is pretty much a good statement for any day!

peace!

after the haboob

Come the rains.
There was a serious Haboob last night (dust storm). Dust seeped through all the spaces in my house, under the door, the windows and left dust every where. I swept it up and it was as if I had a sandbox in the house. Then drenching rains came and left all these toads and frogs everywhere. They were in and out and around the classroom and I caught one and took a picture before I let it go.

Ramadan has started and all of the restaurants are closed until after sunset. Some of the kids are fasting and it makes for a long day for some of them. Today it wasn't that hot (99 degrees) and so they were no complaints. Seriously- yesterday it was at least 112 maybe 115. So today it was great. I walked around town after school went to find some mosquito coils so they won't eat me at night!
I didn't notice the heat at all. I think I'm acclimated to the heat and soon 75 degrees will feel cold to me!

We also got another teacher in the school to help with teaching elementary which for me means I don't have to teach 4th grade Language arts just 3rd! And I finished my last paper for grad school yesterday...I am psyched...I get to read for fun again!