PARTY!!

South Sudanese people take parties very seriously which is why it's important to remember all the "formalities and procedures" that are involved with them.

Attending a party here doesn't mean going clubbing or crashing someone's house or compound: it's not that easy. A party here is a group of rules, a ritual which has to be followed.

Sadly we had two goodbye parties last week (Debbie and Camille you will be GREATLY missed) so I had the chance to polish some rules and remember how to party here!

First: THE SPEECH.

No party can begin without a speech and I mean a proper one where the head of the NGO/organisation/whatever formally addresses the public and the person that is being celebrated (lets call him John).

I'll give you the start: "Ladies and Gentleman we are all here today to say goodbye to John who has been working here for tot time and who has been doing this and that... Now I ask someone else to come and say a few words about John.... And now I wish to call another person to say another few words about John.. And now I want to call John to say a few words (he will be the last one to talk)..."....!!!

ok you got the point: the speeches go on FOREVER and this happens in a spiritual silence where no one can disturb or do anything or say anything or for example.... EAT!

yes because that part still has to come! ok yeah one thing at a time.

right so we have the 3 hour long speeches and after that what happens? 

Second: THE FOOD

so you're almost falling asleep during the 10th speech of the night, your stomach is making weird sounds, you're starving and finally the speech part is over. you can finally run to the table!!

oh, if only..

well in order to eat at these parties you have to wait for John to eat. in fact, John will be the one to "open the ceremony" of the food and be the first and only one to go to the table and get served. Once he is done all the others can go and do the same, not before. So the endless line starts forming: from the table to the farthest ends of the compound. Bottom line is: if you aren't anywhere close to John it'll take forever to get your food after he has taken his.

Third: THE DANCING

I won't make it long, the dancing works exactly like the food. John has to open the dances: he chooses a partner (CANNOT do it on his own) and start dancing on the dance floor. Just the two of them, for an awkward while, dancing whatever music the dj will play. It's kind of like the first dance of a married couple except that John and the partner are not married and will most probably have never danced together. So it's funny, and embarrassing.. but mostly funny! After a while some kind, generous soul will join them and little by little the dance floor will get crowded until it's just a mass of bodies jumping around.

So these are the three main steps to go through if you want to party like a rock star here! 

And no kidding these people are really serious about this party ritual...

So let me just say again good bye to the awesome Debbie and Camille and remember..

if you're invited to a party in South Sudan.. GET YOUR SPEECH READY!!!!!

R&R

R&R stands for rest and recuperation and it's a period of time which may vary from 5 to 8 days (depending on your organization/ngo policies) on which you are on holiday to... well rest and recuperate!

The holiday has obviously to be taken outside the country as you will have to relax in a safe place. We have to take one every ten weeks and this was my first one since I went to Italy in April.

My R&R was very much needed and in order to make sure I was gonna get the best out of it I went to Mauritius! Finding the destination was not easy AT ALL! First of all there are not that many flights from Juba so it is vital to find the right connections in order not to waste days and nights in East Africa airports. Mine was very lucky and in less than 6 hours I went from grey chaos to pure exotic paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

So let me tell you about Mauritius and not because I want to brag but just because I want to describe a very cool degree that separates us from this hidden little treasure.

First of all: the people of Mauritius. There is no stereotype or special description for them: they are a mixed race, made of different colors, provenience and cultures. They have one thing in common though: they are VERY warm, welcoming and friendly. You feel home after one minute, also because they literally take you to their place after 5 minutes of conversation: they want to introduce you to their family, cook for you, give you the best deals of the island (well of course in the end they all run their businesses) and make sure that you will go back there soon. I have to say mission accomplished: discovering the island through the eyes of the locals made it all so much better. Mauritians are really nice, they value education a lot and they adore their families: needless to say it is a pleasure to help them if they need something.

Second of all: the island. Well the island is simply BEAUTIFUL. The coast is just amazing and some beaches are breathtaking but also the inland is just unreal (it reminded me A LOT of Ireland, that's why I liked it so much!). The inland is very green with beautiful landscapes. The southern part is the best one: you can find rum factories (DELICIOUS), safari parks, waterfalls and national parks and reserves. Plus the roads are surrounded by sugar cane fields which are really cool. In the south there is also the highest point of the island: it's called gran bassin and it's a sacred lake for the Hindus. Every year there is a cool pilgrimage to this place: all the island inhabitants just walk from their homes to this lake to pray and meditate. Very nice.

I could go on and on and on but i just wanted to give you an idea of this beautiful European island; yes it is populated by Germans, Italians, French, Spaniards and Dutch people. Apparently it is quite a popular destination in Europe and even if the currency is the Mauritius rupee they just accept and circulate Euro everywhere so changing money is not that important.

Oh and if you ever find yourself in the beautiful village of Flic en Flac on the western coast ask for Charlie Brown (no kidding, that's his real name!!): HE'S YOUR LOCAL MAN!!!!

Laundry Service

After five months here it has been clearly established that it's impossible for us to indulge in any kind of normal luxuries such as make up, fashion or good food/drink.
Fair enough, I can live without those (for a while...!) but if there is one thing I am obsessed about is personal hygiene.
It doesn't matter if I sweat liters and liters of body fluid a day, at the end of the day I need to be/feel clean.
So rusty shower around 7 pm (it's funny cause you can really feel the iron on your skin) and I am ready to go!

And here comes the problem.. what do I wear? I open the wardrobe and there they are, my clothes.. well actually if someone had showed me a picture of that wardrobe one year ago telling me those were my clothes I would have obviously laughed and stated the contrary. Those are NOT my clothes! they are full of wrinkles, holes and they changed colors...
but then again without a washing machine that's what you get.
Now I'm gonna tell you the story of one of my shirts so you get an idea of what they have to go through in order to be "washed"

A yellow t-shirt is thrown into a bucket with a million other clothes (of other colors) and a bit of washing powder. It stays there for a while and then the stirring begins. It sort of is like a washing machine effect except that it's done manually and with cold water. Then the t-shirt and all its friend are thrown on a stone and hit with another stone in order to be cleaned. After this they get rinsed with rusty water and hung out in the sun. Voila', laundry service!
{NOTE: In some countries (thank god, not this one!) it's quite dangerous to leave clothes out in the sun if you don't iron them. This is because in Africa there's a type of fly called mango fly which basically lays eggs in the clothes which are drying out in the sun. If you don't iron the clothes before wearing them, it's a problem. Those eggs will enter your skin and you'll be affected by a weird disease where you have the little animals crawling under your skin.. not nice!
You know the scene from "The mummy"? Where all those bugs in the pyramid enter the guy's skin and kill him? yep, pretty much the same here except that here the insects would be baby flies.. awwwww!!}

So basically my wardrobe is poor, I look like an hobo most of the times and I end up wearing always the same stuff which is still decent looking and not completely ruined (yes I am aware of the fact that they will end up just like the other clothes).

Bottom line is: next time you meet me,TAKE ME SHOPPING!!
I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF THAT!
Thanks

Happy Birthday!

Today's topic is birthdays: those very special days which define you, make you special and unique just because you were born on that day.

Isn't it funny when you meet someone who was born on your same day? Like my friends Tiffy and Djules who both celebrated their birthday yesterday... happy birthday ladies! :*

Such a coincidence makes you think about odds and probabilities and all those statistics..

Which leads me to the next point: an event like a birthday is not a coincidence here because, guess what? Everyone is born on the same day, the easiest and most obvious you can think of:

I am aware of the fact that this happens everywhere in the world so that does not come as a surprise. I have always been surprised though by this choice. Why the 1st of January? And why is everyone assigned to that date? Can't they just pick days randomly? I mean here almost 85% of the population is born on the 1st of January and that just creates confusion (especially when they also have the same name which yes happens quite often, too). Besides what is this hurry of choosing the 1st of January? That makes you basically one year older cause you would be born right at the beginning of the year!

Anyways, I can just let you imagine all the conversations I had with some locals at the beginning when I was asking birthday related questions: what is your sign, what is your element and stuff like that. I could see black holes in their eyes; astronomy is definitely a non existing science here.

Plus birthdays are not that important; they are all born on the same day, no big deal. You cannot have a big celebration for the whole population of the village, definitely cannot bake cakes and/or blow candles on them. Think of all the things that happen to you on your birthday: 90% of those are not likely to happen here. No presents, no cards, no flowers, no wishes. 

So a birthday is just another day.

But I am a huge fan of birthday, its the day on which you were born, that gotta count for something right? Celebrate it properly, it only happens once a year.

This is why today I also want to say happy birthday to my friend Gaga!!

Even if civilization is a bit far away, it's hard to forget days like this!

Easy driving

Last night I was in a hurry, I had to go out for dinner and I was late. So I took the car and decided to do my usual "sporty driving" just to get to destination faster.

Ahh wish I could actually do that. After getting out of the gate I realised it was Mission Impossible 7. The road in front of our compound looks like it has been bombarded with grenades (well it probably has): so full of (like my friend Charlie would say) "lunar craters" that it would just be easier to walk. And this is not even the worst. 

When it rains, because there is no tarmac everything becomes mud. It's a nice mix of black mud, brown mud and whatever else is on the road plus puddles which are never small or shallow. 

I could tell you of a million situations I found myself into but probably a picture will suffice.

Try to change a flat tyre when you're stuck in the mud and another car has to pull you out:

and that one wasn't even that bad: it took us one hour to fix everything and hit the road again.

When driving around though you really have to watch out for two crazy elements on the road (and if an Italian person is saying this, it must be really bad):

Number one: people on motorbikes. Because the road is so bad people on motorbikes jump around when hitting holes on the road. Most of the times they fall, laugh about it and jump back on the bike. Seeing people falling on their bikes happened to me twice: the first time there were two guys on the bike who fell and just stayed there on the ground. The second time the guys were four, all of them drunk: they fell and they were just laughing and laughing.. almost contagious!

Number two: drunk people walking along the road at night. So picture the scene: midnight, driving on the worst road you have ever seen, no lights, lampposts.. anything and at the very last minute you see a guy zigzagging his way back home. That's when you have to show your driving skill and prove yourself that, yes, if you can avoid the guy you're pretty much awesome.

Well all I can say is that you get used to all of this quite easily. I am the proud owner of a South Sudanese driving licence and I am currently learning with my drivers how to drive through deep puddles of mud and rivers (yes we have to do that too).

I think I may deserve some sort of award for that...??  

Best degree of civilization? PIZZA

Ah it's coming.. My favorite night of the week.. pizza night!!

I love it just because it's my favorite degree of civilization of all: expat night, the foreigners'dinner.

All the kawaja (it means white person in the local language) reunite at our compound, which let's admit it,  is the best to eat pizza!!

Our cook Timothy actually makes great pizza so it's not a bad experience.. not at all! Plus I love it cause expats night means story sharing night which means tomorrow I'll probably have something funny to tell.

Pizza night is a nice break from the crazy working days, the going around, the dust, the heat, the impossible situations we find ourselves into every single day. We just sit and eat and laugh cause honestly laughing about situations here makes it all so much more fun.

So it's me (italian/half irish haha), giacomo (VERY italian), paola (italian as well), debbie (the most hilarious british person I've ever met), fiona (a great scottish lady), camille (very french guy) and hayelom (an ethiopian guy who works in our compound). It's a lot of fun cause we are all so different but pizza night, CIVILIZATION night, brings us all together.

i'll sound very Italian here but it's true... food can do miracles!!

Sorry for the sentimental post but these nights are part of this crazy life too!!

Enjoy your meal, we will certainly do!!!!

Just say "I do"

Let's talk about obsessions here, again.

More than one month ago, I took a few days off to fly to Italy for a couple of friends' wedding. The thing that shocked the most when I was explaining this to the people was their reply:
YOUR WEDDING?

Ehm, no people. If I were going home for my wedding I wouldn't take just 5 days off; I mean I've never been married but I'm positive that a wedding takes a big amount of time, preparation, effort, coordination. Definitely not 5 days.

But then again I was forgetting who I was talking to. Marrying someone is NOT  a big deal here.
I received two proposals yesterday, just like that.
" Anna did you see the rain last night? Rainy season has begun (yes the rainmakers are safe.. for now)! Anna, why don't you marry me?"
yep, just like that.

And me, silly me, trying to explain that you know, marrying someone is a big deal, you do it for love and when you do it you want to be sure he's the one and you will love each other forever blablabla..
First reply was: well I love all my wives!! (mm ok..)
Second one was a simple: nahhhh

The worst part is they keep insisting, they can be very persuasive. obviously I cannot give up so I just keep saying no. then one of them who unfortunately knows I have a sister goes:
sell me your sister! 30 cows? she comes to live in South Sudan, she happy and she cooks for me!
I've been quite mean to her but I just cannot do this to her. so I said no.
So the guy proposed again to me.
It's a vicious circle.