Champaign Wishes and Caviar Dreams

Life here in Darfur is never short on its share of amazing and bizarre moments. Just last weekend I was watching a few episodes of 24 with a friend (Jack Bauer’s daughter nearly ruins the show for me for those of you who also watch) when we realized it was well past dinner and we where a bit hungry. Unfortunately we where both far to lazy to want to head to the market and find food, and seeing as how the cupboards where bare and the pizza delivery is poor we where left with only two options: Champaign which she had received as a birthday present from another kind NGO worker and Caviar which was sent from Sweden. I don’t think I have ever had Champaign and Caviar together in my life, and for some reason I wasn’t picturing my first time being in the middle of a civil war in Darfur! But never the less we dinned like royalty late into the night and the ever heroic Jack Bauer once again saved the world.

Fast forward one week…During the Sudanese Presidents trip to NYC for the UN Conference, President Bush placed at travel restriction on him of 25 kilometers. Seeing as how my hatred for President Bashir grows daily, I thought that the political “slap in the face” was appropriate if not even a bit weak for a man responsible for the deaths of thousands. Then in the ever wonderful world of political tit-for-tat responses, President Bashir placed the same restrictions on all US citizens in Sudan…indefinitely. Now its not that I have grand travel plans within Sudan, the sites just aren’t what they used to be, but it does prevent any field work as well as crush my much needed R&R that I am long over due for. But hey, maybe this is just karma’s way of responding to my blog entries of late.

Fast forward last night…around 1am a gun battle between the SLA Minnawi (rebels who signed the peace accord) and the GoS (Government of Sudan) took place outside of our house. I of course slept through the whole event and was only annoyed by the guards waking me up to throw the electricity switch from street power to generator. But don’t worry, according to the security check the next morning it was just a simple misunderstanding and is water under the bridge…I mean whats a few bullets between friends?

So this is the bizzaro world I live in, Champaign one night and travel restrictions and gun fights the next…but at least it keeps things interesting.