New Friends

So as I said, I have started getting to know the community and I’d like to introduce you to a few of the people I am going to be working and living with. In no particular order, here is the cast:

Seidnu: The person I am sharing my house with. He works riding around in a refrigerator truck selling fish. He tells me he could make a lot of money doing it, but the work is intermittent. He has had no work for the last two months, but just got some now. He is very nice and is constantly asking if what he is doing is bothering me. He also has a habit of asking if I understand after he says anything. I have tried to get him to stop, but have given up. He may not actually be my housemate anymore though. Either our landlord is getting crazy in his old age or he already was. Long story short, there was a fight over nothing and now Seidnu says he is going to find a new place to live because he doesn’t want to deal with it anymore.

Gurlajo: Gurlajo is a real character. He is very animated, laid back, and loves to joke around. He’s the type of person that people gather around to hear his stories. He may not be the model citizen in terms of strict Mauritanian standards or if you have a problem with someone wanting to sleep with their niece, but he is harmless, nice, and intelligent. He is one of my best friends here. Gurlajo looks like a black Graham Thomas for those of you from home. It’s kind of uncanny actually.

Samba: Gurlajo’s older brother. Just as animated, but he in fact IS the model citizen. He is a teacher, runs a youth group that does presentations on AIDS, and has helped out every single PCV that has been here for the past eight years. He has a habit of being a bit long winded and a slight stutter that doesn’t help. He also has a lazy eye, something that is common here. However, he is otherwise good looking and intelligent. I eat most of my meals with his family.

Karim: I eat most of the rest of my meals with Karim. Karim is a bit younger than the rest so far, maybe late 20s early 30s and has a very playful attitude, particularly with his wife which is rare here. In all honesty I am spending a little extra time with him because I am trying to buddy up while he helps me find a cheap cell phone; he repairs them for his work. Also, a cheap cell phone here is about $10 U.S. There are four cell phone networks in Mauritania and it’s possible to call each one of them from the other but not to send text messages. All of the PCVs were initially on the same network but not everyone has coverage at their village. Also it is expensive to call here: about 30 cents a minute. So its not uncommon to find people with four different cell phones in their pockets. I think I will draw the line at two.

Usman and Sidi: Usman is a more recent acquaintance and one of my particular favorites. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that he speaks English. Also he has the best sense of humor of anyone I have met here. For example: The grasshoppers here are as big as your finger and have got to be just about the stupidest animal I know. They have a habit of randomly jumping up and then flying as if they were drunk until they hit something. Sometimes they hang onto what they hit making it look like they meant to go there, but mostly they just bounce off and fall to the ground. As we were sitting on Usman’s roof one night and a bunch of grasshoppers crashed into us he flippantly said that we were being bombed. Maybe that isn’t the funniest thing you have heard in a week, but because of the culture and the language barrier, it sure was for me. The reason that Usman and Sidi are together is because they both work for World Vision and both speak English. The difference is that Sidi doesn’t just speak English, he speaks it fluently and uses vocabulary I don’t know. However, interestingly enough, he doesn’t speak Pulaar, so in an unusual twist I am going to be teaching him Pulaar instead of English. In addition to both being English speakers, Usman, Sidi, and World Vision are all new here as well. I anticipate that I am going to be doing a lot of collaboration with them. At the very least I will be hanging around a lot because Usman told me he is going to be getting satellite internet next month and that I can use it whenever I want. This needless to say, is big news for me. I will let you know if it actually happens because well, this is Africa. Also I might be going on vacation with Usman in a few months as he has offered to drive me around Senegal and Mali.

Souleymane: So if Usman and Sidi are great contacts for my work, Souleymane already does my work. He is a retired drug enforcement officer that is now staying busy with just a few things: active in a national environmental NGO, is the president of all of the PTAs in my village, is an active member of the national human rights watchdog organization, is the chief of part of the village, and keeps a large garden to name a few. I have met him once and did not immediately hit it off, but given how much our interests are the same, I think that with time we will become very close. At least, we better because if I am not working with him I am still going to be working along side him.

Saada: Saada is by everyone’s admission, including his own, not mentally well. I don’t know exactly what is wrong but the symptoms seem to be that he cannot stay still for long periods of time, is overly social, even for here, and can no longer work. Apparently he wasn’t always like this. However, he is also incredibly nice and I have to imagine a little lonely because while everyone tolerates him here, I don’t think he can keep friends. He spends his days greeting everyone repeatedly. What is strange is that it seems like he is still capable of functioning at a fairly high level. I indulge him by visiting him but always come with excuses as to why I need to leave early because it can be a little difficult to talk to him.

Not pictured here: Dailil: Dailil is my counterpart and a teacher but has been on vacation so I have not seen her.

So now you know the people that I spend / will spend most of my time with as of right now. I’ll introduce the new characters as they arrive.