Good King Wenceslas

This just in...

My water project was funded by Water Charity! Water Charity pays for the projects up front and hopes that people will be kind enough to pay them back so that they can continue to help all over the world.

I know it's the holiday season and times are tough, if you can give please do.

My project can be found at http://appropriateprojects.com/node/78 but here is what it's about.

Essau Senior Secondary School is a secondary school where students continue their education in hopes of being able to go on to professional jobs and/or higher education at either the college or a university. Students from 5 nearby villages come to attend classes.

Water is available at the high school from only a single tap at the front of the school. It is in poor condition, leaking constantly and wasting water. There is no running water in the restrooms, located at the back of the school.



The leaking tap leaves standing water, allowing mosquitoes to breed, creating conditions conducive to the spread of malaria.

There is also a small community just outside of the school that gets its water from the high school tap.

This project will create a piping system throughout the school. It will bring water to the administrator's house and to the toilets for the staff, boys, and girls. It will also provide water for the science labs.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Great news! Kristy was approved for another project from our friends at Water Charity She has been given a small chunk of money to help the school now to get the work done now now. Water Charity asks that we let our friends and family and random blog readers know about this act of kindness and hopes that you can help reimburse them. If you have a bit to help that would help others in the future (possibly me) be able to work with Water Charity too. Give if you can, a couple bucks goes a long way on this side of the pond, think about the kids.

Of Angles and Angles

This just in, pictures. Pictures from Mali and some from the Essau Schools that Kristy and I work at, I may have to work on captions but it took a long time to upload and I am done on the computing machine for the time being.

Grace Of God Go I

This Thanksgiving I find myself humbled again because of the things that I am thankful for.

This year I am especially thankful for being able to get away from the trials and tribulations of Peace Corps life, if it is even only for just a few days or a half hour at the cyber cafe.

My wife as always holds the key to my heart and sanity (she loses the latter key all the time) and I am thankful for her.

I am thankful for my family at home who keep me going throughout this adventure that I set on a year and a half ago.

I am thankful for the friends that I have who keep America held together with hard work and determination.

I am thankful America, it is a place that everyone I meet wants to go to, even when I left it behind.

I am thankful for the work that I do and the people who begrudgingly support me in my attempts to develop Essau Senior Secondary School.

Next Year

This is going to be hard to believe but we have a LOT of vacation days to burn. We are in Bamako, Mali right now. Bamako is strangely familiar and very foreign at the same time. It's a sub-Saharan Francophone nation and we have never been here so we aren't quite sure how everything works. The country is beautiful and the people are friendly. With the exception of a bit of misunderstandings we are coasting along quite nicely. The museum here was really nice and we were able to see the opening of a new art exhibit. The artists were all there and they were getting interviewed and it was actually really neat. If all goes well we are going to spend a bit under 2 weeks here and will be home in time for Turkey day.

Whatever Gets You Through The Night

This is going to be my last opportunity to use the internet for a bit (maybe), so you get an update on life stuff.

Family

We have a large family now, there is a grandmother, a couple older brothers, a younger brother (post high school), a sister in law, twin our age sisters, and a younger sister(starting high school). There are two young boys (one of the twins kids), a school age girl, and twin baby girls (the other twins kids), and a quiet boy (sister in law's kid).

Our family is really nice, super helpful, and fun to be with. There is a 6:30 till noon screaming habit the babies have, but malnutrition and Africa temperatures will do that.

I am sad to report that Gambians in our part of the country don't sleep outside, so no more under the stars slumber for us. It is something that I will miss until we are able to have the means to do it in Merica.

Work

High School: Lot's to do there, I have been struggling to get the internet connection back up for a while, it should be working when I return. There are an endless stream of computer things that everyone thinks I know because I am white (white people are born knowing such things). The PTA is back in action after 5 years, and together we are gonna put up a fence for the agro science classes. Going to the National Library to see if I can train get a few people trained, so they can train all the rest.

Nursery School: Creating codes of conduct, syllabus, helping train the absolutely untrained teachers, and helping them write grants for school improvements. Maybe some live fencing.

Primary school: Computer lab, it's in shambles right now and needs to be put in working order. Kristy is trying to find funding to ship some books from our old library in Perrysburg to the school, but the bill is like $300 so we are going to have to be creative, (like causally mentioning it on a blog, send me an email if you know someone to help) there are some traditional avenues that we are going to look into.

Village Development Committee: Haven't heard from them, yet... we are expecting to find some work with them too.

Don't Call Me White

Integrating to our new site has proved to be far more difficult than in Kaedi. Our former home was a city that was home to Peace Corps training for 8 years and therefore they were quite used to the pale people walking around and for the most part ignored us.

Essau is a different story. The Gambia is subject to a great deal of tourists, these tourists have created a culture where the "toubabs" are givers of things; pens, candy, or money. They do it in rude ways, throwing the items into busy roads to avoid the scrambling children. In turn the people here are rude to the people of European decent. No matter how many times I am told that it is not an insult, a quick judgment on who I am based only on the amount of pigment in my skin is an insult. It's racist, and I hate it. This term and mentality was applied in RIM but was faded when they realized I was not giving anything. We doubt it will happen any time soon, all white people look the same.

The idea that this is offensive is an American moral standard, we do not appreciate beggars, and anything that singles another person out only because of ethnicity is wrong to us. I am judged only on my pallor and not on the strength of my mind or the convictions in my soul.

Many people do not like this behavior and it is I possess the problem because I refuse to let this part of me be compromised.

The people I work with are kind and walk around the issue of being white as to not offend me. We are slowly initiating my projects at my schools, and I hope to actually make an impact.

I have, as promised, posted pictures the album is titled First Month, The Gambia. I know it's not witty, it's late and I'm tired. I hope you enjoy them.

p.s. Don't worry about my comfort level, this is normal here. I think that the whole toubab thing is a personal battle I have to foster ethnic tolerance here in The Gambia.

Don't Push

I would like to start this entry with warm birthday wishes to my loving wife, who deserves more then I am able to give her on this glorious day.

We made it to our new home! It is a nice little apartment looking place in a compound with the Baldeh family so we have changed our last names to match.

Work is coming along slowly, I have rather high hopes for this year but I am going to try to not be too optimistic, everyday I reminded that although I not in RIM I am still in West Africa, and if the teachers were as outgoing and proactive as they sounded they wouldn't have requested a Peace Corps presence. I will undoubtedly be working on organizing a library, training a librarian, developing the computer lab, teaching basic computer classes, and providing some teacher workshops. There are more things that I could do, but these are things that were repeated over and over during my assessment activities at the school.

Kristy has some interesting potential projects also, the library and computer lab were requested at her school, she will be able to work with a motivated environmental club, there is a man who needs help writing grants to further his development, and there is a possibility to work with the World Wildlife Fund (this last one she is the most hopeful for).

So far the Gambian people have been extremely kind to us, they work with our sub par Mandinka skills, and seem genuinely glad to have us around. It really feels like it's going to be a good year.

p.s. I will be bringing my camera to site now, we haven't been able to take pictures because we left early and it was in our locker over last week.

Steady, As She Goes

I recently plugged The Gambia into my blog, it's everywhere now and Mauritania is in the background but not forgotten. Go look, there is even a map of Essau on the bottom of the blog.

We are still waiting around at The Stodge, the transit house, whilst our new home is having it's pit latrine put into good working order. Our only news is that we have met a lot of the other volunteers and are working on adjusting to the climate and our lush green surroundings.

I have neglected to take pictures here, with a strong tourist culture it is hard to differentiate ourselves from tourists if we do the same things as them. I think that this will be different in our village and home but for now in the touristy areas I will abstain, until my Mandinka skills are better.

We Did'nt Start The Fire

Wow what a whirlwind experience! We left Mauritania and we are in The Gambia (notice the, "The", that's right not just any Gambia but The Gambia).

Kristy and I are going to have very similar jobs but with new focuses, the descriptions and opportunities are still not concrete but we hope that they are fantastic as they sound. No details until I can work them out.

We are going to live in a villi age called Essau and we are currently learning to speak Mandinka, not a skill that will get us much in the world but more languages means a higher awesome factor. We will probably be able to speak English for work purposes so that is a lot of stress off of our daily routine and the French (we scored Advanced-Low on our final test- WOW)has already come in handy and will again in the future.

This country is gorgeous, if you were holding out to visit us you hit the jackpot, this place is gorgeous 9 months of the year, it rains a lot the other 3.

The interweb is not as fast or reliable here so that means this as a contact medium is not going to be as frequent, sorry.

We have new phone numbers mine is 011.220.700.2098

We have a new address it is:

Brian Sisco and Kristy Smily PCV's
PO Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa
Par Avion / Air Mail

That is all I have for now, more as we know it.

Changes

Today, is our last day of PC-RIM.

We are accepting this as we have no say in the issue, we will say goodbye to volunteers we know to be more than friends, our family who lived much as we do and will be connected to us for the rest of our lives. Some are going to Rwanda, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Jordan, and or course The Gambia.

I want to thank the people who have been supportive of Kristy and I through our time in RIM and we hope you will still support us if we are able to transfer our service to The Gambia. Nothing is certain yet, we could still be home next month or next week, but we have hope.

You will know more as we do. Please, continue to keep us in your hearts and minds as we move from one phase to another we need the support.

Africa

Tears flowed freely as were told that PC RIM will be suspended.

We left home without saying goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues, many of our personal belongings were left behind because were were only leaving for 10 days, it is amazing how much can change in such a small amount of time.

The future is so unclear right now and we can not foresee what shall come of our situation. We are sorriest for the people whom we made promises of prolonged projects that shall go unfinished.

There are options that shall be discussed over the next few days, we are not sure if we will be home in a week, a month, or a year as planned. I am sorry for the lack of real news but it is what we have, more will come as we have it.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

An event happened in Mauritania, we are fine, we were not even in Mauritania. Don't worry, if you want to read about it there are links on the side of the blog or you can follow this link http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL8672694._CH_.2400

If you want to talk to me directly my number Senegalese number is 011221776223651 if this doesn't work we have had a lot of rain, email me. Rain knocks out the interweb from time to time but I will get your messages.

Runnin' Down A Dream

Jealousy has ever really been something that I fall prey to, I cannot say that at this moment. I am jealous of PC Senegal, they have amazing facilities and the large cities are places I would pay to go to as a tourist. They will just have to face retribution during WAIST next year.

We are in Theis, Senegal and we feel as if we are really in Africa right now. This place is tropical and lush. This unfortunately means I itch a lot right now, there is a healthy population of mosquitoes because I am feeding every second that I am here. I have not been taking pictures because of training sessions that have occupied much of my time, but there will be time, yes there shall.

Projects and things are on hold right now because we aren't there to do them, so work isn't actually happening right now. I think there will be some opportunities to help out here, and maybe some international collaboration.

I have the unfortunate duty to remind you that we are safe. Safe. Safe. Safe. I say this and say this often. Our community in Mauritania really likes us, and they do what they can to ensure this. We are currently away from our country while someone who has never experienced our home looks into it to ensure we are safe. This is compounded by people going around Kristy and I when we state in plain English we are safe. We are fricken' old too, 30+ even, and will continue to make our own decisions as is the right of old farts like us. We know our home and our community. I worry about you, there is a written record of violent crimes that goes to every door in America (newspapers - they are filled with bad news), and more bad guys in your small towns then in whole of our country. If you are worried CALL ME, please, or call to say hi, I'd like that more. Calling Peace Corps first compounds our difficulties and gets me a visit to the hot seat.

Quicksand

Just a quick update.

Aziz was the leader of Mauritania before, during, and after the election, big surprise! No election craziness here, as always the political climate in Kaedi is boring and apathetic.

My picassa album was updated. The newest addition is dubbed Camel Trek. Feel free to ooh and aaah at your leisure.

Blowin' In The Wind

Today is election day and Kristy and I are laying low, Peace Corps has an apolitical stance and that is much easier on a day like today inside watching the dvd's that our loved ones have recently mailed to us :) This time gives me the opportunity to think and therefore a desire to vent, if you do not wish to read my rant stop now.

Recently, one of our friends from the Gorgol region of Mauritania COS'd (Close Of Service) and when she returned home her local newspaper wrote and article (this article) about her accomplishments and published it on the interweb. The things that she was able to accomplish were phenomenal, she lived in a small village that had a school where only two of the rooms were usable. She raised money and turned that 2 room school into a 6 room school, and this was merely a highlight of her 2 years of service.

There, of course, was a comments section as there are in many online forms of media, just like there is here. I was appalled to read some of the things that were written there. The comments were written by isolationists who saw that she helped Africans, not Americans, and those were the nice ones. In order to not pick fights on the interweb (because, oh my how I loathe that) I shall address one of the little examined benefits of Americans being in the Peace Corps. Other than the obvious: volunteers habitually volunteer for the rest of their lives regardless of where they live. We are all people and helping people regardless of lines on a map, skin color, and religion is a good thing.

I know that the idea of terrorism is something that makes grandmothers shake in their boots and young adults who know everything roll their eyes. However, if there ever was a place that people could be swayed from a pro America point of view to an Islamic extremist point of view, it is here. On a regular basis I see people with Osama on their t-shirts, no joke. Here, as one of the few faces of America that people will ever see, we are America, unless you would leave that to Jack Bower. In Mauritania, when Kristy plants trees, Matt teaches computer lessons, Alex helps the community build a school, Justin builds a fence to protect crops, and the hundreds of PCV's who have come here, it is America helping, not some bleeding heart liberal. When an extremist asks if a village will support them or a young man will become a soldier for them they will remember that we are not their enemy and that we are people the same as them. I know that there is no way that we can achieve peace and understanding for everyone but PCV's are fighting for America the same as any soldier, with a different strategy.

This Is How I Disappear

It has been a hectic couple of weeks and I have a lot to say I am going to try to put this posting into a few categories; Kristy's Awesome Peace Corps Project, St. Louis, Interrupted Service, Chinguitti/Camel Trek, and Break-In. I know this is going to be a long post but a lot has happened, and it's my birthday and I'll do what I want :oP


Kristy's Awesome Peace Corps Project

Is funded! Wow, that was fast, we really would like to thank everyone who dug deep and gave what they could. We would like to put a special thanks to a charity named Water Charity who sought us out and donated a majority of the funds, if you still wanted to help give to the project you can help them, so they can give again. She has yet to tell the community because we haven't been home for long, but that guy is going to bubble over with joy.

St. Louis

Every year, there is a Jazz Festival in Senegal and PCRIM makes a showing, they hock the wares and crafts of the communities they live in, listen to some music and bask in the awesomeness of St. Louis. This year Kristy and I were busy working, if you can believe that, but when we got the chance to go, we did. We stayed in a little bungalow on the beach, for like $12 a day. The experience was amazing, we had good food and drinks, good company, and the majesty of the Atlantic right outside our room.

Interrupted Service

Do you remember one of my previous posts, had a link to an article where some idiot thought it would be a good idea to come here and push Christianity on the Islamic Republic of Mauritania? Well, after 6 years of angering his community and performing unwanted actions, they killed him. This freaked a LOT of people out, especially when we didn't have all the information, and then after 4 days Al Qaida said they did it (this is debatable). A lot of over protective parents, and PCV's expressed concerns to Peace Corps and their reaction was to allow us to interrupt our service (IS). Kristy and I have not taken this option because we are safe. The option stirred a lot of emotions in us and I will only say that in all things we must go where our heart leads us. Our wonderfully large class has lot approx. 20 PCV's due to the IS option and it saddens us, that projects are unfinished and communities are without PCV's.

Chinguitti/Camel Trek

One of the things to do in the RIM is visit the city of Chinguitti. The city is full of history and ruins, there are parts that are still used that are about 900 years old and the desert has eaten parts that are older. Chinguitti is in the Sahara, no doubt about it, it's on a elevated rock plain and surrounded by dunes and date palms. There is a volunteer, Oumar, who lives there set up a camel trek for us. He knew the guide, arranged the destination, an oasis, and took as around getting all of our materials, and played tour guide. He was an amazing host.

The guides showed up in the morning with 4 camels, John, Emily, Kristy, and I all rode, they led us out a bit, we hopped on, and were led through the Sahara. The desert is nothing small. It had dunes as far as I could see, an absolute difference from the Atlantic just a few days before. We were led to a tiny oasis and spent the day there among the date palms. In the late afternoon we went sand boarding. It was a lot of fun. Stayed the night just outside the oasis and headed back in the wee hours of the morning. Walking in sand is no joke, camels are amazing creatures. On our way back a lone man on a camel caught up to us and joined our caravan, he had been in the desert for days, solo, and was merely passing through to another city, that was impressive.

Break-In

Our house was broken into, on the night of the 3rd. They used a rock and beat through our wall. It had to have been kids, the whole is small. I know that is unsettling, but we were gone for almost 2 weeks and everyone knows everyone's business here. We lost some money, some small material things, and a bit of our peace of mind. There are things in works to improve house security, but they will move at the speed of Africa, until then we will be vigilant and guard what little we have. We could have gone home with the IS and didn't because we are fine. Peace Corps is helping by funding our security improvements.

I want to thank those of you who sent warm wishes to me for my b-day. It's already better than it was last year :D

Shout

An American was murdered, it wasn't us or anyone who had anything to do with Peace Corps. Kristy and I were nowhere near the city it happened in, do not worry about us. You'll know more before we do you cause your news stations are in English, you lucky dogs. This may change our travel plans though :(

Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

The rains have started and the Sahel drinks deeply, there is new growth on virtually every plant that I see and there are now plants where there were not plants before. Grass has started to grow, it is one of the more beautiful things that I have seen in quite a while.

When it rains, it pours, we rarely just have a light sprinkling of rain. The rains generally start with a sand storm, the wind is violent carrying away anything not well fastened and it carries particles of sand that coat everything, these are best avoided. After the sand passes the rain commences, and it is glorious. The rain is carried by the same violent gusts of wind and thus is comes not from above but from the side. The rains last only a couple hours at their longest so far.

The other side of the coin, is that the insects have started to rally, and from what I remember this is but the beginning. Kaedi, like all of the cities I have seen here was not built for draining away rain, there are quite a few deep puddles that will become the brackish breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Kristy will be making a cream from leaves of a local tree called, Neem. Neem Cream is an ongoing project that PCRIM tries to urge the locals here to use because it works as a natural mosquito repellent and therefore reduces the chances of catching malaria.

P.S.

We have been in country for over a year now, it's been an interesting experience so far. It is still sad that we have yet to hear yea or nay on new Peace Corps Trainees. Kristy and I will be going to St. Louis and then a camel trek - keep an eye out for fun pictures :)

With A Little Help From My Friends

The following message was brought to you by the lovely and talented Kristy

Hi Everybody!!!

My Peace Corps Partnership project was approved and now I just need to raise the money. I need to raise a total of $1341. It's a school improvement project at one of the schools that I work with. The school is amazing with some great teachers and a very effective director. For my part, I work mainly with the 5th and 6th grade french speaking teachers (science, math and of course french are taught in French, everything else is Arabic). We had an eco club this past year with 20 students where they were able to learn more about the environment. We also planted 12 trees on the school grounds. The teachers I work with are always open to the ideas I have and so is the director. I really like working with this school and they make me feel like my time here in the country is worth something to them. This is why I want this project to get funded so badly. It entails the reparation of the school well and latrines. There is more information on the Peace Corp's website. Some of you (those who I thought wouldn't be too annoyed by this) will be receiving information in the mail about the project and how to donate. If you happen to be part of an organization, church, workgroup, club, etc and could possibly raise money for this project, I and about 560 students and teachers would be very grateful. I'm trying to raise the money by August so the repairs can at least be started before the beginning of the next school year. The donations are tax deductible too, woohoo! Anyway, that's the end of my "please donate" propaganda. Thanks for reading this.

Here's a link to the project and how to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=682-117

You can also just go here: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors
and search under Smiley or the project number, 682-117

There are pictures of some of the kids from the school here: http://picasaweb.google.com/draconismoon (the Eco Club Stuff)

Take On Me

Schools out for the summer! That means I have to average out my grades, turn them in, and not teach my own class of adolescents until 'Merica. I will say that teaching here has been a humbling and enlightening experience. Speaking the same language as your students is something that most teachers I know take for granted, wow is that rough. I had some great kids though that I was actually able to reach and the things I learned about the Mauritanian school system will hopefully be able to help me to help the teachers here. I posted some pictures of my classes they aren't labeled yet so it will have no context other than they are a Mauritanian school.

Over the next few months we hope to do some traveling, we want to visit some of the other sites, start planning a trip to Mali, and I too hope that I shall be able to participate in stage.

For those of you who were planning on visiting, there is a small issue of governments not being so friendly and denying visa's to each other. You may want to check to see if you can get one before you buy a plane ticket. It may just mean we have to meet you in another country, which can be arranged. I am not so sure I would want to vacation in the RIM anyways.

I heard what is destroying the youth of Mauritania today, it's Jack Bower. Keiffer Southerland should be ashamed! What the man was implying, because I asked, is the age old violence on TV excuse. I prodded further, if he would not place such blame on the parents of the kids who emulate such actions, like saving the president from terrorists. He said yes, and agreed too that violence existed in our youth prior to television but it was lip service. It is easy to blame something new that changes our society on the differences of each generations cultures. We did it with Rock and Roll, Rap, TV, and Video Games. What we find the hardest to do is adapt, work with what we have, love our kids just as they are, and make sure that they know what is acceptable and what is not.

Them Bones

I promised my conspiracy theory, so here it is.


The hill that I walk up and across every day has a well worn path very little foliage and fossils of some sort.




There are patterns in the rock that aren't just globs of stone, they have shape and form. I seriously doubt that they are a dinosaur, but that would be wicked awesome. I don't know who I would contact, if anyone would care, or if they are anything at all. My paleontology skills are a bit underdeveloped.



I know that this will probably never amount to anything but, meh it has been on my mind for a little while.

Best Of You

It has been a while since I have taken the time to write. Life continues on the nice slow pace that it always does here, with the exception that it is starting to really heat up. When I get up in the morning it is about 100 degrees now and life around here adapts. The primary schools have switched to a later schedule so that there are not little kids walking to school in the hottest portion of the day.

I have really grown accustomed to our lives here and do relish in our routine. I think that the walk to the market is one my favorite parts of the day. I get to see a good cross section of Kaedi life in a short walk past the schools, up the government centers hill* and to the market. There are animals going about their constant search for something to eat paper, plastic, or plant life, students on their way to or from school, I am always greeted with a rushed "How are you, fine?", and the vendors I know in the market are always glad to see me and don't usually rip me off any more. The market itself is chaos, cars, donkey carts, and people share the narrow road with vendors that are hocking their wares to anyone that they can stop. The things that are sold are so random there are vegetables grown by local farmers, imported fish from refrigerated trucks, goods that would rival an American dollar store, and the best knock off designer labels that Kaedi has to offer.

There are rumors that the school year is going to be cut even shorter. I know that this is a students dream. 3.5 months of school and the rest of the time is free. This, however, saddens me. My last trimester is only 5 weeks long with 2 hours a week, that is no time at all. I will soon be going to a Mauritanian English Teachers Association meeting to see what they are all about and possibly see if I can make a branch here in town.

Kristy is in Nouakchott right now finishing up a proposal to try and receive funding to repair a well and the latrines for one of the schools she works at. The kids have to pee on the side of the school right now if they have to go in the middle of the day. We are going to bother you, our friends and loved ones to donate when the time comes, a little goes a long way, seriously a dollar or two makes a difference.

*I think that there are fossils in it - look for a special blog soon outlining my conspiracy theory

Hot In The City

It's getting to be exam time here in Mauritania and I find myself with fun new challenges. I will not actually be giving my exams and all four of them are at the same time. This means less and more work for me. Less because after Thursday Spring Break starts, I shudder at the thought of Mauritanians Gone Wild, and I have two weeks off. More because I have to make sure that the teachers giving my exams do it correctly. Only one of them speaks English and there is a chance one doesn't even speak French. I know that the class will be quiet and students will more then likely be timely, teachers here are not known for leniency. I know that this is their system and I am imposing my desires on their normal situations but I want to be there to support my students. I will be spending 15 min in each class each hour finding cheaters, spell checking the teachers writing, and answering questions.

There are a lot of things that are in the midst of changing right now, our 2nd year PCV's are preparing to go home and we are becoming very excited to receive the new class that will be coming in June. This transition reminds us how short our time here is and how much of a difference one motivated person can make.

From Me To You

12 hours riding to get to NDB totally worth it. First off the ride was cake because we hitched along with Mariam and Pedro. Really kind people that have let us be a part of this experience with them.

We come to the city and hooked up with some PCV's here. The life in the big city must be hard. There are nice amenities that would remind me too much of home, and the anonymity that comes along with living in an expat city would feel very lonely, I think. I feel very brussy here, looking around with wide eyes and exclaming that everyday life here is wonderous. It has to be what the acutal brusse PCV's feel when they come to Kaedi. We were welcomed to sleep at the home of another married couple and have had a great time. Their home is beautiful and the hospitality more than we hoped for.

We visited the port, it was a sight to see. There is a very large international fishing industry here. Lately they have been suffering due to economic sanctions based on the junta government. The sheer number of fish that were pulled from the ocean only to dry on the sand was staggering. We seen manta rays, sharks, and hammer heads. Neat and sad at the same time. It rained that day and for this I was thankful. A hot day with rotting fish innards not so pleasant I imagine. The day was capped with a couples dinner. Our hosts prepared a feast and we enjoyed good company.

The next day, this was inspiring. We visied Cap Blanche (The White Cape) and there is a Monk Seal reserve. There are 200 left alive and we were able to see one. Very cool, very very cool. The reserve was the cleanest place we have seen in Mauritania and the beasuty of it was awe inspiring. Later after we realized we have horrible sunburns we went and goofed off at a old French WWII military compound exploring bunkers and sitting on old cannons. I saw a camel pee for an eternity, they can retain a lot of water. We finished the night and our weekend with dinner at a Spanish restaurant fresh ocean fish, great. Oh I did some work in the morning too ;) connected with a PCV who has the same job as me up here.

Kristy will have her meeting in a few min and then we are off for the long ride home.

Island In The Sun

Another photo update, I posted 2 new albums one of WAIST and the other of our trip to the Ile de Goree. There is something like 80 photos that are new. I no longer have the mohawk it was not professional :( alls well that ends well. Going to Nouadibou for a meeting and site seeing, its a large city in the north of Mauritania. Its practically not even in the same country its like the European version of Mauritania.

ABC

www.becauseoftime.org and specifically http://www.becauseoftime.org/PhotoGalleries/PhotoAlbums/Scallywags2.15/index.htm has pictures of one of our WAIST games. So guy thought we were great and put images on his website. If you are going to be looking for it on your own its under Dakar+ and we are the Scallywags.

We just got internet back in Kaedi so please bear with us if you have been trying to contact us, and you could have called :P

Rhymin' And Stealin'

WAIST was a really good time. PC RIM Pirates won the tournament, the Buccaneers (Kristy's team) had a great time, and the Scallywags (my team) won one game and played half the time sans pantaloons. I have not had that much fun in a long time. There were all the things that Mauritania doesn't have cheese, beer (bought and consumed in a responsible manner by legal adults), and hot dogs (consumed in an irresponsible manner 2 at a time).

The presence of PC RIM was a sight to behold we got all dressed up hot fun haircuts and played ball, or at least tried to. I gave a kid a black eye tagging him out with the ball, ouch, I was mortified. Somewhere my phone was lost or stolen, but I will have the same Mauritanian number, my Senegalese one is gone forever with the phone.

We had a home we stayed in with an American family: Akua, Adoma, and Joyce. They were the nicest people who opened their home tp Kristy and I and treated us to foods and luxury that were extremely appreciated. Hot water, TV, Wii, and home cooked food are things to be thankful for.

We stayed behind in Dakar for an extra night and visited the Isle of Goree. We were called African residents and got a discount on the ferry, very exciting! There was some beautiful art, a few museums, and some dark history to behold on the isle. I decided that I love the baobob tree while we were there it a beautiful thing to behold and its fruit is amazing.

Kristy and I traveled solo with the directions of Lindsay through to St. Louis for a night and with a bit more advice made it home through Senegal and home. Quite an adventure.

I keep saying that pictures are coming soon and my camera is stocked I just have to put them in the computer and then on the web.

Ocean Size

The day after my last blog the world went all meh.

My roommate told us he was no longer going to pay rent because the house was dirty. This lead to a rather complicated breakdown in communication where I am sure that all parties involved said impolite things and felt they were by far the most justified person in the situation. Things are civil and he is looking for a new place to live, but I highly doubt that. Today he asked about the increase in rent that will be coming soon.

My direct supervisor the DREN along with all of the other Regional Directors of National Education of Mauritania was shuffled. He now works in Kiffa and our new one is from somewhere very north of here, supposedly he speaks English, I spoken to him once. Everything I did with the old DREN is gone, in the middle of the school year. I spent weeks making me a familiar face and now that's gone and I have to start over. From a first impression the new guy wants to be more active.

I learned today that the school year is now a month shorter because of elections, this after we started about a month late and there will still be the same number of breaks and national holidays off.

I felt bad about the lack of education my students would be receiving but I will do what I am able as I am and not a thing more. I only play a superhero on TV.

Ending this with a good notes.

Mohawk in 2 days. I will visit a barber and have my hair cut by a Mauritanian friend. There will be pictures taken. This is a precursor to WAIST, getting away again will be good. My WAIST name shall be... 'Meramop. It came to me in a dream and I am now committed to the name.

I had several students in my English club tell me they loved me today, in English. I asked them if they understood what they said. They insisted that they did. Their definition was, "like a very much". It was sweet, the work I do here is worth more than money.

Stranger Than Fishin'

Life has a way of sneaking up on us, all of us everywhere. This is one of those things that just happens. What has happened to Kristy and I in the RIM is that we now find ourselves busier than we have been in a long time.

Kristy's work is rolling along with Eco-Clubs starting at her 2 schools. The clubs will focus on the environment being awesome and ways to preserve and appreciate it. Preserving things is not a priority in a fatalist society, as God will do as they see fit.

My work is rolling along as well. I am getting through to some of my students, always a plus. I have started at least 1 English club for practicing that elusive and difficult language, more to come when I can motivate the teachers into it. I will start an adult English class tomorrow, inshalla, and there was a special request for a government officials English class. I have started to track teachers down myself because I have not been helped as I was promised. All this and I get loads of days off, weird huh?

We watched Obama swear in, there was an informal party to do so, good times. We really felt appreciated when he referred to people watching in small villages around the world. I hope that he is able to do some of the things he has promised, so far things are looking positive.

Kristy participated in a Karate demo here in town, she is now extremely popular.

Senegal is on next months ajenda, we will be participating in W.A.I.S.T. (West African International Softball Tournament). This is going to be great, but I am afraid the timing will stunt some of our prjoects.

One Tin Soldier

After all our vacationing we had meetings in the capital to touch base with our peers and talk shop. It was a lot like our training, which was what it was.

When we came into town our taxi driver accused my brother of being behind some of the military stuff told me and that I was fabulously wealthy. I did what I could to explain that my brother is a stylist in Philadelphia, and I live life much as a Mauritanian in Kaedi.

The thing that greeted us was protests about the fighting in Gaza right now. People are not happy this much is clear. We are safe and the demonstrations are not anti-American, do not worry about us. There were times it was best to stay put or walk away from the crowds, but such is life.

Auld Lang Syne

New Years in St. Louis. This place was awesome! I am however getting ahead of myself, I'll start at the beginning.

Kaedi to NKT = 6.5 ish hour car ride. Its all in all not so bad but if you are going to be in a car that long it will be a task. We were home for 2 days with Marta and Aly it was a good time, we finally visited the river in Kaedi (took some pictures that I have ambitions of putting up soonish) We met up with Nema and 2 of her friends from 'Merica and did some fun going to another country stuff. Changing money, this was sweet. We go up early went to the place I thought was where you go to find that it was not open yet... I was 2 blocks in the wrong direction and felt silly for being as wrong as I was. When we finally get to the right place we know basically UM (ouguiya {ooh-gee-ah, thats the $ here) to CFA (Seneglase $ called say-fa) is life a 1 : 2 ratio where you get twice as many CFA for your UM. Nema being our hero and second year volunteer with mad language skills starts asking to trade money. The shops are not being very nice and they are offering us 1/5th of what we should be getting. This frustration is too much, we become indignant and storm off only to grab a Mauritanian friend to solve our problem. He goes and finds someone they say the same thing, but its correct. Problem was there is some out dated conversion method where you quote the money changing to be multiplied by 5 and we feel silly again. Thats solved and the group of us (7) cross the river without any problem and only sorta legally we just hop on a boat and go across, everyone does it. From there we ride about 8 hours in a series of buses to get to St. Louis.

This place was awe inspiring, there are 2 branches of a river that meet at the Atlantic making an island. This used to be the France's imperial capital of West Africa. The experience was like being on a real vacation and the details are hazy. We spent hours on the beach and felt like tourists. We rang in the new year in good spirits and good health.

I Won't Be Home For Christmas

Life was really busy I had little to no interwebbing force so I will be updating through what I would have written had I been able to...

It's true was not home at all not in Kaedi and not in USA. We passed the holiday in NKT. It was a good time there were so many of us in one place seeing many of our long lost friends for the first time in months. There were real restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and good times to be had by all.

Kristy and I visited grocery store and it overwhelmed us. There were so many choices and things that we do not have access to, wow.

We decided that we would not go directly to St. Louis for New Years and come home for a few days and go through Senegal to get there when we do.