Street 60

There's this main street that cuts through the city north and south called Street 60. Another one a couple of blocks away, that runs parallel to it called Street 80. That name was later changed to be named after one of the Sudani heroes, as most other streets.

Today I learned the story behind 60 and 80. When the streets were built at the time, they were named after their width. So Street 60 was 60 metes wide. And street 80 was - you guessed it - 80 meters wide.

My guess is that at some point they realized that there may be more than one 60 meter wide street in the city, and decided it wasn't a smart way to name streets. Street 60 survived though.

Publishing Note: Check out the Taxi! post below - it's new!

Theory of Relativity

Einstein had his own theory, but what does he know? Bet he's never been to Sudan either.

The thing is, everything is relative! As humans we have the inherent instinct of comparing. We compare everything we experience all the time. That means our experiences become our standards. And our happiness then rests on those standards.

Interesting discovery on the above; Sudan is a very expensive country (relatively!). For example a kilo of tomatos goes for around US$ 5, and a kilo of raw chicken would sometimes reach US$ 15. With so much poverty around, I wondered how the majority of the population manage to live. A colleague explained to me that most of them just eat Foul (which is a type of cooked chickpeas) with bread and water.
Once, at a dinner, my colleague offered his chaufeur to join him for a bite, since he was going to be late. The chaufeur adamantly refused to eat anything except Foul, because he did not want to get used to any other taste. He knew he wouldn't be able to afford to eat anything else. That's what they eat all the time, and that's what they will always eat.
So in a way he didn't want to set a new standard of relativity, which would interrupt his hapiness. Ignorance is bliss.

It also works the other way round. Since my arrival, I have been getting gradually more accustomed to a new standard of living. What seemed to me unaceptable 2 weeks ago, has now become my new standard. It's all relative. When I first entered the hotel I'm staying at 2 weeks ago, my first thoughts were 'ok, I can probably make it through the night today, but tomorrow I'm looking for a new place tomorrow'. I've been there now for 2 weeks and I got used to it.

Last night I had dinner with my 2 new found friends: An Argentinian journalist, who is passionate about journalistic filming and marketing, and his Sweedish colleague who is passionate about sales - and very good at it too (she can sell ice to an eskimo). In our conversation, a lot of my observations and frustrations about the country were now not even noticed by Lorenzo and Leila. They seemed quite comfortable with their surroundings. Once you adjust your standards relative with your environment your happiness increases.

Einstein managed to prove all that mathematically. And without ever having to come to Sudan! I guess that's why they call him a genious.

Salute!

I really like the way the Sudanese people greet each other. Instead of shaking hands (sometimes in addition to shaking hands), two people facing each other would tap each other with their right hand on each other's left shoulder. That is sometimes followed by a handshake.

Pretty cool, hey.

Taxi!

It's the weekend, and I don't have a driver. But I still need to get to the office - so I take a taxi.

So far I've noticed 3 types of taxi transportation here: the rickshaws (?); those are the 3 wheeler vehicles, that have motorcycle style handlebars and carry about 2 people. The taxi; that is the small Toyota corola or corona that is about 30+ years old and all yellow. And then there are the little minivans; which are the size of a minature van. They carry different passengers going to different places, as long as it's on their way. (I just noticed today that there are also the busses. How could I miss them - they conjest the streets outside my office every morning)

My first Sudanese taxi experience was quite fun. Went out in front of the hotel to find a couple of them sitting there, to get business. As mentioned before, the Sudanese people are generally friendly and very nice. That goes for the taxi drivers as well.

My ride was with Sayyed. He saw me standing on the opposite direction, so he slammed on his brakes, did a quick u turn and waited for me to open the door and get in. As I entered we negotiated the price, and off we went.

My office is quite close - about 5 minutes by car. On a Friday the roads are quite empty too. In this time Sayyed quickly picked up my interest in his vehicle and gladly volunteered as much info as I could ask for. Generally Sudanese cabs are Toyota Corollas or Coronas, built anywhere between 1976 and 1979. Sayyed also showed me, with his big white smile, the 2 radio's he had installed. When I asked him why he has 2 radios in his car, he explained to me that 2 radios are better than 1 radio. I didn't inquire further.

The interior of the already small car is so jammed with 'stuff' that there is very little space for people. The cars are surprisingly comfortable, and very surprisingly free from rattles and shakes. Of course, remember that I'm talking of a small 30 year old Japanese car that has seen harsh times. Most of the milage on these cars are not on tarred roads.

Not only did he proudly present his vehicle to me, but when I asked if I could take pictures he actually told me to take more, from different angles. I think he should be a movie director.

Italian Connection

This post is dedicated to my new found old Italian friends!

Background: Over the past couple of weeks I've been reunited with my high school friends in Italy, after an absence of about 20 years. The link was my Brazilian friend who studied with me in Holland, and now works in Germany with one of my Italian school mates. So much has happened in 20 years - but the personalities are remain just as I remember them to be.

At lunchtime today I was inspired by my new found Italian connection, and decided to order a pizza for lunch. The word was that the best pizza in town comes from the "Italy Pizza Center". Sounds Italian - so I went for it!

And this is what I got! I can tell you the taste matched the looks. But at least they put olives.

French Onion Soup

That's what the menu of the Legenda restaurant at the Grand Holiday Villa Hotel claimed. So I ordered it, and it was actually edible. In Sudan, if you find something edible, stick to it! Because like many things in life, you don't get many second chances.

I have no problems ordering the French Onion Soup every night for dinner, because it tastes different every time. Sometimes I swear it tastes like chicken soup. But that's ok, because I like chicken soup too.

Practice makes perfect, and with practice I can almost tell which chef is on duty any time I order the French Onion Soup. Chef #1 serves it with a piece of bread and a slice of processed cheese floating on it and caramelized onions. Chef #2 forgets the bread and cheeze, and doesn't even caramelize the onions. And Chef #3 makes it taste like chicken. Yesterday Chef #2 was on duty, and he dropped the salt shaker in the pot. I could tell because it was way too salty!

Wonder who's on duty tomorrow...

What's in a Name?

Not much, I thought. Since arriving in Sudan about 10 days ago, I've met with 7 people called Ahmed. Most of them happen to be Egyptian. Not like I have enough to juggle in my mind, now I have to figure out which Ahmed is Ahmed. Particularly challenging because I work with 4 of them.

Now I realize why people have 3 (sometimes 4) names. It's to tell appart one Ahmed from another. To make things worse, two of the Ahmeds share the second name too! Talk about naming strategies.

The most popular name in the world was determined to be Mohammed. There are more Mohammeds in the world than any Tom, Dick and Harry. I found that to be true in Saudi, or the Gulf countries in general. So if the Gulf stands for Mohammed, Egypt stands for Ahmed, Potugal stands for Ana, I think I see a trend going here. In another couple of generations we would be able to determine someone's nationality by their first name, their city by their second name, their neighbourhood by their third name, and their family by their family name.

That's why they call it the family name!

My First Sudani Thunderstorm

I thought I've seen storms - till today! We were still at the MD's office, just finishing a meeting, when we heard a big explosion, followed closely by an even bigger one! Being Lebanese, and having just come out of a horrible one in Lebanon recently it's natural to think it was shelling.

When we looked out the window, we could see a huge black cloud approaching - not just in the sky, but all over the place. Inside that cloud were constant flashes of lightning. Quite a sight.

After finishing from the office I made my way to the Agency (another rush job!). As we met we could hear the water pouring down. It was raining, but kept coming down stronger and stronger. At one point, after all the lightning, the power went out. Being absolutely and utterly useless without electricity, we were naturally attracted to the entrance. The Agency is actually a villa, that was turned into an ad agency. So we're standing there, (the art director, deputy managing director and myself are all new to this country) in disbelief at the amount of water that is falling down from the sky. But the more amazing thing was the lightning and thunder. I kid you not when I say it was constant. The lightning was like a flourescent light refusing to fully light. Not 2 seconds passed without a flash or two. Being so dark all around, with all the constant flashing actually hurt my eyes. And the thunder was also constantly growling, like an angry dog. This went on for about 20 minutes before it sort of quieted down a bit.

I couldn't take any photos from my phone, because it was all dark - the power was out almost everywhere. That's when I learned another peculiar fact. In Sudan they purposefully shut the power down during heavy rainfall because the high tension wires are not properly insulated. Some guy could be walking down the street, minding his own business, and step into a puddle that is electrified, only to end his life. It used to happen often that after a storm people used to find electricuted and burned cadavers just laying on the streets. Solution? Just shut down the power when it's raining heavily. Simple.

Two Newbies

Of course everything is pretty much a new experience to me now. But a couple of things in the past 2 days stood out.

First - today is my first weekend in Khartoum. I'm spending it in the lobby of the hotel so far, working the internet. I'll probably go and try out the gym and pool later on. Suits me fine because I'd like to have some time to myself - especially that it's only one day! I was surprised to learn that the weekend here is only on Friday. Given that we officially work 6 full (8 hour) days. That's 48 working hours a week. It's illegal in most countries. Haven't been here long enough to know what the norm is here though, but I hear that most companies here have 2 day weekends.

It doesn't bother me in practice, but it does bother me in principle. I'm a controlled workaholic, so I work late hours anyway. Also, there doesn't seem much to do here anyway, so I might as well spend the time being productive. But in principle this could have consequences - which brings me to my second newbie:

Yesterday one of my subordinates comes in to announce that he had just handed in his resignation - claiming that he didn't have any time for his life. The timing couldn't have been worse. I had a chat with him and asked him to reconsider, and give me just a month. He agreed. But after some more investigation I found that in the past month alone about 30% of the marketing department had resigned. I know it's not my fault, because I've only been 4 days on the job, but I think it's gonna be a tough ride.

And now for the photo lovers - here's one of my hotel lobby, where I spend all my time blogging and e-mailing. It actually looks better on the picture...

Demonstration!

The demonstration was due to take place in the morning. The message: No more price hikes! You see, the government just raised the price of gasoline and something else - for got what. But gasoline is still a basic need in today's world. A price increase in that one item leads to a price increase in just about everything in our lives. So people are pissed off.

We heard the demonstration outside our offices at about 2pm. We heard a bunch of people shouting "No more price hikes!" Then I saw about 50 to 100 people - hardly a demonstration! But I was later told that the bulk of them were still on their way.

Before they could make their way to the center (where we were) the police came in and broke them off by shooting cannisters of tear gas. We even got a good whiff of it in our office! Sure enough everyone started running off in a different direction. The police stayed there and blocked off the area. That was the worst thing that could happen to me because I had just ordered my pizza for lunch, just to get a call an hour later saying the delivery guy couldn't make it to our office. I was so hungry I could have called up the interior minister just for that! But I didn't.

Here's a pic of the demonstration before it was broken off. And yes, that is the view from our office!! We are in one of the tallest buildings in the center of town. There are no other buildings that go as high as all 10 of our floors. But the offices deserve a post of their own. They are quite something.

WE HAVE VISUALS!

As promised, here's my first attempt at showing you Khartoum, as opposed to just telling you about it. Now you can just see it for yourself - as much as my phone camera will show you at least.

This was during a visit to see our outdoor communication. Of course I took this shot for you to see what Khartoum is like. The man standing on the left is no one I know. But he is dressed in the traditional Sudanese oufit. You see lots of them around town.

This is considered a posh neighbourhood - not!

But yes, even here people use mobile phones - and soon 3G. Probably even more so here because the land line is not well developed.

And the latest form of transportation is always appreciated here. People really know how to show off with their cars. I did see some donkeys pulling carriages, but they were too fast for me.

This is the coolest. We were at the ad agency. I looked out the window and saw their pets in the back yard! The one on the left is pregnant too.

And last, this was just a few hours ago. It's the beggining of a sand storm. It's like a huge black cloud approaching from the south, except it starts at the ground and streches to the sky. Engulfing everything as it moves forward, it is usually followed by rain. The result: mud everywhere!

The Office

Not as comical as the show. Actually quite sad. Our offices remind me of the Lebanese government buildings in the early 90's. That is right after the war. For those who haven't experienced them, picture this: a building with just about every thing in it that can catch fire has burned down, leaving black walls and the bare skeleton. Even parts of those have been blown up. So a bit of patchwork is done, a few splashes of paint here and there, install some used bathrooms, or holes on the floor called bathrooms, and voila! You've got yourself an office building.

Except that in Khartoum there never was a 15 year civil war. The building just never saw a rennovation since it was built in the early 70's. I foound out today though that the reason we set up there is because the building is owned by the company's local sponsor. I also learned that there is a move to better offices in the future. How far in the future? No clue. But in the couple of days I've spent here, I can tell you that things move quite slowly. Very slowly.

As I write this post, I get a call from my colleague (the one I'm replacing at the company). She informs me that there might be demonstrations tomorrow morning, so she may be late picking me up. It's dangerous to go out while there are demonstrations. It's best to let them do their thing first. No rush. Just wait. I think the demonstration may have something to do with the Darfur region - reflecting the governments point of view. In the Arab world it seems like demonstrations are only allowed when they agree with the government. Except Lebanon.

Day 1

Wow, what can I say? It's a strange combination of arrested development since the 50's and some easily attainable modern amenities, such as 3G mobile phone service and high speed wireless internet access.

Now is a good example. I made this post courtesy of a high speed wireless internet connection to my laptop at the lobby of my hotel. The Grand Holiday Villa is one of the best hotels in Khartoum. It is a colonial style construction that seems so authentic, it hasn't seen anything close to a rennovation since the 50's. The furniture is probably the newest items you would find in the hotel and they look like something you'd find next to a trash cannister on any European side street.

The city's landscape is beautiful. Something about the Nile... haven't figured it out yet. The city lays right on the point where the blue nile and the white nile meet. There has been so much heavy rain here lately that the nile broke its banks recently and remains high although no longer overflowing. In fact, this morning apparently the rain was so hard people couldn't even drive to work. I didn't notice it though, cause I was too tired, and the AC in my room was loud enough to drown any sound from the outside. There are no tall buildings, or hardly any new ones for that matter. But you do find a couple of construction projects sprinkled around. It's a strange juxtaposition of really old with really new - nothing in between. Unfortunately none of the new buildings are complete yet.

There is only 1 mall, which isn't work visiting, I'm told. No modern day entertainment facilities either. It's like one big village here.

Rumor #2: Women have to walk 4 meters behind their husbands.
Verdict: False. I've seen women walk all over their husbands here. It is a conservative Islamic rule here, like you won't find alcohol in shops, but not nearly as strict as the likes of Saudi Arabia.

Tomorrow I'll try and post some photos that I'll take on my phone camera, and beam them over bluetooth to my laptop, while I sit in the ageing lobby.

GO!

OK, got everything I need (I think), and I'm on my way to Khartoum. My flight involves an 11 hour stopover in Amman, where I checked into the airport hotel. This post is coming to you from Amman! Time stopped here in the '70's.

My next flight is at 1 am heading for Khartoum. As I get closer to my destination though I am learning more about the place.

Rumor #1: You need to get many immunization shots and take malaria pills before going to Khartoum.

Verdict: False!

Ready

Well, not really. I've been booked for a flight tomorrow. Departing for Amman, where I have a 9 hour layover (or so), then to Khartoum. There are less then 23 hours left to my departure, and I still haven't been given my passport, visa, ticket or any hotel reservations. They (the company) keep telling me to relax, that everything will be ready on time. It just makes me nervous leaving things to the last minute - especially round this part of the world. Because that usually means it won't happen.