You can see a lot on a 5 Minute Walk!

Today on my 5 minute walk to work at 700am I was faced with a army with AK47’s that were deployed on the streets.  I minded my own business, acknowledged the odd guy who looked friendly and made it to work.  As we went about our job, we noticed these guys were all over town.  The tended to leave us alone, but some people were on the side of the road getting searched and patted down.  Many of these solders, while intimidating (due to being well armed) were friendly and looked in their mid-teens.  Surprisingly they appear to be well equipped, with nice crisp uniforms, and new ruck sacks (US origin).  I made it home around lunch and did some work in my room for a few hours.  I then had to head back to the office.  I see these same kids walking by me laughing, guns slinged casually over their shoulder and hats off.  What they were doing, I don’t know.  But this type of thing is apparently common in this part of Africa.

One thing I have gotten use to is seeing guns, lots and lots of guns.  They are everywhere.  They are on the streets, airport, restaurants, hotels, grocery store, bank, and probably even churches (if I were ever to venture into one).  Guns can be used for things other than killing.  I have seen guys scratch the middle of their back (you know that area you can't reach), hold their smoke in the barrel, open a pop bottle, and even lift the skirt of a passing girl (he obviously knew her).

This evening I went to an Ethiopian restaurant with a coworker.  The two of us had a Ethiopian dish, that was way to big to eat and two soda’s each for approximately $12USD.  Walking home I started to notice the hundreds of dogs on the road.  They are everywhere.  Some have collars on, but many are just wild on the streets.  Puppies are curled up sleeping in ditches, under cars, by trees and sometimes in the middle of the road (and yes it was sleeping and not road kill!).

I’m starting to get onto some of the local dialect.  An outsider like me has to talk very broken and clearly.  Most of Juba is still Arabic, local dialect or a tribal dialect and not english.  The people that can speak clear english usually are from countries like Uganda, Kenya or some other old British colony.  Many of the staff in restaurants, hotels or grocery stores are imports to serve the expats and english speaking.  Its 7pm and the sun just set.  The bars and restaurants are hopping, but by 11pm curfew comes into effect until 7am and everything goes quiet.