TDY Step 2: Make it to Nouakchott

Check! I made it. It was fairly uneventful. I took a direct flight from Paris to Nouakchott, where I was met at the teeny tiny airport by an embassy expeditor (a guy who meets you at the gate, whisks you through passport control and customs, and delivers you to a car in the parking lot. It doesn’t happen at all embassies – or actually most embassies – but it did in Nouakchott and I was grateful to see a smiling face holding a sign reading “Kelli Long” as soon as I walked into the airport).

I am staying with the Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer, who I am here to help out for 3 weeks. We were one A-100 class apart and met several times in DC before she left last August. This being my first time in Mauritania – actually my first time in Africa – having someone I know to show me the ropes is very comforting! Also she’s young and fun, so that helps too 🙂

One advantage of working in Africa is embassy housing is HUGE. Take the house I’m staying in, for example. You open the front door into a palatial foyer, with tile floors. It’s not a terribly efficient use of space, since having that large of a foyer is kind of pointless, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Off off the foyer are a dining room, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a large pantry/laundry room that is about the size of my entire New York apartment. Proceed up the tiled staircase and you find 3 bedrooms, 2 more bathrooms, and another living room (’cause obviously you need 2).

I guess if you had a family this place would make sense, but for one person it seems excessive. Although already in the time I’ve been here the space seems a bit less overwhelming than it did at first glance. But still, even the super rich in NYC don’t live in places this big.

I jumped right into work the day after my Saturday arrival (since Mauritania is an Islamic country, their workweek is Sunday-Thursday) and have been busy getting a crash course in the practice of Public Diplomacy. I’m SO happy to finally be experiencing real life at post, even though it’s just for a short time.

Nouakchott bonus point: people here switch to English a lot less than they do in Paris.

Final point for now: Mauritania has a lot of sand.