"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!