The holidays

As I stated in yesterday's brief and inadequate note, I spent the holiday season in a state of transience. I figure a bit of explanation is due, but I'm going to keep it short.

The week following my last posting in December saw the administration of "compositions," the official end-of-trimester exams in which I discover how little I've taught my students. I wrote the tests myself, and created 4 different versions for each class in an effort to cut down on the rampant cheating that seems, to the very vocal chagrin of teachers who then appear to do nothing to combat it, to be ingrained as culturally acceptable. It took a very long time to first write the exams, and then make sure that they were all equally difficult, but in the end it was worth it. There's nothing quite so satisfying as being able to tag a fat "0 - Good Job!" at the top of a test in which the student has copied directly from his/her neighbor, answering questions that didn't even exist on his/her own page. Makes my job a lot easier (and no, I didn't actually write "Good Job!"). Anyway, I've got the scores and a few other stats compiled by hand, and within the next few days I'm going to toss them onto Excel, make some snazzy graphs, and let you soak in the numbers.

On December 22nd, I left NDB for the first time since my arrival, and it was wonderful. I stayed in NKT for about a week, during which Christmas came and went, and I basically just ate and drank and participated in an explosion of debauchery that has been building for quite some time. I spent one or two of those days walking around and discovering my country's capital, and had the pleasure of experiencing my first example of undisguised anti-West sentiment. There is an enormous Saudi mosque across the street from our new bureau. It's beautiful, and while Neda and I were admiring it from across the street we were bitched out for even looking at it by some asshole mid-departure. It was shitty and racist, and I didn't so much as frown because I was already reflecting on the bizarre mixture of helplessness and anger and understanding that immediately arose within me. Neda tried to tell him that the mosque was pretty, but he didn't give a shit.

Somewhere around the 27th I made the impromptu decision to huff it to St. Louis, Senegal with several other volunteers for a New Year's celebration. I took a few photos, but it's not much.

The street. Breathtaking.

Rob and Nick, in that order.

St. Louis' very own rollerblade gang. I too was at a loss for words.

A brief aside: you haven't seen a lot of photos because I'm hesitant to pull out the camera for a few reasons. In Senegal specifically, there is no shortage of theft. Safety is about the only advantage Mauritania has over its neighbor to the south. Someone with whom I was traveling was pickpocketed as soon as we got onto the ferry to cross the border. Thus, if being white doesn't make me a target already, revealing a very nice digital camera ought to do the trick. Secondly, there is a general aversion to white people with cameras, because, as it was explained to me, the photos have a tendency to end up in magazines and on the internet (ha). Part of it is a pride issue, part of it is a cultural issue, and part of it is a little excessive, but whether I like it or not, if I accidentally capture another adult in the frame of a shot I'm taking, there's a 50% chance that I'm going to have to deal with an uncomfortable situation.

I was in Senegal for four days and three nights. I slept in a tent on a beach on the Atlantic ocean, and I'd easily qualify New Year's 2007 as the best I've ever had. Well worth the hours upon hours of unnecessary border hassles and the bribing of officials. I also happened to be in town for Tabaski, a Muslim holiday that, among other things, requires everyone to slaughter a sheep/goat. Nick and I happened to be walking around the less touristy neighborhoods at the exact moment when the sacrifice took place, and were witnesses to the deaths of 30+ animals. The streets literally flowed red with blood while hundreds of goats gargled one final, collective death knell. Way more interesting than post-Christmas sales. And, of course, before I'd even realized where I was, it was time to go home.

Returning to Mauritania, I spent a final five days in NKT, attending an in-service training with the rest of the first-year volunteers. We took the opportunity to share experiences and teaching strategies and lament the fact that during this vacation we ripped through more money than Ted Stevens on a pork binge. All said and done, it was probably the most necessary vacation I've ever taken. In about one month I will be returning to Senegal, this time to Dakar, for W.A.I.S.T. (that's West African International Softball Tournament), where I will connect with Pete "The Frenchman" from Mali and do everything to uphold the PC Mauritania reputation as being borderline insane. Until then, of course, I will do my best to mold fragile young minds into fragile young minds that can speak English and don't hate white people.

Other notes:

• Ye masses have spoken, and the gecko's name is Omar. I really thought Spaghetti had a chance, and I'm not-so-secretly disappointed Yasmine Bleeth didn't give a better showing. Hopefully his newly acquired name will not inspire him with enough confidence to set forth in this cruel world and abandon his domestic duties chez moi eating the army of cockroaches that moved in in my absence. I need you Omar. I need you.

• Big-ups to mom and dad for the package, including about 11 books that direly need to be read. You have given me about two months more of entertainment, and for that I am eternally grateful.

• Further big-ups on the package from Kristin Ann and company. That includes, from what I could tell, Lizzie, Chris, Cuban Mike, Ian, and others (tell me who I'm forgetting, because I couldn't figure out exactly who was involved). Many of the things you sent came immediately in handy. Also, yo-yos are fun.

• And final big-ups to Pat and Kyle, who both called me on Christmas. It was unspeakably nice to hear from you personally. More people should take the cue.

That about sums it all up. A heartfelt "thank you" to everyone.