Winter in Akjoujt has arrived. We have highs in the seventies and eighties now and the winds have changed and now blow from the northeast. The winds are insanely strong. If you look to the north during the day, the sky is brown with sand blowing from across the Sahara. The lack of trees for thousands of miles lets the wind really build up and during the day it is sometimes really difficult to even walk from place to place. I am looking forward to returning to Senegal in a few weeks, where there are trees its not as dusty.

The school year is now half way over. Working in a Mauritanian school has been very interesting. I teach the fourth and fifth years of high school students(there are six years), which is equivalent to high school sophomores and juniors. The age ranges of students though is from 14-24 and attendance more resembles a college setting than a high school. Attendance is not mandatory and the final exam is such a large percentage of the final grade that simply passing that test allows a student to advance to the next year. Students are advanced by school year and not by subject. Thus, I have students that will fail English, but pass enough of their other courses to move on. But, they will be expected to complete the next years English competencies without passing the previous years prerequisite. This means that I have students who are unable to write the Latin alphabet, but will be advanced to the next level of English.

I have had a fun time interacting with the other Mauritanians at the Lycee. I teach an English class for professors, where we go over basics and then I explain slang terms to them. Afterwards we hang out and one of the professors houses and play cards and watch crap action movies in English with Arabic subtitles. My friend Cheikh Sidi recently asked if I had any dvds. I only had one, the TU-BYU game from this season. The teachers had no idea what was going on, but they are now TU fans. Heather is going to bring the TU-Bowling Green bowl game in a few weeks and I will have them watch that as well.

In house news, I have moved out of my house and I am staying with my sitemate, Hayley, until I find another place. My house was broken into during October, during Christmas break, and again last week. Unfortunately, Akjoujt is in a bit of a housing crunch right now. Akjoujt attracts quite a bit of labor from other cities in Mauritania due to the copper mine in town. The mine is expanding and so more people are moving to the city and taking any available housing. Hopefully, I'll find a place before I go to Senegal in two weeks.

Heather is going to be visiting in two and a half weeks. We are planning to spend time in Dakar, I have to play softball, and then check out the beaches and wildlife parks in Northern Senegal. We will also head up north to Mauritania and visit Nouakchott and Akjoujt. I think Akjoujt will be a day trip, there isn't a ton to see, but it would be interesting to have someone I have known for longer that seven months see where I live and talk about it to other friends. I am looking forward to seeing her and all the goodies she is going to bring with her. New skinny pants, American candy, rum, a good sleeping bag, etc.

Also, I recently found out that I'm going to be an uncle and my other sister is moving to Taiwan. I have so many people to visit throughout the world, I think the summer/fall of 2009 is going to be a ton of fun. I'd like to hit Germany, England, Taiwan, the Phillipines, and South Africa. Along with whatever I have to travel through to get there.

Well I haven't posted since before Christmas. Here is a recap of the festivities. I traveled down to Nouakchott from Akjoujt, about a two and half to three hour ride, on the 23rd. I greeted all of the other Peace Corps Volunteers I had not seen since September. I proceeded to chat it up and then a game of "Pens" went down. This was a game created during the occasional immense boredom of stage. It involved yelling, trying to throw a pen into a cup or upturned lampshade, and then some pelvic thrusting towards your opponents. Justin(the bearded guy sitting next to me and a volunteer in Tintane) and I won the game and two beers at the bar in Nouakchott. Later I ate pizza.

Christmas Eve, I purchased cheese (went for the Rocquefort), kiwis, and deli meat at the supermarket in Nouakchott and then commenced the two week foodfest. That evening, I went to the Country Director's house for the annual Christmas Eve Party he throws. The food was crazy, as is his house. I had nachos with bean dip and hummus. I had been participating in a Fantasy Football League with a number of other first year volunteers in Mauritania. I and a volunteer in Rosso, Mike, ended up in the Super Bowl. We had lamented not being able to actually watch the football games that made up our Super Bowl. Then we realized...it was monday night...Obie(the Country Director) has a sweet television set up...all we have to do is stay up til three in the morning and we can watch the deciding game. That night ended at five am...I lost.

Christmas Day was fairly typical. I returned to Obie's house after getting like four hours of sleep. Obie had donuts and I ate a lot of his donuts. After sufficiently feeding myself, I went to the beach. The beach in Nouakchott is surprisingly clean and nice. I went bodysurfing with some buddies and returned just in time for Christmas dinner. We had turkey, quiche, mac and cheese, bbqed sheep, pie, lasagna, and lots of other stuff. I literally made myself sick. I also met the U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania.

Boxing Day I had to go to the Peace Corps Bureau for a meeting about the murder of four French tourists in the interior of the country outside of Aleg. Then I went to the beach. Then I went to the bar. Somewhere in there I probably ate lebanese or chinese food too. I essentially kept the same program of eating and hanging out until virtually the entire Peace Corps in Mauritania relocated to St. Louis, Senegal.

St. Louis is pretty sweet. The part I stayed on is an island. This part of the city reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Not as racy, Senegal is still a predominantly Muslim country, but the buildings share the same French colonial architecture. In Senegal the big boutiques sell ham and cheese. I partook of these sandwiches. Then, I went to the beach. After lounging at the beach for five or six hours, I returned to my hotel. Then I went to the clubs. Quite a few Mauritanian volunteers and Senegalese volunteers frequented the Iguana during this trip, which produced a dance club filled with a ton of Americans. More Americans than I had seen in a long time. After the club I would eat a sandwich about four am and then wake up at ten to hit up the beach. This was my program during the stay in St. Louis. I puppy on top came and sat on my lap. We named him Flag after the local beer. New Years was fun, I remember singing with some African Band. We had told them it was one of the volunteers birthdays. Below is me, Levin, and Justin on New Years Eve.


I ate a pizza in St. Louis with an egg on top. I also ate a hamburger in Nouakchott with an egg on top. Both things are delicious. The egg on the pizza fused with the cheese to create a substance better than its sum. The beef and egg on the hamburgers provided the protein I needed to be at my finest.

We returned to Nouakchott, we had to cross the Senegal river this time on a canoe, for training. Training was work, but it was work in Nouakchott. I relaxed, went to the beach, and ate some more good food. For our final meal in Nouakchott Justin and I went with some girls to a Tunisian restaurant. The food was good, but it was not an eggburger. As soon as we finished we went to eat another meal, its a long trip to Akjoujt and I would need the strength.

After jamming ten people in a station wagon bound for Akjoujt, I arrived home. I discovered my house had been broken into. A pack of cards, a can of peppers, and some hand sanitizer was missing. The didn't take a hundred dollar bill or the ipod charger they failed to steal in October. My house was broken into again this week and again nothing was taken. As a result, I am searching for a new house. The real pain is how heavy my air conditioner is and how I had to carry it from my house to Hayley's (my sitemate) for storage and repair the hole in the house it made.

School is going well. I have started an English class for the other professors at the Lycee. We are also starting English classes for the community. I am also growing a monster beard for the West African Invitational Softball Tournament. It will probably turn into a monster mustache, but nothing is set in stone.