The Color Orange

Alhamdulillah! We found a small toy shop in Nouakchott. It's run by two Lebanese women and they had two trees and lots of decorations. Even a blow up Santa outside--in an Islamic republic no less! Pretty cool. ;)

Here I am with Andrea in Guerou the day of Tabaski (eid al Adha/eid li ham) the 20th. Tabaski is the big holiday at the end of the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Everyone eats as much as possible and visits their family and neighbors. I spent the day with Andrea's host family and that of her counterpart, Minatou. The plat du jour is meat, Meat, MEAT. This happy time begins with the ritual slaughter of an unsuspecting sheep. The meat is then prepared and roasted-this is called mishwi. After THAT, i.e., a pound of meat in your stomach, your get LUNCH which generally has more meat with a base of rice, pasta, or couscous. I made it through two rounds of miswhi and lunch--pretty good for a former vegetarian!

Now everyone is in Nouakchott (land of plenty) for Christmas! I had ice cream yesterday and puff pastry with cream for breakfast this morning. And I wore pants and left my head uncovered when we went to dinner last night! That was the coolest. I had forgotten what it felt like to just be me, an American. But I'm not the same. I may wear the same clothes, but I can converse with shopkeepers in their own language. Knowing it's Christmas and that I'm here, so far from my family, is hard. Ok, what's really hard is knowing I have to take a taxi brousse all the way back to Nema in a couple weeks. Argh. That aside, I'm listening to Christmas music sent by my mom while I write this using the wifi in the PC NKTT bureau. There's even a stuffed penguin sitting next to me. He's so cute!

Honestly, as 2007 draws to a close, I still don't know what I'm doing half the time, but that's the human condition, right? I am finding out things about myself little by little. Some I like, some I don't, but I'm trying to be compassionate. Hey, I'm stuck with me! ;)