I accept!

I write to you now as an official PCV -- Peace Corps Volunteer! ;) Click to enlarge:



On Thursday we had our swear-in ceremony. It was beautiful and incredibly moving! I got all choked up. The U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania was our guest of honor, and he led the 76 of us in repeating the oath of office:

I, Julie Ann Clark, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, domestic and foreign, that I take this obligation freely and without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps by working with the people of Mauritania as partners in friendship and in peace, so help me God.

We had a delicious lunch to celebrate (chicken! a rarity here), and then we got to have a special Q&A session with the ambassador. His name is Mark Boulware, and I was super excited to meet him.





I was really impressed. He was quite personable and friendly one-on-one, but composed and intelligent as he answered our questions on the fly. We asked mainly about the recent coup and the U.S./international reaction. He stressed how, although Mauritania has had many coups in its short history, this is the first time the military overthrew a genuinely democratically elected president. Ambassador Boulware has spoken personally with General Abdelaziz, urging him to use discretion in the days ahead.

After the Q&A, a bunch of the new PCVs started preparing our spectacular feast for dinner (cooking for 100+ people takes some time!), but I had other plans. As a metaphor for this new beginning, I shaved my head. No, I haven't lost my mind! It's something I have wanted to do for a long time, and there is no better time. My head is covered here whenever I go out anyway, so it's kind of a fun little secret I'm hiding. ;) My friend Megan jumped ship with me (although she opted to keep a little mohawk), and Brandon did the shearing honors.





Now I am in Boghé, my departmental capital, with all my new region-mates. We're taking care of some protocol (meeting with local officials) and picking up household wares. On Tuesday I will move to Dar el Barka, my NEW HOME! All the PCVs assure us that "the hardest part is over"... fortunately, I have a good month to get settled because school doesn't start until October. However, I will be arriving just as Ramadan begins, when everyone fasts (from food AND water!) until sundown each evening. I am not required to fast with them, but it means I will have to fend for myself as far as meals are concerned. There are not exactly any restaurants in the village. Should be interesting. Send treats! =)

Coup-ka-doodle-coup

I think this article gives a nice overview and assessment of the coup situation in Mauritania.

Until we meet again, PK7

My time living in PK7 is through. Unbelievable! This means I have been gone from America for nearly 10 weeks, and I am about to swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer this Thursday -- inshallah. All the trainees returned to the center today, and we will be here until Saturday when we each depart to our permanent sites. Prrretty sweet.

The other toubabs and I decided to sponsor a little fête last night to thank our families for their generosity. On Friday, Ryan and I were sent to the Rosso market with a shopping list of goodies for the celebration. I had to buy a duffel bag just to be able to carry all the stuff we got, while Ryan carried a sack of 15 kilos (that's 33 pounds) of potatoes on his head -- in the heat of the day! That's true commitment.

Yesterday we all said our sad goodbyes to our families and had a relaxed final day at PK7. Around 6pm, they dragged a sheep away to be slaughtered. I had wanted to watch, just for the experience, but it proved far too gruesome for me. Slitting the throat, peeling off the skin... that's intense stuff. The turnaround time from baying beast to delicious dinner was impressively short. The food was the best I've had in Mauritania so far. Lots of pepper and garlic, per the Americans' request! And where usually we have no beverages at all, this night we drank sweet, sweet bissap -- with ICE, a true luxury. (They insisted on waiting until nightfall, when it's a breezy 75 degrees, to sip this icy treat. What do we drink as the sun beats down? Steaming hot tea, of course.) After dinner we had an impromptu dance party, and the women painted henna on Teresa and me as a special going-away gift.

As our car pulled away this morning and our families all waved, I was blinking back tears. The community in PK7 has been AMAZING to us... here's to hoping for just as good a time in Dar el Barka.

Photos below. I have some videos, but they are near impossible to upload. I will keep trying this week.

"The moon has been taken"

Many of you are confused about where exactly I am these days, so I want to clarify. The training center for Peace Corps Mauritania is in Rosso, a decent-sized city you can find on many maps. For the past two months, I have been living with a family in PK7, which is a tiny village 7 km outside Rosso. I go into the city often (every weekday the past couple weeks for Model School), and it is there that I am able to get online. This Saturday is my last day at PK7! All the trainees will be back at the center for a few days before our official swear-in as Peace Corps Volunteers on August 28 (inshallah -- God-willing!). THEN I will move to Dar el Barka, my permanent site where I will spend the next two years. My mailing address is Boghé because that is the closest city to Dar el Barka.

It is hard to believe that training is almost over. It flew by! I am really excited to settle in to my permanent site -- living out of a duffel bag is running its course. Model School has been really great overall. My kids have been a bit rambunctious at times, but I relish their enthusiasm. We will have a special ceremony for all the students when they "graduate" next Sunday.

So, I am very aware of the moon cycle here. We eat outside every night, and it's a plus when we don't have to use flashlights. I had been getting excited for the full moon, but I was very surprised to see it partially eclipsed! Eclipses are pretty fun to watch, so we toubabs were enjoying it. Our families kept telling us something about the moon, but we didn't recognize one of the Pulaar words. I assumed they meant something like "the moon is covered" or "the moon is incomplete." Later, they repeatedly told me that this moon was "very bad." I asked why, and they laughed. I said, "It's not bad. No problems!" and they laughed some more. I noticed that the men had stayed at the mosque a lot longer than usual, and the women and children were murmuring extra prayers as well.

The next day, I learned that the expression they had been repeating to me was "The moon has been taken," and they were all praying that Allah would forgive them their misdeeds and please bring back the moon. I attempted to sketch a little astronomy diagram and explain it in Pulaar. It went something like, "Sun is here. Earth is here -- Mauritania. Moon is here, behind Earth. No problems, no problems!" They either semi-understand, or just think I'm absolutely insane.

P.S. Thankyouthankyouthankyou for your emails, letters, and phone calls! They mean more to me than you know. Shout-out to my mother for her amazing care package, which included Bicycle playing cards (I never knew luxury until I touched them!) and a fly swatter (it could not be worth more to me if it were solid gold). I hope to post more photos and perhaps video next week (inshallah) when I have more internet time at the center. And I will answer your emails ASAP!

Cuckoo for coups!

I have to be honest. When I first heard on Wednesday that there had been a military coup in Mauritania, my first reaction was to want to laugh. No, this is not an appropriate response, but for those of you who don't know, I experienced a coup while living in Ecuador in 2005. What were the chances of it happening again? (I guess pretty high, when you look at Mauritania's track record.) It seems far less exciting the second time around. Now I can understand why the Mauritanians hardly bat an eye. Rest assured that all is safe and well on my end. If you are interested in my personal thoughts on the matter, please email me.

I am a few hours from the capital city, so life just goes on as normal here. Goats still graze with or without a president.

On Teaching in the RIM

Peace Corps Volunteers serve in a variety of sectors, including Health, Agroforestry, and Small Enterprise Development. My sector is Education -- Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). I have mixed emotions about this assignment. I've had some experience teaching in the States, and I've enjoyed it a great deal. However, I'm not sure how I really feel about specifically teaching English here. Am I sending the message that these kids need to learn English so that they can be educated/employed in a "better" country and leave this place behind? I don't want that to be the connotation, but what else is the practical use of learning this language? In any case, as of 1999 here, English education is mandatory from middle school onwards, so my presence is helping meet the demand for trained teachers.

Teaching holds an interesting position in Mauritania. It demands more preparation than many other professions, with four years of university and one year of pedagogy. Teachers are respected and well-regarded within their communities, but they are paid quite poorly. My language teacher says he was earning $100/month after 16 years of experience.

The conditions of the school buildings are, far and wide, nothing like we are accustomed to in the States. Water-damaged, paint-peeling walls and dirt floors are par for the course. There is frequently a shortage of seats, with students crammed shoulder-to-shoulder into what benches there are (understandable when they pack as many as 90 kids in a classroom at times! I am fortunate because my classes will probably only be around 50 each). Books are rare. The teacher writes notes and exercises on the blackboard, and students diligently copy it all down into their notebooks, which are their de facto texts. Allah help you if you have sloppy handwriting. I laugh now when I think about how grumpy my coworkers and I all used to get when the photocopiers would break... I won't be having that problem here! ;)

Yesterday began Week 2 of a three-week "Model School" for us 15 TEFL trainees to do some student-teaching and observing of veteran teachers. We have a slew of real, live Mauritanian kids (middle school and high school) who have signed on to show up to English class every day and keep us on our toes. So far I have taught four classes and really had a blast. (Keep in mind, these are kids who have volunteered to come to school on their summer vacation, so they are generally quite eager to learn and participate!)