about 4 a.m. I start to hear all the roosters crowing. i can’t estimate the number. too many to count I think.

between 5 and 6 I can start to hear various neighbors starting to get up and move around. Babies waking up, crying for their mother’s milk. Old men coughing. Women washing. Children yelling or being yelled at.

From 7 most of the neighborhood is awake. Motorcycles roaring to life as their drivers speed off in a hurry to get nowhere, taking little heed of the obstacles in the roads or anything else that might pop up in their way. They dart in front of vehicles provoking a stream of angry yells and the blast of a car horn. Radios at different volumes share the morning news or music meant for a night club.

Around 8 those that go to school start on their way. Those that don’t look for another glass of tea or the remaining mandazi (doughnut) and then run off looking for mischief to get into.

If I am still in bed, it is because I am being lazy. I can hear the whole neighborhood awake and beginning their day. The house, hut, tukel or whatever it may be called doesn’t keep out the noise. Apparently bamboo and grass don’t muffle much in the way of sound waves.

This morning it rained. Very hard. This house sits at a funny slant. It ran down the outside and inside to the floor, forming a little stream that passed through one side of the room. Need to fix that.

The rest of the day got warm. Lots of sun, lots of heat. For a couple of weeks I was driving around in a pickup with my arm hanging out the window getting a one sided tan. This last week I have stayed indoors in the air conditioning a bit more and i think I am losing the browness. I don’t care though. Its too hot out there.

i visited one of my clients this afternoon and drank 3 of my beers. 500 ml cans are big. I realized after the fact that three tall boys are about the same as six small. My head is spinning just a little bit.

Juba. this place is a little bit crazy.

i think it is my third week into the job. still not very excited bout it. For the past two weeks I have been driving around this town in a small pickup without any A/C. I have a serious case of farmers tan on one side of my body. My back hurts from bouncing around all day.

we load up the truck in the morning with our product then move from shop to shop trying to find folks to buy it from us. Some take it and tell us to come back in a few days for money. then we go back and they tell us to come back a few days later, still no money.

beer smells. especially when it is sealed up in a hot container. i come home every day smelling like a drunk. good thing the traffic police don’t come out at night. but then things like drinking & driving, seat belts and other issues of driving and safety are not addressed by the police here. Or for that matter, even the law. I saw a man driving this morning drinking something called “95″. Not sure of the exact brand, but is a beer that is 9.5% by volume.

last week I was pulled over for not having a seat belt, but the ticket I was given had something to do with the registration of my vehicle. In reality they pulled me over cause I was a foreigner driving a truck that normally only the locals drive and they figured they could get some cash out of my pocket. which they did.

today a good friend of mine had $80,000 stolen from his company by someone he had given a lot of trust. it is crushing him right now. He went to report the crime to the police and they were about to put my friend in Jail. They accused him of being in cohorts with the man who took the money because my friend and the thief are both from Kenya. It took him a while to explain to the police that the money was his to begin with and he had no reason to steal it.

Im looking for a room to rent. finding the people to talk to takes lots of time. Getting the person to name a price takes even longer. My wife tells me of house she could get for about $300. All the places I have found, just for one room without much of any facility, run around $750 to $1000. My wife says she doesn’t want to take me to this house because they neighbor some relatives she doesn’t like. In a few days I think I am going to be living in a grass hut.

This morning I woke up to hear BBC announcing that rebels from Darfur had attacked a city only a few miles outside of the capital of Sudan, Khartoum. I’m not very good with my geography, but I’m pretty sure Darfur is a good distance away from Khartoum and not very easy to access. It has taken alot of people by surprise.

According to the Sudan government, they repulsed the rebels and everything is under control. Makes me wonder. Before this happened, didn’t anyone notice a large group of men with guns moving in that direction? It takes some time to cover the distance that was traveled.

Will be interesting to see how that turns out. I just hope alot of people are not hurt in the process.
Meskel Square has a very good report on what at least happened yesterday. Havn’t seen any new reports anywhere this morning.

For the last three days I haven’t been feeling well.  Sunday found me lying in bed in between the times I was running to the toilet.  Not a fun experience.  I found some drugs to help me out.  At least since Monday I have been able to move around a bit and operate.

Work.  I have to be honest and say I still am not sure how I feel about my new job.  There are lots of discouragements.  I want to keep an optimistic attitude and view them as “challenges” and not road blocks.  However, I find that I tend to be very pessimistic most of the time.