Too Many Photos to Choose, Too Many Stories to Tell

Look-it's a photo of me doing work!

Over the past month and a half, I’ve traveled in several countries, moved houses, done a bit of work, and had a serious marriage proposal over the phone from a very eligible Chadian doctor who just called to say he “loves me and wants to go to America” and “you’re not married—you should be married. Do you want to marry me?” So, it’s been pretty eventful. I’m traveling again for another several weeks, so I thought I’d update the blog a bit before life gets exciting again and I don’t have to open my computer.

First I went to New Zealand to visit very dear friends from Sudan who have since moved back Down Under, popped out a beautiful baby and have one more on the way. We’ve planned to meet up in many other exotic locations in the past: Kenya, Namibia, Iraq, but none of them worked out, so I had to go visit them in their new home. It was really great seeing them until poor Bella got sick and had to go to the hospital. Overall, it was great and my terrible photos won’t do it justice, so I’ll only post a few and you should just go visit New Zealand yourself to enjoy rolling hills of sheep, volcanoes, lakes the size of Singapore, beautiful beaches, and nice friendly people with cool accents.

Please enjoy the following photos you could have found better versions of on the internet:

New Zealand volcanic sulfur lake

New Zealand beautiful beach

New Zealand snow-capped mountain

New Zealand field with sheep some where.

After New Zealand, it was back to work for me. I flew back to Africa, specifically to Uganda to spend a week with Repent and Loguya in Arua and Koboko, with a side trip to the Congo, which was accomplished by use of good connections and multiple languages. If you want to cross borders without following the formal legal process, it really helps to be able to talk your way in. I spoke French. David spoke Swahili. Loguya spoke Kakwa. Repent and I spoke Arabic when we wanted to talk to each other about how we were running out of small money for “tea” to give to everyone who would say, “we can help you with the paperwork, but it’s so cold! Please give us money for tea to warm our hands” (presumably so that their fingers could grasp the pen needed to sign the entry forms.

At the border of South Sudan, Uganda, and Congo

In front of the Congo flag on Congolese soil!
We made it!

Drinking "protected" spring water to see how it tastes.
It tastes like metal mud, if you were wondering.

This is what you eat when Amanda buys you lunch.

Also ice cream.

And sometimes even healthy food!
But that was because we were at Repent's house and he wanted me
to try his corn. If you are a Moru, you MUST have a garden. 

It was quite cold actually. In fact, this cold messed up our e coli tests, which were supposed to be kept at a minimum of 25C, but definitely went down to 20-22C. If you’re not familiar with Celsius temperatures, anything below 25C is basically the Dead of Winter. We did some practice e coli tests, but I’m worried they might not be entirely accurate. We will have to re-do at some point. The good news is that at least the team knows how to do the test and they don’t have to have me there accidentally dropping bits of the packaging into the test pouch. I’m reconsidering having a second career as a surgeon. I think I’ll just go back to my original second career plan: sky-diving ballerina.

Someone taking a photo of me taking a photo of a nice patient lady.
Sometimes when I'm out walking Joe, people ask to take my photo.
I always let them because the chances of them doing something nefarious with
the photos does not cancel out my debt of gratitude to people who let me
take their photos for my work reports.

We tested that water! But our results were suspect...

The metal thingy is the school bell. You hit it with the mallet
and it makes a really loud noise, even if you just want to tap it to
see how it sounds. If you do tap it, all the children will come running
and you will have to apologize to all the teachers and the principal.

Duck.

I have so many bits of stories floating around in my head, but the power went off at 2am this morning and I didn’t get much sleep, so I can’t remember which stories actually happened and which ones were hallucinations. I’ll post the ones with photographic evidence here.

Please enjoy the following photos of me with Repent's family. His kids are cute. His mother is cute. I can't choose which ones not to post so I'm posting all of them. Scroll down to the end for some adorable photos of Joe.

With Joy and Halina--I just love these ladies.

Reunited with Repent's mother, who he got out of South Sudan
once the fighting got too bad in her area. Her health isn't great,
and I really didn't think I would ever see her again.

So it was wonderful to see my Moru mama again,
and she was so excited and pulled me onto her lap,
and told me all about her back pain and blood pressure
and how if anyone wants to marry me, he needs to
pay them 30 goats and some cows.

Repent and Joy's new baby Hanna!
Just too much cuteness.

Coffee with Mama because she likes it, even if I don't.

African hipster. Repent doesn't need those glasses.
They aren't prescription. He just thinks they look cool,
which they do, of course.

Back in South Sudanese church in Uganda--drums instead of
piano/organ/guitar.

Passionate Moru lady giving a testimony.

Additional sermon from Repent.

Off on our traditional trip to buy toys and candy with our Ombonje (white person)

Traveling in a bajaj/rickshaw

Ok, yes, I let them buy whatever they wanted and the 3 boys and Halina
all bought noisy plastic guns. I know it's not the best toy for refugee
children fleeing violence, but let's be honest: that gun is not like
any they've been close to in the past since South Sudan is not currently fighting a space war.

Smiley baby! 

Chewing on my hair.

While I was in Uganda, I got to meet up with  Ms Ruth and her daughter Joyce.
They are the first South Sudanese people I ever met, and Ms Ruth is one of those people
who inspires and motivates me in what I do. I met her at university in the US. I was a lonely, introverted freshman,
who did not want to be in America. The beautiful and tenacious Rachelle insisted on being my friend
and threw me into her ministry, working with Ms Ruth and the local refugee population in Memphis, where I was in school. It became my favorite part of university--the only place I really felt comfortable as a TCK re-entering my country with all my own prejudices and insecurities. With the refugees, caught between two countries, forced to be somewhere they wouldn't have chosen, I felt like we could understand each other, though my situation was never anywhere as traumatic as theirs.
Ms Ruth, a refugee herself, worked tirelessly to help everyone in her community. She was always ready with advice, encouragement, and kindness. She came to my university graduation when my own family couldn't be there.
It was such a great feeling to see her in Africa and to realize that I've worked in her hometown and to speak Juba Arabic with her and to see Joyce all grown up and following in her mother's footsteps.

And Now: a Moment with Joe

How cute is he all cuddled on the couch my last night in that house?

I found this tooth in my house. I tortured Joe several times by forcing his mouth
open and making sure he had all of his teeth. He did. This isn't one of his.
General consensus is that it is a goat tooth,
but that begs the question: how did it get in my house??

Joe enjoying the temporary rainy season swimming pool in front of
my new house. He loves the yard and always jumps to attention,
and runs around busily barking and protecting the garden
whenever I try to call him in. He's a dog on a mission who
can't waste time sitting around inside...unless there is a bone to gnaw on.

Suffering in Silence

This goat probably didn't suffer in silence.
Photo cred to Annie and Hannah who drove
around on Eid morning to get this masterpiece.

It’s been brought to my attention a few times that I haven’t updated this blog in a while. It’s no big deal depriving the masses (hi Mom! But mostly Claire) of my literary masterpieces, but I was reflecting a bit on why I haven’t been updating recently. I do not have a specific day when I make myself post on this blog (rules and regulations aren’t really my style) and I generally write when the mood hits me. It obviously hasn’t hit recently. There are several possible reasons for that, but one of the big ones is just that it’s been a tough few months at work, which is exhausting and makes me less excited about spending more time on the computer posting on the blog. Projects we all worked really hard on didn’t go well, making us look completely incompetent, though most of it was out of our hands. We are still suffering away on these projects, by the way. Just the donors worry that we are wasting their time and money intentionally, I think. I had one donor tell me I needed a new plan: “Your new plan could be to work faster and not drill negative bore holes.” I mean, it’s genius, right? I wish I’d thought of it first. It would have saved me so much time if I had not told my team to drill all those negative bore holes. Well, hindsight, I guess.

Every once in a while we got a positive bore hole

See our rig over there on the other side of the rainy season temporary river?
We have to quit next week or we will get flooded in.

Took this photo proudly before the team left to finish a big project.
They came back 4 hours later because of a paperwork issue.
It was not a happy day.

This photo of my lunch is important to show
the quality of roads out here. This is what the chips
looked like when I opened the can. 

It’s also been a season of goodbyes. This is one of the worst parts about being an expat. Other worse parts include trying to figure out visa systems in new countries, any time you have to go to the American Embassy for something little which takes up an entire day (making you wish you’d been born in one of those small friendly countries), and trying to pack up all the presents you were told to buy for people while you’re in the States into the small bag that would have been perfectly sufficient for your stuff. Usually, I’m the one dropping a few casual goodbyes, trying to look like I’m crying as people hug me and tell me how they’ll miss me, doing all my things for the last time (last time running this route, driving this horrible car, buying coke zero from this nice friendly shopkeeper, eating this favorite food I’ll never get anywhere else, etc), and giving away all the crap I’ve accumulated over the time I’ve been there. All the while I’m sad, but looking forward to the next adventure. This time I’m the one staying, and that’s weird for me. And I’m going to miss these friends who are leaving, while I’m excited about their next adventures (or mostly their up-coming rest and recovery time while deciding on the next adventure). 

The one friend I actually got a goodbye photo with

As an expat you get to be friends with people you’d never have even met if you’d stayed in your country, and you can get really close to people quickly because you’re all huddled together trying to survive things that make the locals laugh at your weakness. There is a lot of bonding that happens through shared trauma.  I’m thankful for life in the modern era that includes the internet, so we can keep in communication (and I can send thousands of photos of my dog to people who are too far away to do anything about it), and airplanes, so I can go visit friends in other places, as long as they live in places I want to visit. And that’s why next week I hope on a plane for two days to see a friend who has been there for me for years, most of which we have not spent in the same country, much less the same continent. I’m thankful I can make this happen financially and by sheer force of will and because my parents raised me to wander so I’m not afraid of a 15 hour plane ride, though I wish said parents had thought to buy me a private plane for one of my graduations because the worst part of traveling is all the other stupid people who drag their roller suitcases over your foot and stay in the tiny bathroom for 20 minutes while the line gets long enough to overbalance the airplane and possibly tip it over.

The goodbye photo taken by Naomi, who was leaving,
of Emelie and me, who are still here.
Sadly, Em's motorcycle was recently stolen.

In conclusion, goodbyes suck, but it is nice to have new places where you can visit good friends. Airplane travel is terrible, but it’s the best way to go until I learn how to teleport. And I have more photos with my dog than I have with my friends who are leaving/left, so please enjoy!

There you go, Claire. Never leave me!!!

Marzipan cake with the faithful Claire, who will stay with me forever.

And now, please enjoy the following photo series dedicated to my dog Joe, as in G.I. :

He's so cute sometimes he just gazes at himself in the mirror.

Our love is pure. Though my floor is not that clean. Oh well.

He loves a good selfie.
He's so cute the camera blurred.

Serious photo with my downstairs neighbor.
She loooooooves Joe.

At Naomi's helping her get stuff ready to leave.
Joe decided it would be a good time to sit in my lap.

Yes, he had ticks at the time, but he looks so cute sleeping on my bed!

This is not Joe. This is a cat that I watched get surgeried.

He doesn't have ticks anymore. I got meds!

He helped me fix the chairs because I HATE the scraping sound
of the chair on the tiles and every time people sat in those chairs,
I jumped out of mine, and it was getting tiresome.

Joe got really excited by the tape.

Joe and I went hippo watching with some other cool people,
not pictured.

Can you see the hippo? He is really there.

Joe antagonizing the cat Annie is watching for the last time
before she leaves. And this is the only photo I have of our last time hanging out.

Joe took my seat on the way to work on this morning.
He refused the back seat, and just hopped himself right up by Urbain.
He clearly does not feel any qualms about that.

Joe loves goat horns. I found this one at the end of my morning run.
I stopped a few brief seconds, ruining my mile time, to pick this up and
run with it all the way home. It is a testimony to how well everyone in my neighborhood knows
me now that no one asked me what I was doing. They see me walk Joe every day, so they know us pretty well.
Joe was overwhelmed with gratitude for my gesture.

Also LOOK at this adorable puppy. He's not mine though. But the world should see his cute face.