Welcome to Mauritania

We made it. We have spent the day getting more vaccinations, drinking water, and learning basic Mauritania survival skills. One of these includes...oh man, get this...when you go "number two" you have to wipe...with your hand.

I know. I still can't believe it. I won't be telling you how that goes.

It's incredibly hot, but I am loving it. The hotter it gets the more hardcore I feel. Apparently, each group generally loses a few volunteers in the first few days of training. They generally look at their host homes and say, "No."

Anyway, tomorrow we head to the third hottest city in the world. Kaedi. We continue our pre-service training and move in with our host families.

Every few hours there are prayer calls. It is the most beautiful sound- it's someone singing from some exotic place in this tiny town they call the capital.