5

Look who just turned five years old!

When Joel requested a "bumble bee" party for his fifth birthday. I have to admit, I was a little surprised!
It seems, however, that bumble bee parties are all the rage, judging by my "google" search for bumble bee cake ideas! I found a nice, simple cake idea and Joel seemed to like it :-)

We planned an early party, starting at 09:30 on Saturday morning, so that it would be finished before the blasting heat of a pre-rain South Sudanese midday!

Here are some pictures from the special Bumble Bee Birthday event- we are just sorry that you could not bee there with us ;-)

Disconcerting

No sign of rain yet- and the weather continues to be rather warm!

The cooler 29'C was great for our 06:50 jog, but the 40'C afternoon felt every degree hotter than the early morning!

It is disconcerting in this season that we have a warm toilet seat when we visit the bathroom...!! It is also disconcerting that the water inside the toilet is warm! It makes me cringe to know that this heat is the perfect hotbed for all kinds of potentially nasty germs brewing in our bathroom!!

(just in case you were wondering, the brown marks in our loo are nothing sinister- these are stains caused by the limescale in our bore-hole water!)

It was also disconcerting this morning when I popped out to a local shop with our 3 children, only to be greeted by the screams of a South Sudanese toddler inside the shop. Terrified, she pointed to us as we stepped into the shop, shouting, "Khawja!" This is a term used to describe white-skinned people. The poor child was petrified by the sight of us!

Pointing repeatedly, crying and screeching, she captured the attention of all the customers and shop-keepers. Her tall, regal-looking mother swiftly lifted her, placed her high on the counter further from us and laughed at her child's obvious discomfort around us, the foreigners.

As a person who likes children, it was disconcerting that the mere sight of me is enough to terrify and upset a small toddler!

These small, disconcerting incidences are just little reminders that we are foreigners here- in a land which is different: where the heat affects our life in unexpected ways (!!)  and where we stand out by the colour of our skin. 

Snippets of Life in Juba

Coffee, anyone?

Who would like to join Andrew for a cup of coffee?

On Monday, Andrew was looking forward to a cup of coffee after a long day of flying. 

He prepared his brew, but wondered, "Why does there appear to be a black lump floating on top?" as he poured out the drink he was so looking forward to. 

It turned out to be a drowned cockroach! The cheeky creature had made its way into the coffee pot... yuk!
We are still learning to live with the seemingly indestructible Juba cockroaches, who are thriving in this hottest of seasons!

Christmas in March

It may be March, but our Christmas post is still arriving! :-) 

On Tuesday 1st March, we were very happy to receive a parcel posted to us in November! 

According to our very happy children, the chocolate coins were delicious and not even melted!

Last week, we also happily welcomed a birthday parcel for Ben (for his birthday on December 9th!)...

...and an Amazon parcel that had been posted in October!

Lumpy Milk

The heat continues, so out of curiosity, we put the thermometer onto our schoolroom doorstep on Tuesday afternoon:

The heat seems to be affecting the Longlife milk in the local shops. The milk we have bought has been lumpy and on its way to being yoghurt! 

"Waste not, want not", my Grandmother taught me... so true to her motto, we used the lumpy milk to make scones. Here are the delicious scones that Joel made on Wednesday:

And the tasty rice pudding Andrew made:

Andrew popped out after work yesterday to buy enough  milk powder for approximately 17 litres of milk: From now on, it's this milk powder we will be using, until the rains arrive and temperatures start to go down a little!