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!