Top Best King Hip Hop Boys

I knew that I needed to write a blog post today when I saw this phrase on one of my host brother’s friend’s tee shirts. In English. Huh? There’s so many weird things like this on people’s clothing. I think that a lot of these Western-looking clothes come here from China because I’m certain that a native English-speaker wouldn’t have the creativity to make some of this stuff up. I’ve even heard of Peace Corps volunteers who were walking around, saw a really weird saying on a tee shirt, and traded shirts with the person on the spot! I’m assuming this is a lot easier for male volunteers…

Speaking of clothing, I recently purchased my second “mulafa,” or full-length veil worn my Moor women here. A lot of female volunteers in the northern part of the country wear mulafas every day, but I’m not a huge fan and people tend to be less conservative in the South where I live (if you call ankle-length skirts and tee shirts less conservative), so I haven’t had much experience with them. I decided to buy one to wear on three-hour off road rides from M’Bout to the regional capital. It helps keep the dust, sun, and hot air off of your skin.

Anyway, when I got back from Kaedi – wearing my new mulafa – my host family informed me that the pattern I had picked was called the “Barack Obama.” I have no idea why: it’s blue with navy tie-died stripes. No Barack Obama faces or stars and stripes. Huh?

But now, my host family has started referring to it, not as your Barack Obama mulafa, but instead simply as “the Obama.” It’s weird in context: “Aren’t you going to wash Obama?” “You should gum (starch) Obama.” “You decided to wear Obama!” Even this morning, they pointed out a girl on her way to school who was wearing “Obama.” I always chuckle to myself.

In other news, John and I are wrapping up our last week of GMC activities. We had the girls finish off their computer lessons by writing thank you letters to the teachers and mentors who volunteered at the center this year and on Tuesday, we’re going to have an end-of-the-year party/lesson with snacks and a lesson on the history of American music. After that, I’m off for about a month of vacation in Nouakchott, St. Louis, and Mali. I’ve been slacking off with my picture-taking, but I’m hoping to do and see a lot of the touristy things on vacation, so hopefully, I have some good ones to post when I get back.

All the volunteers here are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new trainees next month. I now understand why everyone was so excited when we arrived here last year! It’s hard to explain why we want so desperately to meet a group of 60 total strangers, but it’s like you know that your experience will be so similar and it’s fun to watch it through someone else’s eyes.

Hot season is here in full force now, and the humidity has returned. We get sand storms now like you get rain storms in the States. The other night, we had sandy wind for about 6 hours, which is terrible when you normally sleep outside. I’m dreaming of cold season…and of my trip home in August…