Small world

Although Sudan is one of the largest countries of the continent, it seems quite common to bump into the same people over and over again. Earlier this week it became clear that I needed to fetch my new visa from the Sudanese Embassy in The Hague. So yesterday night, I drove to the airport to start my journey back to The Netherlands. Once I had arrived at Khartoum airport, one of the rickshaw drivers who had given me a lift a few weeks ago, recognised me and started waving. I proceeded to the KLM check-in desk and while I was queuing up I immediately recognised two couples I had met on one of the Euro football evenings at the German Embassy. At the passport control I met up with one of the colleagues of my friend's husband. The greatest surprise came when I entered the plane and discovered I was seated right next to a Sudanese woman I had met in the waiting room at the Sudanese Embassy in The Netherlands two months ago (while waiting for our visa). She reacted like I was her long-lost sister and she was obviously very curious to hear more about my experiences in Sudan. Eventually she fell asleep; her head comfortably touching my shoulder. While she happily snored the time away, I concluded that (- though it's a worn-out saying) it is indeed a small world.

Learning how to drive..

There is a small sandy football pitch close to the guest house where we were staying. From Saturday until Thursday the boys and men from the neighbourhood gather there in the evening and play very fanatic football (-which I think is quite a challenge in this climate!). This fact that the pitch is unfortunately covered with glass and rubbish doesn't seem to stand in the way of a good game of bare-foot football. I found out that this particular pitch is also being used for something totally different: driving lessons. In the morning the driving instructors arrive and carefully place various bricks on the pitch to create some kind of 'race-course'. The driving students can practice their driving skills through different exercises: slalom, driving backwards, driving in circles etc.... It looks quite nice to see the orange-coloured cars performing an interesting choreography in between the two goals. Perhaps a game of car-football could be a next instructive challenge?

Chatting stool

Last night the weather allowed us to have dinner in our favourite lovely green garden. Since we are officially addicted now ;) we also drank some Ethiopian coffee to celebrate the closure of the day. The coffee lady who prepared the traditional coffee for us apparently felt like talking to someone; as soon as the coffee was ready she poured three cups full and took place right next to us. The stool she took place on was obviously a 'chatting stool' ('praat stoel' in Dutch), since she happily started to chat the time away. She told us about her life and her future plans. Interestingly, she was trained as a metal and wood crafts(wo-)man in her home country Eritrea. She had recently come to Sudan to work and apply for a visa to stay with her mum in Sweden. Although she told us she has been planning to go there for the past 2 years, she seemed to be a bit unsure where it was situated exactly: "Sweden is next to Spain, right? Or France?" Two cups of coffee (-and a lot of chatting-) later, she ensured us that we are always welcome to visit her in Sweden for some nice traditional food, coffee and of course a nice chat. We hope she will find her way.. Inshallah!

Sabalooqa

The name ‘Sabalooqa’ sounds so musical and mysterious that it already triggered our senses without ever having been there.  We were determined to find out more about this place and so yesterday we went on adventure. It took us some necessary paperwork beforehand, an early morning wake-up call (- we left the house at 6.30 AM-) and a bit of a bumpy ride through the desert, but as soon as we arrived there it felt like the mysterious Sabalooqa name hadn’t let us down. The so-called Sabalooqa Falls form the 6^th cataract (water rapids) of the river Nile and it definitely was an interesting experience to feel the small boat balancing on the waves of this water rapid. But the simple local reed huts, twined local beds to sit on and the relaxing atmosphere made this visit complete and something to remember.  Frank’s Sudanese colleague Omar had brought 2 friends with him and we spent the whole afternoon playing games, chatting, eating fresh fish from the river and exploring the surroundings (Frank ->birds!).  In the afternoon more and more locals arrived: large families and a few goats (- their lunch), a newly-wed couple (still wearing their wedding outfits), young men from the neighboring villages and a singer who was invited to provide some musical entertainment.  It was a shame that the generator blew up a couple of times while she was singing, but the enthusiastic men (-no women) kept dancing anyway. On our way back to Khartoum we happily concluded that our visit to Sabalooqa had indeed been a refreshing immersion in Sudan’s nature and culture! I found out later that our magical word ‘sabalooqa’ actually means ordinary ‘drainpipe’ in English, but that can't take away this memorable experience..