One of the great things about coming back to visit the US is the chance to be a tourist in your own country. Some of the local or near-by sights that others take for granted have a new-ness to them that is refreshing. And the ease of public transportation and the efficiency of the US National Parks Services is a great thing.
Great Falls National Park
Chris on the C&O Canal
After leaving Chad, we stayed in the Washington DC for a month, looking for a house. During that time, we explored a lot of the hot-spots of DC, visiting monuments, museums, and restaurants. My parents came to visit, so it was great to see them and celebrate with them. We visited the Washington and Lincoln monuments on a beautiful April day when the kites were flying, the trees were blooming, and the flowers were at their most colorful. It was great to see my parents again- it had been almost a year since our last visit- and Dad and I enjoyed the Smithsonian together, while both my parents got to meet my new husband. (We also took advantage of a rare time when we were both in the US to get married!).
We got hitched!
In June, between Chris’s training and his deployment, we had an unexpected free week, so we split the distance between us and met in Charlotte, North Carolina. We spent a week exploring the city, as well as nearby battlefields, the US National White Water center, the Speedway, the Biltmore House in Asheville, and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The views were amazing and we learned so much about the area while we were there. Plus, it was nice to spend some quality time together before a lengthy time apart.
Chris and Deah in Asheville
Now Chris is on a nine month deployment, and Deah is job hunting for a librarian job in the local schools. Hopefully Chris’s work schedule will allow for us to meet for a long weekend in the early fall, or for a week at Christmas. Meanwhile, I’ve got some adjusting to the US to do! Reverse culture shock is a real thing.
First, a big thank you to Joy, for being my first visitor to come see me in Chad! It was great to have Joy visit us for a week and show her around town, and totally cool that on her last day, we took a boat ride on the Chari River and saw a HUGE herd of elephants drinking at the river!
Elephants in the Chari River
With Chris in the US visiting family, and Joy back to Sudan for work, I took off for Togo and parts unknown. As soon as I landed in Lomé I could see the ocean and smell the salt- and feel the humidity! The first two nights I stayed in a small hotel above a bar, called Le Galion, unfortunately in a non a/c room- big mistake. West Africa sure is sweaty!
Lome, Togo
I tried to visit the Lomé museum but it was closed, and after visiting the big marche, there wasn’t much else to do in town (except enjoy being out of Chad). So I hopped on a bus and went north to Kara, the gateway city to the Tamberma Valley. I met up with three Belgian volunteers and we hired a car and driver for the day to take us to see the traditional villages out in the hinterland. Very interesting architecture, but it made me sad to see the way the people live in the village- they seemed malnourished and out of step- and not in a good way, just listless and unprepared for the world around them. The next day, the four of us had the same taxi driver take us to the Burkina Faso border (a seriously bad road). After paying a whopping $190 for my visa, I entered Burkina and the four of us got a bus to Ougadougou. We arrived late at night and they invited me to stay with them at a friend’s unfinished house that night. We slept under the stars in what was to become a surprisingly chilly night!
Tamberma Valley, Togo
Camping outside in Ougadougou
The next day I dropped off my passport at the Ghanaian embassy for a visa, and took off for Bobo-Diolasso. I liked it better than Ouga- a bit quieter, more manageable. But both cities have this quality of a dusty, dirty, run-down city. I guess nothing on the edge of the Sahara desert stays pretty looking for long. I loved my little guest house, Villa Bobo, and sampled some great cuisine, especially a totally delicious local yogurt with honey. Mmmm. Had it three times.
Sand mosque, Bobo-Dialassou, Burkina Faso
Back to Ouga to pick up my passport and visa, and I stopped at the village of Sabou along the way to see my volunteer friends. We visited the sacred crocodile lake (animists in the village believe the crocodiles are the reincarnated souls of the chief’s ancestors) and we actually paid a visit to the chief himself, as one of the volunteers was new to the project and the chief likes to meet anyone new to the area. That night we slept outside again, as the volunteers’ house has no electricity. Living rough in Africa!
I stayed in Ouga for two days after that, recovering from some unfortunate stomach distress, at a beautiful little garden pensione called Jardin de Kouloubra. A great place to recover. Finally I was feeling ready to take the 8 hour bus down to Tamele, Ghana, where I spent the night at a Catholic guest house, then another bus to Kumasi (hello, humidity; I remember you!). There I visited the Asante palace and museum and learned a lot about the Asante culture. From there it was an easy bus ride to Cape Coast, where I finished up my trip with some visits to the beach, the slave castle, and a few good restaurants. The history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade was pretty interesting and very moving to see the actual places.
Cape Coast
From Cape Coast, I skipped right over Accra and took my flight back to Chad. Although I’m really glad that I went, because I had really wanted to visit West Africa before we leave the continent, I found the whole trip a lot harder than I had anticipated. The infrastructure, the (lack of) hospitality industry, the huge amounts of trash everywhere- all of it is just not ideal for easy tourism- definitely not for the faint at heart. The fact that Togo and Burkina both speak French, and even in Ghana, most people spoke a native language more than they really spoke English, made getting around and getting things done just that much harder. In the end, I felt like West Africa didn’t have the amazing animals like Kenya and Tanzania did, the fascinating culture like Ethiopia did, the stunning scenery like Rwanda and Uganda, or the general together-ness like Namibia and South Africa. West Africa has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to have tourism be a big draw for their economies.
In a surprise twist, I went back to Khartoum to do some emergency substitute work. The day I arrived, Tina had a Halloween/birthday party, so I got to be a surprise guest! It was a great reunion with my Khartoum colleagues and friends.
Halloween party- and I got to be the surprise guest of honor!
While I was there, the fall weather was beautiful and we were able to take a few boat trips on the Nile, have a hash on Tuti Island (at the confluence of the Nile Rivers), attend the Caledonian Ball with Joy and our friend Patrick, and go to several parties. Oh, and work! I taught middle school geography and high school geography, and since there wasn’t a teacher apartment available, I lived in a hotel just down the street from the school. Twice a week, I went to yoga with Melanie, one of the new art teachers at the school.
Joy and Deah on the Nile Boat Ride
Hash on Tuti Island
Deah and Patrick and Joy at the Caledonian Ball
The last night I was there, Chantal and I hosted a Going Away/Graduation party to celebrate my newly awarded Master’s Degree. We partied hard on the roof of her apartment building, with all of my friends there to celebrate. At 2 am the party ended and it was time to get on the plane and return to Chad- just in time for Christmas!
With Melanie, Joy, and Chantal, celebrating my Master’s in Library Sciences
Aside from a missed 6 am airport shuttle and a 500 yard dash down the terminal to reach my plane (last passenger on!), the flights to Chad went pretty smoothly. A quick layover in DC, one last slice of pizza, then a layover in Addis Ababa, a St George beer (8 am, y’all, that’s how I roll), and finally made it to Chad around 1 pm the next day. Of course I didn’t sleep on the plane and instead watched six movies.
My new home in Ndjamena
In our first month here we tried a few restaurants around town- according to the “Welcome to Ndjamena” handout we got, there are about 10 here in town- and had some pretty good food. Restaurant prices aren’t too bad, about $40 (or 20,000 CFA- Central African Francs) for the two of us. We tried a casual Lebanese place, a brick oven pizza place, and an upscale French restaurant- very good beef medallions with a yum sauce at that one. There is also a couple of Chinese restaurants, a couple of Chadian places, and I think another Lebanese cafe as well.
Time for dinner!
Grocery shopping, on the other hand, was not so successful. We visited 2 tiny little grocery stores- like the size of a small 7-11 back home- and spent about $50 at each one and came home with…. not much. No fresh fruits/veg, no fresh bread, no meat. Everyone here employs a maid 5 days a week (which costs about $110 a month) and gives the maid some money to go to the outdoor market to purchase fresh food. And they drive across the border to Cameroon and go shopping there.
Speaking of the weather, it’s hot all right, (this is Central Africa) but not quite as bad as Khartoum. It’s rainy season right now, so it rains- and I mean really rains- every afternoon around 4 pm and that really cools things off, so you can actually go for a jog in the evening or something. And someone told me that the weather gets pretty nice by late October. Although, along with the rains, comes the bugs. The week I arrived here was like BUG WEEK- you can hear them crunching on the driveway as you drive up to the house. If you accidentally leave a light on inside when you open your front door- forget it; your front entryway will be COVERED with bugs drawn to the light.
A boat ride on the Charri River
The internet went out at our house Friday night, so no communications on Saturday or Sunday. I was really starting to panic by Monday afternoon, as I had a paper due in my grad class by midnight, so we went over to the Marine House and I used the computer there and we watched the Emmy’s on AFN. Ah, good old Armed Forces Network. Of course afterwards, we came home and our internet was working again.
Field Trip! to the Brasserie du Tchad, where they make Gala beer
Tuesday was a better day- I worked on my classwork a while, got all caught up, read all the requirements for my Capstone week- please, oh please let the internet work that week- and then I visited the doctor at the Embassy (he gave me some malaria pills- in 8 years I have never taken malaria pills but maybe this year I will start)- visited the CLO and her library (ooh, books and DVDs- perfect!), and finally met with the Public Affairs Officer who may have a job for me. Looks like that will all get decided soon (inshallah).
We went to a security briefing- since Chad is not nearly as strictly Muslim as Sudan was, I have to worry less about being stoned to death for not being married to my partner. However, since there is Boko Haram activity nearby, I do have to worry more about kidnappings. According to the embassy, I’m not allowed to take a taxi, ride a public bus, or walk anywhere. However, since I don’t actually work for the embassy, at least not yet, I’m also not supposed to have an embassy driver take me anywhere. It’s a bit confusing.
Chris and I went to the 531 club (5:31pm, get it?) and had happy hour with folks from the embassy. I met some more people and I’m invited to French Conversation lesson tomorrow with Mrs. B, the ambassador’s wife, who is also from Dallas…. there’s tennis lessons at the French Rec center….. yoga at the Esso oil compound….possibly reorganizing the now defunct Ndjamena Hash House Harriers….. there’s a play being put on tomorrow that we’re supposed to go to, a reception on Thursday night for the new political affairs officer, and a goodbye party on Friday night for someone that is leaving here. Mia Farrow is coming to visit Chad soon for some charity work and there will be an event welcoming her to the area. So…. hopefully between my class and getting a job (hoping to talk to Esso oil people this week, see if they have any openings- they pay big bucks), plus lots of extra curriculars, our time won’t be too hard here. And Chris is going to Germany in November, so there is a possibility I could go along for a little R&R. We’ll see how it goes!
After Chris and I won plane tickets at the Caledonian Society Ball in November, we decided to use those plane tickets to fly to Sri Lanka for my spring break. We left on Sunday around 3 pm and after a short layover in Abu Dhabi, we arrived in Sri Lanka around 3 am. We were tired but happy to be there. We hired a car and a driver and set out just before dawn to the city of Dumballah. We arrived around 10 am and luckily were able to check into our hotel a bit early. A small nap, and we were ready to see the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, a tall magma plug that sits in the middle of a huge plains area. You can climb to the top and see where a fortress once stood in the 4th century. Beautiful views and remnants of the past in the rock paintings and lion’s paws that are all that are left of some past statue.
Sigiriya Rock Fortress
We also visited the Dumballah Buddhist cave temples, home to over 150 statues of Buddha, some over 11 m tall. Also around the caves were dozens of monkeys, which are always really fun to watch as they scamper and play.
Dumballah Buddhist Cave Temples
After a good night’s rest, we headed into the center of the island to visit Kandy, a former capital city. Kandy is a lovely city with a square man-made lake in the middle, with dozens of guest houses and hotels on the hillsides looking over the lake. We visited Buddha’s Sacred Tooth Temple and went to a traditional Kandyan dance show, including firewalkers. We also visited an elephant orphanage, where I got to bathe an elephant and Chris and I went for a ride on one. Very fun! Later, our guest house provided a fantastic meal of rice and various curries, with ice cream for dessert. We ate it all, with several Lion Lagers to wash it all down. So far, the food had been excellent everywhere we went.
Kandy dancers
Temple of Buddha’s Sacred Tooth
Kandy Lake
Elephant Ride
Elephant Bath
On Wednesday we left Kandy and on the way out of town we stopped at the Botanical Gardens that were once a rajah’s pleasure gardens. Huge bamboo trees, a giant javan fig tree, tall majestic king palm coconut trees, and amazing expanses of grass… a wonderful park. I only wish we had been able to really laze around and take a picnic lunch and enjoy the park all day. But, we wanted to go down to Ella and see some tea plantations and visit an ayurvedic spa, so we were soon heading south again, winding around high mountain roads with green tea fields on either side. We stopped for a look at a double waterfall, Rombola Falls, and a tour of a tea factory (with a cuppa tea and a slice of chocolate cake afterward, yum). When we arrived in Ella it was misty and raining but for us from Sudan that is a great feeling. We went for a walk, I had a massage, and we sat at a roadside bar and shared some spiced cashews and some beers as we held hands and watched the pedestrians.
Ella
Another fabulous meal at our guest house, with a wonderful view of Ella Gap. Bedtime came early for us and the next day we left the highlands and headed for the coast. We passed a national park and without even entering the park we counted 12 elephants sighted just along the perimeter. Wow! Then the coastal road as we headed toward Unawatuna, a quiet and simple stretch of beach with a dozen or so guest houses and restaurants, and two dive shops. We arranged two dives- one around a large rock on the ocean floor and another of an 1869 sunken ship- and had a great time in the ocean. Later, a long walk on the beach and a fish dinner, complete with more Lion beer, made a fantastic end to our day.
Deah at Unatawuna beach
On our last day we went into Galle and walked around, enjoying a lunch while overlooking the ramparts of the fort. While driving up towards Colombo, we stopped at the Matura River and went on a boat ride, stopping at a cinnamon island, a fishery, and seeing several shrimp catching systems along the way. Monkeys, water monitors, and lots of birds kept our attention as we boated around the seawater river and “lake”. After leaving the river, we passed through Colombo, but as it was raining and rather dark we really didn’t stop to see much. We enjoyed one last lovely dinner with our driver at his house, meeting his family, and then we were on a plane heading home.
Deah, cinnamon island
Chris, river safari
As we had a 24 hour layover in Abu Dhabi, we got a hotel room in the city so we could enjoy some shopping, a movie, and a dinner out. All too soon it was time to board the plane to Khartoum and start thinking about work again.
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