Finally i've stopped counting days (and started counting weeks, har) and fallen into some sort of rhythm. The rain continues, but at least it keeps the dust down. Thanks to the inspired purchase of thrift store cowboy boots, I sail through the muck and ankle-deep rivers caused by the easily overwhelmed drainage systems.

Last night a break from the monotony of my 2 kilometre bubble: a long stormy cab ride to an art gallery at the top of a muddy hill on the other side of town. As we drove there, the cab driver became more and more anxious, muttering to himself and shifting irritably as he navigated the gridlock traffic. Finally, he pulled to the side, and I thought he might kick us out and head back to town... In the dark, I thought of the passport, cash, and airline tickets I was foolishly carrying. But he only excused himself and swiftly walked to the edge of the road, where he peed for what seemed to be a solid 3 minutes. When he got back into the cab, he was much calmer and we made it without further angst.

At the gallery, everyone was gone but the curator, so we were free to wander without the need for small talk. Warm fire chased away the damp. The South Sudanese sketches evoked Inuit art. Wide-ranging conversations and red wine flowing and i felt alive. And wistful. I envy these people their creative spirits.

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Today a beautiful drive from the capital to a small city in the south. This is the first time I've even been in this country after the rains and everything is lush and green; there are streams and lakes and rivers where before there was only dust and mud and brown and grey.

All the animals that hang out on the road - dogs, horses, donkeys, cows - are bedraggled. Houses are perched on tiny hillocks amidst newly formed ponds. I didn't see any boats, so I assume everyone is wading to and from home (and I thought of bilharzia, and shuddered). Oh, were those little girls really scooping up that muddy brown water into jerry cans they will carry home on their heads? The usual sources of drinking water - the streams - have overflowed their banks and the churning water is thick with silt. Why is this environment so extreme?

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In another part of my brain I am holding tight to a sense of... alliance. Negotiating the very beginnings of shared goals. Unfamiliar, but also not completely strange. Is everyone so complex and unknowable? I didn't think it would be like this, so so easy and yet still so difficult.

10:16 p.m. - 2010-09-19