nouakchott encore

With three days left in Mauritania, I am coasting through the hours in comfortable Nouakchott. Some things that are still special here that in a month's time will be old hat, status quo:
a diet coke
warm shower
air conditioning
elevators
wearing sneakers
crunchy apple as a snack
movies in english
a mixed salad for lunch (complete with cucumbers and cheese!)
the internet
americans!

And the things I will probably never see or do again:
a salon that specializes in rubbing ones body down in a steamy and wet open room
taxis with dragging bumpers, destroyed seat cushions and no headlights
apple soda pop
speaking snatches of multiple languages in one store (greeting in French, bartering in Pulaar with stander-by as translator, Thank you in Hassaniya.)
considering toilet paper a (unnecessary) luxury
exchanging money on the black market- shadow corners or middle of a crowd, usually
men selling underwear, sunglasses and plastic toys on one hand-carried contraption
knowing the time based on prayer calls
walking amid beggars, mounds of fruit, fish guts and garbage without missing a beat in my errands or conversation
scorching, unbearable, dangerous heat (at least I never want to see this again)