Home-stay ends tomorrow, which is definitely bittersweet. I really like my family and I hate to leave now that I am finally able to carry on a conversation and get my own water. On the other hand I am ready (sort of) to start the next two years of my life.

I thought before I came here that I would become really critical of everything about the United States after living in such a different country. I have decided, however, that living in Mauritania highlights both the good and the bad things about the U.S. As far as pros, seeing all the trash in every Mauritanian city makes me appreciate the basic infrastructure that we enjoy at home. There are places to put garbage, and pick-up is regular and dependable. On a related note, my friend here went to the post office to buy four stamps, but the post office only had three. The fact that she managed to get to the post office when it was open was a miracle. Another thing I am more appreciative of in the U.S is that we have one language. People here speak at least one (and often more) of the following: Pulaar, Wolof, Hassaniya, Soninke, French, and Arabic. I can walk four kilometers from my home-stay village and be somewhere where I can’t understand anyone. Teachers are required to teach in French in primary schools, but school children don’t necessarily understand French. Basic communication is something I realize that I took for granted as I try to learn Hassaniya and live in a multi-lingual country.

Seeing the way that people live here, however, has also made me realize (or maybe re-realize) how materialistic Americans are. This didn’t come as a surprise to me and I don’t expect this to sound particularly insightful, but I am constantly amazed at how much less stuff people have here and how much longer they use the stuff that they do have. I think about this every time I take a bath and use a different type of soap for my hair, face and body, or when I do laundry and hang fourteen pairs of underwear to dry. When I came to Mauritania I brought 70 pounds of luggage in two bags, and then put one bag in storage for the duration of training. Now I can barely remember what was in that bag, which goes to show how much I actually needed it. Living here has made my rethink how much I need; the quality of life for people here is certainly different in terms of material possessions, but I would hesitate to call it worse.