Megan and I were invited to the Niang family reunion in Jider El Moghen. So far we have learned to love the Niangs so we were really excited. They are a Wolof family and had people coming in from all along the Senegal river, both the Mauritanian and the Senegal side. Since the reunion was hosted in Jider, our friends, NDieye and Bobacar were in charge of providing the food. We went over at 8 in the morning to peel potatoes and slaughter some sheep. They bought 40kilos of potatoes, same amount of onions, and killed 2 sheep for one of the biggest feasts I have ever been a part of. It was my first sheep slaughter and it was really gross, I have to admit I felt kind of wrong watching it. If you want to see pictures check out my new album, "Vegetarians and Anna close your eyes." It did taste delicious though. The women were in their element sitting around gossiping and laughing and making food. Then the family came to town, easily over 50 people. They definatly brought with them a little Woolof flavor. As the first guests arrived, some of the women turned the giant metal bowls over and started banging on them like drums and all of the guests started dancing and waving their arms in the air as only African women can do. They tried to make us dance too but lets face it, African women have a little more junk in the trunk and are inherently better at shaking it than us toubabs- who did some lame form of the cabbage patch and ducked quickly out of the circle. Even the grandmas were getting their groove on. When I return to the states I expect this sort of welcoming so all of you better start perfecting your dance moves now. I am sure that Kare has some sort of African music CD that you can practice to; right?
Another note on these women is that they are absolutely beautiful with perfect Beyonce bodies, and a lot of the men are taller than the average basketball player in America. Hollywood and the MBA should do some major recruiting here. Actually, I am just kidding about that because I would not want to necessarily corrupt their peaceful lives. It is interesting because so many people here just assume that since you are American you must be rich. We have had some very interesting conversations with people telling them, to their disbelief, that there are poor people in America. In my opinion, which is clearly just an opinion, being poor in America is more desolate than here because at least in Mauritania people are taken care of. It is part of their religion to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. Regardless of their religious obligations however, Mauritania is also a very hospitable country and I have seen many families make excess food for every meal to give to the poorer families or the can kids. Can kids are those kids whose parents are so poor they cannot take care of them so they are sent to live at the mosque where they are given cans and told to ask for money on the streets. It is very sad, but for the most part they do not look overly malnourished, and I have seen many kids with food at the end of the day. Anyways, what I am trying to say is that I feel like life here is rich with support from family and community. It is fun to talk to people and have them understand that America is a land of opportunity but it also comes with sacrafice. For instance, they find it incredible that I both attended university and had a job; and my college was not free. We explain how hard some people have to work just to scrape by and it helps them appreciate the value of tea time and siestas I think.
We also found a Woolof tutor at the reunion. His name is Oumar and I can actually understand his french, so that is pretty cool. We will start next week sometime. I don't know how ready I am to try to learn a 3rd language in 4 months but I think it will be really beneficial to learn Woolof in my community. Plus the African languages are so much more fun to say than arabic. "Leggy leggy" is see you later. Fun right?
Oumar also caught us up on some gossip in town and I now feel like part of the in crowd. It seems as though melodramas even happen in conservative countries; maybe it is all the spanish soap operas they watch.
I have been getting pretty good at handy work too. Megan and I have made shelves from one log piece of wood, and we made a fence for our garden. We will start planting soon.
As far as work goes, I am in Rosso now and starting tomorrow I will be attending a week long AIDS conference with both Mauritanian individuals and Peace Corps. It is a training of how to work with people with AIDS and how to do different workshops. I am pretty excited, I think it will be interesting. When I return to Jider I think my first project will be a simple one that doesn't require much language. I plan to do a mural on the wall of the dispensaire that illustrates healthy foods and food groups. This way I can hang out and get to know my co-workers better, as well as practice my language. I also will be able to take advantage of small lessons on malnutrition with people who come by and ask what I am doing.
Megan and I got hennaed again the other day by the mayor's little sister. It was fun to hang out with her family because her 9 children are crazy! They served us dinner while we were there and Megan had not gotten the bags off her hands yet so she had to eat spaghetti noodles with bags on her hands with a spoon. It was really entertaining.
Anyways, that is all for now I think. Check out my pictures for illustrations of all this.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Brusse Taxi?
Uncle Pat found this picture. He says this is how Jaime rolls! Does this look right, Jaime?Jaime will be in Rosso over this coming weekend, so anybody who can Skype, try to call her!!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
i survived a scorpion... what else you got?
This experience has tried my comfort zone and made me do things I have never done before. I will share some of my experiences here. In the last month I have fasted with locals, had in depth conversations in another language, eaten mayo on bread, worn silver nail polish, got bit by a scorpion, made mosquito repellent for a community, bought a baby goat, and started building myself a home.
I know the silver nail polish part of it seems random right? But I found some sparkly silver nail polish that I would never wear under normal circumstances. But these are nowhere near normal circumstances. I put some on and it made me feel like a girl again! haha. It reminds me a little of star trek or something. Maybe that is also because I have been couped up in Rosso watching endless marathons of "Battle Star Galactica" for a few days. It is the first thing I hear in the morning, and now these boys have the video game too so it is non stop! I have to admit that it was entertaining but I have missed a lot of episodes and now I don't know what the "frack" (as they would say) is going on. haha, I cannot believe I just said that. The girls in Trarza region have to get our hands on the sex and the city series, or something equally as obnoxiously girly to regain control of the living room.
On a more serious note, Ramadan has been interesting but it is finally almost over. We have 3 more days until Eid, which is the big party that finalizes Ramadan and restores order to people's lives. I say 3 days but it could be more or less depending on when we see the moon again- because that actually signifies the commencement of the festivities. People are really on edge and extra crabby, which I can totally understand because Megan and I decided to fast for a total of 3 long, hot days and it was difficile. It did make breaking fast at dusk more enjoyable though, I never felt like I really earned a glass of juice before but I definatly deserved it after a long day of not eating or drinking. We mostly did it just because we do not have a market in town and since no one makes lunch (because they are fasting) we couldn't even mooch off of others lunches; but it was still fun to really feel the pain with our community. The hardest part is at 6:30 pm when there is only about 30 minutes left and you can smell what people are making. Then when you can eat, the food tastes so much better. We also got up at 4:30 in the morning to eat bread and mayonnaise before the sun rose to try to hold us over until dusk. I don't know if it helped but it was fun eating in a sleepy daze. Megan cheated once during the day and had 4 skittles. She was so funny about it, but I told her that allah would probably forgive her because she is new. Our community loved that we were fasting and said that we were true bilaniya (locals).
I am learning French from listening to Megan speak. I can understand it pretty well but cannot form sentences, especially when Hassaniya is trying to seep out of my mouth. It is funny though because Megan says things in French that she would say in English and just directly translates it. I don't know if the translation always works with the English humor because sometimes people just stare at her, but I get what she is trying to say and I laugh. It is as though she is only speaking to me sometimes and we are in our own little toubab world. We are able to have some good conversations with some of our new friends. I never thought I would be able to have conversations about African history, the refugee tents in our town, why not all Americans are like Bush, and even dispelling rumors that Christopher Columbus was the first person to discover America with locals in a small African town in their own language! And all this in only 3 months, I cannot wait to see what progress I have left in the next 2 years. That's right, a week ago we celebrated our 3 month mark! It has gone by so fast, hasn't it? I bet you didn't even realize I was gone yet!
My mom asked me if I have done any work yet and I laughed. During Ramadan people don't like to work much. But I did make my first batch of neem cream, the mosquito repellent. Our new Wolof friend, Bobacar, helped us find a neem tree and collect leaves. Then we boiled a liter of leaves with a liter of water. While the water was heating we cut up the local peanut soap into shreads in a bucket. Then we added the hot water and some oil and whipped it up until it was creamy. We did it in front of Bobacar's house and all the people living around him came to see what the crazy toubabs were doing and I told them how mosquito's didn't like the smell of neem cream and that although it doesn't kill mosquitos it does decrease the amount of bites. They went wild for it and everyone ran back to get little jars or baggies or socks to fill up on their personal stash. The kids loved it and were digging their hands in and having cream wars with each other. Bobacar said that that night everyone put it on. He also said some people were confused because they still got bites. I will have to explain again that it just reduces the amount of bites because it really works and I want people to use it because these kids are so cute and I don't want anyone getting malaria while I am here. I did not have my camera, sadly, but plan to do it again when I return.
The neem cream day was a lot of fun until that night. After we broke fast with Bobacar's family we were just lounging around in the dark, waiting for our second dinner and stumbling through a conversation in French when I jumped up and started screaming. I had a sharp bite on my right knee and when I reached into my skirt to flick the bugger away it fell on my left leg and got me again before I was able to grab it and throw it away. It was a scorpion. I felt it in my hand and my knee instantly went numb. By the time we found a flashlight it was gone so I did not get to have my revenge. They assured me that scorpions here are not deadly and that I should live until morning. I stayed for the second dinner and then went home where I just took some benedryl and retired to my tent. I was excited to get back to reading "Twilight," a vampire romance novel which I was surprisingly enthralled in considering it was my first vampire or romance novel. The benedryl made me really tired but I wanted to finish my last chapter because the main character had just gotten bit by a vampire and things were getting intense. She was describing the venom pulsing through her blood as my own scorpion venom was pulsing up and down my now completely numb leg. I was drifting in and out of my own vampire drama in my head under a benedryl daze when a bat who made a home in the front entryway flew over my head squeeking in an alarming way. I freaked out and almost ran to seek shelter in Megan's tent. Needless to say, I survived the night and my Wolof friends made fun of me the next day for being so worried about the scorpion. I don't care what they say, I still think its a major feat. The next night I was very jumpy to everything around me. I made somewhat of a scene when a giant spider crawled on my arm and our friend, Mohammed, said "you study biology, you should not be afraid of haphabas" I don't care what I studied, feeling a creepy crawly on my arm sends shivers down my spine.
We have also made some productive steps in making a garden! We have to put a fence up first because the goats would have a hay day with our plants if we did not protect it. To make a fence we first had to gather big sticks to bury in the ground for our posts. Megan and I just wandered off trying to find sticks when we realized we may need some tools or some sort of directional help in the matter. We asked our neighbor and she volunteered her young son and his friend who had come over to play to help us. They both shot her a "maaaam" sort of look and begrudgingly grabbed a very dull "axe" and led us off towards our trees. After a few hours of cutting down limbs off trees and taking off all the leaves and twigs we had our posts for our garden and paid the kids in smartees and warheads for their help. They were very appreciative for the bon bons but were a little confused about the sourness of the warheads. The looks on their faces were priceless.
We also learned how to make maafe, which is meat, rice, and potatoes with a peanuty sauce. It is so good and we have been obsessed over it since my host family made it a few months ago. We asked my counterpart, Dado to teach us. We bought all the supplies and went over to her house to dig in. It was delicious! I ate until I couldn't even move anymore. Her daughter, Fatimatou, is the cutest baby I have ever seen and she tried helping a bit too. She new better than I did about some things. I am excited to get to watch her grow up.
My mom filled me in a little about goings on on the home front and it made me miss you all like crazy! Here are a few shout outs:
-Grandma: I got your package! Thanks! One of the drink packets exploded and my hands are now died red, which is amusing. Everyone appreciates the magazines so we can keep up on our hollywood gossip. I can't believe Bernie Mac died!
-Grandpa: You would love it here. Everyone likes to talk a lot and share their life stories, I have used almost a whole roll of duck tape and twisty ties putting my room together, and they love their second hand baseball caps here. I found some really funny ones in the market with laundry detergent on it and stuff.
-Anna: Have fun at homecoming! I wish I was there to do your hair, even if you, like me, would never fully admit to liking what was done with your hair. Either way, I am sure you will look beautiful. Make sure mom takes at least a few pictures where she does not chop the top of your head off. I heard you are a stud in athletic training class. Mike would be so proud! haha. I am as well; but not surprised, I knew you would be!
-Tarah: I heard you swam varsity on the relay! That's my girl! How did it go? I wish I was back in highschool for just one more swim meet, I miss swimming so hard you can't even pull yourself out of the pool. I am truly jealous you are just starting your high school journey, love every second and don't take yourself too seriously cause this time is so much fun! Take care of my sister for me. I know you two have each other's backs.
-Sam: I loved getting to talk to you last night. You and Ryan should get on your applications right away so I can come visit you. There is a cruise that goes from capetown south africa to Rio. If you end up in South America maybe I can do that and then swing by you. Are you having a heart attack yet mom?
-Kev: Get your visa and think seriously of coming to visit. You won't regret it. Enough said.
In general I hear that America is in a bind right now and I hope that everyone is staying happy and healthy. If Obama is not elected president I may not return home and I suggest everyone moves here instead, we can build a little compound in the country and live happily ever after.
I know the silver nail polish part of it seems random right? But I found some sparkly silver nail polish that I would never wear under normal circumstances. But these are nowhere near normal circumstances. I put some on and it made me feel like a girl again! haha. It reminds me a little of star trek or something. Maybe that is also because I have been couped up in Rosso watching endless marathons of "Battle Star Galactica" for a few days. It is the first thing I hear in the morning, and now these boys have the video game too so it is non stop! I have to admit that it was entertaining but I have missed a lot of episodes and now I don't know what the "frack" (as they would say) is going on. haha, I cannot believe I just said that. The girls in Trarza region have to get our hands on the sex and the city series, or something equally as obnoxiously girly to regain control of the living room.
On a more serious note, Ramadan has been interesting but it is finally almost over. We have 3 more days until Eid, which is the big party that finalizes Ramadan and restores order to people's lives. I say 3 days but it could be more or less depending on when we see the moon again- because that actually signifies the commencement of the festivities. People are really on edge and extra crabby, which I can totally understand because Megan and I decided to fast for a total of 3 long, hot days and it was difficile. It did make breaking fast at dusk more enjoyable though, I never felt like I really earned a glass of juice before but I definatly deserved it after a long day of not eating or drinking. We mostly did it just because we do not have a market in town and since no one makes lunch (because they are fasting) we couldn't even mooch off of others lunches; but it was still fun to really feel the pain with our community. The hardest part is at 6:30 pm when there is only about 30 minutes left and you can smell what people are making. Then when you can eat, the food tastes so much better. We also got up at 4:30 in the morning to eat bread and mayonnaise before the sun rose to try to hold us over until dusk. I don't know if it helped but it was fun eating in a sleepy daze. Megan cheated once during the day and had 4 skittles. She was so funny about it, but I told her that allah would probably forgive her because she is new. Our community loved that we were fasting and said that we were true bilaniya (locals).
I am learning French from listening to Megan speak. I can understand it pretty well but cannot form sentences, especially when Hassaniya is trying to seep out of my mouth. It is funny though because Megan says things in French that she would say in English and just directly translates it. I don't know if the translation always works with the English humor because sometimes people just stare at her, but I get what she is trying to say and I laugh. It is as though she is only speaking to me sometimes and we are in our own little toubab world. We are able to have some good conversations with some of our new friends. I never thought I would be able to have conversations about African history, the refugee tents in our town, why not all Americans are like Bush, and even dispelling rumors that Christopher Columbus was the first person to discover America with locals in a small African town in their own language! And all this in only 3 months, I cannot wait to see what progress I have left in the next 2 years. That's right, a week ago we celebrated our 3 month mark! It has gone by so fast, hasn't it? I bet you didn't even realize I was gone yet!
My mom asked me if I have done any work yet and I laughed. During Ramadan people don't like to work much. But I did make my first batch of neem cream, the mosquito repellent. Our new Wolof friend, Bobacar, helped us find a neem tree and collect leaves. Then we boiled a liter of leaves with a liter of water. While the water was heating we cut up the local peanut soap into shreads in a bucket. Then we added the hot water and some oil and whipped it up until it was creamy. We did it in front of Bobacar's house and all the people living around him came to see what the crazy toubabs were doing and I told them how mosquito's didn't like the smell of neem cream and that although it doesn't kill mosquitos it does decrease the amount of bites. They went wild for it and everyone ran back to get little jars or baggies or socks to fill up on their personal stash. The kids loved it and were digging their hands in and having cream wars with each other. Bobacar said that that night everyone put it on. He also said some people were confused because they still got bites. I will have to explain again that it just reduces the amount of bites because it really works and I want people to use it because these kids are so cute and I don't want anyone getting malaria while I am here. I did not have my camera, sadly, but plan to do it again when I return.
The neem cream day was a lot of fun until that night. After we broke fast with Bobacar's family we were just lounging around in the dark, waiting for our second dinner and stumbling through a conversation in French when I jumped up and started screaming. I had a sharp bite on my right knee and when I reached into my skirt to flick the bugger away it fell on my left leg and got me again before I was able to grab it and throw it away. It was a scorpion. I felt it in my hand and my knee instantly went numb. By the time we found a flashlight it was gone so I did not get to have my revenge. They assured me that scorpions here are not deadly and that I should live until morning. I stayed for the second dinner and then went home where I just took some benedryl and retired to my tent. I was excited to get back to reading "Twilight," a vampire romance novel which I was surprisingly enthralled in considering it was my first vampire or romance novel. The benedryl made me really tired but I wanted to finish my last chapter because the main character had just gotten bit by a vampire and things were getting intense. She was describing the venom pulsing through her blood as my own scorpion venom was pulsing up and down my now completely numb leg. I was drifting in and out of my own vampire drama in my head under a benedryl daze when a bat who made a home in the front entryway flew over my head squeeking in an alarming way. I freaked out and almost ran to seek shelter in Megan's tent. Needless to say, I survived the night and my Wolof friends made fun of me the next day for being so worried about the scorpion. I don't care what they say, I still think its a major feat. The next night I was very jumpy to everything around me. I made somewhat of a scene when a giant spider crawled on my arm and our friend, Mohammed, said "you study biology, you should not be afraid of haphabas" I don't care what I studied, feeling a creepy crawly on my arm sends shivers down my spine.
We have also made some productive steps in making a garden! We have to put a fence up first because the goats would have a hay day with our plants if we did not protect it. To make a fence we first had to gather big sticks to bury in the ground for our posts. Megan and I just wandered off trying to find sticks when we realized we may need some tools or some sort of directional help in the matter. We asked our neighbor and she volunteered her young son and his friend who had come over to play to help us. They both shot her a "maaaam" sort of look and begrudgingly grabbed a very dull "axe" and led us off towards our trees. After a few hours of cutting down limbs off trees and taking off all the leaves and twigs we had our posts for our garden and paid the kids in smartees and warheads for their help. They were very appreciative for the bon bons but were a little confused about the sourness of the warheads. The looks on their faces were priceless.
We also learned how to make maafe, which is meat, rice, and potatoes with a peanuty sauce. It is so good and we have been obsessed over it since my host family made it a few months ago. We asked my counterpart, Dado to teach us. We bought all the supplies and went over to her house to dig in. It was delicious! I ate until I couldn't even move anymore. Her daughter, Fatimatou, is the cutest baby I have ever seen and she tried helping a bit too. She new better than I did about some things. I am excited to get to watch her grow up.
My mom filled me in a little about goings on on the home front and it made me miss you all like crazy! Here are a few shout outs:
-Grandma: I got your package! Thanks! One of the drink packets exploded and my hands are now died red, which is amusing. Everyone appreciates the magazines so we can keep up on our hollywood gossip. I can't believe Bernie Mac died!
-Grandpa: You would love it here. Everyone likes to talk a lot and share their life stories, I have used almost a whole roll of duck tape and twisty ties putting my room together, and they love their second hand baseball caps here. I found some really funny ones in the market with laundry detergent on it and stuff.
-Anna: Have fun at homecoming! I wish I was there to do your hair, even if you, like me, would never fully admit to liking what was done with your hair. Either way, I am sure you will look beautiful. Make sure mom takes at least a few pictures where she does not chop the top of your head off. I heard you are a stud in athletic training class. Mike would be so proud! haha. I am as well; but not surprised, I knew you would be!
-Tarah: I heard you swam varsity on the relay! That's my girl! How did it go? I wish I was back in highschool for just one more swim meet, I miss swimming so hard you can't even pull yourself out of the pool. I am truly jealous you are just starting your high school journey, love every second and don't take yourself too seriously cause this time is so much fun! Take care of my sister for me. I know you two have each other's backs.
-Sam: I loved getting to talk to you last night. You and Ryan should get on your applications right away so I can come visit you. There is a cruise that goes from capetown south africa to Rio. If you end up in South America maybe I can do that and then swing by you. Are you having a heart attack yet mom?
-Kev: Get your visa and think seriously of coming to visit. You won't regret it. Enough said.
In general I hear that America is in a bind right now and I hope that everyone is staying happy and healthy. If Obama is not elected president I may not return home and I suggest everyone moves here instead, we can build a little compound in the country and live happily ever after.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
the termites ate her homework
First, to get this out of the way- about the Al Qaeda incident that I am sure some of you have heard about.... 12 military soldiers were killed in the far remote deserts of Mauritania 100s of km away from any peace corps volunteer. A similar attack happened here in 2005 and Al Qaeda took responsibility. There is an article on BBC if you are interested for further information. I do not know much more than this but the attack was of military interest and very far from me. I have had nothing but positive experiences with Mauritanians and every person I have encountered is happy to have Americans here and very entertained that I speak like a local. They are a very generous, hospitable, and welcoming people. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7617223.stm .
So anyways, we are back in Rosso because Megan and I spent almost all of our move in allowance and needed to go to the bank. Combined we could have maybe bought a camel burger, so we had to get to Rosso today. This is why when it started raining last night we were very nervous we would not get out of Jider today. We woke up this morning, and in fact the vans were not leaving from Jider because the roads were "mau zeyn" (not good). We had nothing else to do today and were determined to get to Rosso so we decided to walk with our backpacks to the main road and hope to catch a taxi brusse coming from Gani or Tekane into Rosso. Easier said than done. It is a little over a 2km hike to the road through mud that was sometimes knee high. I almost lost my flip flops and Megan fell in the mud. It was one of those slow motion falls where your feet slip for a few moments and you think to yourself, "I got this, I can recover" until you realize you can't recover and you go down with a splat. We saw a truck ahead and ran the rest of the way to the road yelling. We must have been quite a site, two white girls with their skirts hiked up to just below our knees, covered from head to toe in mud, carrying our shoes and dripping with sweat. I wish some of my friends from home could see me now. I feel like every day I live here is like a scene out of a backpackers dream. The truck was a small Toyota and already had easily 20 people on it but they let us join the party as well. When we got to Rosso there were people there asking us if we were going on to Nouakchott and laughed when we said that, no in fact, Rosso is our final destination. Dismal, flooded, dirty Rosso. I say dismal because of the Lonely Planet quote we found in the LP West Africa book the other day.
These are both quotes taken from Lonely Planet travel books:
"one could almost suggest that Mauritania was the place to avoid...to some the place is the pits - sand and an overwhelming sense of revulsion"
"Rosso is the main Mauritanian-Senegalese border crossing. It's a grubby, haphazard town with a slightly sinister feel. Most travelers breeze through, as there aren't any worthwhile attractions here."
Haha. It may be grubby and haphazard, but to me it is home. Anyways, we arrived in Rosso and walked another 1.5 hours to the bank and back in again knee deep mud and muddy water. One of the giant puddles we trudged through was hiding a dead donkey in it which we were lucky enough to stumble upon. All we needed was a proper shower and when we got to Brandon's house we were informed that there has not been water for 70 hours now. Lovely. Good thing we have mutard to lick us clean a bit. Also since it is Ramadan the restaurant (the only restaurant) is closed so we are now waiting, dirty and hungry for the sun to go down so we can eat.
To clear up the Ramadan situation for those of you who have asked, Jenny, the children do not fast. You do not start fasting until puberty. You also do not fast if you are pregnant, breast feeding, sick, have noncommunicable diseases (diabetes), are "unclean" as in have your period, or are traveling long distances. Although, many pregnant women still fast, which is an issue I may address in small groups. There is no hospital in Jider El Moghen, and I think for the most part people do not usually stay overnight in the hospitals anyways, but the sick are excused. If you are excused from fasting you make up for it a different time. In general, I love breaking fast with families. I love the cold drinks and the fact that everyone has a sense of accomplishment as they have survived another day and really deserve a giant meal. I wish families in the states ate together more often.
So Megan found a house and is living with the Mayor's family. It is an awesome place with a salon, a lumbar (outdoor hanger), big porch, bathroom, and the mayor owns a plot of land and said we could have some space for a garden right next to a small tributary where we can take water. When we were packing up her stuff she gasped because all her papers for school had holes in them. After we picked them up we discovered the root of the problem was a colony of termites that had nested under her books. She could actually use the line "the termites ate my homework, I am sorry."
I slept at Megan's last night since we were going to Rosso this morning and I woke up in the middle of a night to a large long-horned cow standing next to my tent staring at me. I got scared and flashed my light and it ran. They are easily scared. Megan and I went running yesterday at around 6, which is when they bring in the animals that were grazing all day. We came up behind a herd of goats that must of heard our pattering feet because they got scared and scattered in a few directions. The goat herder was not happy with us and yelled in angry hassaniya. It was an accident! We are new to this farm girl type of stuff!
I went to the dispensaire (doctor) the other day to hang out with the staff. On my walk to work I had to stop and wait for 6 monkeys to cross the path and scurry up the palm tree. I love my life. I also can't wait to share it with visitors! I told the mayor's family that my brother, mom, sister, and friends may be coming to visit and they got really excited and said there will be a big party with drums and food and dancing. So everyone figure out your visa stuff and get over here!
So anyways, we are back in Rosso because Megan and I spent almost all of our move in allowance and needed to go to the bank. Combined we could have maybe bought a camel burger, so we had to get to Rosso today. This is why when it started raining last night we were very nervous we would not get out of Jider today. We woke up this morning, and in fact the vans were not leaving from Jider because the roads were "mau zeyn" (not good). We had nothing else to do today and were determined to get to Rosso so we decided to walk with our backpacks to the main road and hope to catch a taxi brusse coming from Gani or Tekane into Rosso. Easier said than done. It is a little over a 2km hike to the road through mud that was sometimes knee high. I almost lost my flip flops and Megan fell in the mud. It was one of those slow motion falls where your feet slip for a few moments and you think to yourself, "I got this, I can recover" until you realize you can't recover and you go down with a splat. We saw a truck ahead and ran the rest of the way to the road yelling. We must have been quite a site, two white girls with their skirts hiked up to just below our knees, covered from head to toe in mud, carrying our shoes and dripping with sweat. I wish some of my friends from home could see me now. I feel like every day I live here is like a scene out of a backpackers dream. The truck was a small Toyota and already had easily 20 people on it but they let us join the party as well. When we got to Rosso there were people there asking us if we were going on to Nouakchott and laughed when we said that, no in fact, Rosso is our final destination. Dismal, flooded, dirty Rosso. I say dismal because of the Lonely Planet quote we found in the LP West Africa book the other day.
These are both quotes taken from Lonely Planet travel books:
"one could almost suggest that Mauritania was the place to avoid...to some the place is the pits - sand and an overwhelming sense of revulsion"
"Rosso is the main Mauritanian-Senegalese border crossing. It's a grubby, haphazard town with a slightly sinister feel. Most travelers breeze through, as there aren't any worthwhile attractions here."
Haha. It may be grubby and haphazard, but to me it is home. Anyways, we arrived in Rosso and walked another 1.5 hours to the bank and back in again knee deep mud and muddy water. One of the giant puddles we trudged through was hiding a dead donkey in it which we were lucky enough to stumble upon. All we needed was a proper shower and when we got to Brandon's house we were informed that there has not been water for 70 hours now. Lovely. Good thing we have mutard to lick us clean a bit. Also since it is Ramadan the restaurant (the only restaurant) is closed so we are now waiting, dirty and hungry for the sun to go down so we can eat.
To clear up the Ramadan situation for those of you who have asked, Jenny, the children do not fast. You do not start fasting until puberty. You also do not fast if you are pregnant, breast feeding, sick, have noncommunicable diseases (diabetes), are "unclean" as in have your period, or are traveling long distances. Although, many pregnant women still fast, which is an issue I may address in small groups. There is no hospital in Jider El Moghen, and I think for the most part people do not usually stay overnight in the hospitals anyways, but the sick are excused. If you are excused from fasting you make up for it a different time. In general, I love breaking fast with families. I love the cold drinks and the fact that everyone has a sense of accomplishment as they have survived another day and really deserve a giant meal. I wish families in the states ate together more often.
So Megan found a house and is living with the Mayor's family. It is an awesome place with a salon, a lumbar (outdoor hanger), big porch, bathroom, and the mayor owns a plot of land and said we could have some space for a garden right next to a small tributary where we can take water. When we were packing up her stuff she gasped because all her papers for school had holes in them. After we picked them up we discovered the root of the problem was a colony of termites that had nested under her books. She could actually use the line "the termites ate my homework, I am sorry."
I slept at Megan's last night since we were going to Rosso this morning and I woke up in the middle of a night to a large long-horned cow standing next to my tent staring at me. I got scared and flashed my light and it ran. They are easily scared. Megan and I went running yesterday at around 6, which is when they bring in the animals that were grazing all day. We came up behind a herd of goats that must of heard our pattering feet because they got scared and scattered in a few directions. The goat herder was not happy with us and yelled in angry hassaniya. It was an accident! We are new to this farm girl type of stuff!
I went to the dispensaire (doctor) the other day to hang out with the staff. On my walk to work I had to stop and wait for 6 monkeys to cross the path and scurry up the palm tree. I love my life. I also can't wait to share it with visitors! I told the mayor's family that my brother, mom, sister, and friends may be coming to visit and they got really excited and said there will be a big party with drums and food and dancing. So everyone figure out your visa stuff and get over here!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
