oh I'm posting is picture of all of my medical supplies for any moms who may be reading this:
Friday, June 27, 2008
Quick Note
Yesterday was a big day and I would love to share it with you all but I didn't have time last night and now I am leaving for my homestay, which gets to my real point, I probably won't have internet access for 3 or more weeks now. That means you won't hear from me for a while. My site is near the training site I am at now and I will be learning Pular, the second most common language in Africa after Swahili. I wish had time to write more but c'est la vie. Talk to you soon! :)
oh I'm posting is picture of all of my medical supplies for any moms who may be reading this:
oh I'm posting is picture of all of my medical supplies for any moms who may be reading this:
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Male / Female Relations
So I am sure that I will comment more on this later, but as I just saw a perfect example of it so its current now. So as you may know, Mauritania is an Islamic country and that makes for some interesting male / female dynamics. Most notorious is the subservant role women typically play and the mulafas that they wear (the giant pieces of cloth that cover their bodies and faces). However a lesser known characteristic in of interpersonal relations in Mauritania is the relationships amongst men, particularly men hold hands. As I started writing this I saw a two men walk into our compound holding hands and they were soon joined by a third and a fourth who approached from opposite directions, making a total of four men holding each other's hands while they were just talking. Then after a few minutes the two men who approached from opposite directions continued on their way, but continued to hold hands with the other two until they had pulled the group into a line. Then let go when they could no longer hold on. Anytime you go out to the market, you will see something like this. Men will walk through the market holding hands. Basically, because men are not allowed to touch women who they are not married to, their only physical contact is with other men. This becomes particularly interesting when you see men who are clearly gay by western standards (I'm told homosexuality "doesn't exist" here).
Another interesting thing that I have asked about but have not been able to get clear answers on is the process of men going from being single to being married. Safe to not much happens on the first date. ;) I'll get back to you on that when I learn more.
I would love to post pictures but Mauritanians are not keen about having their picture taken. One of the other volunteers said he asked about it and was told that they are worried that their picture will end up in national geographic, which is actually a fairly legitimate concern. I think they also see it as an invasion of their privacy. Once I am settled with my home stay family and then at post and get to know people I expect I will be permitted to take pictures, but until then you will have to imagine your own pictures of Mauritanian people.
On another unrelated yet also related note, it seems that as a general rule most of the girls in my group have chosen to hang onto their boyfriends while most of the guys have chosen to end their relationships before coming here. Its... interesting that it ended up that way.
On a totally unrelated note, I am playing the guitar in a PCV talent show tomorrow (I started learning on monday) and I am getting a Kaftan tailor made because I won the PCV "Price is Right." It should be ready in about a week and I will send pictures if I have internet. Peace.
Another interesting thing that I have asked about but have not been able to get clear answers on is the process of men going from being single to being married. Safe to not much happens on the first date. ;) I'll get back to you on that when I learn more.
I would love to post pictures but Mauritanians are not keen about having their picture taken. One of the other volunteers said he asked about it and was told that they are worried that their picture will end up in national geographic, which is actually a fairly legitimate concern. I think they also see it as an invasion of their privacy. Once I am settled with my home stay family and then at post and get to know people I expect I will be permitted to take pictures, but until then you will have to imagine your own pictures of Mauritanian people.
On another unrelated yet also related note, it seems that as a general rule most of the girls in my group have chosen to hang onto their boyfriends while most of the guys have chosen to end their relationships before coming here. Its... interesting that it ended up that way.
On a totally unrelated note, I am playing the guitar in a PCV talent show tomorrow (I started learning on monday) and I am getting a Kaftan tailor made because I won the PCV "Price is Right." It should be ready in about a week and I will send pictures if I have internet. Peace.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Scene
In order to give everyone a better idea of what things are like here, I thought I would set the scene (or at least the scene for the rest of the week before it changes), so close your eyes and picture this: ;)
As previously described, the training center looks like a series of airplane hangers but is actually not too hot when the fans are running (we lose power a couple of times a day (we also loose water)). Speaking of hot it gets hot enough here that you sweat through your shirt when you are just sitting down and not moving. At the peak of the day the best place to be is in the Hima (sp?) that tent like thing in the previous pictures. Also when the wind is blowing, which it does reasonably often, the heat is bearable. We eat all of our meals in the refectoire sitting on the floor. Many of our class sessions are in there too. Technical training began today and the environmental education people meeting in a garden in town. Speaking of town, imagine what you would think a street in Kabul would look like and that's what it looks like: bombed out. The deal is that Mauritanians build when they have money, not when they have enough money to finish the project. So the result is that many of the buildings remain permanently half finished.
The feel of the people is also worth commenting on. The trainers, there are a lot of them, are all very excited to have us here. We are the biggest group they have ever had and this is the first time they have used this training center. So they have been preparing just about as long as we all have. The current PCV volunteers that are helping out are incredibly friendly and useful. The trainees (thats me) are all extremely excited about damn near everything. The food is delicious, nothing weird yet, and you get used to the new toilet routine pretty fast. Really, right now the whole place has the feel of a summer camp. We play soccer at break, there are about 8 guitar players in the group, we sit out side and relax... Quite nice.
BUUUUUUUUUT, this is Mauritania-lite right now. On friday we leave to begin community based training and to stay with host families, where we will spend most of our time for the next 9 weeks. Then after that we go out to our sites and the real work begins. Speaking of work, we are starting to get a normal load now. By normal I mean, normal for me at college. They are going to start loading us down pretty heavily now because there is a lot to learn. The good news is that while we are busy, its all really interesting work. Its one thing to have a french assignment at school and another thing to be told to go out and buy clothes. Its one thing to practice writing syllabi and another to teach with it. Basically, the training here is conducted the way all education should be.
That's it for now, I have so much to share but its late (11:17 eep!) haha. Peace.
As previously described, the training center looks like a series of airplane hangers but is actually not too hot when the fans are running (we lose power a couple of times a day (we also loose water)). Speaking of hot it gets hot enough here that you sweat through your shirt when you are just sitting down and not moving. At the peak of the day the best place to be is in the Hima (sp?) that tent like thing in the previous pictures. Also when the wind is blowing, which it does reasonably often, the heat is bearable. We eat all of our meals in the refectoire sitting on the floor. Many of our class sessions are in there too. Technical training began today and the environmental education people meeting in a garden in town. Speaking of town, imagine what you would think a street in Kabul would look like and that's what it looks like: bombed out. The deal is that Mauritanians build when they have money, not when they have enough money to finish the project. So the result is that many of the buildings remain permanently half finished.
The feel of the people is also worth commenting on. The trainers, there are a lot of them, are all very excited to have us here. We are the biggest group they have ever had and this is the first time they have used this training center. So they have been preparing just about as long as we all have. The current PCV volunteers that are helping out are incredibly friendly and useful. The trainees (thats me) are all extremely excited about damn near everything. The food is delicious, nothing weird yet, and you get used to the new toilet routine pretty fast. Really, right now the whole place has the feel of a summer camp. We play soccer at break, there are about 8 guitar players in the group, we sit out side and relax... Quite nice.
BUUUUUUUUUT, this is Mauritania-lite right now. On friday we leave to begin community based training and to stay with host families, where we will spend most of our time for the next 9 weeks. Then after that we go out to our sites and the real work begins. Speaking of work, we are starting to get a normal load now. By normal I mean, normal for me at college. They are going to start loading us down pretty heavily now because there is a lot to learn. The good news is that while we are busy, its all really interesting work. Its one thing to have a french assignment at school and another thing to be told to go out and buy clothes. Its one thing to practice writing syllabi and another to teach with it. Basically, the training here is conducted the way all education should be.
That's it for now, I have so much to share but its late (11:17 eep!) haha. Peace.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Hot. It is hot.
Ok, so much has happened since the last post. Mostly I flew to Dakar and then took a bus to my training center. Total travel time: 24+ hours. The flight itself took 9 and the bus ride was supposed to only be 6, but no one expected that to be the case.
In addition to actually getting here, there are a ton of things to talk about but I will save topics like the fact that a lot of men hold hands, the morning calls to worship at 4am, and the heat to other other posts. Today, given that I have just eaten lunch, I will talk about the struggles of being in the Peace Corps where you get wireless internet and cell service as well as eating meals and why it is easy to remember not to use my left hand.
First, connectivity. So yes, we are all a little uncomfortable that we have wireless. There were 16 laptops out in the guys dorm last night (about half of us had them) and there would have been more if we had told the girls about it. (Since starting this post they have found out and now there are a similar number sharing one connection again. Oh the hardships of the Peace Corps, only one wireless connection!!!) Almost everyone else also has cell phones, which will work pretty much everywhere. I didn't buy one because I told you all I would call anyway and there is no one to call here. Once training is over I will probably pick one up. You can call me then.
Allow me let to introduce you to our training center:
The courtyard
Guys dorm, it looks like a tornado hit now.
It was graciously donated by the Mauritanian government and resembles a series of airplane hangers more than anything but the large rooms are practical in the heat. A couple of fans can cool a whole room down by a number of degrees.
Now onto the interesting bit about food and the taboo of using your left hand. As you can see everyone in this photo is using their right hands to eat. (By the way after being trained for 20 years not to eat with my hands, it is very rewarding to be required to do it.) The food so far has been amazing. Lunch and dinner are served like this, ~5 people to a dish consisting mostly of rice or couscous with various meats and veggies in the center. Given that the food is eaten communally people get very upset if you use your left hand and the next picture explains why.
These are Turkish style toilets and are the nicer variety of the two that I will encounter (pit latrines are the latter.) As you can see the toilets are squat style and it is entirely possible that I won't see toilet paper for the next few years. I was at first nervous about remembering not to eat with my left hand but once I had used it for its Mauritanian purpose, it was pretty easy to remember not to touch things I was going to be putting into my mouth. ;)
That's it for today, more updates daily throughout the rest of the week until Friday when I will begin my community based training and will likely be away from internet for a week(s) at a time. Although I was wrong about that already...
In addition to actually getting here, there are a ton of things to talk about but I will save topics like the fact that a lot of men hold hands, the morning calls to worship at 4am, and the heat to other other posts. Today, given that I have just eaten lunch, I will talk about the struggles of being in the Peace Corps where you get wireless internet and cell service as well as eating meals and why it is easy to remember not to use my left hand.
First, connectivity. So yes, we are all a little uncomfortable that we have wireless. There were 16 laptops out in the guys dorm last night (about half of us had them) and there would have been more if we had told the girls about it. (Since starting this post they have found out and now there are a similar number sharing one connection again. Oh the hardships of the Peace Corps, only one wireless connection!!!) Almost everyone else also has cell phones, which will work pretty much everywhere. I didn't buy one because I told you all I would call anyway and there is no one to call here. Once training is over I will probably pick one up. You can call me then.
Allow me let to introduce you to our training center:
The courtyard
Guys dorm, it looks like a tornado hit now.
It was graciously donated by the Mauritanian government and resembles a series of airplane hangers more than anything but the large rooms are practical in the heat. A couple of fans can cool a whole room down by a number of degrees.
Now onto the interesting bit about food and the taboo of using your left hand. As you can see everyone in this photo is using their right hands to eat. (By the way after being trained for 20 years not to eat with my hands, it is very rewarding to be required to do it.) The food so far has been amazing. Lunch and dinner are served like this, ~5 people to a dish consisting mostly of rice or couscous with various meats and veggies in the center. Given that the food is eaten communally people get very upset if you use your left hand and the next picture explains why.
These are Turkish style toilets and are the nicer variety of the two that I will encounter (pit latrines are the latter.) As you can see the toilets are squat style and it is entirely possible that I won't see toilet paper for the next few years. I was at first nervous about remembering not to eat with my left hand but once I had used it for its Mauritanian purpose, it was pretty easy to remember not to touch things I was going to be putting into my mouth. ;)That's it for today, more updates daily throughout the rest of the week until Friday when I will begin my community based training and will likely be away from internet for a week(s) at a time. Although I was wrong about that already...
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Peacing out
Its now T minus 13 hours till I am in the air (the flight leaves at 3:45pm) and for the first time I can be fully excited. Here's some things that have got me particularly jazzed:
- There are 76 other volunteers in my group
- There are 5+ other Environmental Education volunteers in my group
- To a person, every one is cool. Go figure!
- We are done with staging and nothing but a 9 hour flight and 6 hour bus ride lies between us and training
- The waiting is finally over now
- Mauritanian money is called Ouguiyas (oo-gee-yas)
- On July 21st site placements will be announced
- I will have a week of training before entering my homestay
At this point I feel like a lot of the unknowns about the Peace Corps have been answered or I have stopped thinking about them entirely. (more the latter) Either way, its a tremendously relieving feeling. Also for the first time, the experiences that are ahead seem accessible. I can picture them and that is very helpful.
Going through staging I noticed something interesting but it is also something I should have expected. I have always thought of the PC as a career move and a key part of my overall life plan, but there are a number of people in my group for whom it seems to be a thing to do mostly because they are not sure what to do. Of course, there is no particular problem for joining the PC for that reason as long as you commit to it, I only mention it because it has revealed to me another reason why I have not been wildly ecstatic about leaving. To me the PC is very much a job and I treat it as I do all other jobs, very seriously perhaps overly seriously according to some of my former WWF/IED friends. It is true that a certain amount of joviality is helpful in any job and particularly in one like this where the job literally includes all aspects of living your life as well. However, it is also true that approaching any job, including this one, with a certain degree of seriousness and professionalism is tremendously advantageous. My demeanor in this respect is something that I will benefit from balancing carefully.
Having said that, I'd like to include a funny story from today to keep this post jovial: (and yes that's my favorite word right now)
In Atlanta there is a park that was built during the Olympics and named, wait for it, Olympic park. (Telling you that in that manner is not absolutely necessary but it sets the stage) At said park there is a set of those fountains that are designed for kids to play in, the kind that shoots up streams of water in programmed patterns. (again, not necessary and I could just get to the point, but the point would not be funny then, and it is perhaps getting less funny with each of these comments. (maybe I should stop making them (what do you think? (that was a rhetorical question (really I like them even if you don't (and its my blog (so hah!))))))) Anyway, theres a park with a fountain with kids in Atlanta and I was there today. A couple of us were just watching the kids when someone pointed out that one little boy was grabbing his crotch. We were a little puzzled by this but that didn't last for long because he soon pulled down his pants and started peeing into the fountain. Just that alone was pretty funny but his older brother was standing next to him pointing at him while laughing almost doubled over. However even better yet, his dad was videotaping the whole thing with out any visible reaction whatsoever; no look of shock or attempt to stop the boy. It was pretty hilarious and somewhat adorable.
Logistically, its been confirmed that I will have periodic access to internet at the training site which I will be at for the first few days and then periodically after that. So look for periodic updates, haha. (That's really the most accurate prediction I can make). Also, as soon as I get settled / find a post office / learn how to mail a letter I will start doing so. I'm excited to share the novelty of sending a letter from Mauritania with a lot of you but remember there are a lot of you and it will take me a while to get to everyone on my list. Pure and simple, the best way to get a letter from me is to send me one first. There is one of me and a lot of you and people who have already send me letters get priority.
In the interest of keeping post length down and getting sleep, I will stop here.
- There are 76 other volunteers in my group
- There are 5+ other Environmental Education volunteers in my group
- To a person, every one is cool. Go figure!
- We are done with staging and nothing but a 9 hour flight and 6 hour bus ride lies between us and training
- The waiting is finally over now
- Mauritanian money is called Ouguiyas (oo-gee-yas)
- On July 21st site placements will be announced
- I will have a week of training before entering my homestay
At this point I feel like a lot of the unknowns about the Peace Corps have been answered or I have stopped thinking about them entirely. (more the latter) Either way, its a tremendously relieving feeling. Also for the first time, the experiences that are ahead seem accessible. I can picture them and that is very helpful.
Going through staging I noticed something interesting but it is also something I should have expected. I have always thought of the PC as a career move and a key part of my overall life plan, but there are a number of people in my group for whom it seems to be a thing to do mostly because they are not sure what to do. Of course, there is no particular problem for joining the PC for that reason as long as you commit to it, I only mention it because it has revealed to me another reason why I have not been wildly ecstatic about leaving. To me the PC is very much a job and I treat it as I do all other jobs, very seriously perhaps overly seriously according to some of my former WWF/IED friends. It is true that a certain amount of joviality is helpful in any job and particularly in one like this where the job literally includes all aspects of living your life as well. However, it is also true that approaching any job, including this one, with a certain degree of seriousness and professionalism is tremendously advantageous. My demeanor in this respect is something that I will benefit from balancing carefully.
Having said that, I'd like to include a funny story from today to keep this post jovial: (and yes that's my favorite word right now)
In Atlanta there is a park that was built during the Olympics and named, wait for it, Olympic park. (Telling you that in that manner is not absolutely necessary but it sets the stage) At said park there is a set of those fountains that are designed for kids to play in, the kind that shoots up streams of water in programmed patterns. (again, not necessary and I could just get to the point, but the point would not be funny then, and it is perhaps getting less funny with each of these comments. (maybe I should stop making them (what do you think? (that was a rhetorical question (really I like them even if you don't (and its my blog (so hah!))))))) Anyway, theres a park with a fountain with kids in Atlanta and I was there today. A couple of us were just watching the kids when someone pointed out that one little boy was grabbing his crotch. We were a little puzzled by this but that didn't last for long because he soon pulled down his pants and started peeing into the fountain. Just that alone was pretty funny but his older brother was standing next to him pointing at him while laughing almost doubled over. However even better yet, his dad was videotaping the whole thing with out any visible reaction whatsoever; no look of shock or attempt to stop the boy. It was pretty hilarious and somewhat adorable.
Logistically, its been confirmed that I will have periodic access to internet at the training site which I will be at for the first few days and then periodically after that. So look for periodic updates, haha. (That's really the most accurate prediction I can make). Also, as soon as I get settled / find a post office / learn how to mail a letter I will start doing so. I'm excited to share the novelty of sending a letter from Mauritania with a lot of you but remember there are a lot of you and it will take me a while to get to everyone on my list. Pure and simple, the best way to get a letter from me is to send me one first. There is one of me and a lot of you and people who have already send me letters get priority.
In the interest of keeping post length down and getting sleep, I will stop here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Fired up and ready to go!
I am in Atlanta now, staging starts tomorrow. Not too much to report other than saying goodbye to people is really exhausting! I appreciate all of my friends and family very much but I think you will understand when I say that after over a month of continuously saying goodbye to people, it is nice to be done with that part. It was very emotionally taxing and difficult even if I didn't show it.
Having said that, I would like to thank everyone once again for your support and best wishes, they really did make this process easier.
I have to say though, it still doesn't quite feel real. Every once in a while I will stop to think about it and I can't quite grasp what a change it is going to be, but most of the time I think of it in the very practical way that I am known for and it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I guess I am trying to say that I can't picture the change without it overwhelming me but I rarely picture it because it overwhelms me! I don't foresee any problems from this because there is so much that is unknown and I am pretty good at taking things as they come. Its just an observation I have had in the last couple of days.
Another thing of interest is that there are apparently going to be 78 PC Mauritania trainees at staging and traveling to M with me. That's way more than I had expected and I am really excited about it because it means there will be not only a community of trainees but also likely a community of Environmental Educators that I will be spending training with. That should make the whole process more enriching and enjoyable.
Last note for the night: continuing the fine send off I have had so far, sister Cara (who I met up with in Atlanta) decided that I ought to go a particularly fine American eatery that I don't care to mention by name (but it starts with H and ends with ooters) as my first and likely last trip to that particular icon of Americanism. (and for the record, it was all her idea ;)
Having said that, I would like to thank everyone once again for your support and best wishes, they really did make this process easier.
I have to say though, it still doesn't quite feel real. Every once in a while I will stop to think about it and I can't quite grasp what a change it is going to be, but most of the time I think of it in the very practical way that I am known for and it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I guess I am trying to say that I can't picture the change without it overwhelming me but I rarely picture it because it overwhelms me! I don't foresee any problems from this because there is so much that is unknown and I am pretty good at taking things as they come. Its just an observation I have had in the last couple of days.
Another thing of interest is that there are apparently going to be 78 PC Mauritania trainees at staging and traveling to M with me. That's way more than I had expected and I am really excited about it because it means there will be not only a community of trainees but also likely a community of Environmental Educators that I will be spending training with. That should make the whole process more enriching and enjoyable.
Last note for the night: continuing the fine send off I have had so far, sister Cara (who I met up with in Atlanta) decided that I ought to go a particularly fine American eatery that I don't care to mention by name (but it starts with H and ends with ooters) as my first and likely last trip to that particular icon of Americanism. (and for the record, it was all her idea ;)
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