People

I was just about to tell you about my New Years and realised that I have not told you about some other the people who I share my life with here. So here you go:

The Old Girls of East Khartoum;

Anna: my flatmate, I was quietly fearing what life would be like when I was told I was going to share a one bedroom flat with a 59 year old vicars wife and mother of 4. But Anna is a fantastic flatmate. She has helped me so much, from showing me the buses to finding cheese. Anna works at the same University as me.

Rosa: An Australian volunteer. She has the most positive outlook and keeps us all laughing. She stays a few blocks walk from Anna and I. It was Rosa who organised the pyramids trip.

Maryanne and Reeni: Canadian and Brit. Two teachers who work at the British council (Maryanne is currently teaching SPLM soldiers), they live about 500m from Anna and myself. Both very funny, easygoing and incredibly helpful.

The West side Boys:

Matt and Liam: both volunteers who live in Omdurman slightly North West of Khartoum. Matt (despite British accent, education and manner) is American and seems to have magnetic charm for pretty Sudanese girls. Liam is a brilliantly witty Brit who constantly beats me at chess. Both lads have adapted to the Sudanese way of life well, learning the language with admirable dedication, smoking shisha and eating fool daily.

Christopher: the most integrated of us all. when I met Christopher two months ago her seemed like a lovely English gentleman. Now he has moved 4 hours north of Khartoum and become a lovely Arab gentleman.
Others:

Mohammad: coordinator for the programme

Joanna: Volunteer who lives with Liam and Matt, just arrived but this is her second time here.

Nick: lives in the centre of town, an Aussie with a knack for knowing everyone and being everywhere important.

Hiba: My favorite student, perfect English and lovely family.

Tim: German Anthropology student doing research and hanging out with the lads here.

There are of course many more, but it takes time to meet and get to know people.

Anna's husband emails her a new joke every single day from England so she always has a joke to share. The best one so far this week: A Spaniard and a Sudanese were talking about their language, the Spaniard asked the Sudanese if they had any word in Sudanese Arabic that was like the Spanish "mañana". The Sudanese thought about it for a while then said "Yeah we do, but it doesn't have that same sense of urgency."