it won’t get off of my tounge.  from the medicine.

the docs tested me.  found nothing.  gave me meds for malaria anyhow.  pop, pop and a few more over the last three days.  drugged up, sleeping most of the time.

phonelines are a little crazy. getting swapped with other peoples conversations.  my wife called but I couldn’t hear her.  she could hear me.  i heard a crazy lady speaking some funny language.  “I’m sick, why are you calling me like this, just leave me alone”.  My wife fearing the sickness had made me crazy.  “come home”.

I want to go home.  i want to see my family.

working but not right now.  no money.  nothing to send home.  mother going hungry while the babe can’t find milk on the teat.  father going crazy.  trying to figure out when the cycle will break and the tunnel will find a light.

Malaria sucks.

I cannot confirm that is what is ailing me, but I am 80% to 90% sure it is Malaria.  Maybe 20% is too big a margin.

I figure from the way different parts of my body are aching, the high temperature that is causing me to start shivering in 115 degree weather and that small headache in the back of my head that is spreading slowly by slowly indicates a high chance of the big “M”.

My housemate also pointed out that I am not very bright when I sleep cause I havn’t been using the mosquito net.  Yeah sometimes I can be pretty stupid.  That net is just so freaking hot.

am off to the clinic to get a blood test.  will update in a few days what I find out.  I have the feeling I will be lying in bed from now until Monday.  Oh the joy.

I’m printing some business cards for a client.  I needed to find the right paper, a heavy card stock in order to make it happen.  So I went to the business center where all the Northern Sudanese run their stationary/photocopy shops and started hunting for the paper. 

Surprisingly between my horrid Arabic and their lack of English I managed to communicate what I was looking for.  I found variuos types of card stock, from 150gsm (heavier than normal paper) up to 250 gsm (really really heavier than normal paper, proper card stock).   

Then came the price.  The first man quoted me at 70 Sudanese pounds for one package, or 0.7 SDG per sheet.  100 pieces came in a pack.  I didn’t have 70 Sudanese pounds.  So I decided to shop around.  Everyone else I approached wanted 100 Sudanese pounds for a package or 1 per sheet.  

Just to clarify the expense here, 1 Sudanese pound is almost equal to .50 US cents.  Maybe that is a normal price in any country, but it seems excessive to me.   That means a whole ream (package) is $50.  Ouch.

Towards the end I went back to the first man I had approached.  I didn’t have the full amount he wanted, so I decided to buy a few pieces.  That is when he informed me that I had to buy the whole pack in order to get that price.

So after spending about an hour hunting for the best price and wasting alot of time, I finally paid more than I wanted and only got about 20 sheets.  

Sometimes it feels impossible to be thrifty in a place like this.

Over the weekend police started arresting women wearing trousers because the commissioner of Juba issued an order against “bad behavior”.  Stupid.  Read the story here.

Its been some time since I posted.  I have been down in a valley of despair for the past few weeks and just not up to writing much of anything.  I’m currently back in the highlands, but fear I might tumble back down that direction if I loose my footing.  I love mountain/hill analogies.

So here is a recap over the past few weeks:

Been looking for work.  Not finding much.  Is very frustrating.  

Been living in Juba, Sudan while my family is in Nairobi.  Juba also is just a really not nice place to be.  I’m here cause I wanted to find work but doesn’t seem to be happening.  Maybe next week.  Is very frustrating.

A Sudanese criminal hiding out in Nairobi threatened to kill my wife and family.  That was the lowest point I think we had over the last few weeks.  I was here and could do nothing for Mary and she was there freaking out.  She doesn’t freak out often.  That was more than frustrating.

My new boy is getting big.  I saw a photo a friend took the other day.  By the time I get back, he isn’t going to know who I am any more.:(  Thats just sad.

I shifted house in Juba.  I moved from the grass hut to a stone building with running water.  Not frustrating at all.  Am very happy about that one.

Mary’s family thinks I have money and am just not giving them any.  Making for interesting relations. That is frustrating too.  

I’m sure there have been some other things going on, but can’t remember them for the moment.