Uni students say the darnest things.

I really enjoy hearing what the students have to say. But I don't overly enjoy teaching English. I love the opinions, ideas and points of views. Here are some snippets of class conversations paraphrased.

3rd year English: "So, there maybe another Clinton leading the US" class

Me: Do you think women make good world leaders?
Mustaffa: No, women can not ever make good presidents.
Me: *raise eyebrows*
Mustaffa: They don't have the experience in these matters. They do not have good intelligence, they are not made for thinking like men. they do not have the right ability.
Me: *raise eyebrows to the rest of the class*
Intisa: Isn't that what they used to say about black people in America?

Engineering students; "tell me about Sudan" class

Mohammad: Sudan has all sorts of people of all colours from dark black through to pale white.
Me: White like me?
Mohammad: Oh no Miss Rayshell, you are not white.
Me: *raise eyebrows*
Mohammad: you are pink
Me: Ah yes, pink and white and yellow with orange dots.
Mohammad: Yes, what are those things?
Me: Freckles.
Mohammad: *raises eyebrows*

Zoology students: "So what's wrong with Jews anyway" class

Marwa: I think if you was taking this class in Israel and trying to convince them that Arabs are not so bad your students will probably also disagree with you.
Me: I think you might be right
Marwa: Before we had English club I was afraid for talking. I would always take so long to think before I say anything, then it would be so late. Now you say things so wrong so I must talk and it becomes more easy. I think you just make controversy so we talk lot.
(smart girl)

Conversation with my boss at the newspaper:

Boss: Khawaga (foreigner), what is your name?
Me: Rachel.
Boss: Huh?
Me: Rayshell.
Boss: Ah Russia, tell me, how is working here?
Me: Fine thank you.
Boss: *raises eyebrows*
Me: Honestly, it is not the most efficient office I have worked in.
Boss: Why?
Me: Well I spend most of my time checking my email, playing solitaire and using the Internet; and you are paying me to do this.
Boss: Right, I see your point, that's not very good. So do you want us to change that then.
Me: Actually it's fine by me, I just thought you should know.

3rd year English "How are we messing up the Environment" Class

Me: In pairs write a list of all the different products we get from the oil industry. Any Questions?
Abdulla: Yes. What do you call your grandfather's grandfather?
Me: *draws family tree diagram on the board, explains what different people call each other*
Abdalla: So you call this unsest?
Me: Unsest? oh, Incest, no that is when family members have sex.
Abdalla: *raises eyebrows*
Me: *points to a different family members on the diagram* It's if you were to marry your sister or parent, that would be called incest. In my county we extend that to cousins, Aunts and Uncles as well.
Abdalla: *furrows eyebrows together* Uncest? I mean maybe uncesta.
Me: OH, ANcestors, oh sorry, that's different.

Sex: it's not that bad

I watched Troy on telly last week. We get over 100 satellite channels, 4 are in English and one is a music channel that plays a lot of western music, so we don't do too badly. I missed Troy when it first came out and really wanted to catch it. I have read 'The Oddessy' and was curious to see what happened beforehand, without making the effort of reading another heavy book.

I didn't have high expectations (I had been told it was crap) and the movie met my expectations. There was a scene where Briseis (a pretty girl) makes an attempt to kill Achillies (played by a rather buff Brad Pitt) while he slept, he woke up just in time, grabbing her hand, they looked deeply into each others eyes... then it's was morning.

I watched it on 'Dubai One' a channel from United Arab Emirates so wasn't surprised that the sex scenes were cut out. What got me was how the violence was left in. It is ok to show murder, slaughter, decapitation, massacres, a corpse being dragged behind a chariot... but when it gets to any physical expression of love, passion or romance the editing team get out their scissors to save us from the immorality. So if Briseis was not suddenly captivated by the beautiful Achillies and in his bed made war instead making love then we would have got to see the whole bloody thing, but kissing... oh-no-no, that would be wrong.

Silence of the lambs was full length, I didn't remember any love scenes in Natural born killers so I think I was uncut. But basic instinct was properly about 40 minutes long by the time it was acceptable from Arab television, and I watched Something about Mary which showed Mary on a date but no explanation as to how or why her hair was standing on end.

I miss sex and physical expressions of attraction being acceptable, being normal, being a part of adult life. I miss humans being allowed to acknowledge that they are sexual and loving creatures, I miss seeing people holding hands in the street... sorry, I'll rephrase that, I miss seeing couples holding hands in the street (men are very physically affectionate to each other, which is nice, but it is unacceptable for females or a male and a female to cuddle on the streets in the same way as men do) . I miss the feeling of knowing a body is more than the thing that you carry your head around on.

I asked some Sudanese friends what they think about the movie editing. They all watch their films uncut on pirate DVDs sent from the Gulf by their cousins. They seem to think that it is good for the sex and kissing to be cut out because children shouldn't be watching that sort of thing, it might give them ideas. So of course I asked about the violence... apparently children know that it's only a movie and that violence is wrong. I didn't want to push a point too much, they already think I might be doomed to hell, suggesting that sex is a good thing and killing a bad thing will confirm their beliefs... I don't want them to worry about the future of my soul too much.

It's still hot, but I'm allowed to travel south

It's quite windy toda, don't think that means it's cooler. I'm sweating in places that i didn't know sweated. I'm discovering shin sweat and elbow sweat and top of the foot sweat... hell even my eyeballs are sweating. That might be a result of the dust that is kicked up by the winds.

I told my students the story about being caught up in the riot at the wrestling. Except, in the version they got, I wasn't face down in the dirt; I was sprinting heroically at the front of the crowd scooping up small children and delivering them to safety (just how I had imagined I would be in that sort of situation). I was expecting my students to marvel at my experience, or at least be awe inspired by the dramatic and animated re-telling of the story. Turns out every one of my students has been caught up in a riot at some point and all have experienced tear-gas. So it was just a case of the weird foreign teacher getting over excited about a mundane occurrence.

So far the red tape is going well. The volunteer programme facilitator fired the last coordinator (I get the feeling he like firing people) and hired a lass called Nuha. She has been three times as efficient as the previous coordinator (and I hear she gets paid a third as much... but that is to be expected given that she is female so even if her abilities are superior she lacks a Y cromozone so is innately inferior, see I'm learning stuff here). Nuha has removed a lot of the anxiety from the process by simply being available and honest. I have been down to the department of humanitarian affairs 4 times. I have spent a lot of my time there siting in small rooms staring at men behind desks who seem to do nothing all day accept staring at each other, and occasionally reading the newspaper. I now have a travel permit, this doesn't mean I'll be able to make it overland... it means I'm allowed to try. Exit and entry visas next. Sorry, traveling can be really dull sometimes.

Introduction to Teargas

It's getting hotter, the dust more abundant and the balaclavas are disappearing. The smell of the afternoon buses is getting more pungent.

Liam (another volunteer) and I went to see the Nubian wrestling; it is a famous slice of Sudanese culture. In the stadium we were directed to sit with the Khartoum wrestling team, foreigners are often given preferential treatment. This prime position was brilliant, the atmosphere was wonderful, our team was had just won their fourth match out of five. There was a lot of dancing and cheering and the mood was joyful. Liam has pretty good Arabic so I was enjoying the luxury of not having to talk or think.

For what happened next I can only give a limited perspective of a short lass surrounded by rather tall African wrestlers. It appeared that one or two men entered the wrestling circle, followed by the police who took to beating him with long sticks. I don't think the police have heard of Rodney King here, so perhaps thought it was a good idea for three police officers to beat one man with sticks in the middle of a stadium of hundreds of people. Some of those people got annoyed, more of the audience moved into the circle followed by more police. This was all happening over the opposite side of the stadium to me. We were all standing to get a better view, it appeared that things could turn very violent, but curiosity was stronger than self preservation.

The wrestlers were constantly keeping an eye on us, making sure we were safe and out of harms way. Action was quickly escalating the stadium, more people were joining the moving tangle of bodies in the centre, and I could see chairs and canes being swung in the air. Liam saw a riot van entering and chairs were thrown in its direction. The tension was escalating fast. It was only about 15 minutes from when the first person entered the circle.

Bang! Bang! Bang! I thought the police were firing gunshots into the air. The crowd surged towards the canvas barriers of the stadium Liam was in front of the crowd being squashed against the canvas until it collapsed or ripped. I was pushed over and fell face down in the dirt. A man behind me instantly sheltered me then grabbed my hand to assist me out of the stadium. Liam was waiting for me. The shots fired were teargas. There was no choice but to run, It actually started as a kind of civilised jog then the effects of the teargas set in: eyes welling up nose dribbling and lungs gasping for air. I have never experienced teargas before; I had not anticipated the pain in the throat and the restrictions on breathing. Last year Liam volunteered in Palestine, and has been caught in teargas before. Apparently if you break open an onion and inhale deeply it counteracts the effects of the teargas... but I wasn't carrying an onion on me that day.

Wheezing and spitting, we ran past a family standing at their front gate watching the commotion, they saw us and invited us into their home. We sat with these lovely people for an hour and a half while the sirens outside died down and we recovered from the teargas. They offered us water, sweets and shisha. Liam converted his easy banter into Arabic and may have sold me to the son... I'm not sure, but I think he negotiated a good price.

My experience of the riot was obviously not a negative experience. I thought the police were fast and effective, they acted decisively. The teargas was horrible to be caught up in, but it did its job: it cleared the crowd fast and it prevented what could have been a disaster. The Sudanese people I encountered showed a kindness to strangers that I have never experienced in any other country. Of course the man who was beaten by the police will have a completely different experience of the same event. I'm glad my side of the stadium was the calm side. This is not normal for a night at the wrestling.

I leave next month. I plan to go down to Uganda in whatever way is cheap, practical and safe. I prefer to travel overland and have been getting mixed information from "impossible, there are no roads" to "It's easy, my grandmother makes that trip." Where I intend to travel my travel guides don't cover, so I'm downloading UN maps and getting as much info as I can while I'm here and connected.

Before I even set a foot south I need all the paperwork: visas for Uganda, Exit visa for Sudan, travel permits for southern Sudan. I have (by chance) met the Ugandan ambassador and been to where they issue the travel permits, all my questions were answered positively. My main hold up is getting the right paperwork through the volunteer programme. I'm very anxious about that. The facilitator has already started making fuss about how impossible it is to get permits. so I'm going to avoid going though them wherever possible, I don't need the drama.