Juba isn’t so bad… I guess

So, I’ve now been in Juba for about 10 days.  And, while I’ve been resisting it, I guess a move here wouldn’t be so bad.  What turned the corner for me was the event I attended last night.  I was invited to a send-off party for one of the people I work for — seems he’s had enough of Sudan and is now going to work in Nairobi.  In any event, a group gathered at a place called the Bedouin Bar.  Not sure how the name came to be, but it was really a pretty fun place.

The total bar is an open air, thatch roofed structure.  Very spacious and has just the very basics.  But, there was a pool table, very cold beer and a great place for people to gather.  The number of expats was somewhat staggering, but encouraging.  A live band made an appearance which was just simply, fantastic.

The band was West African and songs were pretty much in French — but the rhythms and the singers were just great – I want to call it ‘zouk’ music, but I’m just not knowledgeable enough to know what style it really was.  My friend Nadim would know, but he’s off being Waldo at the moment and I can’t ask him.  There was even a bit of a ‘line dance’ going on that exuded so much energy, that one couldn’t help but ‘bounce’ along with the music.

Maybe I’m a cheap date, but the beer, with the music and the familiarity of expats around me made for a great night.  It ended too early for me, but since I wasn’t the only one being driven home, I had to go with the group — it’s not like there are taxis around!  While there are a lot of drawbacks to ‘camp living’ this was certainly one of the advantages.

Maybe I could live here after all.