Hands and forks

We had been invited for meals here at people's houses so many times, that we had almost forgotten what it was like to invite people over for dinner in our Sudanese home. So, last night it was high time for us to ask some of the colleagues over and prepare some nice food for them. Here in Kosti, it is always a challenge to find all ingredients you have in mind, but luckily we still had some products that we had brought with us from Holland and Zambia. After having spend roughly 2 hours in the kitchen, we were happy to conclude that it had been worth it; it looked yummy! While we  welcomed our guests, we realized that it must be quite an interesting experience for them. Instead of eating with their hands from one big dish on the floor or low table, they now saw a dinner table with candle light, napkins, individual plates, spoons, knifes and forks! Culture shocks indeed cut both ways! As soon as all the dishes were placed on the table, there was a short moment of hesitation: hands or forks? "In our country, people also like to eat chicken with their hands, so please feel free to eat however you like!", Frank said, when he saw the hesitation and the bungling with the forks and knifes. That broke the ice and everyone dug in. It turned out a very nice and tasty evening, with a lot of busy hands and forks!

Morning has broken..

Normally, by the time morning has broken in Kosti, the sun is already shining brightly and more than happy to provide you with the first drops of sweat of the day. So to start the day as refreshing as possible, Frank woke up before sunrise and took his kayak (which was hand-made in Khartoum) to the Nile and drifted off. While the sun couldn't wait to show her face, the birds sang their most beautiful songs to celebrate the start of a new day. This part of the Nile is crocodile-free (at least that's what we assume, since we have never seen one!) and also the dangerous hippos are nowhere to be seen. So absolutely nothing stood in the way of enjoying this peaceful paddle-safari and eventually returning home just after the morning had broken..

"How many sheep can you eat?"

After having been abroad for a few weeks, I was welcomed back in the office in Kosti with big smiles and warm wishes. Everyone was still quite excited about the Eid celebrations and the attached one-week off from work they had had the week before! While I was distributing the small souvenirs I had bought for everyone, I bumped into one of our male drivers. He greeted me with a firm handshake and tap on my shoulder. When I asked him about his Eid holiday, he smiled and pointed at his belly: "I ate 3 sheep on the first day of Eid!". He looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. A bit louder than his first statement he continued: "And...on the second day I ate another 4!" His face started glowing when his female colleagues acted surprised and asked him how he had managed. While he was explaining that he just really really likes to eat sheep meat during Eid, another male colleague stepped in and started sharing his sheep-eating experiences. While they were clearly enjoying their stories on how many sheep they could eat during Eid, I started smiling and I wondered how on earth one would be able to eat even one whole sheep in a day! The two men had become a bit overexcited and invited me for a sheep-eating contest during next year's Eid celebrations. "Sound interesting", I answered diplomatically, not sure whether they meant me joining them in the contest. After having given it some thought, I decided this competition indeed could be interesting. But I would rather observe. Or take the sheep home with me ;)

What comes around..

One of the drivers told me a rather funny, interesting story about the irony of life: One of Sudan's well-off business man, who lived in Khartoum, went to the doctor because he was not feeling well. Once the doctor had examined him, he concluded that he needed an operation on a short notice, to prevent things from getting worse. When the doctor wanted to make an appointment to set the operation date, the rich business man apparently jumped up and shouted that he would never want to be operated in a Sudanese hospital. "The quality is too low and the Sudanese surgeons surely don't know what they are doing!" So, eventually the man contacted several hospitals abroad and he was put on a waiting list of a hospital in one of the neighbouring countries. After months of waiting it was finally his turn to be operated and he hired a jet to travel to the particular hospital. His operation went smoothly and while he was recovering in bed, the surgeon who had operated him came into the room to check up on him. While he stood next to the bed, he shook the businessman's hand and introduced himself. You can imagine the patient's face when he heard that the surgeon was actually Sudanese..

Wrestling fans

It's no news that wrestling has been a popular traditional sport in many parts of Sudan. In Omdurman near Khartoum for example, a weekly open-air wrestling competition is greatly visited by locals. Over the past few months we have found out that the passion for wrestling here in Sudan sometimes appears when you least expect it. One day, we were invited by one of the colleagues to visit her home, which meant her senior parents, sisters and brother. Typically Sudanese, we were welcomed very warmly and offered drinks and sweets before we even had the change to sit down. The TV was playing in the small room which was right next to the room where we were seated. At some point the 'American Wrestling TV Show' was being announced on the background, and, to be quite honest, we expected the senior parents to switch the TV off or at least change the channel. Somehow the fancy put-in-scene glittery American wrestling shows didn't seem to match the extremely modest and traditionally dressed residents of the house. But,..surprisingly, they all jumped up and couldn't wait to gather in front of the TV in order to get the best view. Especially the senior man and woman were extremely well informed in terms of the nicknames of the wrestlers (like 'big tarzan'), introduction themes and different moves and techniques. While Frank and I observed the competitive public seated in front of the small TV we realized that wrestling, in whatever form, is apparently more deeply rooted than we expected!

Sharing holiday stories

After we had come back from our holiday break in Zambia, the local staff back in Sudan were very eager to hear our stories and adventures. While we chatted away about our amazing canoe trails on the Lower Zambezi river, the faces of our 'listeners' slowly seemed to turn like stone. "You did what?" they said unbelievingly. "Peddling in a small canoe on a big African river full of hippo's, crocodiles and elephants?!" One of the younger colleagues asked if we had prayed before we departed, because she could not believe we survived this extremely dangerous trip. According to her it was a lot safer to stay in Sudan! Despite our attempts to explain that this was an organized tour with experienced guides there seemed to be an overall feeling of unbelief and scary scenario's. One of the other colleagues commented that he was very happy to see me with my heart in the right place: "I don't know where your heart went to when you were faced with the elephant, but I am happy it has found its way back!" I have to admit, I am also happy it did!

Try again next year!

Even in this part of Sudan, were the people are generally not as tall as in Holland, the shelves in the shops are very highly placed. So, it happened that today I was standing in the small shop close to our office in Khartoum and couldn’t reach the products on the top shelf. After some attempts of standing on the tips of my toes while stretching out my arms as far as I can, I gave up and had to admit that my height was not sufficient enough. After having asked the shop keeper to give me a hand, he willingly came my way, climbed on the first shelf and grabbed the toilet paper I wanted. After I had thanked him he smiled and said: “See you next year!”. I told him that I was planning to come and visit him sooner than that. He started laughing when he saw the probable question-mark on my face and explained that they use this typical Sudanese saying when people are too short. “Come back next year; you might have grown a bit taller by then!”.