Kindle love

I love my kindle. The other night I finished a book and could immediately purchase and download a new one from Amazon. Unfortunately the whispernet technology doesn't work in Sudan, so I have to first download the book to my computer and then copy it over to the reading device, but once I got the hang of it it hasn't been a problem.

I am accepting book suggestions, perferably ones without mention of delicious French food. My last read was Julie and Julia about the woman who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Then I decided to read My Life in France, the autobiography of Julia. While these books are inspiring me to try out some new recipes (once I move into my house and have a kitchen) for now they are torturing me as I try to swallow the very strange concoctions that the Winrock compound chef comes up with. A fellow sufferer discovered that the cook is imitating fancy recipes but doing all sorts of odd substitutions for food not available in Juba. I think the all time worst dinner, though, was spare ribs...made from some very tough goat. Not good! I've thought about taking pictures, but sometimes the food is pretty...the flavors are just a bit weird. And then again sometimes they work...the avacado, tomato, and canned peaches salad with basil wasn't too bad today. However, the chicken and custard combo just didn't work...aesthetically or otherwise. I'm still not sure how he decided to make spaghetti on a pizza crust...but I guess that isn't any stranger that the beef stroganoff pizza served in Brazil (with crushed potato chips on top).

http://tudogostoso.uol.com.br/receita/35204-pizza-de-estrogonofe-de-carne-com-batata-palha.html

"Beef stroganoff is also very popular in Brazil and Portugal, under the name "estrogonofe" or "Strogonoff". The Brazilian variant includes diced beef or strips of beef (usually filet mignon) with tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms and heavy whipping cream....It is commonly served with crisp potato straws, as in Russia... Sometimes one can also see creative servings of estrogonofe, such as a pancake filling, a topping for baked potatoes, or on pizzas." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_Stroganoff

Bill of Rights

Like a typical American, I never really think about the freedoms afforded me when living in the US. And I probably wouldn't have though much about them living abroad if it hadn't been for a recent incident. On Wed, Sept 9 the Sudanese government and military staged a huge disarmament activity, going house to house, business to business, in search of illegal weapons. We didn't catch notice of it until about 6 AM when the cook was detained on his way here to the compound. Fortunately there is a large NGO network and a communication tree to spread news like this, so my organization reported in and helped sound the warning. All day Wednesday we were on restricted movement, unable to leave the compound. At about 9 AM a group of approximately 5 soldiers entered the compound to search for weapons. As an international NGO we should have been spared this exercise, but the soldiers went everywhere, even illegally entering diplomatic properties (and later having to issue an apology for violating the Vienna Convention which precludes entering foreign diplomatic missions without permission). It was a little frightening, but not too obtrusive until they came through to search all the living quarters. Since this is a temporary accommodation for me, my suitcases are still mostly packed. I was asked (not very politely) to open each one and move around the contents so the soldiers to verify I wasn't hiding an unregistered weapon. There was a vague feeling of having been violated after the search...and this sense of "hey, can you really do that to me?" It wasn't until later that I began to think about the Bill of Rights and appreciate Articles 2 & 4 - the rights to bear and keep arms and protection against unreasonable search and seizure. I'm reading a biography of Martha Washington right now, and this experience helps me better appreciate some of the things the patriots were fighting for.

I couldn't take a picture of the search, without getting imprisoned or fined, so here is a picture of my room and you can imagine 2 soldiers coming in and pulling apart the bed, searching the closet, and looking through (and touching!) all my clothes both packed and unpacked.

And if you check out this article, you can mentally place the soldiers in my tiny room. http://www.newsudanvision.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1879:south-sudan-security-forces-mount-an-intensive-search-for-illegal-guns-in-juba&catid=1:sudan-news-stories&Itemid=6

I owned a farm in Africa...

...well, not a farm, not even a plot of land, at least not yet. But the project has been renovating a house which I will move into in the next couple of weeks and it's hard not to get excited - I've watched too many home improvement shows! This is definitely NOT Design on a Dime! I did have to hold back ..."Don't I get to pick the tile for the kitchen and bath?" "What, no backsplash?" "Not even an accent wall?"

No, silly, keep your comments to things like razor wire for the exterior wall, reinforced doors and windows, and security lighting. And just be grateful that there will be a toilet, 2 in fact! And hopefully hot water. Now that's living the high-life.

I WILL have fun throw pillows, though. C'mon! I could live here for up to 3 years. The place has to have some character. Still trying to decide where to put a hammock, and the herb garden so that when I visit my family at Christmas I can bug them by repeating "I own a farm in Africa..." in my best Meryl Streep doing a Danish accent voice, over and over and over again.

As a welcome gift, the Program Manager in Malakal (Upper Nile State) sent me this outfit. Kind of fun. Makes me look Sudanese, no? Ok, no.