23.07.05 - 17:47

It has been so long since I have written here. And, in my mind, with rather good reason; I've spent the last couple months entrenched in a case of the Blahs. As in, wow, O has turned out to not have work for me to do after all. Blah. It's mind-deadening hot and humid. Blah. Annika left Kankossa over a month ago, and will leave the country tomorrow night. Double Blah. Ther's nothing for me to do but sit and read and sit and read and occasionally do a word puzzle. Blah.

I need a vacation. But the next one I will have is when I come to Maryland for the month of October. And even that will be less a vacation, and more of a frenzied see-everyone-and-visit-grad-schools-GRE extravaganza. (And I'll have to start working on Mom now - she has the propensity to wake you up if you sleep past nine o'clock, even if you are sick or jet-lagged. And then try to "get you moving" in a very chipper manner. Blah.)

In other news, I have found an apartment in which to live next year. It currently belongs to Carl, a PCV who will be leaving for the US soon. It is exceedingly nice! Bedroom, salon, bathroom with shower and toilet (!), kitchen with refrigerator, balcony, and roof access. With running water and electricity! The location is great; it's in a more "upper class" neighborhood called Tevragh Zeina and close to the Peace Corps Bureau. I have already had several volunteers make plans to stay with me while I'm in Nouakchott. It will be exciting to have so much American company after living with only one other American for so long.

On the other hand, leaving Kankossa will be incredibly difficult. I will miss my simple, quiet, non-materialistic village life. More than that, I will miss my Mauritanian family and my good friends. I am already savagely jealous of the next volunteers who will live in Kankossa, in my house, with my family. But I'm also excited that there will be someone to continue Peace Corps presence in Kankossa.

You know why this entry is great? Because it could be written by any number of COSing volunteers (those who are finishing their services.) Though I'm not going "home" to the US, or "home" to Nouakchott (it's not a home yet), I am leaving "home": Kankossa. So there is definitely a mix of sadness, excitement, and sheer bordom, just waiting for the change to come.

So there we are. Until August 23, I'll be in Kankossa, chilling with my family, avoiding the hospital with its complete lack of use for my skills, and reading reading reading. (Especially the books I just got from my wish list! Thanks so so much, Carlyn and Naruth!!)

I'll also be, as always, talking about AIDS to as many people as I can, as informally as I can. Does this sound like a segue into my next entry? It just very well might be...

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