Aana ismee Salma!

Once again, I am sorry to report that I don't have any photos for you all today; I came to the "cyber" sraightaway after class and didn't think to pack my camera cord. I have taken a bunch, especially me in my hostsister's "mulafa" (full-length veil worn by almost all the women here in Rosso), which I'm excited to show you all. I bought my own mulafa last weekend, which my host sister insists I wear to class every day,but considering I can't walk very far at all in it, I'm not planning on that any time soon.
Since my last post, I've moved out of the Peace Corps trining center and into my host family's house, which is in a different part of the city. My host family is very kind, and their house is quite nice by Mauritanian standards. We have electricity, and one spigot with running water and a TV. We have a shower head and toilet, but without running water inside the house, these things are just for show. My host family is kind in their attempts to teach the "tobab" (white person) how to live African style. Bria, my host mother, has 5 kids, and 3 live at home: Sidi, Umu, and Mame (a boy and 2 girls). There's also 2 oldersons who come to visit on the weekends from Nouakchott. The older boys speak French the best, but everyone speaks a little bit, so we are able to communicate. I'm learning Hassaniya (an Araic dialect), so we actually speak a mixture of the two. Every day (we have one day off each week), I have class with four ther trainees; our teacher, Sy Samba, is awesome. He dances around when we're reciting conjugation charts, and today he made tea for us during our mid-morning break. I'm leaning how to say things like, "I like tea without an ubsurb amount of sugar."
I'm starting to be able to explore the city on my own. I can greet inHassaniya (extremely important here) and canget by with Frenchfor most basic transactions. I'm glad to havethat skill, since about halfthe trainees have little or no French experience.
At this time, I think I can only complain about the heat. Today was a lot hotter than it has been (93, not considering the humidity), and it's difficult to find a cool place. And when you want to cool down, you have to remember not to show your knees or lie flat on your back! They say that the rain should come any day now, and it usually gets really hot before a storm. It should be cooler after the rain, but the streets flood and the mosquitos multiply. I'll let you know which I prefer.
On a more positive note, I've sarted running in the mornings with another trainee. We have to get upbefor 6, but the sun rise in the countrysde outside of tow is beautiful, and the mental relaxation is well worth it.
Finally, sorry about the typing. Thekeyboard has Arabic characters, and then a weird key order, so I'memploying the hunt_and_peck method. I'll try to post again next week, maybe in Arabic!
(Oh yeah, in true Cortney fashion, I have adopted a new Mauritanian name: Salma. My host family gave it to me the day I arrived at their house. It's the name of the first grandchild -- cute!)

Still in Rosso...but not for long!

Bonsoir tout le monde!  Since we are now only allowed to use the internet early in the morning and late at night, I'm writing this post right before bedtime, which around here is about 11PM.  We have one more full day at the Rosso training center before we leave for our host families, which may mean a change of village.  It's weird to think that I've been in this country since Saturday, and yet, I have only walked down a handful of streets and socialized with a handful of native Mauritanians.  Like I said before, it feels so sheltered here, but I'd rather be itching to get out than scrambling to get back in!

I'm sure that I'll have lots more to write once I move in with my host family.  We'll be living with a host family during stage or training and working with a facilitator for language study for about 8 hours each day.  We find out tomorrow morning whether we'll be learning French, Hassaniya, Pulaar, Soninke, or Wolof.  This will help determine where we'll finally be placed for the next two years, but in keeping with typical Peace Corps policy, we won't find out that information for another month.  I've heard that site announcement day is really exciting.

I took a few pictures the other day, but I have yet to upload them onto my computer, so once again, you're just going to have to imagine what things look like here:  white walls around the compound, sand in the yard, shoes strewn outside every doorway, a large room with mats and mattresses on the floor for "class," and (my favorite) a huge open-sided tent called a khyma.  This tent is always about 10 degrees cooler than anywhere else, which is why we spend most of our time from noon until 4 just hanging out underneath.

For now, I'm dreading repacking my stuff -- making a smaller bag for stage and putting some things into storage here at the training center.  Pray that I get it all done before Friday when I'm finally off into the "real" Mauritania!

I made it!

Bonjour tout le monde!  Salaam aleykum!  This is my first post from Mauritania -- Rosso to be exact.  The Peace Corps training center has wireless internet, so I'm sitting in the boys' dorm, in my Crazy Creek, on my laptop, and feeling very spoiled at the moment!  

We arrived at the training center yesterday after almost 24 hours of travel -- bus to the airport, waiting for five hours for our flight, nine-hour flight to Dakar, then a seven-hour bus ride north to Rosso.  Luckily, the training center is right over the border because the border crossing (Senegal to Mauritania) was extremely slow, and we were all ready to get out of the bus.  They threw us right into the mix of things with a tour of the training center, introductions, lunch (eating with our hands), more shots, and depositing our valuables into the safe.  Needless to say, I was very ready for bed last night -- outside in my mosquito net!

Today, we've had more lessons and interviews with the medical officers and our program directors.  No problems on either front.

Two things I'd like to comment on, in particular for those of you who watched the online training video from last year:

1.  Eating with your hands is pretty easy to learn.  Make sure you wash your hands before and after you eat, and only use your right hand!  What I think is the weirdest part so far is the fact that you don't have to wait for everyone at your plate to finish eating before you leave.  Just finish, get up, wash your hands, and wait for tea.  Seems rude, but completely acceptable here!

2. Absence of toilet paper:  pretty steep learning curve on this one too.  Imagine a bidet-type feeling.  Very refreshing, to say the least!

I've tried to put my address and cell phone number -- yes, cell phone number! -- on this blog and on Facebook, but let me know if it doesn't work.  It's free for me to receive calls -- I'm not sure how much it is on Skype -- and for now, coverage is good.  I haven't purchased minutes yet, but I have a few start-up minutes for now.

For now, I'm loving the Peace Corps.  No digestion issues to speak of, food is tasty, the other volunteers and trainers are so friendly and welcoming and interesting, and our training center is quite comfortable.  It's a bit warm -- I'm constantly sweating, especially now during the middle of the day, and I have yet to leave the "compound," so I'm not quite sure what's outside these walls.  BUT, I'm thinking of crossing that bridge this evening before dinner with a walk around town, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Finally, I now know that I need to take pictures, since I don't have any to post yet.  Time to sign off so I can get going on that!  A bientot!

Stopover at Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Since I couldn't leave the States without seeing my extended family, I left last Saturday for South Carolina and the Donnalley family reunion.  I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to go this year (since I've missed the last two) and to see my cousins, who are surprisingly much bigger than I remember!  The weather was beautiful, and the water was unusually warm.  I went running every morning, hung out on the beach all day, and hung out with 21 of my family members all weekend long.

I'm back in Atlanta now with only a few hours until I have to pack up the car again and leave for Peace Corps staging downtown.  I feel confident that I can handle the international travel, but a little nervous about not having my three South American sidekicks...

Wish me luck!

Last (full) day at home

Today is my last day at home before I begin my long, and rather circuitous, journey to Peace Corps staging.  Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving for Isle of Palm, SC for a long weekend and family reunion at the beach.  Although I'm totally psyched about seeing all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles, this means that I need to have everything ready to go for when I return on Tuesday -- a little stressed right now, but it should be worth it in the end.

In true Peace Corps fashion, I have very little information about next week.  I do know that we're leaving our downtown hotel at 9:15am for a 3:45pm flight to Dakar!  If I don't already know the Atlanta airport well enough, now's my chance!  We'll arrive in Dakar (insha'allah) at 4:40am on Saturday, June 21 and then bus 6 hours to the training center in Rosso.  I've been told that we should be there by lunch time (again -- insha'allah).

But for now, I'm trying to focus my attention on spending time with Kelsey, Mom, and Dad and fitting 80-lbs worth of gear into my suitcase.  For those of you who have travelled for long periods of time, you know benefit of having what you need and the joy of packing light.  It's more of a mental challenge than anything, but it's given me something to think about for the past six months! 

Hopefully, I'll be able to chat with many of you before I leave the States, and hopefully, you'll be able to read about my experiences on this blog very soon!