Good Bye Sudan!

Hari ni adalah hari terakhir aku di Sudan. Pagi ni aku bangun punyalah awal. Aku tak tau kenapa. Malam tadi, kami semua pergi ke As-Sahaq - a Lebanese Restaurant for our last supper (eh lain aje bunyi dia...). Any tu la kisah dia. There were only myself, Fredrik, Tamim and Michael. Matthias didn't join since customer buat hal - mintak benda bukan-bukan and it was his part, so he had to finish it.

+ "Selamat jalan, sila datang lagi ye", kata lelaki Sudan ni..

OK now, I have been in Sudan for like 5 months. So apa main take-aways nya? (Wah take-aways kekonon, very consultant punya terms... kekadang over-used pulak). OK, what are the nice memories in Sudan. Aku nak buat gak la 10 Unforgettable Memories macam kat dalam Luke's blog tu. OK here goes...

(1) Kebaikan hati rakyat jelata Sudan - rata-rata rakyat Sudan ni baik hati. Jarang la jumpa yang macam berangan hebat kan. Lain sangat kalau nak compare dengan Nigeria tu kan. Anyway, they are nice people in general. Cuma limited nya kebolehan mereka berbahasa Inggeris, boleh melimitkan perbualan. Lagipun Arabic aku very limited. So rata-ratanya they are very nice people.

(2) Taat pada agama Islam - orang Sudan ni, kalau sampai aje waktu solat, terus solat. Kat tepi jalan ke, kat dalam office ke. Dalam offie, bentang sejadah, terus bersolat kan. Kat Nigeria pun nampak macam ni kat tepi-tepi jalan, tapi kat Sudan amplified sikit experience tu sebab rata-rata orang sini adalah Muslim. So tu lah yang meriahnya. Kalau diorang tau kita Muslim, apa lagi la kan. Terus ajak ke rumah. Eh tak de la, diorang lebih warm lah kalau tau kita Muslim.

(3) Jus segar di Khartoum - aku suka jus buah2an kat sini. Best dan menyegarkan. Tak de ditambah air dia kata, so 100% jus lah, ori la bak kata orang muda2. Hehe. So very nice. Jangan tak tau, boleh gak mintak jus strawberry. Tak tau mana datangnya strawberry tapi sedap la kalau kita mintak jus yang segalanya-ada-didalam-satu-gelas. So semua dicampur, dan nampak macam kek lapis pulak warna dia.

(4) Petronas di Sudan - first time nampak Petronas fuel station mengimbau kenangan Malaysia pulak. Banyak gak le petrol station Petronas that I saw. Bangga la jugak kan, our national petroleum mampu bersaing. Lagipun bilateral connection between Sudan dan Malaysia pun agak kuat, so there is nothing surprising about that. But still, aku masih ingat, nampak Petronas for the 1st time, aku dok asik ambik gambar. Tak tau la aku kalau aku kalau aku nampak Nasi Lemak Kak Tijah kat New York, mau aku tidur kat tepi kedai tu kot! Hehe.

(5) Driver yang baik hati - esp si Nagi yang bawak aku keliling Khartoum yang tak de apa sangat ni. Kalau duduk sini boleh gila kalau tak ada aktibiti. Aku akan ingat jasa si Nagi ni. Disamping tu aku aku akan ingat driver2 lain spt Waleed dan Muhammed. They are nice people. Aku nampak development Waleed, daripada someone yg kami rasa boleh menimbulkan masalah to someone yang very cheerful dan nak belajar Bahasa Inggeris. Paling manis, ye ke paling manis, dpt belikan si Nagi ni phone baru dari Malaysia sebab phone dia tu ada masalah, sian pulak kat dia.

(6) Arabic / Bahasa Arab - Apa tidaknya, aku appreciate Bahasa Arab lebih sekarang ni - ye lah Bahasa Al-Quran kan! Aku belajar Bahasa Arab form 1 sampai form 5. Masa tu aku dok belajar aje, absorb segalanya masa tu, that led me to get A2 masa SRP. But now that aku dah berada di Sudan aku appreciate sangat, sampaikan aku ada guru Bahasa Arab sendiri by the name of Nader. Well, he moved away from Amarat and and then aku tak ada la dah orang nak ajar aku. Well, yg aku ingat a few "Ma fi moya phil bait" - tak de air kat rumah saya, "Nehna masheen illal mattar" - Kami nak pergi ke airport, "Ma fi musykilla" - no problem, "Amshi tawali" - go straight, and counting 1-10, 20,30 etc. For the 1st time I realise, I can connect with this language and kalau lama duduk sini, mungkin boleh pick up.

(7) Souq Al-arabi - best gak Souq ni, memula pergi dengan Maria (uh dia dah resigned as of yesterday, nice colleague to work with). Yang bestnya dapat tengok lambakan barang-barang yang banyaknya dari China la kan. Tapi yang best tengok kehidupan orang2 Sudan di sini - this is the real Sudan. Kalau kat office tu ramai gak orang Sudan, tapi orang yang macam ada pendidikan dan taraf hidup pun dah lain. Kalau nak actual Sudan, dtg la ke Souq macam ni. Di sini la aku beli selipar, arragi/jelabiyah, dpt tengok buaya kering pun ada. Hehe.

(8) Kepanasan/cuaca Sudan - Kehangatan mentari kurasakan, tidak sehangat api perbalahan... hah tu dia, lagu Kak Aisyah "Kemaafan Dendam Terindah" pulak yang terkeluar. Masakan aku boleh lupa kehangatan Sudan sampai 43C. Org tak paham kenapa aku mention pasal Sudan panas, sbb aku dari Malaysia. Kat Msia ada humidity so lain sikit. And ada banyak malls - boleh la selit masuk mall kalau dah panas sangat kan. Sudan is getting hotter as we pass the months from April onwards. So aku tak tau boleh jadi panas macam mana lagi. Panas dia tak tau macam mana aku nak cakap - kekadang petang2 masa aku balik kerja, aku keluar dari office, macam kepanasan tu macam kita lalu a group of aircond compressors! That is the kind of heat the weather emits. Aku bukan complain, tapi nak kasi gambaran. Uh cerita pasal cuaca, kali pertama aku merasa ribut pasir / sandstorm minggu lepas. Menakutkan tiba, segumpalan besar pasir2 halur membentuk awan hitam menutup pandangan dan menghampiri aku dalam jarak masa tak sampai beberapa minet.

(9) Kegahan Sungai Nil - pertemuan Sg Nil Biru dan Putih berlaku di Sudan dan the fact that this office berada di titik pertemuan tersebut or in Arabic it is called Al-Mogran, well, the ability to be at this point on earth kan, something lah. The Nile itself, tak perlu nak diperkenalkan, and to be able to be at the point where the 2 sources meet - it something. Sapa tak kenal dengan Nil yang membelah bumi Africa dari Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan dan Egypt kan. Selama ni kita dekat dengan Nil di Egypt. Jadi dah tau source dia ni, lebih bermakna lah (teringat pulak masa kecik2 mandi kat sungai, hehe. Mana keseronokan itu? Hehe)

(10) The project and the team itself - I won't forget this project all in all, the people that have been involved, me, Fredrik, Matthias, Rim, Maria, Michael and Tamim. It was great team. The dynamic was just there. Although there were times when we fought over ideas, opinions, approaches, but in the end, it has done us good. The customer liked it, and it has impacted the team-spirit. I will remember this. Sharing the apartment with Matthias - was new experience. Looking for an apartment was an experience. Well, one of the many noticeable ones - the change of character of 'someone' who used to be so uptight and full of rules, and now the person can laugh together to my stupid jokes and we are in the end a bunch of consultants that could stand each other and able to have fun in/out of the office. Thank god for that. I could only wish that I would end up in this kind of team dynamics again.

So, with that I bid farewel to this country, Sudan and the experience that it has offered me. It was not a smooth ride, it was not an utter disaster either - on the other hand we made the most of it. So, good bye. And I am not sure whether I will return, only time and fate will tell. It is all in God's plan. Insya'Allah - as customer will like to respond to us everytime we ask for commitment. :)

PS: Banyak lagi benda kalau aku nak masukkan dalam ni. Memula aku tak tau cukup ke SEPULUH, last2 banyak lagi yang aku tak masukkan spt Kambing yang aku ingatkan ada kaki LIMA, last2 aku realise ekor dia BESAR, nampak macam kaki (Kalau aku masukkan ni, sure Luke suka kan?... hihi), lepas tu ada pulak ayam dekat apartment tu yang akan berkokok secara randomly, tak leh tidor aku! Kelakar la pengalaman ni.