Today I cut through the market on my way to lunch. I like to take the long way through the market on my way back to base whenever I have the time. I've always felt that the market is where a town feels most alive. Aweil's market is no exception. It's a vibrant, loud, stinky, maze of open air stalls and shops selling all manner of Chinese made imported goods, whole goats, chickens, and local produce. My favorites are the places that sell music in the form of MP3s you can get on CD, thumb drive, or put on your phone (the most popular option). They blare these loud low-fi recordings of synthetic steel drums and a man singing in falsetto very far away. Maura says he sounds like he's going through puberty in a tin can. She's right. The idea is to advertise their homogeneous cataloge to passersby. If you hear a song you like, you give them your phone and they put the song on it. Then you can blare the song at passersby too!
There are the stinky dried fish stalls selling thin strips of dried something or other covered in flies. I can't even imagine how far it's traveled to get to the table it's sitting on now.
There are stacks of every kind of fruit and vegetable grown in the area. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, carrots, lemons, greens. It's a beautiful sight when the displays are first set out in the morning. Pyramids of apples and designs made with different colors and types of peppers.
There's the nuts and spices area, thick with Arab style tea huts selling little glass cups of tea with a half inch or more of sugar in the bottom. At any time, there always seem to be enough men to fill every chair in these little houses or roped off areas. I wonder when they work.
I also love the crowds of guys that work in the plastic flip flop section of the market. Some are working, some are just there to hang out with their friends. They sit around in plastic chairs and yell really bad rap lyrics at you when you walk by. "How the hell are you, baby? Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Wasssap tonight baby?" Makes me feel so captivating.
The best part about living in such a small town is the opportunity to see people you work with outside of work. I saw five different people than I knew just walking through the market. It's always a warm Dinka hello here for anyone you know and often for people you don't. There's a lot of handshaking, baby kissing, and small talk. I feel like I'm running for office.
After lunch, I spent almost an hour sitting in the Maternity department talking to Grace about Uganda, where she's from, and listening to Ugandan gospel music. It's so rare in my regular life that I take any time to be still and just enjoy the world around me. It's nice to remember to slow down once in a while.
There are the stinky dried fish stalls selling thin strips of dried something or other covered in flies. I can't even imagine how far it's traveled to get to the table it's sitting on now.
There are stacks of every kind of fruit and vegetable grown in the area. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, carrots, lemons, greens. It's a beautiful sight when the displays are first set out in the morning. Pyramids of apples and designs made with different colors and types of peppers.
There's the nuts and spices area, thick with Arab style tea huts selling little glass cups of tea with a half inch or more of sugar in the bottom. At any time, there always seem to be enough men to fill every chair in these little houses or roped off areas. I wonder when they work.
I also love the crowds of guys that work in the plastic flip flop section of the market. Some are working, some are just there to hang out with their friends. They sit around in plastic chairs and yell really bad rap lyrics at you when you walk by. "How the hell are you, baby? Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Wasssap tonight baby?" Makes me feel so captivating.
The best part about living in such a small town is the opportunity to see people you work with outside of work. I saw five different people than I knew just walking through the market. It's always a warm Dinka hello here for anyone you know and often for people you don't. There's a lot of handshaking, baby kissing, and small talk. I feel like I'm running for office.
After lunch, I spent almost an hour sitting in the Maternity department talking to Grace about Uganda, where she's from, and listening to Ugandan gospel music. It's so rare in my regular life that I take any time to be still and just enjoy the world around me. It's nice to remember to slow down once in a while.
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