Barack Obama

So last night Barack Obama had a press conference that was apparently broadcast internationally because my whole family froze and watched extremely attentively. it was live (with pretty horrible french translations- its hard to translate to live speeches) and had to do with the economy and the upcoming debate (i didnt even know there was one!) THey absolutly love him here, both because he has african origins and also because he might be the one to finally get george bush out of office (they, like most people from around the world, HATE him).

My host mom was out of town (and host dad has been MIA since i moved in) but my 3 older host brothers and host sister were full of great questions about american politics. They wondered how americans felt about George Bush, the oil situation, who i was voting for and who i thought most americans would vote for in the upcoming election. when i was first told where i would be spending my peace corps service i never thought i would be having conversations like this and i am realizing more and more each day how lucky i am to have such a great site placement and host family.

my host sister goes to university in Nouakchott (she is home visiting for the end of ramadan), where she studies biology (with a focus on global warming and conservation) and my other host sister goes to university in america. unlike many other mauritanian families, my family sits together and eats together and is not segregated by sex. my host brothers love to talk to me about politics and i love that they recognize that women have smart, thoughtful opinions to share just like men.