Thursday, December 13, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
wish list
Hey friends and family,
So I have gotten requests for a wish list.
Here it goes:
Vanilla extract
Beans( kidney, black, pinto, garbanzo etc.)
Parmesan cheese
Mac and cheese packets
Dried fruit
Nuts ( all varieties are welcome)
Hidden valley ranch sauce packets
Box cake mixes
Junk food ( candy, Doritos , oreos etc
Anything in the powered food isle ( drink mixes, spice packets)
Coffee
peanut butter
granola
Tea
Protein powder
cliff bars
Basically all food is welcome and appreciated.
Miscellaneous
Movies ( A mighty heart, la mome( la vie en rose), love me if you dare
Books(In the company of the courtesan by sarah dunant, eat pray love by
Oh and the flat rate box at the post office is the cheapest way.
Love you and miss you!
Une petite nouvelle
i have been really bad about updating this...alot has happened.
I am loving my site. its a town called boghe on the senegal river. it has a population of about 19,000 people.
the way i see it mauritania is beautiful and crazy because of its diversity. it is somewhere on the verge of being a north african country and a west african country. its a true melange of arab and african, i love it.
my french is progressing nicely, and starting soon i will be taking Arabic lessons.
work wise....as of right now i am working on organizing some activities for world's aids day on Dec 1. and working with some primary schools to integrate health lessons.
These first three months of my service are designed for me to get acquainted with my town and practice french. for me its been a time well spent reading tons of books...i just finished A mighty heart last night...but its something about the westerner in me that wants action, so i am desperately trying to enjoy standing still. there's a quote in A mighty heart that i love so much, that embodies where i am, "Peace is courageous action to initiate a dialog between civilizations".
Last week was my birthday, it was amazing... amber and i had a cookout, we made pad thai for lunch, baked brownies and a banana cake and cooked fajitas for dinner, all in all it was a great day!.
I am loving my site. its a town called boghe on the senegal river. it has a population of about 19,000 people.
the way i see it mauritania is beautiful and crazy because of its diversity. it is somewhere on the verge of being a north african country and a west african country. its a true melange of arab and african, i love it.
my french is progressing nicely, and starting soon i will be taking Arabic lessons.
work wise....as of right now i am working on organizing some activities for world's aids day on Dec 1. and working with some primary schools to integrate health lessons.
These first three months of my service are designed for me to get acquainted with my town and practice french. for me its been a time well spent reading tons of books...i just finished A mighty heart last night...but its something about the westerner in me that wants action, so i am desperately trying to enjoy standing still. there's a quote in A mighty heart that i love so much, that embodies where i am, "Peace is courageous action to initiate a dialog between civilizations".
Last week was my birthday, it was amazing... amber and i had a cookout, we made pad thai for lunch, baked brownies and a banana cake and cooked fajitas for dinner, all in all it was a great day!.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
if you want to call me, use this!
Message from Raquel:
www.phonecardsavenue.com
I got a Zumba calling card that cost me twenty dollars for 1 hour and 32 minutes of talk time. They give you your pin and info right away. You have to sign up, then someone will call and verify your info, activate your card, and voila!
beginnings and endings
So it’s the end of training, and I couldn’t be happier. Tomorrow I swear in to become a volunteer. These last two months have been awesome, and I feel so lucky that I had a great experience during stage.
On Saturday I move to my permanent site. Next week I will be able to update this page a little more with pictures.
I hope you are all well!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
life's great!
i am really fortunate. i have a really awesome host family. my host dad is a professor at the high school, so in terms of familes my family is really progressive.
i am studying french, all of the other trainees are divided into the 5 languages spoken here, you are placed based on the city that you will be living in for the next two years. I was placed in a departmental capital in the south called boghe, i am learning french and pulaar because it has a huge population of french speakers. tommorow i will visit my site for the first time, and stay there for about a week.
the people of mauritania are really nice, and yes on numerous occasions i am mistaken for a mauritanian. There have been many times when people have either had a hard time believing i was american or didn't believe i was american.
the other pct's are so really awesome, there are about 71 trainees.
i am a trainee until the first week of september then i become a volunteer andmove to my permanent site. I will have 5 site mates, inshallah.
training is basically organized where you have a training village, after one week at the training village all of the trainees moved to our host family villages called cbt sites. at my cbt site there are 6 other trainees. i have french class with 2 of them monday-friday. from time to time we come into the training village for tech sessions{ for me thats health sessions}. but most of the time is spent in our cbt sites with our families, basically intergrating and practicing our language. my cbt site is awesome there isn't any electricity but there is a cell phone charging store that is powered by generators. its amazing how much i appreciate little things here for example, the peace corps gave us some old copies of newsweek and it was the only contact we had to american media for 2 weeks, we sat around reading them for a couple of hours and it was the hightlight of our day. {so instead of throwing away magazines, just send them to me} i can't tell you how many times i have read my marie claire.
and i can't tell you what a luxury it is to drink cold water.
when i eat vegetables its the greatest thing ever.
at christmas we are able to visit the capital, and i am so looking forward to eating pizza. b.c mauritania doesn't have cheese.
the other night the peace corps made us american spagetti and i seriously thought i was going to die, it was so good. i am not saying that the food here isn't good, its just it lacks variety.
for most of you, you know what i had to go through to get here, so even though its a challenge,i wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
just know that receiving any thing in the mail would be the greatest thing ever.
its not very expensive, when the post office asks you whats in the package just say religious material or educational materials.
tiff
i am studying french, all of the other trainees are divided into the 5 languages spoken here, you are placed based on the city that you will be living in for the next two years. I was placed in a departmental capital in the south called boghe, i am learning french and pulaar because it has a huge population of french speakers. tommorow i will visit my site for the first time, and stay there for about a week.
the people of mauritania are really nice, and yes on numerous occasions i am mistaken for a mauritanian. There have been many times when people have either had a hard time believing i was american or didn't believe i was american.
the other pct's are so really awesome, there are about 71 trainees.
i am a trainee until the first week of september then i become a volunteer andmove to my permanent site. I will have 5 site mates, inshallah.
training is basically organized where you have a training village, after one week at the training village all of the trainees moved to our host family villages called cbt sites. at my cbt site there are 6 other trainees. i have french class with 2 of them monday-friday. from time to time we come into the training village for tech sessions{ for me thats health sessions}. but most of the time is spent in our cbt sites with our families, basically intergrating and practicing our language. my cbt site is awesome there isn't any electricity but there is a cell phone charging store that is powered by generators. its amazing how much i appreciate little things here for example, the peace corps gave us some old copies of newsweek and it was the only contact we had to american media for 2 weeks, we sat around reading them for a couple of hours and it was the hightlight of our day. {so instead of throwing away magazines, just send them to me} i can't tell you how many times i have read my marie claire.
and i can't tell you what a luxury it is to drink cold water.
when i eat vegetables its the greatest thing ever.
at christmas we are able to visit the capital, and i am so looking forward to eating pizza. b.c mauritania doesn't have cheese.
the other night the peace corps made us american spagetti and i seriously thought i was going to die, it was so good. i am not saying that the food here isn't good, its just it lacks variety.
for most of you, you know what i had to go through to get here, so even though its a challenge,i wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
just know that receiving any thing in the mail would be the greatest thing ever.
its not very expensive, when the post office asks you whats in the package just say religious material or educational materials.
tiff
Saturday, July 14, 2007
so i am going back to my training site tonight. on july 29th i will be returning to kaedi...so i won't have the opportunity to update this blog for 2 more weeks. hopefully, inshallah the next time i have internet access i will know the location of my permanent site.
i have added a picture of my new do to myspace so check it out.
Molly...thank you so much for your messages...if the phone isn't working b.c sometimes it tends to do that just keep trying....
tiffany
i have added a picture of my new do to myspace so check it out.
Molly...thank you so much for your messages...if the phone isn't working b.c sometimes it tends to do that just keep trying....
tiffany
Friday, July 13, 2007
my phone #
hello my friends and family.... to call me dial 011-222-747-1398.
my host family is awesome and i am learning french and pular. life here is crazy. we sleep outside and eat rice for every meal. most of the time i am extremely bored so please call me because my site doesn't have electricity so that means no internet.
my host family is awesome and i am learning french and pular. life here is crazy. we sleep outside and eat rice for every meal. most of the time i am extremely bored so please call me because my site doesn't have electricity so that means no internet.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
so its been orientation this week, not alot going on....besides the fact that i shaved my head. i will put some pictures up soon. its hot like really hot, we are all drained all day. we sleep out side. all the other trainees are awesome. i wish i could describe what its like here. i am getting a cellphone tonight will update with phone number soon. for anyone interested in calling me. you can find international calling cards on the internet.
molly, michka, and raquel thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog. i love you guys. \
i am really happy, and i feel lucky to be here. i am moving to my host family tomorrow so i might have a different tune in 3 weeks. but so far besides the heat and the bathroom situation life's great.
miss you!
molly, michka, and raquel thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog. i love you guys. \
i am really happy, and i feel lucky to be here. i am moving to my host family tomorrow so i might have a different tune in 3 weeks. but so far besides the heat and the bathroom situation life's great.
miss you!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
I'm here
arrived this morning, i am safe and its pretty awesome...Miss you guys! will update more later.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Individual action
Its all over the news, in fact climate change is affecting us worldwide.
Its hypocritical just to watch the news, sign petitions, or talk about global warming without action.
Action by changing our lifestyles.
The crisis in Darfur has been labeled as the first violent conflict over climate change. To read more on the role of global warming and the genocide and displacement occurring in present day Darfur check out,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501857.html
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/08/a_hostile_climate.php
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2067638,00.html
We can no longer continue to perpetuate the myths of the effects of climate change, its happening and it fueling violence through desperation.
You can take action by:
Being informed on renewable resources, like wind and solar energy
Using Compact Fluorescent Blubs
Using a reusable Cloth bag for groceries
Compost Kitchen refuge and Garden refuge
Limiting the amount of plastics in garbage waste
-Restricted to women, using the keeper, the divacup or washable cloth sanitary pads
Demand that Congress support legislation that will reduce the carbon emissions, and reduce global warming pollution.
Its hypocritical just to watch the news, sign petitions, or talk about global warming without action.
Action by changing our lifestyles.
The crisis in Darfur has been labeled as the first violent conflict over climate change. To read more on the role of global warming and the genocide and displacement occurring in present day Darfur check out,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501857.html
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/08/a_hostile_climate.php
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2067638,00.html
We can no longer continue to perpetuate the myths of the effects of climate change, its happening and it fueling violence through desperation.
You can take action by:
Being informed on renewable resources, like wind and solar energy
Using Compact Fluorescent Blubs
Using a reusable Cloth bag for groceries
Compost Kitchen refuge and Garden refuge
Limiting the amount of plastics in garbage waste
-Restricted to women, using the keeper, the divacup or washable cloth sanitary pads
Demand that Congress support legislation that will reduce the carbon emissions, and reduce global warming pollution.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
with hope and love
In the current issue of the magazine The Humanist, a former Peace Corps volunteer shares the challenges he faced during his service. What stood out most is a quote included in the article by Paulo Freire,
"Another issue of indubitable importance arises: the fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the contradiction to the other. It happens, however, that as they cease to be exploiters or indifferent spectators or simply the heirs of exploitation and move to the side of the exploited, they almost always bring with them the marks of their origin: their prejudices and their deformations, which include a lack of confidence in the people's ability to think, to want, to know…They talk about the people, but they don't trust them: and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, then by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust".
-Paulo Freire: The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
here is a link to the full article http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/NathanielBrodie.html
"Another issue of indubitable importance arises: the fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the contradiction to the other. It happens, however, that as they cease to be exploiters or indifferent spectators or simply the heirs of exploitation and move to the side of the exploited, they almost always bring with them the marks of their origin: their prejudices and their deformations, which include a lack of confidence in the people's ability to think, to want, to know…They talk about the people, but they don't trust them: and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, then by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust".
-Paulo Freire: The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
here is a link to the full article http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/NathanielBrodie.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
