The GEE Residence

The residence was completed at the end of September at which point I happily moved out of communal compound living.The move wasn't without its discomforts, however. For the first 4 weeks we had major problems with power - the generator broke and the city power which had just arrived to our part of town was off and on, mostly off. I threw out so much spoiled food in the first 2 weeks that I gave up grocery shopping for next next few weeks, instead dropping a load of cash (meals in Juba cost easily $20 - 40 per meal) at nearby restaurants. I also had some challenges with the water - it took a bit to get a system down for when city water would arrive, when to open the valves, when to pump water from the lower tank (connected to the city water) through the filter and into the upper tank (which feeds into the house). There was also the issue of the guards. One night I came home and couldn't get beyond the front gate because the guard wasn't responding. Fortunately the security hotline was quick to respond and deal with the guard who was actually drunk on the job. Now the guard thing is sorted, though my favorite guard has malaria and yellow fever and hasn't been at work for weeks! There was also the problem of the locks. Sudanese locks are pretty low quality - they will just decide to freeze up on you and there is no getting in. The residence has 2 exterior doors and one door has had the locks freeze twice and the other froze once. There was one evening I couldn't get into the house because both doors had frozen locks. It was dark out, and the city power and generator were both not working. I called a colleague who ended up climbing through my window which, fortunately, I had forgotten to close in the morning while trying to dress in the semi-darkness. Now the locks are sorted out...we have padlocks and they work great! The final challenge was the Internet which wasn't working (part of the reason why my blog is so far behind!) But it seems to be working, unless there is sever thunderstorm, as does the satellite TV. Here is a photo of our livingroom. The furniture is very comfortable, though outrageously expensive (about twice what we should have paid. Welcome to the Juba economy!) But it was either that or plastic chairs and I decided to be high maintenance after going for a month with nothing to sit on. I lost out on the cute throw pillows (maybe I can get some in Nairobi). You may notice a gawdy pink foam pillow - you'll see a close up in a subsequent post - that's the closest I've gotten so far to my "splash of color."

Here is my housemate and our dinning area. We inherited the cheap pink plates, which will be replaced as soon as one of us gets to Nairobi again. . Here is my room. My only complaint is that the bedposts lean because the carpenters were in too great of a rush to put the bed together and didn't let the wood dry properly. They still hold up the mosquito net so I shouldn't complain too much. It's just hard to see things *almost* done well

 Finally, here is my bathroom. Notice the missing shower curtain...the Sudanese don't seem to do shower curtains.