2005-04-15 - 12:05 p.m.

Excerpts from various journal entries…

April 15th, 2005

« I seem to forget that this IS my life and just because it is being liven out in this place that seems suspended in space and time, doesn’t mean that my life is also frozen in time. I need to keep reminding myself that this is not two years of putting my life on hold: THIS is how I decided to live my life for two years at least! »
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“I’m sitting in “the room” (the only four-wall room in the compound) while my host mother Fatimatou and my host sisters Khezale and Kellel are taking their afternoon nap. My host sister Marieme, as usual, is wide awake keeping herself busy thumbing through my books.

It’s mid April, the weather is quickly warming up and this moment reminds me of seven months ago when I first moved to Magta Lahjar. It’s the same routine, day in and day out, not for me (as I manage to keep my days varied as much as possible), but definitely for my host family.

I wonder if the word “boredom” exists in Hassiniya and I wonder if this routine is ever perceived as “boring” by them, or if, on the contrary is just a welcomed sign of “peace”: a signal that points to the absence of problems Alhamdullillah!

I wonder if in five/six/seven years from now, their lives will have changed much or if they will have remained frozen in time, like so many other things seem to be in this country, culture, and society!

I want to travel to “Black Africa”… I want to feel a different beat, breathe a different life, smell a different scent, inhale different colors!”

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