Helllllooooo!
I know it's been ages since I've written but ya'll are gonna have to get used to that because Saturday I cruise out to Selibaby and internet will not be very reliable there. First I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I wish I could be there, love and miss you TONS!
So so soooo much has happened that I don't even know where to start but I'll do my best to give you the interesting parts. First, today I left my host family to move back into the center for 6 days for swearing in and various other business. Before I left my family sat me down and told me that when I move to Selibaby I am to introduce myself as Marieme and not let my new family change my name. I'm super sad to leave them, they were more than I could ever have hoped for but c'est la vie, its time to move on! My sister says when she comes to the states she'll faire la cuisine Mauritanian for all my friends and family and I would really love to see that day. I have phone numbers for all of them and an e-mail for my big brother who goes to school in Nouakchatt and I promised to keep in touch. I also have lots photos that I'll put up as soon as I'm able.
Last night I hung out with a bunch of my N'Diourbel friends here at Tessa's house, a bunch of guys that are absolutely hilarious because the only English they speak is what they have seen on tv and in music ("I'm sorry mama", "Sit down and Shut up!", "My Darling") and what I have taught them ("Peace out homeslice") and when people come in the compound the guys will yell sit down and shut up! But no one knows what they are saying and its pretty hilarious for Tessa and me. I fear Tessa and myself are getting to used to spending time with people who don't speak English and being able to just talk about people right in front of them, we are worried for when we return to the states and lose the ability to have the inner dialogue to all of our conversations. There is this one guy that comes over all the time and just talks over everyone, everyone knows we don't like him and they all say "he's just Senegalese" which is the Mauritanian word for anyone annoying or shocking or abrasive etc. and when he gets right in my face I love to tell him how annoying he is in English because he has no idea, and its very funny for Tessa and myself.
Which brings me to my next point, come Saturday I will be going to site and I won't see Tessa and Adam for at least three months and that pretty much breaks my heart, those two are my bestest friends here and I'm going to be heart broken without them! We just had our final language test, last time I got intermediate-mid so hopefully I do better than that this time but that's all I need to pass out of the language requirement for service so I'll take it. I feel like I speak a lot of French right up until I start speaking to a native French speaker, then I'm totally lost. I got in an all out franglais discussion with my big brother (he speaks a little English) the other day about men's work and women's work here in Mauritania that was pretty frustrating and made my petite vocab very apparent. I don't mind so much though when I'm arguing with him because then I just try to tell him in English and he gets as frustrated as me trying to speak in French so I don't feel so bad anymore.
Yesterday Tessa and I tried to cook American food for some Mauritanians (Aminetou, our French speaker, Souleymane, a guys who teaches in Selibaby but lives here in Rosso during the summer so lucky me, I already have a local friend to show me the ropes!, and Yacoub, another friend from Rosso). We attempted omelettes and French fries and ended us with scrambled eggs and home fries cause the pans here are stickyyyy but Adam, Tessa, and I thought it was delish and the Mauritanians ate some but I have a hunch it was just to be polite.
Anyway afterwards Adam and Tes and I had Mafe, a fantastic rice and peanut sauce dish that's apparently Malian that Aminetou made for us and then we all went and spent the evening with our families and then off to watch Tessa's 19 year old uncle, Brahim, play a final soccer match at the stade. The stade was the standard affair, lots of getting stared at by little kids, a little name-calling (toubob = white person and Nasarani = stranger) and a healthy amount of staring, but not nearly as much as last time! At the end of the game we stayed in our seats for a minute to wait out the excited crowds (Brahim's team won!) and the guy in front of us turned around and informed us that the match was in fact fini and it was time for us silly toubobs to get up. We said we knew and he asked for a cigarette and then when we said we didn't have one he asked Adam for me (cette madam la) to which Adam replied basically the equivalent of sure why not? And all the Mauritanians found that totally hilarious.
Not much else exciting to report for now, but I'll write more later! Peace Out Homeslices,
Shelby
PS: More packages? Please? Got my first and it was amazing! I shared the M&M's (which made it in amazingly good shape, and by that I mean the candy shell was intact but all the chocolate was totally melted so they were extra delish) and the cookies with my friends and family and my little brother says "biscuits ZANE!" (Arabic for good, and pretty, and yummy, and all sorts of other terms of endearment) which was pretty adorable. Tessa got three jars of peanut butter though and I'm totally jealous! LOVE YOU ALL! Keep the emails coming, I love to hear about your lives! Keeps your eyes out for photos, hopefully soon!
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