Right most of my classmates from school are now either working or going to grad school; it all sounds interesting but hard; I was planning on going there one day, but right now I'm not so sure. I'm really loving the Peace Corps so much! I feel like this is the simple kind of living that I've always dreamed of for myself.
I just finished training and on Monday I'll be going to my final/permanent/for real village that I'll be living in for the next 2 years. So I'm not even sure yet what my daily schedule will be like, but this is what it's been for the last 10 weeks:

Get up 7am
go to the bathroom: a Turkish toilet/squat outhouse and use water/hand
wash my hands and face
go to the boutique for bread
drink tea with the bread
clean my room
sweep the patio
clean up the yard
go greet people/hang out/ talk
come home and make lunch 12ish
eat lunch 2ish
drink tea, talk
nap during the heat, until about 3pm
go to the ONLY water spigot in our village and bring back water for bathing/drinking/cooking
do whatever work may need to be done, like helping my aunt build her twig hut (very hard, and I really can't do it very well!)
shower
go greet, talk, hang out
home about 6ish to help with getting the cows milked (I don't actually do the milking)
drink some fresh milk
strain fresh milk
put fresh milk into container to be taken to a factory on the "milk car" which picks up the entire villages milk containers
play with my cousins, teach English to my aunt, start making dinner
eat dinner 9ish
go greet, hang out, talk
bed 11pm

In my new home starting on Monday I have to get my water from a well every morning! and I can balance it on my head! its so awesome to do all of this. we don't have electricity, running water, a doctor, a road, or very much at all really, but we laugh often and love a lot. so its worth it to me.

For 10 weeks I was learning Pulaar and the local culture. I was in the site with 4 other Peace Corps Trainees and a local teacher; each of us had a different host family where we slept, ate, studied, and lived like exchange students. Now that we've learned the basics we've all gone to our separate regions within Mauritania. Regions are like states: in the US there are 50 states, each with its own capitol, characteristics, and customs. In Mauritania there are 14 regions, mine being "Gorgol." I am so happy because my really good friend Sara Cate, or as the natives call her Suli Kay (they can't say her name well), and I are in the Gorgol together! That doesn't mean we'll be together all the time because the villages we live in are about 100 kilometers away from each other.

Now we've arrived in the Gorgol to buy the necessities for our homes for the next 2 years, including:
floor mat
sofa cushion-like bed
3 buckets for bathing, getting water from the well, etc
2 tubs for washing clothes, getting water from the well, etc
cups with handles, for dipping into the buckets and/or tubs
gas stove
water cannery, for keeping drinking water in
cooking pots/pans/spoons
bamboo cot
sheet
hand broom
makaresh (the toilet)
hand fans
bowl for eating in
and anything else that looks cool

Ramadan is starting, so everyone will be fasting during the day, meaning NO WATER or FOOD while the sun is out. Except for children, feeding mothers, and me. If you feel moved to send just-add-water foods to help sustain me, feel free!
brownie mix
baking mixes
oatmeal
bacon bits
Crystal Light juice mixes
your love

Let me know if you have any questions about Africa and I'll answer them!

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Mauritania for 10 weeks! They’ve gone by so fast! I just left my training site PK-6 and in about 4 days we’ll be sworn in as the newest Peace Corps Volunteers in Mauritania!

Anyway, for the last 10 weeks 4 other Peace Corps Trainees—PCT—and I were in PK-6 to learn Pulaar and the African culture. Today we left PK-6 in a flurry of tears, hand shakes, hugs, and promises to visit. We all really love PK-6 and it was hard to leave.

Sanitation is interesting here: ok, so its almost non-existent to the American standard. In the Muslim religion there are 5 prayer times a day and each time the person praying needs to wash their face, hands, and feet. This is really practical since everything is not very sanitary: kids play in the dirt, next to the spot they peed in earlier in the day. Cows, goats, chickens, donkeys, dogs, and cats roam everywhere, including the yard. Everyone spends pretty much al their time outside since inside is just way to hot. We spend our time under an “mbarra” which is a low roof with no walls: shade and the breeze!

Anyway, everything has fine amount of dust in/on it, even the food! Food is good here, but it gets monotonous: rice, fish, and veggies every day for lunch. The young girls about 13-18 start cooking about 1-2 hours before eating, usually inside a small twig hut over a wood fire. When its ready, they spoon the rice into a huge bowl then strategically lay out the fried fish and vegetables all around, put the bowl onto their head, and walk over to the mbarra where the family is waiting. There’s a piece of cloth put on the floor, usually about 3 sq ft where anywhere from 8-15 people gather around. One of the 8-15 year olds, or who ever is “low” on the family totem pole will pour water out of the makaresh (which looks like a big tea pot) so each person can take their turn to wash their hands. Usually there’s soap but some times not, so that can be disgusting considering all the hands you HAVE to shake, the animals you’ve shooed away, the dirt we all do everything on, and the fact that your left hand wiped your butt that morning.

Then, all of us gather around the big food bowl and dig in! Right hands only, or use a spoon with your left. You have to grab a handful and ball it up in your fist. Try getting a piece of wonder bread and making it into a ball using just your right hand. Easy? Good, now try doing that with rice. Ha ha he he ha! Please tell me if/when you do this, so I can laugh!

When you’re done you get up, wash your hands, lounge around, and wait for tea!

I love it!