Okay, so I walk in my room around mid-day and think, wow it's cool in here. I check the thermometer on my broken Brookstone Travel Alarm Clock (hint) and the temperature reads…….Take a guess. 96 degrees. And those 96 degrees feel like a blast of cool. I keep telling myself that when the weather breaks I will be able to get so much done. When is the weather going to break? The stock answer is 30 days. But 30 days from when? Hopefully Ramadan's end will coincide with the coming of autumn or at least a day that doesn’t get into the 100s. Inshallah.
Ramadan is tough to faire in the Sahara. They don’t eat nor drink during the daylight hours and as you can tell from above, it is still really hot right now. My favorite part of Ramadan is roughly 30 minutes before sundown which is about 6:45. Dusk has settled in. The streets are empty. The town is quiet. The stores are closed. It feels like the wee hours of the morning. Everyone has hurried home, finally in a great mood after a surly afternoon. Not so patiently waiting to hear the prayer call that signals sundown. During this time they are deciding what delicious morsel they will consume to break the fast. They’ve spent the last hour mentally running through the potential menu options. The taste is going to be exquisite. It’s just before the beginning of Let the Good Times Roll. Drumming, singing and eating all night long.
I have been a little productive during this time. I signed up for French classes at the French Alliance. Also, I will also be sharing the load of teaching English to adults along with the other volunteers here in Atar. The class seems very popular. We will rotate teaching Friday and Sunday 4 – 6 pm. I will probably have to take the Sunday shift as Friday will probably interfere with my French lesson. Both of these classes, like everything else, will commence after Ramadan.
I also checked in with my community counterpart. We plan on getting together when? After Ramadan.
What I like least about Ramadan? That would be my neighbor’s cell phone alarm that goes off before sunrise each day. I appreciate that they need to get up and get something in their stomachs before sunrise, but must I have to wake up with them. Honestly. I suppose that if I were fasting, I’d appreciate the reminder.
This leads me to another topic, sleeping. As I mentioned earlier, the African night sky is amazing However, sleeping in this country is one of the trickier aspects of my Peace Corps service. Back in training I explained to my brother that I went to bed very early each night to give my self the best chance of a full nights sleep. My French ability and ability to cope were/are a direct result of how much sleep I can/could achieve. This rarely happened. One never knew/knows what the night would hold. First I had to get past the livestock noise. You can’t imagine how loud those animals, particularly the donkeys, are. The first night at the Lycee I was sure that a pack of wild dogs had gotten a hold of one and was disemboweling the poor creature. I was not alone in that belief. Later I learn, it’s not being disemboweled, thank god, it was actually mating. Just wonderful. If it’s not the weird noises of the livestock that run loose in the streets, it’s the weddings that last all night long for 3 nights in a row, blaring rap, whose lyrics they can’t possibly understand or they’d never be blaring them throughout the neighborhood. You can’t imagine how lucky I feel that my excellent command of the English language allowed me to fully enjoy the lyrics. Or, one never knew when she’d be abruptly awaken and have to make a mad dash, mosquito net, matala and any other sleeping item in tow, to the indoors to avoid a rain storm. And the sandstorms that precede the rainstorms are worse. Once indoors, the room was usually in the 90s, then add the 5 degrees that sleeping in a mosquito net adds, renders sleeping impossible. If there wasn’t some other disruption, everyday there is the predawn announcement from the loud speakers at the mosques which populate every block. I swear we had a set in our yard. Before I left Boghe, I could distinguish one voice from another. One was far better and much more musical then others. After the predawn announcement, there was the 5:15 AM call to prayer on those same loudspeakers. Stuffing my head under the towel that I use for a pillow didn’t even muffle the noise. Up by 6:15 each day to go off to language class. It’s a wonder I passed the language proficiency test.
Now in Atar, I have no language class nor is it necessary to use a mosquito net, but that leads to another set of issues. Until 2 nights ago, I slept on my roof. There is much more of a breeze and fewer crawly bugs up there. Plus it feels just a bit safer then sleeping alone in the courtyard even though my courtyard has 10 foot walls around much of it and barbed wire on the lower section. As for the sandstorms, I just wrap head in the sheet as I dislike getting sand in my ears and power on. But my neighbors, whose roof is right next to mine separated by only a 2 foot wall and a 3 foot space between the buildings, returned home from brousse, a summer long holiday. Or at least I thought they did. On Saturday all of their doors and windows were opened and a boy and man were fiddling with the satellite dish on their roof. Because of this, I have slept the last couple of nights in my courtyard rather than my roof. I haven’t yet been schooled in the etiquette of neighborly roof sleeping and am a bit disenthralled with the idea. Bare in mind a woman needs to be covered head to toe in this country at all times and it’s 94 degrees when I head off to bed. I am not going to cover head to toe nor do I want to insult or entice my neighbors. The next best option is that I am sleeping alone in the courtyard, positioned out of sight of my neighbors behind the stairs, feeling a little exposed to any ne’er-do-well that wants to hop my very tall wall, until I make the acquaintance of my neighbors. Sweet dreams to me.
Saturday, night one, I prepare the place by spraying the surrounding area with bug spray. Without a mosquito net I have no protection from the pesky little bastards. Thankfully there are no mosquitoes and zero incidence of malaria up here. However, did I mention that there are scorpions here? Did I mention that the mosquito net adds 5 degrees to the already 93 degree night? Did I mention that one of the trainees that opted to return home did so after a roach got stuck in her ear while she was asleep? I’ll leave the details of it’s extraction to your imagination. Back to night one, I take my nighttime cold medicine for my head cold and off to dream land I go. Not to bad a night sleep thanks the cold medicine. But par usual, the predawn cell phone, the ridiculously early call to prayer and the flies that arrive at 6:14 each morning to buzz your head. I am not talking a few flies; this place is fly heaven or hell, depending on which side of the fly issue you fall. Flies and sandstorms are combated by what I call the Mauritanian Sleep Shroud. I witnessed this technique while observing the sleeping habits of the hcn (host country nationals). One tucks the tops of the sheet under her head and the bottom of the sheet under her feet. Bear in mind that any piece of skin that sticks out from under the sheet is a choicest landing strip for the flies. The hcn’s can sleep this way completely enclosed, but I like to have the sheet pulled taught between my head and my toes so that there is a slight opening for airflow. (Note that this technique will not work well in sandstorms as the vent lets in all of the sand) Otherwise it feels too stuffy and too hot. Mind you, it’s early fall in the Sahara and still rather hot to my still not quite acclimated self. This ritual shrouding and battle to keep skin unexposed yet keep airflow circulating takes place, like clockwork, at 6:14 am each day when the first buzz starts up in my ear. Since these creatures fly, it’s the same whether I am placed on the roof or in the courtyard.
Night 2, I don’t spray the area assuming that the poison from the previous night will still be active. I plan to mitigate the restlessness of shrouding exercise by placing my fan via extension cord, with me in the courtyard. For your edification, flies like neither wind nor dark. Okay, I am prepared. Out of night time cold medicine (huge hint), but otherwise, prepared to take my best shot at a restful night sleep. Well, the bug spray is not still in effect. I learn that shortly after going to bed because I get pinched on my toe by what I think was a beetle. As the beetle was the only critter crawling away when I scoured the area with my flashlight, it must have been the culprit. Not a bad pinch, but are there ever good pinches? Not wanting to get bug spray all over my bedding and put off by the smell and poison that it leaves; I decide to brave the crawly bugs sans chemical defense. Have I mentioned the scorpions? Did I mention the cockroach story? These two possibilities kept me quite alert all night long. Did I mention the drumming and partying that goes on all night during Ramadan? Oh how I longed for that nighttime cold medicine. On a brighter, more successful note, the fan was the perfect deterrent for the 6:14 am wake up call from the flies. Yes, they came but with the fan, the struggle to keep myself completely shrouded was far less important.
What is the lesson, clean, climate controlled, well nourished, caffeinated (Nescafe and powered milk do not count), well rested folks who sleep indoors, in a bed, off of the ground, away from the bugs, in screened rooms? I don’t know but I thought I’d point out a few things that I miss and just a few of the luxuries for which you should be grateful.
Updates:
Yesterday, 9/30, I finished book number 3 since arriving in Atar. A Widow for A Year by John Irving. The first 500 pages were great. The ending was a little disappointing.
I am contemplating sending you cheffy types the list of ingredients available here and have a contest to see who comes up with the best recipe. No prizes just the good feeling that I can have some variety in my menu. What do you think?
As for the microwave question...i am sure they are available in the capital but i just have a propane tank with a little burner screwed into the top and little temperature control.
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