23 September 2005 - 19:54
So I went down to stage to help the newbs finish up their training, and I presented the two best technical sessions the health sector has ever seen (just because I brought frozen yogurt for them and finished an hour early). It was a good thing that I and my fellow presenters were so short-winded, because right after wrapping the last session up, a huge rainstorm rolled through. Rain, as you will remember, isn't exactly a common phenomenon here, and I was especially elated, since I actually live in the Sahara part of the country, unlike most of the volunteers here. So we mud-wrestled, had mud-ball fights, and brought out a slip-n-slide (and we even convinced a few Mauritanians to try it - how's that for cultural exchange?!). No one took me up on my suggestion of making mud-angels, but we had a blast anyways.
We finished up training, went through the same boring, overly-patriotic "I swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America" oath, and then hung out.
A couple shopping days later, we headed back to Tidjikja, and I got in "I have a mission" mode. I'm still a little aggravated about my posting last year - I got rushed into town, wasn't given time to buy any supplies, then literally dropped off in my village by myself on my first day without a place to live. And I was sick. I cried myself to sleep for months. Not really. But it was a really irritating experience, and this year, I was determined to not let it happen to my new volunteers, who I have a sort of motherly instinct towards (yeah, it weirds me out too). So I worked hard in Tidjikja to get the protocol done correctly, gave up my house to the two new kids that would be living in Tidjikja for a couple days, then headed down to Nbeika and Moudjeria to get those two volunteers settled in. Fortunately, I had already found a house for Cathryn during her site visit, so that was an easy one to take care of. Back up in Nbeika, sure enough, the two Peace Corps facilitators, not liking to stick around the crappy villages we live in for too long, took off after a few hours in Nbeika, and I was left doing their job. Greg and I had good luck though, and we found him a house and got everything settled in two days. Down to Moudjeria to check on Cathryn again, then back to Tidjikja that night. My language tutor managed to find a house for Chris while I was gone, so now I just have to find a host family for Amanda, which will be done in the next few days, inshallah. Then I can get back into a routine for the first time in...uh...about three months. I can't wait to use all the good stuff my mom and grandma sent me in care packages! Mmmm.
