Goodbye Negative Nancy

So, this blog has often recounted some of the more frustrating things about living in Sudan. It’s true; life here is hard, and sometimes scary (I found 2 more scorpions in the house this week), and generally challenging to get used to. However, living in Sudan hasn’t turned me into a super Negative Nancy. On the contrary, the last couple of months since we’ve been settled in our house have been some of the most satisfying months in my adult life—not the absolute best because, let’s be honest, nothing can really beat a year in Cambridge, but quite nice nevertheless. Now, I know that this seems like an outrageous statement since I live in a place of extreme poverty, no formal entertainment, and an overly circuitous path to get ANYTHING done. However, we are blessed to have both the means and foresight to overcome most of the hardships, while still enjoying the benefits of life off the grid (in more ways that one).

Take, for example, this week. It’s election week in Sudan—3 days (turned into 5) of voting followed by at least a couple days of counting ballots. The economic activity of the country is essentially at a standstill so that workers can vote. But, even with the classic Sudanese inefficiency, it doesn’t really take anyone 5 days to vote; people could take a day off (or maybe 3, if they need to travel home), but that is not the way around here. Much like Christmas time, people revel in extended holidays. Which is great for someone like me who has a job that relies entirely on input from Sudanese staff and liaising with government folks! I’ve had a week to just bum around the house. Sure, I’ve done some work: I’ve made curtains and some little beanbags to put at the base of exterior doors to keep out bugs and dirt, and I’ve helped out in the garden. But mostly I’ve been listening to news (and watching the last season of Grey’s Anatomy), cross stitching, and testing out new recipes. It’s been lovely. How can I ever go back to a paltry 2 weeks vacation, and 8 bank holidays in the US?

Speaking of the garden, holy cow—the harvest has come in. We can’t keep up with the yield of summer squash, cucumbers, green beans, butternut squash, snow peas, and cherry tomatoes (I’ve been getting about 2 pints every two days! I’m running out of things to do with these tomatoes!). I have regularly lamented about how I have missed winter and snow. However, in Sudan, it’s possible to have sweetcorn and veggies fresh from your garden year-round. That’s pretty nice. We did our first planting on November 18th (I remember because it’s Katie’s birthday!) and since then we’ve had 2 crops of cucumbers, corn, peas, and beans, and now that I’ve gotten a system down, we should have a near-continuous supply of all of the garden’s harvest starting next month. AMAZING! I think I would still prefer distinct seasons to a year-round growing season, but only just.

A third (and final for this blog) benefit of living in Sudan is a boost in our social life. Again, it’s a bit counter-intuitive since the social circle here is so much smaller than anywhere in the US (except perhaps the smallest Alaskan village). However, there’s very little after-work entertainment, and so we have much more time to devote to chatting with neighbors. Luckily, the expats that have found their way to this town are a very friendly bunch with great life stories, so it’s quite lovely to hang out. It’s given us a chance, too, to improve our hosting skills so hopefully we will return from the depths of Africa even more “cultured” than when we left.

So, the moral of the story is that it’s not all scorpions and heat waves here. Though I know many of you think we’re “roughing it”, sometimes I think that we’ve stumbled upon a corner of the world where it’s easier to live a more satisfying life.