Sunday ride to Poolesville

73 miles; or, let's round up to 75 to make me feel better

As I mentioned, the weather was forecast to be iffy Sunday. We had planned to meet TJ at 7:30; or rather, TJ was planning to get to our house shortly before 7:30 for clip-in at 7:30. At 7:25 TJ arrives and Chad is still in bed. Not sure he wants to get up. I cajole, nag and guilt him into joining us; reminding him we can turn around or hop into a coffee shop if the weather takes a bad turn. The first 20 miles or so are dotted with perfect little coffee shops; it might actually be nice for once to pop into one and skip the rest of the ride. But I digress. Finally we get rolling at 8:15. TJ has come to expect that when we schedule clip-in for 7:30, realistically that means 7:45. So this was late even by Lewis standards. (Sorry to all the Lewis' reading this. I've just made a sweeping statement that may be unfair.)

So, in the end we rolled. And rolled. Or so it seemed. We crossed paths with a woman we see riding and running on almost every outing. I passed her on a down hill and she quickly passed me back. Then Chad passed both of us and she grabbed his wheel and I didn't take hers. Pretty soon Chad was out of sight and I was reeling the woman back in. But then I decided to take the Mountain Gate hill, which adds a mile and a few minutes to the route. I could see TJ somewhere behind me but decided to just keep plugging away. So far I was feeling ok. We all met up at BP, where Chad looked extremely refreshed and made a weak threat about turning around. We decided to take River Road and ended up rolling through a light shower. It actually felt refreshing and it was nice to have more water than grit flying into my face from Chad's wheel. But then something happened and my legs turned to stone and riding up those hills became a chore. After the second hill TJ made a break for it and all of the sudden I was chasing.

We made it to Poolesville - finally. I had barely finished one water bottle in the first 2 hours and 36 miles of riding. We agreed to meet up again at the BP. Again, I lagged the entire way, seeing TJ just ahead. Chad had long ago vanished into the horizon. At BP I decided 1/3 bottle of Infinite was enough to get me back and I didn't wait for the boys to refill; I rolled knowing they would catch me. I took it pretty easy the next several miles; let my legs rest a little and enjoy the open road - no one to chase and no pressure.

We got hit by another rain shower as we were coming through Falls Road. This time we got soaked, but it felt refreshing. My legs were still revolting though I was doing my best to stay with Chad and TJ as we came through Georgetown, Whitehurst Freeway and Independence Ave. At some point Chad said something about making me take tomorrow as a rest day; I'm not a big fan of being coached, especially by my husband. So when he tried to say something else (about what I forget now) I think my exact words were, "I think you should ride ahead of me". No, not very nice, but lucky for me he took it in stride and didn't offer anymore advice.

My total ride time was 4:03, not too far off our previous efforts at riding the Poolesville route (just under 4 hours). That made me feel good until I learned Chad's ride time yesterday was 3 hrs 40 min. Just when I think I haven't lost as much as it feels, I realize Chad has improved so much. I'm really proud of him. He has been working really hard on his nutrition and speed and it shows. He's now the most aerodynimic he's been since starting triathlon. (HS weight does not count here.) And he's strong - running, biking and swimming like never before. I could learn a lot from him. I'll have to work on my ability to take advice.

September showers

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even tomorrow the forecast and the reality is rain, rain. Some nice light showers, a rainbow and a walk in the rain. Friday I did a tempo run with Kip - 45 min and my HR was higher than usual. And in the evening I actually broke down and went to the pool by myself. 2500 yds. Repeat pat on back from earlier in the week.

This morning Chad, Kip and I planned to run the two bridge loop. I was hoping that if I could do 1 hr 15 today I could make it 90 min on Wednesday. Thankfully Chad gave me good reason to break apart from them after about 25 min so I could keep it at my own pace without worrying I was or wasn't keeping up. My heart rate was 158-162 the entire time. I was trying to keep it at least 8 min miles. I haven't uploaded the data to see if I stayed on track. And after a major cooking spree Chad and I went to the pool and did another 2500 yds. By my addition that is 2 hrs of running and 5000 yds of swimming in two days. My arms were killing me after about 1000 yds. Especially the speed sessions - I thought I couldn't handle it. And I actually channeled one of my favorite triathlon bloggers, repeating a mantra of "my arms will not actually fall off".

Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants with one of our favorite people and now we're in for the evening. Tomorrow's biking plans are in the air because of the forecast. Keep your fingers crossed for unforeseen dry roads and sunshine.

Four Months

It's been four months of wedded bliss for Chad and I!

We watched the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us" last night, which chronicles the journeys of 3 Lost Boys of Sudan, including John Bul Dau, author of the book with the same title. The documentary is inspiring. These guys come from literally nothing to having to work to support themselves and pay off the airfare for their trip to the US. (They were allowed visas through a special program to help resettle some Lost Boys.) Both Chad and I were shocked when we learned they had to payback the airfare. They work in McD's, restaurants, factories, check clearing centers - basically anywhere they can earn a decent wage. And I'm not giving anything away to say that they epitomize the American Dream. It ain't easy, but if you work for it, you can achieve it. I think we both recommend it.

Recovery week

It’s been a week. A recovery week. I felt pretty good on Monday so I decided to run home from work – almost 7 miles. Silly Kirsten. I made it about 40 min before I had to walk. And then I ran/walked for another mile or so before just walking the rest of the way. My quads were burning. To be expected. Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Ouch – I can barely get out of bed; thump, thump down the stairs. My quads don’t work. “Easy” bike. Chad says recovery rides mean that he just rides how he feels and if he feels good he pushes the pace. I reluctantly drafted; not wanting to ride alone and not wanting to further encourage my legs to fall off. I think I might have been grumpy. :)

Wednesday morning; still cannot walk downstairs without thumping. Decide to take day off. I got off a couple metro stops early on the way home and walked. Thursday – bike felt better. Still haven’t convinced myself that swimming won’t hurt. But Friday morning I went for broke. Did a run around the Capitol, about 3.5 miles and then Chad and I went to the pool. With 1200 under my belt I thought enough was enough. Repeat egg and cheese everything bagel. Yum!

Work was very hectic. I had to catch up on everything I didn’t do while I was traveling and also needed to finish my trip report so I could get my expense report signed off on. But I managed to sleep almost 7 hours each night so I was recovering from the travel at least. Saturday and Sunday I took 3 and 2 hour naps on the couch. And now I can really say I feel back to normal. Our friend TJ has been recovering from eye surgery and slowing building back to IM distance training. We did a 40 mile ride Saturday followed by a 3.5 mile run and then I did 2200 yds in the pool after the nap! So proud of myself. [Insert pat on back.] We followed that with a 60 mile ride with Joe C on Sunday. It was coincidence that we ran into Joe less than a mile from our house, but he pushed the pace and kept TJ and I from “taking it easy” as we had originally discussed. But for once I was happy with the effort.

Chad was in Vegas all weekend for Tyler’s bachelor party. Sounds like he got almost no sleep. Next weekend I think we’ll keep the socializing to a minimum and enjoy some QT – I can’t wait for a full weekend with my hubby!

Egg and Cheese Bagel never tasted so good!

Breakfast tasted better than I could have imagined. Yum, yum, yum. Had to hold back from eating a second one. I did not hold back in duty free shopping at Amsterdam. Even though my plane got in at 5:20 am everything was open and ready for business. Flights were fine, baggage retrieval at Dulles sucks. Took more than an hour for my bag to come up the conveyor. Of course it was probably the first one loaded in the plane. And Chad met me when I finally, finally came through customs. So good to be home!

Spent my last day touring around outside of Nairobi. Drove to overview of the Rift Valley - which is more than 600 miles long - and to a town called Naivashi, about a 45 min drive from Nairobi. We went along a windy highway up and down the mountain that was built by Italian POW during and right after WWII.

Here's a picture of an IDP camp. People displaced by the civil strife that followed Kenya's recent elections.

A butcher shop where we got some roasted goat meat for lunch. Yum!

The most dangerous form of transportation I saw - many many people hang on for dear life and travel up the hills hauling all kinds of stuff on their bikes. This guy has just a back pack but there were many that were full of crates, bags and all manner of goods.

James, our sole employee in Kenya, who took me around the sights. This is at a gift shop overlooking the rift valley.

At the animal orphanage all are pretty tame and used to human interaction. These cheetahs purred so loudly when pet. The guy asked if I wanted my picture holding one. Um - no thanks! While I'm not sure how I feel about these animals in cages, many of them have some sad stories. One of the monkeys is indigenous to Uganda but was found in the Nairobi airport. The smuggler fearing detection just left it in a box.

At the gift shop in Naivashi. Everything is hand carved from soapstone, ebony and other wood. The souveneirs are quite expensive so I didn't bring too much back.

360 or full circle

These vehicles are privately run and roll through a route picking people up and dropping them off along the way. They typically have silly, poignant or pop culture refrences on the rear windshield.

I am in my hotel room in Nairobi right now, the TV on CNN in the background. Fulltime coverage of Hurricane Ike. When I arrived in Nairobi there was fulltime coverage of Hurricane - oops, just forgot the name. These storms are really tragic - disrupting lives, destroying homes. However, the storm coverage by TV announcers drives me crazy! For all these storms the correspondents stand in the windiest part of town and talk about branches falling, winds blowing and "ow wowee" the damage.

Anyway, am doing a bit of work and trying to reflect on the last couple of weeks. Here are some pictures that make me think of the positive and negative:

A rainbow in Kuajok. You can't tell from the photo here on the blog but this was a temporary camp set up by a demining group. They all sought refuge in the car while the rain poured down for several hours.

Cattle on the road from Wau to Kuajok. Animals and people travel along the road to home, market and pasture. During the 90 minute drive there was almost no break from people, cattle, goats and potholes. Particularly potholes. This is a 45 km drive - that's how slow we were going going.

On the banks of the Nile, people leaving their laundry to dry. I am not posting pictures of people bathing, but the river is used for everything! For some it provides drinking water, bathing, car wash and laudry mat. The rivers in Sudan provide important modes of transportation for refugees returning to their homes - many of the villages along the river are primarily resettled families. This presents a whole different set of problems as those that stayed find their access to pastureland and water reduced by the new-comers.

The next picture is a bittersweet memory. These women are learning skills in cultivating vegetables that will help them feed their families and hopefully supplement their families' income with marketable products. However, I met one woman here who had cut her finger and two weeks later it was still an infected yucky mess. She cannot afford to go to the medical clinic and has been using alcohol to treat it. I really wanted to give her money - the medicine is readily available now in towns like Malakal, even though it is relatively expensive. But I couldn't give her money - it would have been unfair to my colleagues. Everytime somoneone needed something they would have turned to the people I was with since I would no longer be there. It was a very tough decision for me and definitely led to some tears of frustration on my part.

On another note, the raised seed bed you see here on the left was destroyed by other members of the community the day after we left. They stole the fencing and the eucalyptus rods. Although it doesn't look like much, these building supplies are actually very expensive. $5 for a piece of wood pole for the fencing might not seem like a lot, but it obviously is valuable to some people. This is heartbreaking for the women who put so much time into planting and preparing and for the community that does not see the long-term value of improving the lives of these beneficiaries.

Traffic jam. As you can see the ditches on the side of the road were redug after the rains, leaving piles of soil in the roadways and sidewalks. Behind the truck were two donkey carts, several bikes and motorbikes. Economic development for residents will mean the number of motor vehicles will continue to increase. These roads cannot handle the development. Unfortunately it looks like the situation will get worse before it gets better. Notice the mud spatters on the windshield.

Where is Chad?

Kind of like "Where's Waldo" huh?  All the postings have been Kirsten and Africa eh?  Well, I have been here, although lonely and somewhat lost without my true love by my side.  We have been able to talk every day since she has been gone via Instant Message.  Without that I would be really lost!  I got to talk to her once on he phone, which definitely shortened the distance she seemed away from home, and only wished I could have talked to her on the phone more!  She has been having a once in a lifetime experience in Sudan and while is immensely positive (one the traits I love most about her!) she has definitely had some frustrating experiences as well.  But anyway, I will let her tell you about those and for now tell you about how I have been holding up ;)

While it seems like I should have been hanging out on the couch watching TV the entire time she has been gone, nothing could be further from the truth!   The past 2.5 weeks have been chaotic to say the least.  I mean when you are training for an Ironman...nothing is simple, easy, or takes just 5 minutes!  Pretty much every day (aside from this past Saturday when Hurricane Hanna rolled through DC) was full of workout after workout, or house chores after house chores.  While last week was a little bit of a blur, and one split run of 9 miles at lunch and 10 miles after work, I only remember getting home from workouts late and eating leftovers and doing mundane things around the house.  But the most stark memory is the feeling of loneliness I felt without Kirsten there.  It was so quiet in the house and so cold without here there.  Going to bed in silence and waking up to nothing and no one was definitely odd.  Pretty much since she and I started dating we have spent EVERY night together (aside from short travel trips for work) so not having her there for so long was/is very strange.  

But at the same time it has made me realize what an integral part of my life she is and how much fun she is to be around, but then again...I am married to her and obviously married her for these among a multitude of other reasons!  But I trudged on through the week thinking about her pretty much non stop even through all the yards in the pool, miles on the run, and turns of the pedal on the bike.

Last week was a sort of getting back into the swing of things week since the week she left was wrought with missed workouts and days off.  The long run last week didn't happen since I was totally unmotivated to run and I had no one to run with or force me out the door at 5am for a 2.5 hour run!  So I ended up splitting the run as noted above.  Although not ideal...still tough mentally and I actually liked it better than running straight through...but I guess I can't quite do that at Ironman!

Sunday (saturday was just a swim...yes literally...due to Hurricane Hanna) I did a century with some friends out in Indian Head, MD.  It was a beautiful ride with low traffic and some great views of the Potomac and the bay.  I had a little bit of a goal in mind for the ride since the course profile looked pretty flat (biggest climb of 200 feet!) but after the ride realized I was WAY off base with my estimate of "flat".  The goal was to either do the 100 miles in 4 hours and 45 minutes, and/or average 21mph...I achieved the latter and just barely missed the former by about 5 minutes, which I attribute to not drinking enough water on such a humid day (temps were great though) since I was pretty much white with salt on my black shorts even though I was popping salt tablets all day long.  I was pretty cooked with 5 miles left and every hill was a struggle...good thing it was flat right?  NOT!  In total my computer said it was around 4600+ feet of climbing...not exactly flat as it were.  But in the end I felt pretty good about the overall effort...102 miles at 21mph is pretty good!

I decided to take Monday off since Sunday was a pretty hard effort and it was a good thing I did...I didn't feel great all day and had a headache pretty much the entire day.  I worked a bit late since a project was due on Wednesday and went to the grocery store to grab stuff to make Baked Ziti and Jumbalaya for the weeks dinners.  Tuesday morning I ended up sleeping in too late and had a project due anyway so went straight into work.  I ended up working through lunch and got home well after 6:30 as a result of the proposal which pretty much scrapped any plans to workout so I decided to make the dinners for the week (plus do some other house chores)...well it took SO LONG To make just one dinner by myself that i hadn't even eaten yet and it was 9:30 when I got the sauce cooking for the ziti!!!  

Ate some of the Jumbalaya and then went to work on recaulking the bathtub (a 6 month work in progress!).  Needless to say I am pretty handy...but I just can't get a handle on how to do the caulking very well, there were gobs everywhere and the finishing tool wasn't working too well (due to the tile grout being improperly applied when the did the bathtub in the first place, i.e. grout on the tile and tub resulting in a not smooth surface).  At one point I was running around looking for an old towel or SOMETHING to wipe away the literally baseball sized gob in my hand!  It would have been pretty funny if someone else was there...ahhh Kirsten where were you!  I got to bed pretty close to midnight that night after writing Kirsten a Love note for her morning email check!

I tried to wake up early to get a ride in but about 4 blocks from my house it started sprinkling and the clouds in the distance looked pretty ominous...so I turned around and headed home...well I guess I had time to vacuum the house now!  So that is what I did.  Swam at lunch and felt pretty awful until about 1500 yards in, then went home after work and ran 10 miles (supposed to be 1.5 hours..but...) in 1 hour and 10 minutes...which is SMOKING fast considering that my Cherry Blossom 10 miler time 2 years ago was 1:12 and my average heart rate was 10 beats higher than the run yesterday!  I felt strong on the run (probably since I hadn't run since Friday) and definitely felt good the entire time and negative split the run by a long shot.  Considering the pace I was going and that Nation's Triathlon is this weekend I figured missing the 20 minutes wouldn't kill me anyway!

Got home and it was time to finish up the Baked Ziti...well...that took FOREVER and all I had to do was bake the eggplant and mix everything up (after cooking the pasta of course) but that still took me an hour!!!!  I was definitely missing Kirsten at that point!   Things are so much easier when you have someone to split the daily grind with.  Luckily all the house stuff was already done so all I had to do was change the sheets for Paul's visit today.  Still though...by the time the ziti was done and I was finished mulling around the house it was once again 11:30!!! 

So, I pretty much cooked all night Tuesday and all night Wednesday to get TWO things made...I guess when you make the sauce from scratch it adds some significant prep time in there eh?  Oh well...it will be worth it once I FINALLY get to enjoy the Ziti!!!  But I have found it nearly impossible to get to bed before 11 this past week for whatever reason...it is a bit frustrating as the residual fatigue of lack of sleep is catching up with me (even though I don't feel that tired...I can tell!)

It was up early to get my lonely bike ride in and did so begrudgingly only to find out Paul was going straight into work instead of meeting me at the house and that we would meet up later.  All by text message at 20mph around Hains Point!  Today at work has been pretty relaxing as it is my boss's birthday and we went for a long lunch, came back and had cake, and he is leaving early...and so am I!  

This weekend should be interesting with the race on Sunday (my first time racing in literally OVER a year!!!, but then again I needed the break) and my recent found speed and low effort levels...more to come on that...but before that is posted...KIRSTEN WILL BE HOME! 

Looking more forward to having her back than any silly race for sure!!!

Images from Malakal

More images from Malakal...

Bikes! Check out the chain cover and kickstand

Here's a culvert we helped design and build. Hopefully the government will slowly start improving infrastructure. Right now the culverts are redug everytime it rains - at least it leads to permanent employment.

Muddy boots

Women working at the agriculture test plot. Tomato plants were transplated the day we visited. You can see how the rain water sits on top of the soil.

There are almost 100 women that will work on this test plot and hopefully benefit from the harvest and training

Watering the seedlings. Just about everything can and is reused here - although I will admit there is a ton of trash blowing in the wind and clogging the drains. Here water bottles are reused for storing seeds and as watering bottles.

Rain, rain stay away

Thursday, 10:05 am Malakal, Upper Nile State, South Sudan

It has not rained since Tuesday. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 1 pm today. There are some clouds in the sky but I think the rain will hold off. I've got my fingers, toes, legs and yes, even my hair is such a mess I would consider it crossed. Actually, this runway is also paved so the rain wouldn't necessarily keep us grounded. However the meager airport facilities would probably mean we'd be standing in rain or stuck in a very small, very stuffy room if the heavens decide to open up.

oh the drama - actually if I wasn't working so many hours here I'd actually be enjoying myself. As I mentioned, the staff here are great. It has been good to get to know them and spend time over meals and during the two hours a day that we let the generator rest. There has been no electricity in this town since May so the generator runs from about 8 am - 1 pm, rests for 1 hr, then goes back to work from about 2 pm to 8 pm. And then we usually run it for a couple hours in the evening so the guys can watch TV or relax. The neighbors complain if it is running too late, so everyone keeps a pretty early schedule. Apparently there was no fuel in town for several weeks so when we ran out, the generator got lots of rest.

Yesterday we had lunch at another Ethiopian restaurant. I have not been paying enough attention to food names so I can't tell you what we had. But it was delicious. These places would never pass health code in the US. But so far I seem to be doing okay with the food. Now that my appetite is back and as big as ever I am loving all the local dishes. Meat stew, rice, corn mash, you name it, I'll eat it. We even had mashed potatoes yesterday. Except fish. I have not eaten any of the fish served. Just can't bring myself to do it.

I cannot wait to post more pictures. The city has decided to dig out all the storm drains in preparation for the next rain. The roads that were impassable because of mud are now impassable because of huge piles of hard soil. It's like in the US when the snow forms a hard crust of ice and sand on the side of the road. They are impossible to drive over and take forever to go away. Are you using your imagination? Can you see it?

Off to do more budget projections. And hopefully this time tomorrow I'll be wearing a fresh shirt and pants in Juba. More to come...

Stuck in the mud

Literally and figuratively, we are here in Malakal until Thursday. The visit is longer than anticipated for several reasons, but I am quite happy we'll be traveling via WFP flight on Thursday rather than the commercial vehicle we took Sunday.

So much has happened I have nearly 100 photos to document it. But the memory card reader here is not recognizing my card and I do not have the right wire with me. So, unless I get the situation figured out you'll just to use your imagination. It rained yesterday afternoon so while moving around was quite slow and difficult yesterday, the mud has hardened to a near-cement like consistency today. That is obviously both good and bad. It is less like driving on oil-slick ice and more like driving in ... well, I just don't know. It's different.

We visited one of our test agriculture plots on the land rented to us by the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the community field that is loaned to the community by the town government. Over 100 women work the 1 hectare sized plot to learn to cultivate vegetables that will do well in the soil but that are not traditionally grown by households. Yesterday morning tomato seedlings had been transplanted. Great photo-op.

We had lunch at an Ethiopian place in town. And then we worked in the office almost all afternoon. It is pretty much all work all the time around here. We are under pressure to get a proposal done, review 4 on-going projects, and in general meet each other and establish working relationships that we can carry forward via email. The generator has to get a periodic rest so there are moments of lightness, such as lunch and dinner. But we are easily working 12 hour days. It's basically 9 am-11 pm (at the earliest). I am over jet lag, but keeping this late schedule should help me ease back into life at home. Which I cannot wait to get back to. :)

I've just been told lunch is about to be served. And we are giving the generator a break. So time to go socialize and talk to face to face. Our staff here are very friendly, full of interesting experiences and a lot of fun. Even if they do work very hard. I'm very grateful for having the chance to meet and work with them here.

Mud, sweat and mud

We made it! Our plane was tiny (can you see me pretending not to know Natalie was taking my picture?). But the flight was almost 2 hrs and surprisingly smooth. I slept for half of it. I am getting a lot of much needed rest whenever I can. Am feeling much better today - almost 100%. Thank goodness - the morning travel would have been a disaster otherwise.

It generally goes like this - arrive at the airport to check in. Bring all your baggage behind the counter to be weighed and checked by security. There are no xray or other sophisticated machines. This is a purely labor driven process. Particularly the whole check you in thing - everything is written by hand and your boarding pass is a laminated piece of paper the size of a book mark. Then you sit and wait. Or stand and wait as the case may be. Then you go through a line - one for men, one for women. Your carry-on bag is checked and then you go behind a curtain for a patdown. Hence the separate lines - women get checked by a woman. The whole thing would never pass muster anywhere else.

In fact, we get on the plane, where the pilot is pilot, baggage loader, unloader and head steward. Once we are all seated he boards the plane, walks to front and says, "no smoking and no shooting the pilots - have a good flight!". Haha - well, let's just say this is an adventure and leave it at that. And now for the good stuff...

Welcome to Malakal in Upper Nile State

Checking out the company boat used to deliver radios and work with villages that are along the Nile and Sobat rivers. These villages are virtually inaccessible via the rainy season - except by boat. We have agriculture projects, radio distribution and infrastructure projects in the area.

Did I mention Malakal was muddy? This is in the center of town - and it is like this on EVERY road. Bikes, motorbikes, tuktuks, cars, animals and humans all share the same narrow road way. You will notice some of my later photos have very clear mud spatters because of all the mud on the vehicle.

I was outfitted with a pair of beautiful (and matching!) rubber boots. This is a fashion must in Malakal. This is the before shot when they were nice and clean. Stay tuned for muddy rubber boots! Say that three times fast.

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Saturday update from South Sudan

Ajok, chef master extraordinaire in her element
















Rain = mud and flooding; this area is a lot of wetland















Boys at the Secondary School















Road construction at the market in Kuajok















There are a suprising number of bikes around here. They must have been donated by another organization.
















Saturday, 3:35 pm


Location: Juba

Spent my first night in a "luxury" tent. Although I wasn't super comfortable when I first got into bed last night before 10 pm, it must have been too bad because I woke up at 10 am this morning. It was dark and stormy all night. The rain started soon after I got into bed, which was good because I was worried the sound from the camp bar would keep me awake. Who would think disco music is appropriate? Apparently camp management.

Of course I have pictures of the rain and tent, but I haven't transferred them to the computer yet. The only pictures I have are still from Kuajok, hence the above. Remember I said our office was in the middle of a corn field? Turns out it is sorghum. Sorghum looks like corn that has gone to seed. I'm sure agronomists and biologists will have something to say about that. Mom?

Did I mention it rained all night Thursday when we were in Kuajok? The lightening preceding the storm is beautiful, as are the stars. Did you know there are a gazillion stars in the sky? And planets too? You can see them all here. Even the furthest, tiniest star will probably appear in a telescope because there is no light polution. Sudan is the largest country in Africa. That is a lot of night darkness to increase night sky visibility!

And since so few roads (I've seen 3, including the airport runway in Juba) are paved, when it rains, this place becomes MUDDY. Thick, red mud that sticks to your shoes, your pants bottoms and everything else it comes into contact with.

My stomach was feeling a little sensitive yesterday so I starved it. Today is better and the beans, rice and boiled cabbage - YUM! I am skipping the chicken just to be safe. There is no junk food to be had - except for what I brought for the office. And since I'm not exercising I'm trying to be judicious in what I eat. I'm pretty sure I'll end up losing weight on this trip, but it's still early.

Images

Some images from Wau, Kuajok and the drive between.

My favorite form of transportation in Wau. Complete with silk flowers! The local Dinka are very, very tall people. Basically the standard size fabric to cut for sheets is 2.25 meter to accomodate their tall frames.

Wau River Lodge is a very nice place to stay for lunch or over night. Here's the view of a river - I forget the name.

Kids at the primary school in Kuajok. Notice the artwork behind them. Chalk was used to decorate the walls and practice writing all over the school building. Obviously there are some creative minds at work!

Rural house on the road from Wau to Kuajok

Outdoor lessons at the Boys Secondary School in Kuajok. When the weather is nice classes are held outside. IRD is renovating the buildings and classrooms at the schools here to make them suitable for classes even if the weather is as beautiful as it was today.

Kuajok

I took a gazillion photos on the way here from the plane and the car - one of the bumpiest 90 min rides of my life (car not plane). But we are now here in Kuajok. And finally, finally I am in rural Africa. And Kuajok isn't even all that rural - it's actually the Warap State capital. But we do have a generator and are connected to a satellite link to internet. Camp is tented. I have a cot and a flimsy mattress just like girl scouts. The only difference being I was present when we negotiated the purchase of all our supplies. And we are in the middle of a corn field. Literally.

The bugs are about to drive me crazy so this is short. Promise to upload pictures as soon as possible. Chad has sent several wonderful messages about the tasty cooking he is doing while I am out of town. We did have mutton and pickled beets for lunch. And it was at this cush place in Wau, right on the river - can't remember which one, but it is a Nile tributary. Don't worry I have pictures. More to come soon.

Juba = busy place

Crazy day yesterday. I made it from 7 am to 12:30 am - must be a record across the board. We had new staff, interviewees, donors, consultants and 2 visitors from HQ in addition to normal operations. While it wasn't the craziest day ever, it probably ranks right up there. Spent most of the day at the office, but did make a jaunt out through town in the afternoon and then in the evening we ate at the buffet of one of 80 permanent camps here in town. Yes, 80. Housing expats is big business here apparently. Most camps consist of tents with tile floors, showers and other amenitities that are hardly "camping".

We are up early in order to make our flight to Wau today. We'll drive up to Kuajok and visit our programs and staff there. Lots more to say, but I'll hold it for another day when there is more time.

Welcome to South Sudan

I’m here. Made it to Sudan; well South Sudan.

From Wikipedia, here’s a brief description of South Sudan: Southern Sudan is a region of Sudan, comprising ten of that country's states. The Sudanese government agreed to give autonomy to the region in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) [1] signed on January 9, 2005 in Naivasha, Kenya, tentatively bringing an end to the Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-2005. A referendum is scheduled for 2011 on whether to remain in the greater Sudan or to become an independent nation. Southern Sudan borders Ethiopia to the east, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, and the Central African Republic to the west. To the north lies the predominantly Arab and Muslim region directly under the control of the central government, with its capital at Khartoum.
Southern Sudan, also known as New Sudan, has nearly all of its administrative offices in Juba, the capital, and the city with the largest population.

My visa actually says South Sudan, but the stamp in my passport says “New Sudan”. I am in Juba for now; we have plans to travel to two other states in the next couple weeks. The flight was almost 90 minutes from Nairobi; luckily it was uneventful - almost pleasant. We got served little sandwhiches and an apple - take that Southwest!

The experience going through customs was actually not the worst I have experienced. Nor in fact was boarding the plane. So far I’ve found the process to be rather civilized; people form a line. Unlike a lot of what I experienced at say the post office in Moldova where using your elbows as a show of force was the only way to get up to the front of the mob – I mean “line”.

So far my impression of Juba is that it is dusty. And there really isn’t a waste management system so the sides of the roads are strewn with litter and garbage. Below are some pics from the flight. Since it is the rainy season it is quite green. And as you can see there is a variety of traditional stick and mud huts and newer construction with concrete. All those big buildings are the Ministries, which line one of two paved roads here. And the river is the White Nile.

The mosquitoes are starting to come out. Time to go spray bug repellent all over myself.

Animal Pics

Here are some of my favorite pictures from yesterday:

Look - I went on Safari















Here's a close up with my zoom lens



















Haha just kidding - this is observation deck I got on to get a good look at the giraffe














And a great shot of a rhino. Yes, you can totally see this in the zoo at home. But I'm in Nairobi! :)