Peace Corps time, inshallah

9am, 15 July 2006, chez Brahim, Sabualla language facilitator

Peace Corps time is a curious thing.

We were told to arrive at Brahim’s house at 7:30 sharp to catch a PC car to Kaedi for training at the center. This instruction was interpreted and executed in several different ways. Donna and I, for example, seated ourselves quietly next to a dozing Brahim just before 7:30am. Ginger and Erin were slightly delayed, arriving at 8am. Brahim, not yet moved to get out of bed, is tossing gently on his matela. As you may note, it is now 9am. And we are waiting. And I am not convinced we will leave before lunch.

Before I said goodbye to my family in the compound this morning, I considered giving my mom an ETA (estimated time of arrival) so she knew when to put dinner on. On my way to becoming a seasoned PCV, I thought better of it and opted for a vague, “I’ll return this afternoon, inshallah.

PC facilitators and coordinators tell us repeatedly, inshallah does not mean maybe; it translates to “if God wills it.” Sitting at Brahim’s, covered in ants, waiting for my noisy Land Rover chariot, I just cannot appreciate the difference. Perhaps I will understand a few months from now? A few years? Inshallah?

10am, 15 July 2006, still chez Brahim

Yep, still here. Occupying the same indentations on the same floor cushions listening to the same interrupted reception on the same shortwave radio. My impatience fades to dull apathy, ironically enough, as anxious calls trickle in from the center. Despite two years of service on PC time, the agfo coordinator Caleb called anyway, exasperated that we had not yet arrived. Not yet departed, my edgy friend, not yet departed.

If we never leave, I wonder, will PC come to Sabualla and pry my desiccated corpse from these cushions?...

[retrospective update: I think we did finally leave just before our families would have served us hot lunches. Nutrition is overrated. Nearly as much as punctuality. Oh the bad habits I’m nurturing, ha ha…]