as a follow-up to a previous post...

told ya south sudan was beautiful!! (and these were taken with a camera phone!)

work?

travelling between field offices during the rainy season requires a 4-8 hour boat ride + a 4-8 hour car ride (and yes, travel times DO vary that much based on weather - consider that the same journey in the dry season is 6 hours tops - and only requires a car!). it can be very uncomfortable (especially when it starts to rain on you), but with a yoga mat and a life jacket as a pillow (a life jacket that the senior ops manager keeps insisting that i use as a life jacket for some reason - something about it's ability to save my life or something), life is good! :) seriously though, sometimes i can't  believe that this is work, that i'm here...boat riding down the nile, watching the sun set over the horizon, taking a 5 hour afternoon nap, sun bathing, savoring the beauty of south sudan, all on the clock. wow - who's lucky, eh?

formula for happiness =
yoga mat + life jacket + good music + african sun

the sun sets on the nile

hob-nobbing with the big wigs

sitting in a government office chit chatting with a minister or a director general, drinking tea

amazing skies

starting to be able to tell the time of the night by the position of Orion's Belt in the sky

having the moon actually light the way on a otherwise black night

recognition

passing through a tiny village of perhaps 15 houses in the middle of nowhere and having the villagers know me by name

starting to recognize trees, rocks, bushes, blades of grass...when travelling from one destination to another

smack dab in the middle

learning salsa & meringue in the office in the middle of conservative Muslim Somalia while continuing the discussion on gender & gender-based analysis

hearing 'my neck, my back' by khia (the uncensored version!) in the office (yes, in the office in the middle of conservative Muslim Somalia), NOT coming from my computer but rather from somebody's phone (it was his ring tone)