The last few weeks have been extremely busy. Monday through Friday I have had seven hours of French instruction and then on the weekends technical training. Therefore; I have not been able to post on this blog with any regularity.
The most exciting news in the last month was the announcement of our permanent sites. I have been assigned to the Lycee in Akjoujt. Akjoujt is about three hours northeast of the capitol Nouakchott and two hours southwest of Mauritanias major tourist draw Atar. The area is in the Sahara and surrounded by moutains and dunes.
I traveled with the other future volunteers in the Adrar and Inciri regions; the regions whose capitals are Atar and Akjoujt and spent about a week there. I will live in Akjoujt with three other volunteers doing agroforestry, environmental education and girls empowerment. We are the first ever volunteers in the Inciri region and so have to do quite bit of legwork to establish the Peace Corps in Akjoujt. The town and region officials I met with during this visit were very welcoming and forgave my limited French and nonexistant Arabic.
Akjoujt is somewhat different than other Mauritanian cities, as it happens to have a lot of western expatriates and probably one of my favorite things in the world.
I have about three more weeks of intense French or Arabic languange training and mock classes before I am sworn in as a volunteer and relocate to Akjoujt. I should be extremely busy, which will immediately change when I arrive in Akjoujt and ramadan begins. Due to the inability to eat or drink during the day, in the middle of the sahara, Mauritanians do not do alot of activities during ramadan. I hope it is a nice period of adjustment to my new home.
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4 comments:
My first research tool for general knowledge of countries is the CIA World Fact Book. My first reseach tool for geography is Google Maps. Either they let me down this time, or Akjoujt is literally nothing more than a desert: map link. It sounds exciting. I dare you to find a place less like Tulsa in the world.
Since when does Mauritania have a tourist draw?
Apparently it's still not, according to the American-Mauritanian Business Council, which apparently exists. But I remember seeing this on TV a while back: long train. I'd make the trip there to make the $5 trip. That's only €4.
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