Bitter and cynical

Yep, that would be yours truly... at least according to one of the trainees that's going to be posted in Aleg. To think just a year ago I was obnoxiously optimistic! It has a lot to do with the mean and nasty Peace Corps not giving me a sitemate. Arg. I think that's the path we've all taken, though. Today all of my training group met in Kaedi for MTR (one of Peace Corps' - PC's - astounding collection of acronyms... this one stands for Mid-term Reconnect). We've passed the one year mark and have mostly become disillusioned with our mission here. Are we really doing any good? Some signs point to no. But it's kinda fun anyway - except when it's not.

And with that extremely ambivilent first paragraph, I'd like to add that things aren't actually too bad here right now. My new regionmates are really cool, so I'll be spending a lot of time in Aleg. We got three new girls - Erin does agroforestry, Victoria will be teaching, and Heather is a business volunteer. They'll be working with the GMC in Aleg as well, and hopefully will come out to Maal occasionally to visit and give me a hand! I'll be working hard this next year, but hopefully that'll just make it pass more quickly. Next thing I know I'll be home! It's really only 11 months to go, since I'll be coming home in July. Our earliest COS date is July 12, and I'm planning to be gone soon thereafter. Hopefully in the next year I'll find something that really makes me glad I'm here. I'm know the experience itself is worth it, but I'd like to feel like I'm doing some good as well. After all, you join PC hoping to save the world - it's a letdown to find out you'll be doing nothing of the sort. More to follow one of these days on the social issues in Mauritania that are a hinderance to development, if anybody's interested....if anybody even reads this thing! See ya :)

The Rough Guide to Beth's Life

Announcement: Vacation pictures posted! Link to your left.

It's come to my attention that many of you probably don't know the details of where I live, what I do, etc. So here's a brief rundown (with pictures) of the basics:

Important people:

My host dad Abdat................... My host mom Khadijetou.......... My sister Baha




My brother Mohamed.....My friends Meshry and Yahya (w/ turkey) .....My sitemate Liz



My stage buddies Alayna and Jeremy........My regionmates Julian and Nina




The Job:

I have two main functions: Firstly I teach English to a little over 100 boys and girls at our local middle/high school. I'm the only English teacher in town and I teach 5 grades. Here are some of my favorite students, my 2nd year boys. They're pretty smart, unlike most of the kids.



My second job (and the one I like least) is to run the Girls' Mentoring Center. I have 14 girls and we meet three times weekly to work on computers, study, and do activities. Here are the girls:




The Town:

Maal has a population of about 3000 people, and it's 75 k without a road from the nearest city. There's no electricity or cell phone reception (so far), and we get our waters from wells or public spigots. (below, a public pump)



The town is surrounded by small sand dunes, and in the rainy season, we have a large lake.



I can't find a picture of my house, for some reason, but this other house is close, except that mine has 2 rooms, not one (posing with the house are Meshry and some random kids). All my stuff's at my house, so that's where I go to relax, but I eat and sleep with my host family.



Ok, that's all for now. If there's anything specific anybody wants to see/hear about, let me know!

Hey it's good (?) to be back home (?) again....

Hm. Well, in any case, I'm back in Mauritania, like it or not. It is nice to see some of my friends, though, and I'm planning to keep nice and busy over the rest of the summer, so I won't have too much time to think about my lonely fate. :)

My trip was just fabulous. Highlights include:

- Climbing a mountain
- Being attacked by monkeys
- Cheese, salsa, and chocolate chip cookies (not all at the same time)
- Flying
- Couches
- Hours of trail riding
- Trees, trees, and more trees - and all of them green!
- Seeing Notre Dame
- Hundreds of beautiful scarves
- Church
- Guiness in a London pub
- Rain and cold weather

I had such a lovely time with Mom and Dad. Kabul was a step up for me, so I really felt like I was vacationing. I met lots of great people, and I think I might even go back there when I'm done and teach English for a while. Our little trip to the mountains of Pakistan was lovely, too. It was so nice up there - like Oregon at 9000 feet! It was good to spend at least a few days somewhere that wasn't hot all the time. I was definitely sad when my three weeks were over, but I felt like we had a good amount of time together. Just one more year to go!