FEET!

(Original sent July 16, 2008)

Hello every one!

Sorry i have not written in so long but as you know I have limited access. Right now I am sitting at the center, in between tech sessions typing this email on my computer to copy and paste into an email later because I have limited internet time. I miss you all BEAUCOUP and boy do I have some stories to share!

I will start with this one, not for those with weak stomachs, but instead for all those people who used to poke fun at me for my vegetarian ways, so that I can now say that I am way more hardcore than you. I ate feet. I kid you not, 4 feet, 1 potato, spicy sauce, and some bread for dipping. I think it was cow feet meat but I remain unconvinced that they were in fact edible at all. They looked like feet, and they tasted like the really spicy sauce, probably intentionally designed to cover the taste of the feet themselves. Here in Mauritania NOTHING goes to waste, not even cow feet. YUCK. I was eating only the sauce and the potato and my family noticed and started ripping off chunks of the feet and tossing them to my side of the bowl, a gesture of hospitality the came across all wrong considering it was not food that they were throwing, but bits of cooked feet. I decided that I came here with the express intention of embracing a new culture so I dug in, and the result was not pleasant. I will spare you the gory details and leave it at this, I would not recommend them under just about any circumstances.

Another story…language barriers are funny things, sometimes I am truly impressed at my French skills and my ability to convey my messages and at other times I fail miserably, always with humorous results. One of my more humorous failings happened recently when my sister told me she liked my sunglasses and I tried to let her borrow them and accidentally gave them to her. Ce n'est pas grave, since they were a $5 pair from the Christmas tree shoppe, so I cut my losses and moved on. My sister wore them for 5 minutes then put them somewhere and they were gone. That night at dinner my dad was wearing them (for those of you that don't know them they are the gold/brown pair of very girly aviator style shades that I have had forever) and he said he thought he looked like a police man, much to my enjoyment her wore them for all of dinner even though we eat at 10 pm and it was very dark (we eat outside on a mat). Since that fateful day those shades have been showing up at all the weirdest moments. The other day I came home from French class to find Yousef, a neighbor boy that I would guess is in his twenties. Sometimes my petit frere, Mohammed will wear them and dance to rap videos on the TV. Occasionally a sister will where them when she's sweeping or cooking or whenever. I love it, well worth the 800 ouguiya I paid for a new pair of "Gucci" sunglasses at the market.

I put all of these stories in my journal which I write in every night and when it is full I'm going to mail it to the states for anyone who wants to read it (that's you mom and dad, and anyone else, I dunno how interesting my life will be but feel free). That's my contribution since I'm not going to be able to update you via email very often. I will be online a lot this weekend because I will be at the center for three days and hopefully have an opportunity to upload some photos soon. This Sunday I find out my site assignment, as in my permanent site, for the next two years, and then Monday I head out there for a week long visit with the volunteers currently there, to meet local health professionals, school administrators, etc, and hopefully lots of fun!

Theres much more to tell but I am out of time so fini for now,

I love and miss you all but not so much that I'm not able to enjoy my time here. I'm happy and healthy and sweaty and smiling and I have a gecko that lives in my room named Skeeter!

Bye bye for now!

Shelby (Marieme!)

AND ONE BIG PS:

I am getting all of your emails but i get them after i have already written my next email so if i forget to respond i'm sorry! Jen, I did get the picture of the girls! They are so pretty and doing well i see! I also got the letter grom gramma ev but am in a bit of a hurry and have not been able to read it yet, but it is saved to my hardrive so i can get to it later. Kate (and anyone else interested) for the rast of stage (through august) my mailing address is as follows:

Shelby Perry, PCT
Corps de la Paix
BP 222
Nouakchott, Mauritanie Africa

I would love anything anyone would want to send me, but save yourself some money and try to keep it in envelopes (even the big padded ones) rather than boxes (way cheaper!)

Glad to hear everyones well, i have about 30 other emails to wade through and then i might try to put up some photos but we'll see, i'll try to let everyone know if i do.