Egypt

We went to this light show at the temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt and the narrator said, “these monuments were not built on the scale of men but on the scale of gods.” She nailed it. The ancient sights in Egypt are so over the top huge it is hard to get your head around. In fact, we found we could stare at them all day and still not comprehend what we had seen. They are not just huge but every inch of these enormous monuments are covered in detailed writing and pictures.






We could not believe the sheer numbers of tourists arriving by the busload and we could not believe how easy it was to escape the throngs and get a temple to yourself by walking about fifty feet off the path. A couple off the tour circuit we literally had to ourselves. We could not believe the amount of hassle you get from Egyptians in and around these sights. Be that as it may, there are things to see in Egypt that have been boggling the minds of travelers for thousands of years.


Resting...


Resting...


Standing...


Smiling...

Giza

Checking out the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World

Tunisie

Well, we made it out of West Africa but only as far as North Africa. We are in Tunisia and having a great time. It is nothing like West Africa here. In fact, we think it is a bit of an insult to Tunisians to lump them in with “the developing world,” as some people insist on. There are paved roads to even the most far flung locations in the country and there is power and safe drinking water in all those towns too. It is like paradise.

Also different from West Africa, there are actual attractions here. Namely, there are beach resorts, museums (with stuff in them) and Roman ruins as well as the physical beauty and oddity that caused much of Star Wars to be filmed here. Coming to Tunisia was a bit of a shock to the system, after many travels in West Africa where the journey itself was the destination and the rest of the time was spent convincing yourself of that over a bad local beer (although a camel trek in the Sahara might fit into this category- without the beer).


Sam in the Roman Ampitheatre at Dougga


Mark standing in for the missing statue of Jupiter


Sam and Mark grunt on communal Roman toilets


Having a beer at Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's house


Sam and Mark (Owen and Beru are bar-b-queing out back)


Sam mounted on "Old One Hump" while Mark negotiates with the perpetually grumpy "Ezmerelda" (names given by the riders)


Inside the Colliseum at El Jem, 3rd largest in Roman history


Checking out some mosaics

Hiding out in the seaside town of Mahdia

Service Has Come To An End

Up until this point we have avoided boring you all with descriptions of our services here in Mali. This has been pretty deliberate and will continue. On the one hand we do not want to bore our readers with mundane tales of everyday life. On the other hand, many people believe we are out there saving the world, a rumor which we would not want to dispel. Therefore, we refrained from descriptions of our day to day service and stuck to tales in which we thought folks might be more interested. Sorry if you are one of the handful who might actually have been interested in that stuff. We’ll be happy to tell you all about it over the beers you buy us when we return!

That return is imminent. Our service in Peace Corps is finished and, while we will not be home right away, we begin moving in that direction now. It has been one hell of a ride. As we were told by our country director in a casual conversation during pre-service training, “just don’t quit.” We thought that was the least helpful advice ever at the time. During our recent (even more casual) close of service interview we were forced to admit to him that, while the advice gave little real direction and we thought it lame at the time (we were like “yeah, but tell me why”), it was probably the only real advice that could be given to anyone, the only advice that makes sense given that everyone’s service is so different that doling out advice becomes nearly impossible. Against all odds (read: expectations), quitting is no longer an option. C'est un fait accompli.




Cultural integration is complete!

The final three:

One was from our friends Zack and Shannon, which apparently took much longer than normal to arrive due to it being strangely shaped like the elusive Wyoming Jackalope.




Another came from our PCV friends Karmen, Joelle and Jessica, who managed to find an amazing likeness of Sam and Mark on a card in Ghana.










The final card we ever received in Mali came from Belfast, Maine. We sent it ourselves.

Goodbye to Yelimané

We visited Yelimané for the last time this past weekend. As much as we realize things have changed since we first set eyes on that place, we also realize that nothing really does change. Kids get bigger, new ones arrive, older people leave, mud buildings are replaced with concrete, temporary markets are replaced with more permanent structures, true, but one could return there in twenty years and the same lives will still be going on. The spirit of the place will remain the same. The lives will no longer be lived by the current parents but by their children and they will continue much as before. Prayers will still be said five times a day, fields will still be hoed by hand, women will still give birth aided only by other women whose qualifications are that they have survived all their deliveries. The same food will be eaten, the same transport will be taken (this is meant in the most literal fashion – the same vehicles will be in use), the same villages no more than an hour’s walk away will be the furthest some of the women will ever travel in their lives. Children will still be cute and their lives will still be difficult ahead of them. People will take time for people. Tea time will remain the most important time, the only real time. The joy in life will be, as ever, chatting with family and friends. Nothing will ever be more important than properly greeting people. We hope to take some of these last bits home with us…

Postcard Wall Is Complete

A few final cards have joined the wall. These will likely be the final additions, as our time here comes to an end in less than 2 weeks. If you sent us one (or many) we thank you, if you are planning to send us one you are too late, if you sent one that never arrived don’t worry about it as that is pretty common, if you never sent one shame on you. There are kids in Africa starving for news from their friends.

Jay Oleson from Sam’s high school class sent one from his home in Bretton Woods, NH. Good to hear from him and great to get an antique postcard through the mail (it must be about 100 years old). Very Brewster’s Millions.


J.B. Boyd sent us a card from South Carolina rather than make good on his claim to come visit us in Africa. We think he was just trying to get out of the deal where he stayed with us in Africa in exchange for a painting, or maybe he was just taunting us because he lives in a "real" tropical paradise.

The Wandering Wallaces of Dialafara, Kayes region fame seem to have had a pretty good year. They spent it teaching English in France and then worked at summer camps there before touring Italy where they sent us a card from Pisa. They are now off to China for a year to teach English there. Exciting.


Emily Doerr continued her impressive postcard sending rate. She has a new job and they seem to be sending her all over the globe. She checked in from Belgrade (which looks just like it did back in the ‘40s) and from Skopje, Macedonia (or at least we think that is what it says but we are pretty sure they spelled it wrong). She was wondering if she had sent cards from the most bizarre places and normally she might be in the running (although Finland and West Virginia are hard to beat) except that we both agreed that the random card from a stranger in Malaysia who just happened to read our blog was hard to top. Emily was just in South America and we hope to get some from there before we go but it is likely too late.

We listed at one time or another all the cards we received. As we said, if you did send one and it never got here don’t sweat it. We sent ones to ourselves from the USA and they never arrived, so we know it does happen. We just want to say to those that did send us cards, thank you. Life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa is not always easy and we didn’t always want to be here. Looking at that wall and seeing all the support we get from great people made it bearable at times when it really wasn’t. So, thank you all for reminding us what we left behind and who awaits our return, you helped us through this more than you know.