Thursday, July 9, 2009

GEE Conference, IS Option, and Camels Camels Everywhere!

Firstly let me dispel the myth that I am allergic to camels. There is no evidence for any animal allergies on my part. Let any who would contradict me please offer satisfactory evidential proof to the contrary rather than allegations of "defensiveness" or any other such bunk.
Okay, now on to the show. Hello world, how are you? Here in dusty Mauritania things are progressing on a rather unexpected track but before we come to that let's start at the beginning. With the rain. Greenery has come to M'Bout ladies and gentlemen, it's a regular donkey paradise if your ass has a chance to escape his/her bindings and obligatory beatings for a chance at a real smörgåsbord. Also, on a minor side note, with the rain has come a seasonal river which all but encircles the town of M'Bout cutting us off from the Kaedi- Selibaby road. "Not so!" say you "There's a bridge over that troubled water!" oh but loyal reader, let me inform you of the genius that is modern day construction engineering. The former bridge was so well located that the Portuguese road crews saw fit to replace it in the very same spot with a bigger, better bridge. Of course to build a bigger, better bridge in the very same spot necessitates the demolition of the old small-but-functional bridge. "Well how far along is the new bridge now that the seasonal river has returned?" you ask, and I'll tell you. There are two completed pylons plunging forth from the raging waters. Two of four. Upon which a road must be built. So long story short, it rained the day we were going to leave for the girls' conference and while the Selibaby girls and escorts were able to pass (through lengthy trials) unharmed from Selibaby to Kaedi (only 17 hours for a 240k trip!) they were unable to take those of us in Mbout with us as planned. The next morning we had the pleasure of wading the receding river for a whole day trip to Nouakchott.
We arrived a bit delayed for the girls' conference, missing the opening ceremony, but I was informed it was no great loss. The conference passed smoothly for me, less so for my unfortunate colleague who had the less than desirable job of staying with the girls. Cortney, I'm sorry you had to be on duty 24 hours a day with the girls whereas I got every night off for beer and pizza. Last year the organizers of the girls' conference made the unfortunate mistake of putting male PCVs into home stays along with their girls. There's nothing like an awkward sleeping arrangement to accomplish change. This year we were housed in the nearly-vacant apartment of a third year PCV who lives in Nouakchott.
Around the end of the girls conference, things really started to get interesting. Apparently enough parents have perceived a heightened level of danger to their babies serving in the Peace Corps and called our country director to gripe about the program not being closed that PC Washington and Obie decided to offer Interrupted Service to our class of first years. This was basically an ET without penalties offer. If you're miserable or feeling unsafe or whatever then you can go home now with all the benefits you'd get as a COSer at two years. Minus half the money. We lost 20 out of our 71 volunteers for numerous reasons. To all of you who are going, you will be missed. Now let's get this perfectly straight, this was a matter of perceived danger, not actual danger. I personally feel safer walking the streets of M'Bout late at night than I would feel acting the same way in any major US city.
With regard to the missionary who was killed in Nouakchott a few weeks ago, there's very little known about it. Al Quaida did claim responsibility for his death but I think it's noteworthy that they did so four days after the actual attack when they're usually so punctual about claiming credit for their own activities. Personally I find it regrettable that he died, but I don't see how it has much to do with me. I'm not in the same business.
Next. While I was off searching for replacement luggage for one of my GMC girls with a broken bag, Siham held a GEE meeting. When I came back from my errand with some grocery sacks that the girl was definitely not pleased to see, I was informed that sites with two GEE PCVs were asked to surrender one to the needs of the country, meaning that there's so many empty GMCs right now that it's selfish to leave two of us in one site while other GMCs fold up. After a week of agonizing over the decision while I was on a camel trek and realizing I'm one of two remaining GEE pairs, I decided to move to Selibaby.
Naturally many logistics of this remain and I don't intend to actually move until I return from the states in August, but there it is. If I can find a decent house where I can live with the puppy Maggie, I'll be completing my remaining year in a regional capital 120k south of M'Bout. In many ways I think I'll feel more useful there, but M'Bout really has become my home now and it's a hard thing to just pick up and go when I've been so set in a completely different mindset.
Now to the camel trek. It was excellent. None of the four of us fell off of our respective camels, though by the time our legs had felt the camel saddle for a few hours I'm sure a few of us were willing to. Chinguetti was a gorgeous little town in the middle of the desert and it's sad that tourists don't frequent it so much now as they once did. Our friend Carl is a SED PCV there and he set us up with the guides and camels to take us on our little overnight. We had two destination options: the Oasis, or the Singing Dunes. The Singing Dunes sound like a tuba when you slide down them on your butt, but the Oasis has... drumroll please... SHADE!! So naturally we chose the Oasis. Maybe the Singing Dunes can happen in the cold season, but it just wasn't happening now. At the Oasis we lounged, we drank tea, we ate day-old pasta, and we sandboarded. The first attempt at sandboarding was at 4 in the afternoon. Wearing sandles, I was pretty sure my feet were well done and ready to eat after the cooking they received in the dune the two times I climbed it. We returned at 7 and the landscape was considerably more forgiving, and I even managed not to fall too much! That night our guides cooked us bread under a fire on the sand in much the same way that I would guess it has been cooked for thousands of years. They served it in a bowl of water and oil, it was very tough, but good. We returned to Chinguetti on the 4th just in time to jump in a car and go down the treacherous mountain path to Atar for a little Independence Day party. Happy Belated Birthday America!
And now, as I sit here in Kaedi writing all of this to you, my thoughts are drawn to seeing you when I come home. I'll be visiting our lovely land of fast food and fun August 3-16th. I'm excited :)