Dreaming of cheese and exercise

So cheese and exercise don't really go hand in hand. Well, maybe the consumption of cheese would require a certain amount of exercise but other than that, no relation, except that I'm desperately craving both!

Juba is a great place. In the world of relief and development work, it's really nice. For the most part, it's safe. We don't have some of the risks like other teams have like our colleagues in Darfur or Afghanistan. We can go out fairly freely. We can pop to a restaurant and have a drink, even. New products and services are coming to Juba everyday. One restaurant even has ice cream! What I miss dearly and what is definitely not consistently in Juba is cheese! Any kind really. At this point, I would be happy with a Kraft single even. I find myself craving cheese. I had this problem nearing my trip home at Christmas and my Dad took me to Whole Foods on the way home from the airport, where I stood in awe at the cheese counter for 20 minutes and left with $50 worth of cheese. In London in May, I ordered the cheese tray for my dessert! Can you believe I even passed up chocolate? For my 2 week holiday in Kenya, I had cheese and salad for every meal, literally (even breakfast). My trip home (in less than 3 weeks!!) gives me an end in sight to this cheese crisis so I'm looking forward to another Whole Foods trip. I'm sure after my 3 weeks in the States, I'll be posting a follow-up about the law of diminishing returns.

Exercise. When you can exercise, you dread it, and when you can't, you crave it. Why is this always the way? As most people know, I enjoy exercising. I prefer the gym but I don't mind a good bike ride or the occasional run. It's a bit challenging in Juba. It's pretty safe so my hesitation to running in Juba isn't so much the safety factor but just the glares and comments you receive when running. Think about it. The Sudanese aren't too concerned about exercise. They walk long distances (we are talking miles) to carry back gallons and gallons of water a day. Cooking a meal is physically tiring and in most of the country food is limited - so clearly no one is calorie counting. So when they see a white girl running, I'm sure they think - "what is she running from?" The children smile, waive and greet with "morning" even in the evening. Some people even join in. For any of you who have seen me run, my form is less than stellar - so I don't really like to bring this attention on myself. So, I've had to resort to my Tae-bo DVD or my stairstepper which I carried as my hand luggage from Nairobi (this was a sight) back in March. All of which I do from the comfort of my very hot room. For everyone who is dreading the gym, I hope this gives you an appreciation for your elliptical trainer.

I can't wait to be in the ATL in a few weeks and have the freedom to run and burn some calories - I guess I better after all that cheese!