Tomorrow is the last day of school for the year. We will have a week out of classes before the students come back and do their end of the tri-mestre exams. As soon as the students come back for exams though, I will be leaving for two weeks of liver-pounding fun in Nouakchott and St. Louis. I am inconceivably excited to leave Akjoujt for a while and spend some time with friends I have not seen for three months.

The last month has been fairly action packed, in a Mauritanian sense. I went with the other volunteers from Akjoujt and the volunteers in the Adrar region to Atar for thanksgiving and then on to Chinguetti for a camel trek. I ate a ton of food, including cherry and pumpkin pies (thank you heather), good chicken, mashed potatoes, pesto, and other stuff I can't recall. The camel trek was really enjoyable. Although camels aren't a particularly comfortable animal to ride and it is much to cold in the desert for my now uber thin blooded self. The massive sand dunes around Chinguetti are amazing...just endless nothingness.

On the way to Atar we were accompanied by a goat. This goat was a gift to Kristen (PCV Atar) and what is a camel trek without adequate sustenance. There was no room in the truck for the goat, so we did the Mauritanian thing and strapped him in a burlap sack to the roof of the vehicle. Two hours later we arrived in Chinguetti, Mark (PCV Atar) having been peed on by this goat through an open window, me having no more feeling remaining in my legs, and the goat sufficiently tenderized from regular "bumps" on an unpaved African highway. The key to any good goat meal is in the preparation. The two hours of tenderizing, and the Moroccan who prepared this goat, resulted in the best goat meal I have ever had.

Work in Akjoujt has been pretty normal. My two fifth year classes are enjoyable, because the students listen to what I say. My fourth year class is extremely frustrating, because they talk constantly and then complain about not understanding. Aparently, the students have complained to the school administration that my American accent is incomprehensible and they are used an English accent instead. So I suppose I'll start throwing in some "by joves," "prams," and "lifts" to appease them.

It will be interesting spending a Christmas outside of the U.S. or rather inside a country that doesn't celebrate christmas. I kind of forgot about thanksgiving until it came, and then was kind of bummed out to miss out on football, turkeys, etc. I suppose Christmas will be the same. I'll have a really fun time in Nouakchott and St. Louis with friend, but it would still be nice to see family...and eat ham.