Sudanese engagement party

This is one of my favorite foods here in Khartoum.  Za'tar-Mozzerella pizza thing.  It's called a "fateera."

Last night I had the privilege of attending an engagement party for Sumaia's niece.  And what a party it was!  The decorations were beautiful, the food was great, and the company was wonderful.

Sumaia's older sister and the proud mother of the bride.  Unfortunately, my iPhone camera did not do her justice.  All of the ladies looked beautiful in their traditional Sudanese robes.

The young men of the family. :)

Sumaia's extended family welcomed me as one of their own.  They even took me to the dance floor.

The happy new couple.  

I went home at midnight.  That's the latest I have stayed up in quite a while.  Good times!

Thank you, Sumaia and family, for your hospitality.  You are amazing people.  God bless the newlyweds!

Men are from ???

Sarah is the nice Ethiopian girl who takes care of my place here.  I walked into the space where she keeps all of her cleaning supplies and found this book.  I recognized the cover, but I only knew the words "Men are from. . ." and "Women are from. . ."  I had to look up the other two words - Mars and Venus.  I never thought I'd see that book in Arabic.

My Thanksgiving dinner - grilled chicken and delicious yellow rice.

I'm sure many of you remember Sumaia.  She and I worked together from 2004 to 2006, but I never thought I would have the pleasure of meeting her again in her home country of Sudan.  This week I spent some time not only with Sumaia, but quite a few members of her extended family as well.  They are wonderful people!  We visited a horse track where some of her nieces and nephews are learning to ride horses.

Friday morning I went to Sumaia's family home and enjoyed a little program put on by more of her nieces and nephews.

They made fun of my Arabic because I use formal Arabic when I talk.  Most people use the dialect of their country of origin.  It would be as if I were to speak Shakespearean English back in the States.....sort of.

What fun was had by all.  The man on the left is Adil, Sumaia's brother, and those are his children.

Preparing for our spoon-in-mouth-carrying-lime race.

On your mark. . .

Get set!

Go!

Umm, Sumaia, why are you still holding your spoon? :)

Not coming in first.

You and me, buddy.  Let's do it again.  Ready......go!

Yipee!

Enjoying some delicious food.  The bowl of red stuff on the right is called Milaah Sharmoot.  Years ago Sumaia told me about a traditional Sudanese dish called "Sharmoot."  I was shocked because the only definition I knew for "Sharmoot" is a male prostitute.  Milaah means "Stew."  So does that mean I ate "Prostitute Stew?"

Chatting with Sumaia's father.  He still speaks pretty good English.  He obtained a degree at what was then known as Fresno State College, back in the late 1960s.  Small world.  I told him about my family connection to Fresno.  Granny/Mom, did you know a Sudanese student back then?

Yesterday was Day 3 of the LDS (Mormon) church's Light The World program.  

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days/jesus-helped-others-to-see

One of the options to serve was to "Read a book to an elderly person with impaired vision."  I had fun reading to Sumaia's 90-year-old father while he corrected my Arabic now and then.  I read from his autobiography.

Today is Day 4 of the Church's Light the World program. 

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days/jesus-worshipped-his-father

One of the suggested ways to participate is to "Visit a temple or other religious site," so I chose to visit St. Matthew's Cathedral here in Khartoum.  They had some lovely organ music playing inside.

 ". . . to the ends of the earth."  Indeed.

Drinking from the Nile

Some friends and I drove three hours north of Khartoum, Sudan, to check out the Nubian pyramids of Meroe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_pyramids).  The site is only 60 miles north of Khartoum, but the roads are bad, which increases the time it takes to reach the pyramids.

After three hours of bumpy roads we all needed a bathroom, so we used the "bathroom" near the pyramids.  It was actually very clean and did not smell bad at all.  I was told these pyramids receive an average of only 1000 visitors per year.  Perhaps that explains why the bathrooms remain clean.

All of the camel owners were ready for some business.

Sudan has far more pyramids than Egypt, but they are much smaller and largely unknown to the world.

A team of Germans engineers (with Qatari financing) is currently helping to restore some of the pyramids.

Well-preserved, ancient Facebook posts.  King:  "Built another pyramid this week."  Queen:  "Went skinny-dipping in the Nile with my maids last night."

Talking to our guide.

"Pick my camel!"

I picked Abd-al-Aleem's camel, whose name is Faris.  Faris is six years old.

We stopped for lunch at the "Italian Village," which is located 1/2-mile from the pyramids.

Inside the Italian Village.

On a boat at the spot where the two Nile rivers (Blue Nile and White Nile) converge.

The captain let me drive a bit.  At one point he turned to me and said, "Did you know that the Nile River is the only river in the world from which you can still drink?  It is very pure water."  I thought, "Sure, buddy, if you want to end up in the hospital."  He went to the back of the boat, filled up a water bottle straight from the river, and proceeded to drink.  Then he offered the bottle to me.  I said, "My friend, you know American stomachs.  Very weak."  The White Nile and Blue Nile converge right in the middle of a large city (Khartoum, Sudan), where all kinds of garbage and sewage is dumped, and where people and animals bathe and excrete waste.  Yummy.

Sunset on the Nile

When life gives you lemons........eat rabbit belly.

Yesterday, while Skyping with Sam, I received an email informing me that I would not be able to fly home through Germany.  The airport workers at Frankfurt Airport are on strike.  While I was certainly not pleased with the delay, I realized that I now had a 1 1/2-day paid vacation in the country in which I found myself stranded..........Malta.  Not a bad place to get stuck.  Being the adventurer that I am, I was determined not to waste this opportunity.  Last night I ate some delicious pasta, and I don't know if it was the pasta or something else (delays, change of literary), but I only slept about three hours before I decided to get out of bed and begin the day.

 I began the day at a little cafe..........hey, that rhymes........with a pastry full of ricotta cheese.

 Check out the title of the bottom-right smoothie.  Funny.

 Sitting on a bench waiting for the bus to arrive.

 I took a one-hour bus ride to the Mdina Glass Factory.  They make some gorgeous items.  I like the sign above the glass.

 Following my tour of the glass factory I walked 30-45 minutes up to the ancient city of Mdina.  According to Wikipedia, "Legend has it that it was here, in around 60 CE, that Paul the Apostle lived after his shipwreck on the islands."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mdina

 Selfie........but only because no one else was foolish enough to walk along the narrow roads with the crazy Maltese drivers flying by.

 Gate to old Mdina

 Looking out over Malta

 At this point I was famished, so I decided to stop at Gululu for lunch.

 I found this as I was walking to Gululu.  I suppose that love does indeed turn things upside down at times........or something like that.  Does that even make sense? :)

 I was told to try a Maltese favorite.........rabbit belly (Zaqq tal-Fenek).

And so I did.  Thumper's belly was delicious.  The veggies were excellent as well.

 Walking back to my hotel.

View from the top of the hotel.

I gave him a few coins and he played me a song.  It would have been a romantic moment were Sam here with me.  In fact, this entire place is pretty romantic, though not so much when you walk alone.

The day is only half gone, and while I am tempted to continue exploring this tiny country, I am simply too tired.  The next time I get stuck in Malta I shall explore another section of the country.