Market Day

So today was my first day to really explore the market by myself and now I feel so much better about being here.  It is strange how just spending 1 hour in a traditional African Market can make me feel right at home.  It must be that I enjoy being out with the local people and not being driven around and kept away from everyone.

I had my driver drop me off this morning after my house keeper finished cleaning the house,  the driver went and had the oil checked on the truck and said that he would call when he was finished.  I then started wandering to where the vegetables are sold.

To get to the veggie section you have to walk through people selling various plastic pitchers and bowls, metal pans and some traditional things.  I eventually got to the bulk bean section (which since I still have no propane tank I did not buy) I walked past but I have to admit the cow peas looked really good as did some of the others.  I will be making some bean burgers in the future while here.

I then got to the veggie section and today was a good veggie day! There were lots of sellers with lots of great looking produce.  I had my choice of good tomatoes, cabbage some carrots, apples, melons, pineapple and oranges.  I  was able to buy enough to last most of the week and I think that I paid less than 10 USD and it is all organic.

I then kept walking just to see what else was in the veggie section and I came across women selling fresh bread (which I had to buy) and some various sandwich type items.  I bought a couple just to try, when in Rome right.  One was the fresh bread stuffed with Irish potatoes which was great, I could have eaten three!  The other was the fresh bread stuffed with a scrambled egg thing.  I thought about eating it after I bought it but then saw how much oil it had and decided to give it to my driver for his lunch.  He is used to the oil where my stomach is not.  The sandwiches were 0.25 USD each,  I really don't know how these market ladies are making any money selling them.

I finished my shopping and then found the Coke wholesaler and he had received his shipment last week so I was able to buy 2 crates of Coke for the house and a box of bottled water just in case I run out of the big bottles.

By the time I finished all of my shopping my driver was back from getting more oil put into the truck (the place did not fill it up when we had the oil changed last week) and the only place left to go was to the chicken place (for a whole cooked roasted chicken) and to get phone units.

While I was in the market I ran into two other Kawadjas (white people).  These ladies came up to me and introduced themselves since they had not seen me in the market before.  It is an unwritten rule that when you see another white person, you stop and talk to them here.  They are missionaries and living like I did while in the Peace Corps.  I told them that I would see them around after I was settled in more at the house.  It is nice to see other people from the US every now and then.

I think that the more I go to the market the more I will feel a part of the community.  I did see some of the people that I work with at the Ministry and they stopped and talked to me so the funk that I was in living in the hotel is lifting all due to a trip to a market.

House Pictures

Well I have been in the house for a little over a week and all of the boxes are unpacked but not everything is put away and not everything has arrived, oh well welcome to South Sudan.

From the pictures I have posted it looks like the house is ready but I am missing a propane tank to cook with, hot water heaters for the bathrooms, mosquito nets for the bedrooms, DSTV so I can use the TV and a few other things.  I will just be happy when it is all done!

For now enjoy the pictures!

Finally in the House. . . . Some other pictures posted

So I am finally moved into the house,  but I am not completely unpacked.  That will come with time.  I will take some pictures of the house after the house keeper comes on Saturday.

In the meantime, I have finally posted some pictures that were taken over the past month so you can see what I have been up to.