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.

New Soul

This just in, I added a map to the bottom of the blog go look -now-