Camels, and Beetles, and Donkeys, Oh My!

Arrived in Nouakchott yesterday afternoon after flying from New York
to Paris and then on to this, the capital of Mauritania. My seat
buddy and I were looking out the window as we descended (you know you
arew going to be in trouble when it is 73 degrees outside at 6000 feet
up!) and we thought we were in a cloud.

Silly Peace Corps newbies.

It was the sun reflecting off the desert.

We were all still wondering how it was possible that we were there
when we hit the tarmac, looked to the left, and saw the sand dunes.

Definitely NOT in Kansas (or Connecticut, or Texas) anymore.

We were met by many sage and seasoned current volunteers. Including a
married couple that were leaving that night. The husband was updating
his name tag with an hourly countdown to his return.

The general attitude seems to be: glad I did this, glad I'm leaving.

We've had "sessions" since we arrived. Most of them are pretty basic,
and last night we were all so tired we basically slept through one.

We leave for Kaedi this afternoon, where we will have PST- Pre Service Training.

As any government institution, Peace Corps is acronym happy. It's
become a joke.

We live together for a week at the center, and then we are sent out to
host families.

So, to recap:

Hours in Africa: 18
Bags recieved from Air France: 0
Camels sighted: 1
Donkeys sighted: 4
Number of times the power went out at the hotel: 2
Cups of mint tea: 5
Numer of white moors who slowed their cars and honked at the group as
we walked to the hotel: 6
Times I forgot shoe etiquette and either wore them on the rug under
the tent or wore them in the house: 4
New friends made during staging: 45
Times called home since I left CT: 5

I'll update from Kaedi, where e-mail is neither free nor reliable, but
I'll make do.
love
~amy
PS: I'm sending this to everyone whose email I have. Send me love
back if you want to keep hearing by mail. Otherwise, if you go to
http://6000km.blogspot.com, I'll post this to my blog.