Happy Easter!

Christ is risen!!! I hope you guys all had a good Easter. Eman do you celebrate Easter in Sundan? Here we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, went to church, and then hung out with my cousins who are super funny. We put soap and water on the trampoline and then slid around on it. Since we were really wet we went on the roof and "tanned" but there wasn't much sun so we ended up just shivering and eating cake. We did end up photo bombing a picture that our grandparents were taking :) we kind of share our two sets, they aren't divorced or anything it just worked out that way... It's complicated haha. 

Bringing the original duck face back! Mine broke and my brother only has one Pringle but my cousin got it down! Haha

The photo bomb :) we are all on the roof in the top left hand corner

Chillin on the roof with our tanning blankets :)

QATAR and Sudan

Sorry, it's been a while. I've been really lazy.Well, we kind of moved to Qatar a month ago, but it's not that different here from Iowa. Except for the weather. Actually, the weather's been pretty nice here. Not too hot most of the time. My uncle says it's unbearable in the summer, though. The difference from Sudan's weather is the humidity. The temperature in Sudan can get pretty high, but it's a dry heat, so it's a lot better (sometimes) than our summers in Iowa or Qatar. Here in Qatar, the temperature is high, and so is the humidity, making it almost impossible to go outside! The air conditioning literally has to be on 24/7 in that heat. Thank God we'll be back before that comes! Finally! I have better pictures of Sudan!
 

Along the highway, I think. I tried to get a good picture of the river, but I didn't have the right angle. Boo. 

A random house. I really like the architecture in Sudan, no two houses are alike. Also, triangular roofs aren't really a thing there. I think it's because a lot of houses usually have open roofs where people sometimes sleep, have evening tea, or just hang. Surprisingly, there are actually many houses this big, but most people live in smaller houses.

Donkey! There are quite a few of those on the roads. I think someone would be pretty surprised to see one in Iowa, but it's the norm in Sudan. At around 7:00 in the morning, someone on a donkey comes to deliver milk. The good thing is that it's fresh, but you have to boil it as soon as it comes. I think I like the pasteurized, homogenized, skim milk in a jug better. 

Instead of one store having everything, normal stores or dakaakeen, ("doukan" singular) will have things like tea, eggs, sometimes milk, credit for phones, sodas and chips, and other basic things. To get fresh produce, you usually have to go to one of these guys. There are a lot of them lining the street. The ones for fruit and vegetables are usually separate. They're not big on importing food, so most, if not all, of the produce here was locally grown. This also means that a lot of things are seasonal, and there isn't a huge variety all the time. On the upside, the fruits and veggies you'd buy from one of these stands is most likely not full of preservatives or growth hormones. A lot more organic than some of the stuff we buy in the states.

I'm not sure what this is, it was along the highway as well. I think it might be a little pond made possibly by the rain. Or maybe it's a way to irrigate some farmer's fields. I just thought it looked pretty.

My mom and brothers getting into a raksha. It's the favored way of transportation there. A lot of people don't drive (namely women) , or don't have their own cars handy all the time. It's an easy and relatively cheap way to get around. Although, since the gas prices have gone through the roof, it's getting a little pricey.  If you've ever seen a picture of one of these, it was most likely in India, where they use them a lot, too.

Crazy long winter!

"Spring" started a few days ago and we had our one week of spring break which was super fun. There was snow on the ground less than a week ago though, so it really doesn't feel like spring. Eman you're lucky that it's warm there I'm jealous :)

-Bethany

Skiing!!!!!!

Yesterday Sarah, Gracie and I got to go skiing with our youth group which was a blast. Nobody got seriously injured, but two people did get stuck in fences and had to get pulled out by ski patrollers. One of our leaders gave a great talk and we got to ski for about 8 hours.

Magical Candy

 Here in Sudan we finished a twelve day holiday called Muwlid (moo-lid)  last week. There are a few different ways we celebrate, but one of my favorites is the candy. The streets are all lined up with kiosks selling different toys and treats. It's traditional for boys to get horse toys and for girls to get a doll. I don't really know how to explain what the doll looks like, but it has a HUGE skirt in proportion to her body and she's very colorful. The typical kind of candy eaten during Muwlid  is peanut brittle-like, but made with flour to prevent the sugar from caramelizing. This can be made with a variety of nuts and seeds, but these are the two most common for this holiday.

 Sorry, the picture's pretty bad, I'll try to get another one. The bar on the left is made with sesame seeds, and the right is with peanuts.  Another candy (no picture yet, sorry) is Lakoum, a chewy, sticky gel. Also known as Turkish Delight, this candy is translucent yellow in color and is flavored with rose water. Because of it's stickiness, it's dusted with cornstarch. It also can be made in many different ways, but again, this is the kind sold here during Muwlid. 

Sledding!

Sarah and I went sledding yesterday with some other friends and it was super fun! Well cold, but fun. We connected the sleds a couple times with their strings and tried to ride down in a 'train' which usually ended in one sled getting tipped, but it worked once! We also did a relay race where we had three teams of two and would sled down the hill and have to the run the sled back up to our partner, it was exhausting. Now our break is almost over, one day left... unless school on Monday gets canceled :D

New Year! 2014

Happy New Year, everybody! It's not time yet in the states, but it is in Sudan! Say "goodbye" to 2013 and "hello" to the new year. I hope 2014 will be a great year for everyone. January 1st is also Independence Day in Sudan! Have a great year!