Orsomarso's festa di Sant'Anna

Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to be in the village for the Festa di Sant'Anna. I think the photos say it all, although a soundtrack of tolling bells, fireworks exploding, and then a live concert echoing through the valley needs to be played whilst viewing.

My lane where candles were lit in preparation.

The mass in the square

Preparing to parade the santa

The important section of the parade

Got to love the Orsomarso brass section

Coming back down my lane

The Santa following the band down my lane.

The end, apart from the concert

Gratitude Friday - Reasons to be cheerful

The last few days have been tough, for reasons I won't go into here, but I'm not alone. Di at Il Terrazo Italiano just posted the things that she loves in Italy, in order to get some perspective. Reading that, I remembered I haven't posted for gratitude Friday for a while and even though it's Saturday, it's still Friday somewhere. Check out the beautiful blog of Diana, who started GF, here.

1. I have a job, which finishes in 3 weeks, but which pays my mortgage. Okay that's not a good start as that's positive and negative. Must try harder...

2. I have friends both real and virtual who I know are there for me, if I ask for help. There are real friends here in Sudan I will miss so much when I leave and during that time when I don't know when I will return. More positive and negative oops.

3. I am in an amazing country, which is full of fantastic people, and I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to work here. What's more, the difficult/strange has become familiar and easier here in Sudan as I wrote in an earlier post. That's only positive.

Bah, I can't do this today. The truth is that I'm feeling sad. I've angered a friend, which I deeply regret and am very sorry about. Whilst I want to go home and see my family and friends, I do not want to leave here. I am worried about finding another job. What was that line from an old Ian Drury song: Reasons to be cheerful, 1,2, 3...  I've done the 1,2, 3 and I am still not smiling this morning, sorry.

BTW: I took the beautiful sky back in March and it has not been photoshopped or retouch up in any way.

Gratitude Friday - fabulous trainees

My first two groups of Sudanese trainees finished their 8 week courses yesterday. It was a bitter-sweet time as they are all lovely people and I will miss them next week. It was sweet in that I have seen great improvement with some of them and feel I have been of help. Some of them I will see again as they have become friends, others I will see as there is to be a group outing next week, whilst others are in the same building, so I will still run into them.

Very embarrassingly both groups gave me gifts, and I was overwhelmed by the morning groups generosity.

Pictures:

Top: The gifts waiting to be opened. The statue, elephant and necklace are from the afternoon group.

Middle: receiving gifts from Fawzia after Sami's speech.

Bottom: Unwrapped (and discarded paper)

Again, I am thankful for the opportunity that brought me to this lovely country with such fantastic people.

Kidnapped aka Out of Control

Those of you who know me know that I do like control. I can be spontaneous, like the time J and I ended up on a plane to Dubai 2 hours after sitting at home doing a crossword and talking about the weekend. I'm also alright with an unstructured/non-planned day, but I confess I like a say in what I am doing.

This morning I was feeling lazy and it felt too hot to even go to the pool. I had a missed call from one of my students, but I thought I'd return it later to avoid having to turn down an invitation as I just wanted to be a couch-potato. About 12  noon I decided to walk to the shop to get some bread for lunch, as I crossed the street my student, he of the missed call, drove past with his friend Salma, and I was kidnapped. Well, I told them truthfully I was going to the supermarket and they said they were hoping to take me for "breakfast", and opened the car door for me, so I had to go. Note to self, must teach meal names next week.

We had a drive downtown, pass both of their universities, as there seems to be some competition over whether Khartoum or Sudan Uni is the best. I saw some things I'd passed before and other parts of the Nile that I hadn't, which was really interesting. Finally, we went to a fish restaurant (pic right) which served the best fresh Nile fish. It was served on a huge platter between us, (above) with bread rolls, and salad. Eating with our right hands, we ate our way through the mountain of fish. Only having eaten a couple of times like this, I was not very good at getting the delicious white fish away from the bones, but Amar was a real gentleman and kept passing me the choice pieces de-boned. To drink we had a Sudanese soft drink called Champion. it is slightly fizzy, quite sweet with an unusual flavour. What I would have done for a cool glass of white instead is anyones guess.

From the restaurant we drove back to my area to a cafe where we had fresh lemon juice and shared a banana split, which I didn't have room for but was unable to refuse. Salma invited me to a dance class this Sunday, Egyptian/Sudanese dance, whatever that means, and issued general invites to visit her family home, friends, and workplace. So much food, such great hospitality, and terrific friendship shown by them both. I really must learn not to be such a typical  type-A personality and chill out more. I had a lovely time with them both and I am so pleased I was too lazy to go to the pool. As this is Gratitude Friday, I am thankful for people like them and unexpected events.

PS. Sorry about the  quality of pics, as I hadn't planned on being kidnapped I did not have my camera with me and these were taken on my phone.

Gratitude Friday - random events

Thursday, I had just got up for work when I received a call saying the day had been declared a holiday, in order for everyone to get the opportunity to vote. I wondered what to do, but was unsure if the museums would be open as it was a holiday. Also, I was slightly wary of going downtown on the last election day (the papers have had a few reports of disgruntled voters, who can't vote through admin problems). Therefore, I used the morning catching up on mail, sorry mum & dad I didn't send you one, painting and blogging.

 In the afternoon, I thought I would go for a walk, although it's starting to get too hot. I know this is a gratitude blog but - why is it soooo windy here, carrying a ton of sand & dust into my eyes, hair and clothes??? Anyway, I went to a park I had spotted when "misplaced" last week from the knight in shining armour aka a rickshaw. Families & couples were sitting on the grass and benches, relaxing or having picnics. There was a small zoo with gazelles, but I couldn't work out how to enter, so I continued walking around.

This is the point that random events collide to make me grateful. I came across a group of young boys setting up a band. A young man was sat on a bench strumming a guitar and in a space in front of a turquoise building they were setting up a drum kit and electric guitars. I sat at a vacant picnic table and it soon became clear that they were using the park as a place for band practice. When I left, they had regrouped and along with the drummer were 3 or 4 electric guitar players and a keyboard. The short parts of tunes they played sounded quite good, especially the guitarists, and there was lots of fun and laughter. What a fabulous thing to hear and witness. I am thankful for seeing this slice of normal Khartoum life.

Gratitude Friday - Chances / Love

I am so grateful that my job gives me the options to work in different countries, which I guess partially makes up for the appalling salary.

I have been in Sudan only a week, but am in love with it. I woke on Thursday morning, and my first thought was 'oh no that's a week gone already'. What I have seen of the city, which is not much as my accommodation is in the south and I drove through downtown for the first time yesterday, is that it is not the prettiest city. It is dry and dusty, but it has something that makes me smile.

What has made me fall in love is the Sudanese people, who are lovely. They are friendly and helpful. Yesterday, I arranged for my work's driver (he picks me up and takes me home every weekday) to take me to the Sufi ceremony in the far north of the city. This was the equivalent of him working on a Sunday. I thought he would drop me off and then pick me up later, but no, Mohammed spent the whole time looking after me. I sat down to draw, and got surrounded by curious people, and he made them give me some space. When the ceremony was going on he pointed out things of interest. Mohammed is a Muslim, but not of the sect that we were watching, and he seemed to enjoy the afternoon as much as I did, taking photos with his phone and chatting to others. Unfortunately, communication between us is difficult as he knows as many English words and I do Arabic ones.

The group of women (right) stopped me and wanted to talk as we were leaving. One of them spoke some English and they all wanted their picture taken, which was difficult as it was nearly dark. In fact, all afternoon the children had mobbed the westerners to get their photos taken, and thanks to digital technology could see their pictures. Many of them had beautiful smiles until it came to taking the picture when they adopted a serious stiff position, as the little girl right.

I am so grateful that I am here, whether it is only 2 months or longer that I get to stay, I know Sudan is going to have a big impact on me.

Gratitude Friday - a moment of peace

 

I wouldn't say I thrive on stress nor deliberately set out to have it, but I recognise that with my choice of job and its consequential lifestyle I certainly cause many stressful situations to occur in my life. For example, I started this year moving to a new country, away from friends and family, having to find my way in a new(ish) language & culture, as well as navigate trams & buses. I had a new job, new colleagues, and a lot of new materials & technology too. Now, despite fabulous people in Turin and great students, I cannot and will not put up with the working conditions the new company has and will be leaving soon. (I'm not alone as since I started, 2 people have already left & one other has handed in her notice). This means that the next few weeks will be full of changes and stress. Possibly the hardest part - more goodbyes. 

Therefore, in this chaos of my life, which is my choice, I was grateful to find a short respite of peace and beauty. I had a few hours before I needed to be at work so walking to the office I stopped at the Church of San Lorenzo is held; a magnificent building, but filled with school children on an outing. Walking on, I stopped at the imposing building of the church of San Francesco d'Assisi and entered. I am not particularly religious, rarely going to church or praying, although I do believe in God. There was something spiritually appealing in the beauty of the interior, combined with the silence in the huge church. I  sat in a pew a just Stopped. I stepping out of my life, the rushing around, the endless decision-making, and took this opportunity for a moment of peace. I am very thankful I found, and went in, this beautiful, quiet, old church.

Gratitude Friday - it's Friday!

I've just popped over to Diana's blog, and realised it is Gratitude Friday time... oops forgot again.

Today I am grateful that it's Friday, as it means tomorrow I am flying down to see some good friends in Calabria, who I can't wait to see and catch up on the gossip news. I will also check on my flat and do a few odds and ends there. The other reason that I'm grateful is that TOMORROW brings SketchCrawl #26 and it's the perfect motivation and chance to draw all day. On top of that, I love seeing all the results from around the world, which are posted afterwards. Also, my ego likes receiving comments from kind people who see my results too. Tomorrow will be my 3rd SketchCrawl and my least structured as I have to work around the travel I am doing, so I foretell pics of buses, planes, people & landscapes. Please pop over to my other blog later in the week to see what I did.

Finally, I am thankful today is a beautiful sunny day here in Turin, but a little sad in that the auction did not raise any money for Xmas Torch, although I think it raised some awareness of it, which must be good.

Gratitude Friday - 2 weeks of thanks

It was on Saturday afternoon that I realised I had missed Gratitude Friday, started by Diana at Creative Structures who you must check out, AGAIN! I was walking down the street with my new friend and colleague Sarah, so together we started taking count of things to be grateful for...

First for both of us was the fact that we had both started working for our company at the same time, and our friendship has made it easier to cope with the awful working conditions. Second, vicariously I'm thankful that she has got a new job in France, which is where she really wants to be, and I think she will be happier there. Although, I will miss her here, especially as we normally do something together on the weekend, if only to meet for a hot chocolate. Another thing to be grateful for is the lovely hot chocolate :D

I am also thankful for the cultural opportunities there are here. I continue to explore, although I didn't do anything last weekend, except visit the monthly antiques market in the sleet, snow &  rain, sometimes the weather was doing all three at the same time. I think I liked the table & chairs in the photo, but it was hard to tell. After the market I scuttled home and was definitely grateful for a warming cuppa. Monday was another concert, unfortunately apart from one, in which a poetry reading was part of the composition, I didn't really like the pieces they played. Still, I am very pleased and thankful for the opportunity to listen to more live music, and do some more sketching of the musicians. Finally, yesterday I went to a small private art collection and saw several, huge, magnificent Canalettos, TWO Picassos, Renoirs, and more WOW! It amazes me the way Canaletto captured light and I can always stand for ages just looking at his work. So I am very grateful this week for the chance to see some awesome art.

Lastly, sandwiched between the dreadful weather, the top photo was taken Thursday 11th February, and the torrential rain we've had today, Monday was lovely. I was fortunate in that I finished early and when I got off the first tram, I enjoyed returning home in daylight (I normally get home around 8/8.30) by walking the 4 or 5 blocks home. A very simple pleasure, but probably the most gratifying of the week.

Gratitude Friday- attempt 2 RED

I'm still not overly inspired today, especially as I have to go out in the snow soon, and I know gratitude shouldn't be about things but...

I am grateful for the bottle of red wine a student gave me on Monday, which Sarah & I will open tomorrow.

Currently, I could not live with out my red kettle, (obviously combined with my Tetley's)...

nor the apartment's checked blanket.

I am also thankful for the glut of art that's in Turin. Below is an outside red sculpture I saw at GAM.

Gratitude friday errrm

It's Friday, time to be grateful and I can think of nothing except that I am pleased the heating is on as I watch the snow falling outside. Oh and I have a good supply of teabags. I'm so shallow. I will think and post properly later.

Gratitude Friday - what a view.

After comments from friends on Wednesday, I realised not only did I have to draw my view before I leave this apartment in a week's time, but also how blessed I've been to be able to look out at this daily. The finished drawing is here.

I am also thankful to all the friends, both old & new, who came round on Wednesday evening to make my leaving Muscat a bit easier. Thankfully, they were able to share this awesome view at night.

Gratitude Friday: philanthropists

A friend of mine set up a charity, Xmas Torch, a few years ago with this objective
"Christmas is one of the best holidays for many. It is that time of the year that we all try to get time off work and spend it with our families. However there are those that have no idea what is Christmas because for them it is life as usual with nothing different but the same hard life they are used to. All I want to do for these children is give them an unforgettable [time] where they will think of nothing else but let them be children ... It is important for them to know that there is more to life than the problems they face daily."

She is an ordinary woman, like you and I, trying to achieve the extraordinary. She aims to give as many Kenyan kids, living in orphanages, a trip away from the homes with the surprise of a Christmas present for each of them.

Xmas Torch is targeting to gift each child, from ages 2 to 23, a backpack filled with a doll/football; math set; crayons/color pencils; coloring books; pencils; pens; under garments; books; and personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, etc).

Recognising the corruption that unfortunately exists in some countries, the charity Xmas Torch buys the gifts and gives them to the kids themselves, and arranges the outings. This makes sure the donations reach those who need them and doesn't go into someone's pocket.

I think it is important to be grateful to all the philanthropists in the world, who do what they can to help others. Also, with the onset of the Christmas we need to reflect that we may not be able to buy that extra box of chocolates or whatever it is we want, but compared to many in the world we have so much, from choices, to homes, to food we can afford to throw away. Today, I think we should all be thankful for all we have and that when we loose sight of that there are people like my friend who do what they can to make other's lives better. I know I am.
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Gratitude Friday 11

Today I am grateful for a lovely day. The weather here in Muscat now is perfect. I started the day having a cuppa with the lounge door wide open as it is finally cool enough to turn off the ac.

After breakfast I went to see the ongoing competition to paint His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. A friend, the artist Jenni Eden, (check out her site here) is competing and her unfinished work is already outstanding - it caught my eye before I even knew it was hers. 

From there I went to the marina, and the kind security guards let me onto the pontoons when I asked to draw there. It was very warm in the sheltered spot I was sat in! I loved the detail on the stern of this dhow so much that I had to draw it. Most of the wobbly lines were caused by the pontoon I was sitting on moving as boats went by, causing my hand to jump. Then it was time for lunch, and I had a lovely chatty lunch with my friend Mark as we planned our SketchCrawl for next Friday. All to soon it was over and time to head home. Such a lovely day, I am so grateful for days like this.

btw I notice my art is now creeping over onto this blog. If you interested in seeing where it should be and more of my art please check out my art blog at artofanomad

Gratitude Friday - hearing

Young boys, originally uploaded by travelingsuep.

What a different world I would live in if I couldn't hear. Yesterday, I went to the camel races in Saham and without the sense of hearing it would have been a very different experience. Carrying a DSLR, I think some people thought I was press and consequently, people, such as these 3 boys, asked to have their photo taken. My pleasure! I'm so pleased I could hear their request.

In the course of a couple of hours, several of the lovely friendly people of Saham came up to say hi and just to chat, or have their picture taken. I had a very interesting chat with the vet who was conducting blood tests on the winning camels - who'd have thought it? I guess if they dope racehorses, why not camels?

As well as hearing giving me the ability to talk to people, I could hear the commentary of the races and the hypnotic Omani chanting in between them. It was a fabulous morning, but so easy to forget our experiences are not just visual.

I am so thankful I can hear and must remember that when I am home. How awful it must be when that ability starts to fail or get distorted.

Gratitude Friday (on Saturday)

My life, during these last few months in this country, is a little crazy; consequently, it is getting more difficult to do this weekly (at least on the blog). This idea of Diana's has shown me just how much I have so much to be grateful for each week.

This week I would like to say thanks to Aleta, who has been a friend here in Oman now for several years, and who is sadly leaving this week. Aleta has been a good friend to me and I will miss her a lot, as I have many fond memories from us getting in the paper (which turned into several times) the camel races, and numerous events. Thank you Aleta. I hope you stay in touch.

Gratitude Friday: 8

This Friday, I am thankful for many things, but specifically I am thankful for having such great parents. They are always supportive of whatever I want to do, and wherever I want to go, even when they do not really agree with that decision. I am lucky that they have provided a home to always return to; an anchor for my wandering. Even when I feel lost, I really have their stability grounding me.

I cannot wait to get home and see them in December.

Thanks again to Diana of Creative Structures for thinking up the idea of Gratitude Friday. Also, for giving me the opportunity to tell my parents how I feel.

Gratitude Friday: 7

Something which is good for the soul and for chasing away sadness is laughter, so that is what I am thankful for today. On Wednesday, I went to Muscat Comedy Club's Craic Attack, where 2 Irish comedians performed. First up was Colm McDonnell who had us giggling especially with the descriptions of Bumper cars, which took many of us back to our youth. Then, after the interval, Joe Rooney came on and he was very good. My friend was crying with laughter as he recognised himself in many of the comic situations Rooney described. By the end of the evening my face ached from having laughed so much and I left with a big smile on my face.

Thanks Diana at Creative Structures for the idea of Gratitude Friday.

Please pop over and see Lisa's blog, Travel Dreams & Moonbeams, today, it's always a good read, but this week's article on souvenir bling is excellent. Thanks Lisa for asking me to contribute.

Gratitude Friday: 6

This is easy this week. Thanks for the ability and opportunity to paddle in the warm Arabian sea, along an almost deserted beach, with cooling breeze in the this quiet capital city, which I did on Wednesday. Another good memory stored for when I leave Oman.

I'm also grateful for the drop in temperature, which enabled me to do a sketch of this idyllic scene from beneath the palm trees. The results are here.

Gratitude Friday: 5

Today I am grateful for all the choices I can make. They may be good or bad choices, but I have the freedom to make them. I have almost infinite possibilities and each choice I make can take me in a new direction or continue along the same path. It's up to me. There are too many people in this world, through poverty, political corruption &/or sanctions, war, or other reasons, who do not have any choice in their lives. I wrote a few days ago that I am having doubts about the choice I have made to leave Oman, but I should be thankful that I am in a position to have such choice.