This is what one hour of my life looked like today…
4:01 pm Take computer to the banda (little hut) to try and get internet to work. Try for several minutes...nope, still no.
4:11 pm Begin biking to language school.
4:12 pm Hit massive pothole, bump leg on bike frame, and realize you have just given yourself a huge knot on your knee.
4:17 pm Get skirt caught in bike chain. Yank free and wave to the Dinka women who are laughing at you. Assume you have accidentally displayed more than is culturally appropriate to all in sight.
4:22 pm Maneuver around the pack of children trying to chase you and throw things at you…yell to them in Dinka as you pass, “That is rude! Don’t do that!”
4:25 pm Arrive at language school to find out it has been canceled for the night. Professor Moses is suffering from “la ror apei”…don’t ask.
4:32 pm Watch as supervisor attempts to reconnect the battery on his vehicle. The potholes have shaken it loose again.
4:34 pm Hear teammate ask you, “Is that blood on your leg or just mud again?” Investigate and reply calmly that it is indeed blood. When she asks what it is from, admit that you have absolutely no idea. Realize that neither one of you is particularly worried about the fact that you are bleeding.
4:35 pm Begin biking home.
4:36 pm Stop and talk to Dinka ladies. Greet them, practice a few sentences, and leave quickly because it has begun to rain.
4:45 pm Get stung by a wasp that gets stuck in your shirt. Grimace in pain…
4:47 pm Maneuver around the motorcycle accident on the main road and the crowd of people that has gathered to debate what happened.
4:49 pm Get stopped by military personnel to allow an important person to pass uninhibited in his vehicle. Wait by the side of the road for two minutes before continuing.
4:52 pm Arrive home soaking wet.
4:54 pm Watch as a teammate fixes his bike…the seat fell off on the ride home.
4:55 pm Discover that someone has cut a large hole in your fence sometime during the 45 minutes that you were away from home.
4:56 pm Notice for the first time that the tree in your front yard has the word “MINE” written on the side in bold, red spray paint and there are nails stuck in the tree where the “Danger: Mine” sign used to be located.
4:58 pm Feed glucose biscuits to the impala that sleeps on your verandah.
4:59 pm Discover that there is a large pile of cooked rice resting beside the termite mound in your front yard…and wonder why it is there.
5:00 pm Thank God for yet another exciting day in Southern Sudan.
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2 comments:
hahaha! that was great whitney; i didn't realize all that had happened because that was the night I went home with Mark and Cathy. crazy about the pile of rice! i did notice the fence being torn. sorry about your blood and wasp sting... man! crazy night!
That read sooooooooo much like one of your Dad's memos to us teachers at CMS it was scary. The apple didn't fall too far from that tree.
Doug French
CMS
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