Off to the Gorgol!

I've been checking my email for the past couple of days but haven't had a chance to post on my blog. It's been a busy week! A week ago, I moved back into the Rosso training center and said good-bye to my host family for the next 2 weeks. We had a few days of sessions and then on Monday, we received our site placements...dun dun dun! I'll be moving to the Gorgol region (southern Mauritania along the Senegal river) and starting a new Girls Mentoring Center in a small town there. I'll have one site mate, John, whose also a Girls Education volunteer, so we'll be able to work together. I'm really excited about my placement for a number of reasons: (1) we're starting a new program, so we can do whatever we want with it / don't have any expectations to live up to; (2) I have a site mate, so I won't be the only American in my village!; (3) we're in the south, which is a lot greener and more liberal than other regions in Mauritania; (4) our town of 21,000 is a great size -- not too big or too small. All in all, I'm stoked about starting my service and finishing training, but we still have about a month until swear-in.
On Tuesday, we left Rosso for the 6-hour trip to Kaedi, the Gorgol region's capital. The road was so rough! Half of our group took a "taxi-brousse" (taxi), which had to pass through Nouakchott, but we chose to take the Peace Corps land rover which took the rougher, but more direct route along the Boghe road. I was very happy to be traveling again and roaming around the Mauritanian countryside -- southern Mauritania is a lot more "African looking" than the dry and deserty north. When we got to Kaedi that evening, all the PCVs in the region were at one of the volunteer's house and they had cooked an absolutely delicious American meal for us! I think tears came to my eyes when I saw it! The next day, we met a bunch of officials in Kaedi and had a workshop with some of the community contacts (not mine unfortunately), and on Thursday, John, Becca (a PCV in a village near mine), and I went to visit my village for the first time! Also a very rough road. I'm sure I'll explain my village a little better in my future posts. We were only there for one night because we had to get back to Kaedi before the next big rain storm hit and the road became impassable.
Phew! In conclusion, a lot of things have been going on during the past week, but then again, I have a lot of down time and time spent chatting with the other volunteers in this region. I've also had to think about what I want my living situation to be like for the next two years: do I want to live with a family or on my own? I'm still undecided. But you'll be glad to know that our region has the best region dog in Mauritania! Her name is Kelbi and she's absolutely adorable.
And since this post is why too long, I'm going to cut it off here. Maa salaam!