Many Sudan Entries!!

Two weeks later, and I am in Cairo!

As I had guessed, internet was not to be had (except for a short email check here and there) in Sudan, but I did take the time to journal about my experiences in my notebook or on my laptop while I was there. So, I will be trying to get that backlog of journal updates up here this weekend. I'm also finally updating my flickr albums to at least have trip photos on it!
Here are the first of my Sudan entries:

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Friday, October 1, 2010
9pm
I made it to Sudan! We got here around 3:30pm and left the airport around 4:30. The airport consists of one room that has customs, baggage claim, and a waiting area for arrivals. And when I say "room", I mean it. Small! After exiting the plane on the tarmac, a few people waved me towards the entrance to the airport. Upon entering, I was shuffled into a herd of people going towards the customs desk. There were supposed to be two lines, but it was more of a herd. One man took my passport and visa and stamped it, while the other had me literally "sign in" to the country. Like when one signs into a volunteer shift or something. Then I turned around and baggage was being tossed into the room through a large hole on the side of the building. I eventually got to the inspections desk, where they looked through my stuff and then let me through.  I met the architect, Stu, and the civil engineering student, Nick, at the Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) airport and when we arrived in Juba we met up with Janet (engineer in Uganda office) and Shawn (engineer). We were still waiting for Steve and Philipto arrive, and so the doctor from the orphanage (Dr. James) that met us at the airport simply walked up to the air traffic control tower and asked them when the plane would arrive. I tell you this to give you an idea of what our first taste of Juba was like, and as I continue to tell you about Sudan, you will see that our first impressions were fairly accurate! Everything is about who you know.

Once we had the entire team gathered, we headed to the boys orphanage, where we would be staying for the week. I expected a good long drive through Juba, but turns out the orphanage is literally right next door to the airport! We met the staff on site--Jahim, Bob, Henry, Dr. James & Mary. They gave us a tour of the site and then went out to get us food for dinner. We ended up having our food table in the guys' room because Janet and I were staying with two women volunteers from Egypt. One is a doctor (Vivian) who was shadowing Dr. James, and the other (Maria) will be the first staff on the girls orphanage site. They both seem very nice. Our dinner consisted of breadsticks, tuna, and some fruit. I hope we get a little bit more food the rest of the week!

Tomorrow we are getting up at an easy 9am to start off the week of work!

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More later!

Smooth travels & A little exploring

[the following are my journaling of the past 24 hours of my travelling, when I didn't have internet. Since I have it now, I thought I'd update]

September 29, 2010

 

I’m currently en route to Washington DC from Denver---first let of my 4-legged, 3-day journey to Sudan. Things went so smoothly this morning, Praise God! My Sudanese visa was waiting for me at the FedEx in Denver when I got there at 10am, and I quickly and easily checked my bag—which ended up being EXACTLY 50lbs (such a blessing!). I also found out that though I transfer airlines (United to Lufthansa to Ethiopian Air), my luggage is going all the way to Juba so no need for me to baggage claim and recheck my GIANT 50lb bag at the different airports. I just want to add, I think I packed pretty light—for me at least. Half of my bag is full of things for the trip that are staying there. I have a bunch of water testing kits for the MENA office, clothes and a soccer ball for the orphans at the orphanage in Sudan, and a book and miscellaneous supplies. That means… PLENTY of room for souvenirs on the way back?!?! I guess that means I need plenty of money for those souvenirs too, which I don’t have, so I guess I’m traveling light on the way home! 

It hasn’t sunk in yet that I’m on my way to AFRICA for a month! In the prayer-sendoff in the office yesterday, one of the staff prayed about God having this trip planned for me since before I could even imagine it would happen, and that really changed my perspective on this next month. Since this trip fell into place as a series of ideas turning into actuality, I didn’t really take the time to think about the fact that none of these stops are random, and God has a plan in all of it. It made me start to consider why I am the intern that is suited for have this experience (“The eMi Office Tour 2010” as Rex & I have dubbed it), and what it may be that God is going to do with it. I’m excited to find out! I think I’m ready for anything… I think.

9:45pm- Washington DC

Ok, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but God is REALLY blessing this trip so far! Last flight I sat on the aisle and there wasn’t anyone next to me. This flight—the 7 hour one to Frankfurt—I am ALSO on an aisle (making going to the bathroom at 3am a LOT easier) and I ALSO do not have a neighbor. Now, despite the convenience of this, I do actually enjoy having someone to chat with a bit on the plane. I like making friends J But, instead I get this… which will make it easier for me to sleep, hopefully!

Sept. 30, 2010 –Frankfurt Airport

Surprise! I found a church to sketch ;)

I’ve arrived in Frankfurt and am a little confused as to what to do when I get off the plane—we’re EARLY on arrival and I already have a 12 hour layover. Thank goodness for my friend, Davidson, who gave me detailed instructions as to how to get on the S Bahn to go to the city (a 5-minute train ride). I will probably just go to the places he mentioned—the shopping areas and churches and old buildings (touristy stuff)—so as to keep a low profile and blend in with the crowds. I’ve traveled enough that I’m pretty good at hiding the fact I have no clue what I’m doing sometimes ;) I’ll have to find a locker to put my carry-on into. I don’t want to make it THAT obvious that I’m straight off the plane. I think I might sketch a bit if possible. The pilot just said it’s 50 degrees here… I’ve packed for 80+ degrees… haha, we’ll see how I fare!

6:22pm – Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen)

Well, I’ve returned from “Frankfurt am Main” (downtown). It was a nice little excursion! It took a lot of info-desking and question-asking but I found the luggage lockers (very secure) and train tickets and got downtown around noon. It was very bustling because it’s the work-day lunch hour. I bought myself a nice little map and followed roads around the city. It looks pretty similar to other European cities I’ve been to. The juxtaposition of contorted glass-box skyscrapers abutting classically-European, 19^th century stone buildings with arched entryways was neat, and made me think it looked like Belgrade combined with Paris. I found some neat parts of the old city that is left after the Allies bombed Frankfurt during WWII (thanks Davidson for directing me to those places!), and took some awesomely-lame pictures of myself in front of some cool places (see above). I also got a chance to do a few quick sketches (will scan and add later!)! I spent about 4 hours downtown, and then it started to rain (it was overcast all day). BUT, even with the rain, and the 55-degree temperature, people were still enjoying their coffee and food outside on the umbrella-covered seating areas on the pedestrian-only streets. That is what I LOVE about Europe—the café-&-street life. I still think places like MN could get away with doing this, because in colder places like Germany and France, they do it, they just put heaters outside. Now, it couldn’t be year-round, but it could be 3-seasonal! I do feel bad that I didn’t take the time to learn a lick of German before heading out into the city today. Even though I know almost all Germans speak English, I really like to at least know basics of a language when I travel somewhere. I guess that means I should start listening to those Arabic lessons I uploaded onto my iPod!!

Now I’m at a Starbucks until 8pm, when they will start getting boarding passes for my flight.

I saw this building on the left and immediately sat down to sketch it because of the glass addition hugging the old stone building on the corner. Such a nerd.

Visa craziness!

We have had quite the excitement regarding our visas for Sudan this week!

My project leader has friends in the Sudanese Embassy in the country he is in, so it seemed pretty certain that we would be able to get our visas on Monday. However, turns out that office just stopped producing the visas we need, so on Tuesday we were left trying to figure out how in the world we would get into Sudan! The embassies in Uganda  & Kenya, and the office in Sudan can produce these visas, so my project leader sought out these options.
After much prayer, emails, and favor-asking, we all now have TWO visas each! Our office in Uganda was able to get our visas and is sending them to us with a group returning to the states from Uganda on Monday. We should get those visas Wednesday morning---the day we leave! If this doesn't work, the ministry in Sudan has also gotten us visas, and we can most likely get to the airport in Juba as long as the visas are waiting for us when we land.
Needless to say, it was a crazy rollercoaster of being ready to go, then suddenly having no idea of how we would get into the country, and then having two options work out! God provides in cool ways, now we're just praying that at least one of them works!

Sickness & Health

I talked to my boss yesterday about the place we'll be staying in Sudan. He had just talked to a doctor who spent time at the orphanage we'll be at and there is good news and bad news:
First, this doctor's friend got typhoid, then pneumonia, while they were there. So basically, don't touch the water.
GOOD NEWS though, is that there is a doctor on site and he is actually very very good, so if we need to...we can be treated quickly and well!

Links and Prayers

Yesterday I got a really encouraging email from one of my former professors from the University of Minnesota. He is in Haiti because the U is planning on having a grad studio work with Architecture for Humanity down there during the spring semester. He ran into some eMi engineers down there, and hearing about that made me want to plug AFH and just say how exciting it's been to see so many different groups of design and engineering professionals give their time and talents to serving those in need in the world! It's also exciting to see Universities get students involved in that kind of work too!

Check out what eMi and AFH are doing in Haiti:
AFH in Haiti
eMi's disaster response efforts

I also have a quick prayer request for visas! Our project director will be going to the Sudanese embassy to get our visas on Monday, Sept. 19, and so please pray that everything goes as planned and we get them! Since he is going with a Sudanese friend to the embassy who knows people there, we hope that things will go smoothly, but getting visas are often the cause of a lot of frustration and uncertainty for these trips! My friend, Val, an intern in the UK office, hasn't been able to get her visa for her India trip that leaves this week, so prayers for her visa to come in or for another option for a trip to work out would be appreciated too!

Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers, friends!! I can't wait to update you more when I'm in-country!

(and my flickr pictures are veryyyy behind. sorry. I will get that worked out before I leave!)

So many things I feel like I want to update about!
First, 10 days until I leave! Wow... it snuck up on  me! This next week and a half will probably have a lot of errand-running and last minute preparations in it!

This week at work I was helping out one of the engineers finish up a project in Egypt they did this summer. I was given a SketchUp model drawn by the team's structural engineer of the structural system of this theater/music studio building. My job was to redraw the structural grid plans in CAD. Other than the fact that I don't know all the technicalities of drawing a structural grid, it was quite the project because the SketchUp model was in inches, my CAD drawing was in millimeters. And the model's dimensions were slightly off in a lot of places---so all in all, it was quite the learning experience! After asking a lot of questions of the engineers in the office, I finished the grid drawings and we got them sent to the engineer and we're just waiting to get them back with adjustments made! Working on all of these other projects around the office has made me really excited to get started on my main project this term--the one in Sudan! only a couple weeks away!

This week I will be going up to Minturn, CO, (near Vail, in the "high country" as some call it around here) to meet the architect that is coming on our trip to Sudan. He's been on multiple eMi trips before and owns the firm, Blueline Architects, in Minturn. I'm excited to see what his firm is like and start talking about our work in Sudan! I know that week in Sudan will be a crazy challenging week--like a weeklong design charrette-- and I hear the electricity goes in and out a lot! Gotta get an extra battery for my computer! But I can't wait to get back into design and this time something that will be built!

Oh! I also wanted to update with details about my crazy travel schedule. I am super excited because I get to visit so many different eMi offices! The 5 days in Uganda was definitely a surprise addition that I didn't expect, but it will be great because we are going to have our design review in that office. I also have a friend, Brice, from Minneapolis who will be in the Uganda office that week too! I love random encounters with friends abroad! While I'm in Egypt, one of my best friends, Sara, will be visiting Cairo for a week, so I get to spend time with her there too. And then, the stop in the UK office was mostly me asking for an extended layover there so I could visit the team there, and I can't wait! Overall, the month will be full of traveling and new experiences and lots of learning and designing---it'll be great!

Calendar of Events!!

This week has been productive! We finally bought our tickets for our project trip and it's exciting to have things moving ahead in our plans! My travels are much more complex than I had imagined, but I'm excited for all of the exciting things that the complexity entails. To help me organize my month away (Sept. 29-Nov. 2), I made myself a calendar (visual learner). I'm posting it here as a link to a GoogleDoc.
Claire's Travels Calendar 

More details to come soon :)