Since this is our final week in Khartoum, I invited two of the girls from the office for a nice farewell lunch/dinner. We left at 4.30 in the afternoon, which meant it was Sudanese lunchtime for them and (almost) dinner time for me. I took them to a special place with a nice, cosy green garden and an interesting tasty menu. It indeed turned out to be an interesting menu for my two accompanies, because the menu was only in English and not in Arabic. "
This is strange, we are in Sudan! And there is no menu in Arabic!" There is no real dining culture in Sudan and the fact that everything was written in English clearly showed that the majority of the customers probably come from outside of Sudan. The two girls at my table didn't let that stand in their way and when the (English-speaking!) waitress came around, they both confidently ordered the chicken sandwich. "
Then at least we know what we are getting", they giggled after I had tried to explain the international dishes on the menu.
In the back of my mind I knew that the Sudanese bread with large fried pieces of chicken they had in mind was probably not the type of sandwich they were going to be served. And when the waitress approached us with a large tray with 'the' sandwiches, I realized I was right. "
Hmm.., this is not a chicken sandwich", one of them commented while examining the toasted piece of chicken-filled bread which was lying on her plate. Fortunately they liked the taste and were clearly amused.
"An English menu and an exotic looking chicken sandwich" they laughed,
"Haha,..now it really feels like we are on our an international holiday in our own country!"
