A list of things that need some getting used to...
Fish bowl syndrome
You are different and everyone knows it so they pay attention to you. There is no anonymity like the big cities in America. People know your name and you have no idea why and they all want to know what the American is doing. They will follow you and ask you for gifts and assume you are the richest person in the world. Although you are the richest person they have probably ever met just by being an American.
Nassarani
Mauritania is an Islamic Republic. Since no one in our group was Muslim, we are all just "The Nassarani," or Christian. My family was good about respecting my views but a lot of other people kept going through conversion attempts. I certainly don't like having my identity boiled down to my religion. Although I know many American's do the exact same thing...
Women
Women are very limited in what they can do. Your hair should be covered. If you are not in a skirt you are not seen as a woman, I would be seen as a man. There is no physical contact between a man in a woman. I can't shake someone's hand unless he offers it to me first. Her main purpose is to grow up and get married to make lots of babies. It is a very restrictive culture.
Heat
The heat is pretty much unbearable between the months of May through October and the hours of 11-5. This is nap time for a big bulk of the country. Triple digits are normal and expected every single day during these months. And since there is no air conditioning and a lot of the time no fans there is no where to run to cool off. Beads of sweat falling down my face by just moving 3 feet has become a daily occurrence for me.
Toilet
Going to the restroom is an adventure. My toilet is a hole in the ground with two stones that you step on top of. You have to squat and balance to aim into the hole. Then you use a makaresh, which looks like a big teapot to clean. Always use your left hand to wipe. Which is why you only offer your right hand to greet. Otherwise you'd be offending them. Toilet paper is pretty much non exsistent. You do get used to that shower fresh feeling, though!
Food
Depending on where you are and what season it is, not all food is avaliable. How I wish I had a Wal-mart. I live so far inland I would never eat fresh fish. However, carrots are popular here. :) And since I live in a village, goat is the main subsistence. Which is quite hard for a vegetarian.
Just a small list of things that would be hard for an American to get used to. But hey, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger! Just be grateful of running water, electricity, and supermarkets!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I Swear... By the Moon and the Stars in the Sky
The last week of stage, we had more sessions at the Peace Corps Center to prepare us for site posting. The last day as trainees was reserved for our fun day. We had Stage Olympic where we broke up into multiple teams and competed against each other for glory. However, we were rudely interrupted when we started to notice a stenchy smell in the refectoire. Turns out the septic tank had flooded and filled the dinner room which was conveniently where we were going to hold the Swear In ceremony with sewage. Because of the obvious delimma, we were going to hold the ceremony in the dorm rooms. Which also meant we all had to make our baggage disappear by the next morning at 8.
Along with the Olympics, we had our last talent show that night. To set the mood off, Eli and Phillip did Tai Chi for a good 5 minutes. They hosted along with Amanda and Sam. I did my part to make it an awesome talent show by doing a nice step routine with 4 other girls. It was a fun ending to our life as trainees.
The next morning, August 28th, everyone woke up excitedly. We all stuffed our bags in the storage rooms and watched as the staff transformed our dorm room into something presentable. The ceremony started a little after 10. All 76 of us were seated on the floor. We are the largest class in this country and made it through training with only 1 early termination. We're kind of a big deal. Obie Shaw, the director spoke and introduced the US Ambassador. We also had a trainee give a short speech in each of the 5 languages spoken in the country- French, Hassaniya, Puular, Sonnike, and Wolof. We all swore that we would uphold the United States Constitution and the Peace Corps goals and values. It almost felt like graduation where you get that big pat on the back and the culmination of your work is recognized.
My favorite part was by far seeing all the faculty and staff cheer you on. They have put in as much hard work as each trainee to see us reach this point. The language facilitators, the directors, all the model school teachers, and a lot of the second years were there to commend us. Afterwards we had a nice lunch with refreshments.
The rest of the day was spent cooking for our big Swear In party. We had lots of food and I got to sneak little tastes of cheese before it went in the dishes. The party was held at a hotel about a 10 minute drive away. We got to meet a lot of the 2nd years and made for a very entertaining night.
The next day was reserved for packing and saying good byes. We all actually left on time for posting. The Hodh ech Gharbi all climbed into a big SUV and got ready for our big 2 day journey to Aioun.
My language class with our Hassaniya Facilitator.
L-R Diego, Moctar, Austin, Lindsay, and I.
The main road in Rosso.
Along with the Olympics, we had our last talent show that night. To set the mood off, Eli and Phillip did Tai Chi for a good 5 minutes. They hosted along with Amanda and Sam. I did my part to make it an awesome talent show by doing a nice step routine with 4 other girls. It was a fun ending to our life as trainees.
The next morning, August 28th, everyone woke up excitedly. We all stuffed our bags in the storage rooms and watched as the staff transformed our dorm room into something presentable. The ceremony started a little after 10. All 76 of us were seated on the floor. We are the largest class in this country and made it through training with only 1 early termination. We're kind of a big deal. Obie Shaw, the director spoke and introduced the US Ambassador. We also had a trainee give a short speech in each of the 5 languages spoken in the country- French, Hassaniya, Puular, Sonnike, and Wolof. We all swore that we would uphold the United States Constitution and the Peace Corps goals and values. It almost felt like graduation where you get that big pat on the back and the culmination of your work is recognized.
My favorite part was by far seeing all the faculty and staff cheer you on. They have put in as much hard work as each trainee to see us reach this point. The language facilitators, the directors, all the model school teachers, and a lot of the second years were there to commend us. Afterwards we had a nice lunch with refreshments.
The rest of the day was spent cooking for our big Swear In party. We had lots of food and I got to sneak little tastes of cheese before it went in the dishes. The party was held at a hotel about a 10 minute drive away. We got to meet a lot of the 2nd years and made for a very entertaining night.
The next day was reserved for packing and saying good byes. We all actually left on time for posting. The Hodh ech Gharbi all climbed into a big SUV and got ready for our big 2 day journey to Aioun.
My language class with our Hassaniya Facilitator.
L-R Diego, Moctar, Austin, Lindsay, and I.
The main road in Rosso.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Site Visit
It was the last week in July when we were going to find out about our site placement. All the trainees packed up to go to the Peace Corps Center for sessions. The morning of site announcements- everyone's energy was just sizzling. There are three big days for trainnees. Home stay announcement, site placement, and swear in... so it was a pretty big deal.
Out on the sand, the staff created a huge map of Mauritania, with a label at each site a volunteer was going to be placed at. As each name got called out, we all cheered and ran to our site. This way, you could geographically see who was close to you and where you were in the country.
I am in a village named Agjert. It is about 40 kilometers from the regional capital Aioun El Attrous. My region is Hodh Ech Gharbi. Currently there is only one site further east then me, so I'm pretty much on the fronteir. Mali is an hour south and 2 hours east.
From Rosso it takes 2 days to get to site. We stayed overnight in Kiffa, which is the region's capital just west of us. It seemed the farther east we went the prettier it became. There are sand dunes, lots of camels, donkeys, date trees, etc. It is quite picturesque.
The first thing I noticed about Aioun is how rocky everything is. When i found out about my site, I told my host mother and she said the houses were made of rocks. And they are. Everything is stone cut in multiple shades of red and orange. There is a lot of hiking, caves, and beautiful rock features everywhere.
My site, Agjert is known for its date trees. I would describe it as a small suburb of Aioun. There are about 300 families which makes the town about 1500-2000 people. Every Monday villiages from all around have a market at our site.
I am living with my community counterpart who is another teacher. I have my own room in a family compound so I have enough privacy. I am going to be the first Peace Corps Volunteer at the site, and the first English teacher at the middle school. I am really excited about that.
We spent a little less then a week at site, and then returned to Rosso for more training.
Out on the sand, the staff created a huge map of Mauritania, with a label at each site a volunteer was going to be placed at. As each name got called out, we all cheered and ran to our site. This way, you could geographically see who was close to you and where you were in the country.
I am in a village named Agjert. It is about 40 kilometers from the regional capital Aioun El Attrous. My region is Hodh Ech Gharbi. Currently there is only one site further east then me, so I'm pretty much on the fronteir. Mali is an hour south and 2 hours east.
From Rosso it takes 2 days to get to site. We stayed overnight in Kiffa, which is the region's capital just west of us. It seemed the farther east we went the prettier it became. There are sand dunes, lots of camels, donkeys, date trees, etc. It is quite picturesque.
The first thing I noticed about Aioun is how rocky everything is. When i found out about my site, I told my host mother and she said the houses were made of rocks. And they are. Everything is stone cut in multiple shades of red and orange. There is a lot of hiking, caves, and beautiful rock features everywhere.
My site, Agjert is known for its date trees. I would describe it as a small suburb of Aioun. There are about 300 families which makes the town about 1500-2000 people. Every Monday villiages from all around have a market at our site.
I am living with my community counterpart who is another teacher. I have my own room in a family compound so I have enough privacy. I am going to be the first Peace Corps Volunteer at the site, and the first English teacher at the middle school. I am really excited about that.
We spent a little less then a week at site, and then returned to Rosso for more training.
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