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Fri 13 May
A lazy "weekend" day and then out to Natalie's for supper. She's been on her sick bed all week but when she heard I was leaving she thought she'd make an effort. Natalie's colleague Amy was there, and Katy dropped in too; she seemed to be mentally exhausted, and she claimed to be physically stuffed from an earlier fudulling. Natalie's accommodation is the NGO guesthouse. It has a fitted kitchen, and open-plan living room with two lounge areas and a dining area. The table was laid with individual cutlery and plates and glasses. It was like stepping back into the West. A useful reminder that being in Sudan doesn't necessarily mean one has to rough it. It was all rather pleasant and "normal". A refreshing change from the student conditions I live in across the river in Omdurman. Sat 14 May
In the evening I meet-up with long-standing friend Todd and wife Bethany. I've chatted to him on the phone several times in the past few days, and we've kept in touch by email for the past few years, but this is the first time we've actually met since working together on the Zanzibar Film Festival two years previously (2003). We go for an Ethiopian [meal]. I contribute my know-how of using local buses and they introduce me to a pleasant and not too expensive restaurant that I have managed to miss in my seven months here. I realise now that I really don't know much of what it is like to be an expatriate here. It was lovely to catch up, though I suspect I was kind of caught up too much in my own thoughts about what I would be doing next, and whether I would return to Sudan, and if so in what capacity?
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