News from Remote Areas

Aleg is in an uproar! The president of Mauritania is visiting tomorrow, and this place is crawling. There are flags the entire length of the city on the gidron, pennants hanging from buildings, and snazzy cars (at least by Mauritanian standards) arriving by the dozens. It's kind of fun.

I'm in town for a joint birthday party for Julien, one of the Aleg volunteers, and our refugees from Tchad, Greger and Kate. All three have birthdays this month and we're celebrating with fish and mashed potatoes. The new volunteers are really great (for example, Kate's music pick for the evening is Revolver) and they're going to be fun region mates next year after Julien and Nina finish up.

The title of this post comes from my friend Cheikh Ahmed, who says that Maal is no fun because it is a "remote area." He has such an amusing English vocabulary.