Independence Day

Today is Independence day here. We have stayed away from town as we were told there would be parades and VIPs moving around so roads would be closed without warning. I thought there would be more noise (we were told that gunfire would be normal!) parties and stuff but so far haven't heard anything. It's a public holiday but poor DH has been working for a few hours. We did find time for a dip in the pool before lunch however.
I have had a very interesting/busy week and a bit, probably my busiest time since I arrived here. I climbed a hill with some friends the saturday before last, hard work and hot but at least there was a bit of a breeze. The view from the top was worth it. On the Sunday I went out early, bird watching with Mark who works at the British Embassy (check out his blog at birdingsouthsudan.blogspot.com great photos). I was amazed at the variety of birds we saw and thoroughly enjoyed walking out into the bush and just listening to the birdsong.
Also I have started going to a centre for street girls twice a week in Juba. These girls would be living on the streets/rubbish dumps/markets or in the sex trade if it wasn't for the centre. It's run by a lovely Christian lady with a great team behind her and cares for about 30 girls of varying ages. Some are quite young and those are the ones I focus on, mostly playing games, singing songs and having hugs. They also run a vocational training centre for older girls doing catering and hospitality, some of these girls have been rescued from brothels in Juba.
This weekend I went bird watching again early on Saturday with Mark to a different location with equally great results.
So that's quite busy for me! Usually I spend my time wandering around the compound here or chatting to the staff so it is a nice change.
We are travelling to England next week (very excited!) for a family wedding, hope the weather improves! So may not write any more until after our hols.

Photo of me up a hill!

So far......

Well I have been back a whole week now and what have I achieved? Hmmm.....let me see....managed to scare a few babies at the market on Saturday, does that count? Also helped the local kids with their English, although we still haven't progressed beyond 'good morning' and 'how are you?'. I did however, manage to make contact with the people at the Christian street girls centre again and plan to go there on Tuesday to play with the younger girls, teach them some songs or play games. They don't get a lot of physical contact I am told so some of the very little ones just need cuddles, well I can do that!
Welcomed some new visitors on Saturday, colleagues of my DH who are staying here at Acacia Village. I felt like I had been here for ages, showing newbies the ropes! Weird.
We had a rather wet weekend, especially Sunday, serious rain. I was just settling down to watch the European Grand Prix when it started and the tv went off ( satellite dish gets soaked.....or something) so I missed the whole thing. The roads were a complete mess when I went into town later to go to Church.
Today started well, with a gorgeous sunrise and hopefully we will have enough sun today to dry up the wet stuff.
Let's see what the day brings..........

And we're back!

Arrived safely back in Juba yesterday afternoon after a pleasant enough flight and a not too terrible passage through the airport. We were met by our very helpful driver, Zingo, who shuck my hand, welcomed me back, grabbed my suitcase and sped off across the muddy car park. It had obviously been raining hard earlier......oh dear and I was wearing my favourite white sandals!
As we exited the busy airport car park DH asked Zingo how last week was at work. It was fine until Friday, he replied, and then it wasn't fine any more. Rather cryptic I thought, however on further probing we discovered that Zingo had been involved in a traffic accident in the car on his way back to the office on Friday evening, resulting in him having a not very fine time! He was not injured so that was good, poor car sustained minor injuries which will require the services of a panel beater or possibly a new door if they have such things here. I suspect Zingo had a 'not very fine' weekend worrying about what the boss would say!
Spent a pleasant early evening on the veranda sipping port (well I had ran out of sherry!) and chatting to a colleague prior to dinner with said colleague and one other. Several staff members at Acacia Village welcomed us back warmly but the most memorable greeting came by way of a HUGE spider discovered by DH on MY side of the bed, on the INSIDE of the mosquito net at 11pm! Uuggggghhhhh! It made quite a mess when I managed to squash it (yes, I did it myself, accompanied by much screaming and jumping up and down) then of course I couldn't get back to sleep.
Ah well, such is life out here in the bush (ok, so we are actually in the capital city, but you know what I mean!)
Today has been quite peaceful, more greetings from the staff, giving and receiving of gifts, a pleasant walk around the block waving at various children plus the last bit of unpacking. So what shall I do tomorrow?........

Poorly, sick!

I've not been well! (everyone say ahhhhhh!) I suppose it is inevitable, living in this environment, but I have had "gastric disturbance" for several days and ended up treating myself with antibiotics for an intestinal parasitic infection (do tell me if this is too much information won't you?). Antibiotics are easy to buy in the local pharmacies although I read an article recently about how many drugs produced in third world countries are fake! So who knows what I am taking, could be compressed talcum power for all I know. Anyway, I hope to be ok tomorrow as we are travelling to UK for a short break. I need to well enough for a glass of bubbly or two on the plane from Nairobi to London. We leave Juba mid afternoon via Kenya Airways and have several hours to while away at Jomo Kenyatta airport before boarding our British Airways flight late evening. Looking forward to trying the completely flat beds!
I have heard stories about leaving Juba airport, none of them inspiring, so not looking forward to that bit. Nairobi airport has shops, lots of them in a very long row, all selling more or less the same thing, heaven knows how they make any money.
So we are all packed now, just the last minute things to throw in tomorrow. Poor DH of course has to go to work in the morning, ho hum......oh yes I remember, that's why we're here isn't it! Two more sleeps (one being a mile high) then we're home. Night night!

Shepherds - you have been warned!

The sky was a glorious red early this morning, shepherds warning! There I was jogging around the tennis court again, with DH and a visitor - Freda, the compound dog. Well she doesn't jog actually, she has a penchant for nipping ankles and heels which she thinks is great fun. When we try to chase her off, she thinks it's a great game and tears around like a thing possessed, putting our feeble efforts at jogging to shame.
In the end, the shepherds had nothing to worry about as it has been a hot, sunny day only just before dinner the clouds started gathering and we are currently being treated to a stunning lightening show! No rain yet though.
Today I made myself useful supervising the arrival of desks and chairs for DH's new office here on the lodge compound. Nice to feel needed. Having succeeded in this task I may be allowed out tomorrow to hunt for toner for the printer, oh joy!
See below, photo of crazy dog!

Quiet life?

Not written anything for ages, so does that mean I have nothing to say? Those who know me will know that that is rarely the case! I have been busy looking for a home/office/guest house. We have the idea to combine all 3 so we can pool resources, such as a generator, security and cleaning services. It would also mean I see more of DH during the day but also that we will have people around us almost constantly. We have seen a couple of good options and have begun negotiations on one of them but it's all sooooo expensive. So we are still in our nice lodge hotel (although the pool is rather green looking and not very inviting at the moment) which is ok. At the weekend we went to the house of a colleague so that I could do some cooking and we enjoyed a pleasant evening with our host who barbecued some large prawns he bought on a recent trip to Benin, lovely!
Yesterday was cool and rainly, today is hotter and bright so I might not go far, maybe a walk to the market to scare a few more babies!

Market

Today I went to the market for the first time. I cant believe I have been here a month and not been to the market! This one is just across the main road from the lodge where I am staying. It was quite an adventure. First of all crossing the road was a major undertaking! Traffic comes at you from all angles, regardless of rules, reversing, overtaking, speeding, you name it. So having safely negotiated that hurdle, I found my way through the narrow alleys into the heart of the market, passing ladies frying something like donuts in hot oil and a guy trying to fix a flat tyre. There were stalls selling fruit and veg, mostly each stall had the same fruit and veg.....then I came to the meat and fish section....wow so many flies in one space!!! Vendors were waving bits of cardboard over chunks of meat in a vain attempt to prevent them settling on their wares. There were bits of animal on sale that one does not see in Tesco! Lots of dried fish too. That brought back memories of Sierra Leone, when that was our main source of protein. In fact the whole scene felt immediately familiar and comfortable, like coming home. Life outside of my bubble.
I bought tomatoes and cucumber to make a salad back in my room. I checked out a few clothes stalls too, and there were 'proper' shops as well selling rolls of dust covered fabric or toiletries or tin trays. I managed to scare a few babies, not intentionally of course, but I guess they don't see too many white ladies in funny hats waving at them.
I made it back to my room safely and enjoyed my salad with some cheese, so all in all a good trip out.