Celebrations with coffee

How to celebrate your birthday in Sudan? Out of the dozen options Frank chose to invite all his colleagues in Khartoum for a nice and tasty Sudanese BBQ.  The venue was a cosy open-air restaurant with a lovely green garden with exotic plants and flowers. This beautiful place was one of those ‘hidden treasures’ that even none of the local staff members knew about, while it is literally just around the corner from the office.  Everyone, including the children of the staff members, really seemed to enjoy the spacious garden, the freshly made juices, grilled meat and the salads. As a traditional closure of the party gathering , a few of us moved to the special ‘coffee corner’ of the garden: a characteristic umbrella-covered space with low leather ‘chairs’, bright red small tables and (last but not least) our very own Ethiopian coffee lady! She showed us how this famous typical coffee is being made, using the traditional colourful coffee pots and charcoal. Frank and I never drink coffee, but the smile of the coffee lady, the tempting smell of the spiced coffee and the fact that it after all was Frank’s birthday, made us taste it. It turned out to be a delicious mile stone to celebrate the beginning of the new life (after 40…). Happy birthday, Frank!

The morning after..

A few nights ago, it rained heavenly! Naturally, rain is very refreshing for everything and everyone here in the North of Sudan. Unfortunately the morning after, you mostly find the unpleasant consequences of these rare waterfalls. Besides the watery roads I told you about earlier, it also seems to be an unwritten ‘rule’ that problems with the electricity occur after every rainy night. In Kosti, Frank has experienced quite some ‘electric fire works’ in the last few weeks: exploding light bulbs, lightening electricity cables next to the house and regular breakdowns of the electricity network in the house and office.  Here in Khartoum, I have had some problems with my internet connection since last week’s rainy night. It seems to be a bit better today, so I will quickly try to catch up with the blogs you been missed out on! You never know what tonight’s possible rains may bring; not to mention the consequences the morning after.

Staying tuned

Although we both learned a few words Arabic, unfortunately it is still impossible to follow whole conversations in this fascinating language. Especially the sports commentary on Arabic TV is extremely hard to follow. Like all commentators in the world, they seem to talk faster and faster when it's getting more exciting and competitive. A bit tricky when you want to get full updates on the 'Tour de France'. In order for us to 'stay tuned', Frank searched for a Dutch radio channel that does the broadcasting of the Tour. The internet radio App on his Ipad came in very handy! (technology!..). So, the whole afternoon we were enjoying the nice images of the cyclists in France on Arabic TV, while we were listening to the Dutch commentators chatting the time away. The fact that they don't run entirely simultaneously, sometimes gives some funny effects: we already know who the winner is, while the Dutch commentator is still excitedly shouting and asking who will cross the finish line first. :) We will definitely stay tuned during the coming sport events!

Try and guess

It's not always considered polite to ask too many details when you are being offered a local culinary speciality. Last week though, I found myself in a true 'guessing game' when I visited the market. The man who owned the stall with nuts and spices challenged me to guess exactly what he was selling. I had to smell it, feel it and taste it and then..it was time for me to guess exactly what it was. With most of the products I felt quite comfortable (although I still don't know if I guessed the right names, since the salesman didn't speak English ;). But with one of the products I was hesitant; they looked like small white stones or chalks in various shapes and sizes. I was afraid I would break my teeth! The salesman and the colleague who joined me were laughing and convinced me I should take some home and put them in a glass of water for a 15 minute soak; it would make delicious juice! I was not really sure if they were serious or just trying to see how easily I would be convinced (or joked with;). But I decided to do what they told me to do as soon as I got home. After I had soaked the white 'stones' for a quarter of an hour I sifted them and prepared myself for my new experiment. The juice turned out to be very refreshing and tasty! Frank examined it for a while and concluded the white 'stones' are pieces of the fruit from a Baobab tree. During one of his many safari's in Africa, Frank was told an interesting story about this particular Baobab tree. According to an African myth, God made a mistake when he created the Baobab tree; he dropped it from heaven and the tree landed up-side-down in the earth! (..not difficult to imagine when you look at the attached photo :). I am curious if the salesman from the market would have guessed that..

Road adventures

Sudan is not the only country where you can get considerable delays while you are driving. In many countries, traffic jams are the usual start of the day. Overloaded or stranded trucks are also quite common in the world. But some of the delay-causing 'road adventures' here in Sudan are not very likely to be seen elsewhere. Yesterday, Frank commenced his 5 hour journey from Kosti to Khartoum in the early afternoon. While he and his colleague were chatting the time away, the driver suddenly stopped. Right in front of the car, in the middle of the road, stood a friendly camel clearly enjoying a nice day dream. She didn't seem to mind or notice the car in front of her, while she stoically stared at the horizon. This camel really seemed to over-think some essential philosophical issues! Patience is a virtue in Sudan, so the journey only proceeded after the camel had decided to come back to reality and moved on.

Melancholic sounds

Although the local Sudanese music is in many ways very different from Dutch music, I have discovered at least one similarity. Yesterday I sat in the car and the radio was providing nice background music while we drove to the other side of town. Suddenly my two fellow passengers jumped up and turned the volume of the radio up. It didn't take long before they both started singing like they had ended up in the finals of a singing contest. I really liked the sounds of the music, but I had no idea what the lyrics of the song were about. I guessed the song was about the love for his wife or something in that direction. But one of my colleagues translated the words to me, after the song had finished: "Time flies by and life is too short. We are old before we know it." When she continued her translations I started smiling; this could have well been the text of a typical Dutch 'levenslied'! Some of the sentences were a true copy-paste from songs I have heard in Dutch. I guess this melancholic theme is a universal hit..

Charity

Here in (North) Sudan, it's very common to see big terracotta coloured pots standing on the side of a road or a gate. These pots are called 'zeer' (pronounce like zier) and they are filled with drinking water. I was told that the pots are made of some kind of sand because of its natural functionality as a water filter. The water inside stays remarkably cool, which is no unnecessary luxury in this climate. The reason why I gave this blog the title: 'Charity', is because these pots are used as a way of caring for others by offering them water. The pots are placed outside in public places, so everyone who passes can freely drink water from these pots. Often after a family member has passed away, the remaining family members take the initiative to buy and place these pots outside, in remembrance of the person who passed away. In that sense,.. every sip of water that one drinks from these zeer pots is both a 'tribute' to the person who passed away and also a way to save the life of someone else.