The Waterstraut Waterspout: The Opening Ceremonies & South Sudan

Usually, for the Olympics we all pick a country, research it, present it and then the Olympic medal count of the country goes towards our Olympic medal counts. But, since we've been researching and presenting countries for the last 13 months, that seemed redundant. Instead, I figured we'd finish up our countries during the first week of the Olympics, and then have 'Best of' days for each continent.

Most of the countries I had left don't even have any Olympians to watch. In fact, South Sudan has only ever had THREE Olympians EVER (all of which competed in Rio).

But, South Sudan has an excuse. They are the newest country in the world. It quietly came to be on July 9, 2011. It's said that South Sudan was 'born out of more heartache and bloodshed than any other nation on the continent'. Their independence was preceded by a half-century long civil war that was fueled by oil riches, Christainty vs. Islam, Arab vs. black African, and Central government vs the rebels. It was Africa's longest running conflict.

But with it's split from Sudan, South Sudan had new life. For a whopping 17 months, before civil war broke out within it's new boarders.

It's no surprise, then, that the U.S. Department of State has an Official Travel Warning. It's at a 'level 4', meaning 'Do not Travel to South Sudan'. The capital city of Juba is not safe due to violent clashes between the government and rebel forces. There are violent assaults, harassment, ambushes, shootings, and even cattle raiding to look out for.

The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan suggests the country may be on the brink of catastrophe, being set for a 'repeat of what happened in Rwanda'.

With the door slammed shut on tourists, nobody can visit our landmark: Boma National Park. Due to the violent crime and instability, and even the lack of any sort of infrastructure, there are no park ranger outposts (I mean, there aren't even any roads).

But, it does have a migration that rivals that of the Serengeti. The major migration here isn't wildebeest and zebra though, it is the white eared Kob antelope, the Tiang Antelope, and the Mongalla Gazelle.

But no animal in South Sudan is more important than Bulls. They are so important there, people are actually named for them. White Bulls are the most prized, and are the ones sacrificed for celebrations.

The Dinka people of South Sudan are one of the largest ethnic groups in South Sudan. They vary their lifestyle by season – in the rainy season they live in permanent savannah settlements and raise grain crops like millet, while in the dry season they herd cattle along rivers throughout their region.

The Mundari tribe is one of the smallest tribes in South Sudan, but they are renowned for their facial scars and their traditional wrestling matches (using brown dust called ochre to stay protected from the sun). They also fiercely protect their cattle.

South Sudan is mostly flat, with the highlands being down to the south. The most interesting terrain is the Sudd, one of the world's largest swamps. It's nearly the size of England. Because of the vegetation that grows on top of the water in the Sudd, it's very difficult to travel through. It's too thick for boats, but not thick enough for roads. Though, remote swamp villages dot the area with homes being built on top of the water.

Since last Friday was the first day of the Olympics, I had to get all set up. I scheduled our events, figured out what they would all be and then made the board to keep track of it all.

We have our medals on the left. We decided without the boys doing projects on any country, they could just pair up with the country they had last winter olympics. Peyton, however, was paired with Russia last time, and they sort of got 'banned' from the Olympics this time for doping. So, basically we told him having the 'Olympic Athletes from Russia' was his punishment for winning with a bunch of cheaters last go around.

For each gold medal you or your country get, we tally up three points. Silvers are worth two, bronze are worth one.

At the end, the winner with the most points will win the gold medal, the second place finisher will get the silver medal, and third will recieve the bronze. But, we have to have smaller ' medals' for each individual event. If you win, you get to pick out of the 'gold' candy, 2nd place gets the 'silver' candy, and third place gets the bronze/orange candy.

We also had to make some things for our various events. We've got a couple skiing events, so I came up with the idea of grabbing some boards from Lowes, and some flip flops from the dollar store. A little duct tape here, a few staples there, and ta da! Skis! Asa actually came up with idea of using fence boards, and the angle they are cut at, at the top, are just perfect. We picked up some PVC pipe for our poles, and our skis were complete.

You also may or may not remember our Fenderson project . Basically a few years ago the boys were using clues they received in this mailbox from the 'Home Office' to track the fictional criminals, the Fendersons, and try and stop them from stealing landmarks. Since this is the end of our country project, I thought it would be fun to bring it back out. For a 17 year old kid, Calib sure was excited to see this mailbox sitting out. I mean, everyone was, as I did it as a total surprise, but I just found it funny as soon as they saw it they were all like 'Sweet. The Fenderson's Again!"

This time around the Home Office needs help identifying various pictures they found of various landmarks. The boys of course, will be compensated for their work. It took them a few days to figure out all the landmarks are the landmarks we've done over the last 13 months. You'd be surprised what they remember. They are allowed to use the rings of all the cards I made for each country to find the picture, but it's easier for them if they at least have an idea of where to look. They usually do pretty good with it too. Peyton will be like 'This looks like the Balkans', or you'll hear Calib say 'This has to be a Pacific Island country'. Hayden's actually the one that figured out they are all on the rings, and he didn't tell anyone, which was kind of funny. They are being compensated from the Home Office every couple a days with some money for their jar. (Sidenote: It took me hours to order all those pictures, and the person who printed them at Walgreens was probably very confused).

Anyway, last Friday was the first day of the Olympics, and the only Olympic event we have that isn't an official even is Opening Ceremonies Bingo.

After getting everything set up, we did our country and the boys made their postcards.

Calib's featured the importance of the bulls.

Peyton made the swamp of the Sudd.

And Hayden also featured a Bull.

I would have loved to have gone to Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for South Sudan (as a nod to Boma National Park), but we've got to count our pennies pretty closely these days.

Then of course, we could have had the floury pancake the kisra, although, to make it authentically, you're going to need to fry them in cow brains, so that was out. The aside, a porridge made from sorghum didn't seem to feasible either.

But really, what you find for South Sudan is pretty simple, recipe wise. So we thought we could do it on Opening Ceremonies Day, and have an 'Around the World Charcuterie' with something from South Sudan included in the options. Enter the Sudanese Aseeda Honey Dessert.

The dish itself didn't really earn any spoons up (though the charcuterie was popular).

It just seemed like somewhere it should have been cooked more. Asa even watched a youtube video about how to make it, and was like 'so, that's it then?' It's not that it was terrible, but it was like eating raw dough. (The honey and butter on top was pretty yummy though.)

After dinner we got ready to light out Olympic Flame. Of course, it starts with a torch relay, which made it's way from the kitchen, out the front door, around the house, back in the back door, and to Peyton, who claimed he should get to be the torch lighter, since he was the winner last Winter Olympic Games.

(Note, the cauldron is the same as it was for our Rio games, but we have it hung in the middle of the house this year, which is kind of fun. It only comes on when it's dark enough in the house, but it sure looks pretty at night.)

We all made our own flags too, and raised them next to the Olympic Flag. I hung the medals that are up for grabs at the end, and each day we've been moving the flags in order of who would win them if the Olympics ended that day.

Then it was time for Opening Ceremonies Bingo. I just changed a few things from our Summer Games one two years ago and then printed out six different ones. Peyton was at the library for the Anti-Valentines Day Dance that night, so he missed out- but mom kept track of his card for him. Meanwhile, I got bingo first and everyone cried it was rigged.

Since Peyton was gone, we waited until the next day to the medal ceremony and pick our candy. Mom was keeping track of Peyton's card and hers. They both won at the same time, and usually the tie breaker would be whoever said 'Bingo' first. But, that didn't work, since she was the one playing both cards- so we gave both mom and Peyton silver. Asa came in with the bronze.