Rabab's Posts (12)

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Here is my entry for Luci's short story challenge. I tried to make it within the limit of 70 words but failed miserably hehehe I know the plot is awkward I wanted to take the challenge so badly so forgive me .

         He couldn’t decipher the alien feeling he felt whenever he accidentally ran into her. One minute he was peacefully loading his shopping cart with toilet paper rolls; and the second he was brutally invaded with a hurricane of rampant emotions. She muttered shy greetings and hurried away cheeks blushing. Soaking in the light of this juvenile feeling; he knew he was destroying the barriers he set around his heart and bringing it back from its safety island. But he didn’t care. Just a small smile from her acts as a knife that shreds through all his fears and dare him to give up to this sweet torture called love.  

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Writing Challenge: Fathers.

This is my entry in Tara's writing challenge. I am glad to participate after so long time ^_^

My Father: The Ever-caring <3

At first I wanted to write about why I love my father, and then I decided I really can't write enough and I felt like no matter how good I am with words -which I am not- i cant convey how I feel fairly so I decided to share a tiny bit with you.

Even before my dear mother pass passed away I was my daddy's girl. He spoiled me as a kid and was always lenient in scolding me.

His care does not leave me as I grow up. His number one concern regarding me was and still is my eating habits. He believes that am not eating well and is very skinny. At school he used to give me rides to and form from school and if he knew that I was eating junk food he would cut off my money and force me to take meals from home. It was endearing and annoying at the same time. I grown grew to know that his actions are out of his love and care for me.

The funniest thing was when I went to college. Most my girl friends were in  relationships or engaged, so their men used to call and check on them all the time, for me it was always dad. He calls called to make sure i arrived safe, he calls called to know If I ate well, he calls called to see how my lectures went etc. And my friends used to laugh at my lack of relationships, except I was so proud and so surrounded with love and care that i didn't give a darn about their teasing.

He was and has always been my favorite guy, and I have never had and will never have someone as good for me as him.

May Allah bless and grant him health and happiness.

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You Waited, I Hesitated..

I want to share with you my friend's poem, her name is Lubaba and she is really great <3

Enjoy ^_^

Now you’re gone

And here I am

Waiting for nothing

To become

I never knew

That this is how I would feel

That you would go

And leave me here

But you waited

And I hesitated…..

 

I gave in too much to my fear

I couldn’t accept the passion I feel

I kept on denying

Building around me

All these seals

Never knew that

They would come

Crumbling down

Falling for you……

 

So I tried to appear

To be strong

I was afraid that you

Would cause me harm

So I made you see me wrong

My weakness hidden

Behind this iron face….

I closed my heart

So that I couldn’t see

So that I couldn’t hear

And slowly I

Drifted away……

 

And now here I stay

In my lonely place

Thinking of you

I wonder how your life has changed

Are you still the same?

Do you still smile

When you hear my name?

 

But you waited

And I hesitated

And now you’re gone

And here I am waiting

For nothing to become………

 

But I’m not going to lie and say I can’t sleep

I do sleep

All the time

Just to dream of your face

That’s all I do

Dream

Of wishes I know

Will not come true

Just imagining how

Things could have been

Detached from reality

In this sweet sin …..

 

Creating memories of things

That never were

Of words that were never said,,,,,

 

Of the way you used to look at me

Of the things in me

 That only you could see

Of the moments that would mean

So much to me…..

 

And though I know it makes no sense

For you I will wait

Because in my dreams

You are my fate…

 

And every time I think of you

I will smile

Bitter sweet smile

And every time they see me smile

They will think that I have

A story

A life full of glory

But they won’t know

That I drove you away

And in my dreams

I will always stay………

 

You waited

And I hesitated……….

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My My English Club

Hello My EC..

I am an old member who keeps coming back to my second home no matter how long I was away.. Or a proditor in other words as Deuce has called us.

Being here again with so many friends missing or hibernating; stirred a feeling of nostalgia that made me decide to write this blog. Which reflects how I see My EC, what benefits I gained "still gaining" from it as well as sharing the sweet memories I had with my friends here..

I have joined in October 2010 at first I was lost like every new member then I met Nadira in the main, sent her a message and asked for her help.."I have joined in October 2010__at first I was lost like every new member___then I met Nadira in the main, sent her a message and asked for her help.." As kind and generous teacher as she is, she showed me around and I wrote my first then my second blog which was her idea.. I was rewarded by many comments that I was really motivated as a new member.

Although am not a profound Blogger,writing, reading and commenting on blogs helped me the most. By doing this I met my best friends here we formed a nice funny little group wow gals of my ec: Anele,Talibah,Leea, Notears, Nida and me. Anele chose the name because notears's favorite word was woow she used it all the time. We started learning together and planning group blogging we would chose a challenge and made a list of our names to post our blogs in order. 

We would make skype conferences full of fun and teasing and laughter. Talibah ,who is a great blogger, have wrote many sweet imaginary blogs about us here named Behind the scenes of My EC. Those times were the best I have ever had in my ec.

Anele being the artist among us; designed a friendship badage for us- crazy huh?- once we all had it in our profiles with our avatars on it  :)

One the most activities I also enjoyed here was participating in the Audio speaking group and recording the weekly news and poems with my friends  :)

Even though, most of my old friends are not around now, am very happy to know them and I have sweet memories to cherish. Also, I have known new friends who are very nice and keen to learn and help learning.

I want to thank Josef or as I call him Mr President ;) for creating this place and Tara the ultimate supporter.  I want to mention here some names that I was/am familiar with. They are either good friends who encouraged me, or good bloggers that I enjoyed reading their blogs, or simply learning partners in this nice club.  Some of them are around some deleted their pages some are absent I  just wish that they are all fine and happy i am sorry if I forget someone.

 Martin my little brother :),  Mr Bob, Nadira, Karenina , Ensie, Nadiyah , Salim , Expector, Addel , Mr Night, Mayumi, Nafis Dreamer Man , Sweet Sandra, Dreamer Girl , Valentine , SKoon AlBahr, Adnan ,Ohnie, Joyce Fettermann, Zahra, Syed Ali, Valentine, Natasha, Ramona, Grace, Marcos, Siria, Surawan, Alexandra, Teacher Beverly Stout "who helped me  A LOT am thankful" , Robbie, Yasemin and my new friends: U Shaikh, bright-rubies, Syed Fahim, Hamza, Waleed and last but not the least Rosemary. 

The best thing about My EC that you always find people who make it fun to learn. 

*************************************************************************

Nido this blog is dedicated to YOU, please STOP SHOWERING MY PAGE WITH YOUR ANNOYING SPAM-COMMENTS UGH

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How to describe food??

Hello every body.

Hope you are doing fine.

 

Have you ever tried to describe food?

The kind of fruit you like or your favorite meal. How does it taste. It's shape and how does it feel? How its  textures feel in the mouth?!

I did and I was shocked by my Lack for the right words. 

I was chatting with my dear friend Martin about kinds of fruits that we have in Sudan and they don't in Slovak, and the opposite. We both were stumped when we tried to describe them to each other.

It's easier to talk about the shape but not other aspects.

 

What is the right vocabulary that we use to do so??

Searching for a word in google translate doesn't help much because I will search them in my language and it's not the same.


Let's learn this together. How about choosing a common fruit of any kind of food in your country or home town and try to describe it to us?

We will gain both knowledge and vocabulary.

Thanks in advance. (^_^)

 

Martin thanks for the inspiring chat (^_*) I may be able to describe how mango taste soon ^_^ lol

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Paraphrasing Seth's blog "Looking for the right excuse"

 

Going through the blogs topics I found many interesting blogs. This one has caught my attention. May be because I noticed this weakness in me and many of my people :S.


As I understand, Seth thinks that searching for excuses is the first step of project failure. Basically, blaming someone else makes us feel better and free of load.As he mentioned looking for excuses can even happens proactively (before actually starting the project). For example a person who is about to take a project if he is from "the looking for excuses type" would think this way; "I will take it and if it doesn't work then the reasons would be this and this".  Seth thinks that these kinds of people are naturally failures because they have already planned their excuses and are ready to present them.

Seth suggests an alternative; why not stop looking for excuses? Why don't we join the team of "avoiding excuses"? This way we would need none and success will take place. Why feel anxious from seeing cops when you are in the safe side.

 

 

Source: Godin, Seth Seth's Blog [Internet]. New York.: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/excuse-112.html

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Finally, its sunset. What a Relief. Relaxation starts to take its place in my whole body replacing the tension I was feeling all day. After I was sure that everybody is home; cradling in my nest I was ready to sleep.  Wait a moment  I just remembered that my friend Rabab wants me to do something before sleeping. Of course I can spare a few minutes to help my friend regardless of the fact that my body is yearning for sleep. But that what are friends for. They are just there when you need them and I know she is under pressurized by nida and anele who kept filling her page with their “irritating comments” lately so she would post this blog. Poor Rabab I do pity her. And notears instead of helping her she asked for money to do so. I bet that Leea, Nadiyah and even Talibah would be more merciful if they were around.

 Anyway, to start with I want to say hello to all My EC family. Rabab has invited me to share a day in my life with you. Firstly, I would like to introduce my self. I am a bird. To be more specific, I am a dove. We do have names in our language but Rabab likes to call me little Birdy. I don’t mind so you can do too. I used to live by myself then recently I joined a flock and we are living in a beautiful small forest. My new nest is small but rather comfortable. And the view from here is wondrous, and this huge branch over there makes a good cover. This tree is my favorite it locates on the middle of “light beam forest”.This name completely matches my new homeland. Every morning the sun sends its beams towards the forest. The penetrating beams reach to every part of the forest spreading hopes of a better new day.

 

Mornings are every bird’s most favorable time of the day, and for me this place makes it even more favorable.  I wake up every morning full of hope and excitement to join the flock in group foraging and exploring. To be honest this isn’t applicable for vigilance days. Like this day. Oh what a long day. Thank God that I will do lesser vigilance days in this group because it’s the largest group I have ever joined. Are you lost? Ok let me make this clear. According to our law which controls birds living in groups; members cooperate in protecting the group from predators and every one expend some time and energy for the benefit of the group. With a punctual schedule a daily new set of guards are determined from the group members. Their mission is to watch out for predators or other dangers by locating on the edges of the foraging group. This group must spend most of their time watching out leaving the others to forage safely and carefree. A special warning signal is triggered in the case of a predator threat and the flock flies up immediately. As you know many of the predators rely on the element of surprise to catch their prey. That’s why group vigilance has a survival value to us. Oops, look at me I am talking like a boring guard now.

Back to my day events; today was my turn to join the guards. Whenever it comes I feel great responsibility, taking care of all these numbers of lives is a heavy load. Fortunately the day ended in peace. We headed to the eastern part of the forest. I was happy because I know that area very well. Due to my knowledge and experience in the eastern field I became the leader of the mission.  I decided that I can use this to show off a bit hoping that “Black Diamond” would notice. For my great joy it happened and I spotted her eyeing me with admiration. BINGO.

 Before you start to make assumptions; let me tell you something about our world. It’s universally known that making families and having kids protecting every species from the danger of extinction. By living in groups our chance to meet our mates is increasing, but guess what? The competition is increasing a long with it. So it’s a fair game and I would do anything I can to make Black Diamond interested in me. Rabab thinks that the name suits her because of the amazingly glittering feathers that forming a collar around her little neck. That look in her eyes was the best thing happened to me in the whole day. Was it my imagination or she was trying to get a closer position to me while foraging?? Well, she was close enough to talk to me but she didn’t. For my surprise that was disappointing even though I am one of those who repeatedly urged the group not to distract a vigilant bird unless you have a good reason. Still, a small word from her would have made me live in heaven for days.  Oh I would keep talking about her for days but I know I must have exhausted your quota of patience by now.

After that nothing remarkable happened. Not a single alarm was send which is a great bonus to our vigilance group. May be its just luck that kept the Goshawks, who form our greatest fear, away from us today or maybe the eastern part is not their favorite. Whatever the reason I was delighted that everyone is safe after my shift.

Piggy ,my best friend, did a great job today. He overcame his greatest challenge which is eating. Vigilant bird spend only little time eating. For most of us it’s not a big deal. But for Piggy it’s different. His first passion is food and he had a hard time curbing this to do his work properly. I was amazed by his persistence at the end he did it. I am proud of him. I couldn’t help laughing when I saw his nest full of fruit pieces when we returned. I bet that “Wind” has spent all the day collecting them for him. She is a great wife indeed. Now am sure that My EC friends think that am a talkative bird thank you notears I must have infected from her. Sorry for keeping you so long, that’s was a day of my life. Tomorrow wouldn’t be the same. Yahoo I won’t be guarding and I will have much free time for fun ;). Now I will tuck my head under my wing and sleep dreaming about a better day.

Bye Bye My EC nice to talk to you.

 

P.S. Supported by google images and Talibah's Ray of Hope photo :) Thanks Talibah ;)

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This blog is dedicated to the soul of my beloved mother may Allah rest her soul. And to all great mothers that colour our life with their unconditional love and care. WE ARE GRATEFUL.

 

  1. DO NOT EVER upset your mother. By saying or doing something rude or inappropriate. Or not obeying her.  If you did; apologize instantly even if she wasn't mad at you. I can’t forget when once I was angry and I addressed my mother in a discourteaus way. She didn't say a word and I forgot the whole thing. After she passed away. The memory of that day came to me in a flash and since then this memory has been torturing me every moment. I wish I had died before I had said it.   



2.  Don't leave a chance without telling your mother how much you love her and how much you appreciate what she has been doing for you and your family. I wish I had done that more often. I can't change this now but you can. Whar are you waiting for go hug her and tell her you love her more than anything and more than anyone. I am dying to do that only once more.

 

3.  Show her that you also care. Help your mother in the house works even if she doesn't ask to. Ask about her food if she ate well or not if she slept well or not; simply do few things that she always has been doing for you. That will convey how you do care about her I wouldn't say "as much as she does" because there is no care that compared to mother's.  My mother was too caring to ask me to help her except for small things. 10 years ago in my teens I was too superficial to feel the importance of helping her. It was a secondary issue for me and I admit it I was self centered. Be wiser and Learn from my mistakes.

 

4.     Make your mother your best friend. Tell her about your friends and what you do when you are  together. About your study, school, teachers and class mates. Even tell her your secrets. Why not?? You will never have someone as good for you as your mother. You will make her happy by this intimacy. And she will show you the right path. We were friends my mother and I. But I wish I had made more efforts to be even closer.

 

 

5.  Take a part in her interests. Even if it doesn’t enjoy you. As an example it won’t hurt you to offer to accompany her to visit a relative or a friend which you don’t enjoy their company. Those small sacrifices won’t cost you much. Instead it will brings her great joy feeling her own daughter on her side sharing her things that she enjoys doing. I miss her badly that I wish I hadn't lost any chance to be with her.

 

 

P.S. I wish from the depth of my heart that daughters from all ages take my advice. Before it’s too late. The idea of this blog may sounds cruel; honestly I don’t want anyone to live through the unbearable pain of mother loss. But in this life parting is unavoidable. So I want others to benefit from my experience make your mother happy because the only condolence then is feeling that you deserved her remission and satisfaction.

May Allah grant all mothers health and happiness. And for the departed mothers I pray may they rest in peace.

 

Supported by Google images.

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Kitty:

This is insane am I a suspect now! I just can’t believe this is happening. I was trying to put on a tranquil face in the detective office, despite the uneasiness I felt. Now he is working on papers on his desk. Can’t he do this after questioning me? Waiting just makes me more nervous or maybe he is doing this on purpose?

Again I tried not to focus on his frightening figure. How anyone could think that I might steel Gingey’s candy?  I wasn’t even any place around him when all this happened. I was studying in my room with Daisy. Daisy, my best friend her face was white when she walked out of the door few moments ago. I couldn’t find a chance to talk to her, because they called my name immediately after her exit. But when our eyes met hers were worried and troubled I think I read a hint of guilt on them. I don’t doubt her loyalty but she can easily slipped out during the negotiation and tell the detective that I have been out for few times when we were together. I started to clasp and unclasp my hands in nervous motions the detective glanced quickly at me and then dropped his eyes on the papers again.  Perfect, I mumbled under my breath, now he will take it as a sign of guilt. Well, it is but the guilt I feel has nothing to do with Gingy’s candy. I feel guilty because if Daisy slipped out and told the detective then I have to admit where I was and what I was doing. I don’t want to; it’s embarrassing besides what Daisy would think about me if she discovered that I was sneaking out to take bites from my chocolate bar? I know it’s mean but I am a chocoholicand I can do nothing about it. I don’t like to share my chocolate with any one even my best friend. Oh God helps me I know what I have done was mean but it doesn’t compare to stealing. I may not share my things with others but I would never ever take theirs. Especially Gingy’s candy. For God sake why would I do it?? Yes I love strawberry but not as much as Nibs does.  That braggart little thing. I tried not to be prejudiced but I wish the shrewd detective would find out it was him who did it. I enjoyed the idea for a moment and smiled to myself. He has got the motive- his strawberry weakness isn’t a secret anymore I have spotted him gazing passionately at Gingey’s candy several times I am sure others did too. Besides he speaks profusely about gingerbread’s morals and how a “good gingerbread” should be. Why on earth he keeps repeating this unless he is a fraudulent trying to look pious. I rolled my eyes in disgust. I doubt anyone knows him enough to ever defend him. Putting on those snobbish looks anyone hardly would speak to him. At this point I felt the detective eyes on me I adjusted myself in my seat, inhaled a deep breath and raised my head to face his penetrating gaze. 

***********

Thanks for reading. If you noticed I have tried to link my story with Nida's and Talibah's :)

Waiting for your comments and corrections.

                                                                                  

 

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Salaaam my friends,How are you today? Hope you are just fine.Admittedly, I was hesitant to post this blog for many reasons; first I don’t think I am qualified enough to right about “secrets of learning English”. I am neither a teacher nor an advanced learner. Second I am pretty sure that Tara, Expector Smith, Nadira and other member’s blogs with the same topic have thoroughly covered this topic, so I was shy because I knew my blog would be just low quality version from what they have already done. Then I started to look at it from a different point of view, it will be just sharing my personal experiences with my friends like what we have done in a former blog. Also I won’t call it my 7 “secrets” this word made me nervous like am an expert, obviously am not. So it will be just 7 little tips from my personal experience in learning English. After that I found the courage to do it considering that sharing a little is better than nothing and I can gain a lot in return my friend’s comments and thoughts which mean a lot and of course blogging itself is a way of learning as Tara has suggested. So here we go :1- Interest:

The main motivator of learning should be your interest in English not just because you have to learn for exam or whatever.2- Patience:

When it comes to languages we wish to learn faster but we have to be patient and eventually we will get the fruit because “ All things are difficult before they are easy “3- Practice:

All what we have learnt may be lost if we didn’t practice it. Practice makes perfect.4- Reading:

Reading must be fun. Start with simple stories. Never ever read a higher level book; it would be frustrating and you would give up reading, which is a vital tool of learning. Reading will make you more familiar with the cultures and the structure of the language, which result in more understanding.5- Don’t be afraid of making mistakes:

The knowledge that we gain from failure can’t be taught by any teacher, it’s a constant knowledge you will never ever repeat the same mistake. So don’t be wishy washy do it make mistake dust it off and learn from them. In Arabic we have a saying I don’t know if there is a similar one in English; it says that two kind if people never learn; the arrogant and the shy. Because the shy won’t ask and the arrogant thinks he knows everything and no one is good enough to teach him.6- Watch in English:

movies, series, programs and news choose what you are interested in and feel the spoken language it’s a great pleasure to feel how natives use it. I think learning the structure is more challenging than learning grammar or vocabulary and good tools to learn the structure is by reading and watching.7- Join a learning group:

Do it the way you like. Learning process is more fun when sharing. Make discussion sessions and speak on different topics. Present seminars’, doing English presentations is a very helpful learning tool. Arrange reading clubs, read together and in loud, discuss what you have read. Ask for help and offer to help.My marketing plan is:1. Send messages to friends.2. Post the link in some friends pages “focusing in the most popular pages; p”.3. Share the link in the chat rooms. Thanks Nadira:DNo creative thoughts:( I was never good in marketing.I hope you will find it helpful and I really want to know your opinions and ideas.Thanks in advance."Images are Google's images"
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About Sudan

Profile:Sudan is the largest African country by area. The country is situated at a crossroads between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Kenya and Uganda to the southeast, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. It is the tenth largest country in the world by area.Official Name: The Republic of the SudanCapital: Khartoum, 15°31′N, 32°35′EOfficial languages: Arabic, EnglishGovernment: Government of National UnityIndependence fromEgypt and the UK : 1st January 1956Total Area: 1 million sq milePopulation(estimate 2009.) 42,272,000Currency: Sudanese poundTime zone: GMT+3 hours

Environment :Sudan is mainly composed of extensive plains or ironstone soils in the South, clay in the central regions and sand in the North and West. There are few mountainous areas of which the principal ones are the Imatong in the South, Jebel Marra in the West, and the Red Sea Hilis'lin the East.Out of the 13 mammalian orders in Africa, 12 can be found in Sudan. 1,931 species of birds were recorded in Sudan.. "Nilotic" fauna, (24 families and 106 species). Similarly, the insect fauna estimated at least 100 species of insect pests in Sudan.

Climate:As Sudan lies wholly within the tropics, it has a tropical climate. The greater part of the country falls under the influence of the trade winds; hence, it has generally hot, rainy summers and warm, dry winters. Because of its huge area, there is a great variation in rain, where it scarcely rains in the north; the average rainfall is 25 mm. Whereas in the south it Gabal Marra reaches up to 1500mmThe main rainy season is July to September but occasional showers fall in May- June particularly in the higher rainfall areas in the South. The Red Sea Hills receive Monsoon rains during the months of October and NovemberMarch through June are characterized by high temperatures, reaching up to 42 degrees Centigrade at daytime and 27 degrees Centigrade during the night. July through October are mild and benign, with the commencement of the rainy season. November through February are temperate with short cold breezy spells, bringing the temperature to 30 degrees Centigrade at daytime and to less than 16 degrees Centigrade at night.

Nile:The waters of the Nile gather from many countries - Tanzania, Kenya, Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia, form the River NileWhite Nile and Blue Nile are the main features of the country, on their banks civilization has flourished during ancient times.The three towns Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North located at the junction of the Blue and White Niles are the heart of urban Sudan with a population estimated at three and half million.For the 1,880 miles from Khartoum to the Mediterranean, it receives no perennial tributaries and is believed to be the longest stretch of river in the world.

Natural ResourcesSudan is rich in natural resources, featured as:Vast arable lands, suitable for cultivation, estimated at 200 million feddans.Extensive areas of forests, acacia trees and pastures, occupying almost 250 million feddans.A large reserve of cattle and sheep estimated at more than 100 million heads, with cattle estimated at 30 million, sheep 37 million, goats 33 million and camels 3 million.Huge water resources in terms of river waters, rainfall together with vast underground water reservoirs.The diverse climatic conditions across all parts of the country, which makes it suitable for the cultivation of various crops and fruits the whole year round.Rich mineral resources, which have not been fully exploited or explored up to date.In addition to petroleum and natural gas, they include: gold, silver, chrome, asbestos, manganese, gypsum, mica, zinc, iron, lead, uranium, copper, kaolin, cobalt, granite, nickel and tin.

People:There are more than 300 tribes in Sudan. The people come from numerous different ethnic backgrounds, mainly Arab in the north, and African in the south. About 60 per cent of the population are Muslim, 25 per cent are Animist, and 15 per cent Christian.Arabic is the official language, but there are more than 100 tribal languages, many of which are spoken by large numbers of people.In my opinion the most special thing about Sudan among all these is his kind and friendly people.I invite all my friends in My EC to visit us :))

For more Information please visit my resources :http://www.sudanembassy.orgWebsite of the Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan-London
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Hello everybody.first of all I would like to introduce my self Am a new member from Sudan,My name is RababAm really glad and so excited to join EC hope to make a good addition to the site, make nice friends and of course improve my language :))This post to share our experiences in learning English, what are the ways or the tools that really helped u improve??I will share mine as well but I would like to hear from some of u first....'Don't make me wait :D
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