Over 3 weeks into arriving in Mauritania and I feel like I am getting in the swing of things. Both at work and with our free time. The work routine is becoming a bit more predictable and the administrative tasks are becoming more routine. In our free time, we’ve found a steady rhythm of going to the pool, the beach, watching our favorite shows, and attending various social functions through the embassy community. I guess if I were a single guy in a large city, this sort of lifestyle might be on the boring side, but for a family with young kids, I feel like we have more than enough to do to stay occupied.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. While I was working, the family decided to take a beach trip, and our hired driver went ahead and got our loaner Defender stuck in the sand. Even for a beefy off-roader, Mauritanian sand proved too taxing. Not only that, when the embassy sent a vehicle to assist (a dope Land Cruiser 79), it also got stuck trying to help. Then, a bystander in their Nissan truck decided to join the fray, and………..got stuck. It took a 4th vehicle coming from the embassy to fix the madness. My wife took the opportunity to do an impromptu photo shoot and now has a fun story to tell.

Speaking of work, the job has afforded me the opportunity to start visiting some local Mauritanian facilities. As part of my job, I do site visits and interact with specialists to determine facility capabilities in case I need to refer someone from the embassy community to get treatment. Mauritania is pretty austere in its healthcare access, but I have been somewhat surprised to see they have more capabilities than I expected. There are numerous Western trained physician NGO’s and volunteers from other parts of the world that make Mauritania their home, and some specialists will fly into the country every month or so with equipment to perform procedures. There is a solid lab service nearby, a couple of decent pharmacies, and multiple surgical specialists trained in France. If possible, we still will likely try and evacuate our staff when they are in a stable condition, but it’s a bit more reassuring to know that in a pinch, there are good providers nearby. Plus, both my RN and Admin Assistant have connections throughout the local system, so finding the right people with access has been a breeze. I am very blessed to have such experienced local staff in my very first tour.

Around town, we have started to venture outside our comfort zone a bit more, trying some new restaurants and groceries. My French is still pretty terrible, but it’s served me well enough when ordering things and giving directions that I’m glad I took a crash course. Recently we went to a knock off KFC in Nouakchott that has a pretty funny story attached to it. Apparently, a franchisee based in Morocco decided to bring “The Colonel” to Nouakchott without the approval of the corporate office. It was fully branded as KFC and everything. Unfortunately, corporate got wind of this, a cease and desist was sent, and apparently even the embassy got involved. The end result is KFC no longer exists under that branding, and a bizarro chicken restaurant called dijaj kintaki (Kentucky Chicken in Arabic) now exists. Check it out:

I can indeed vouch for “Kentucky Chicken” and affirm “it’s so good taste”. I’m not really a fan of KFC in the U.S. or really any fried chicken franchise (outside of Bonchon), but this stuff was pretty good. I’m not sure if it was because it was one of the first meals here we didn’t prepare for ourselves, but the chicken was great. It had maybe a hint of those 11 herbs and spices, but perhaps more appealing to my tastes, it was kind of spicyish. Not to the point that my spice-phobic daughter wouldn’t eat it, but enough to give it a tiny kick and set it apart from KFC back home. Sadly, the sides here don’t hold a candle to those in the U.S. No gravy, no mashed potatoes, no mac & cheese, no beans. It was overcooked fries and coleslaw that just screamed “eat me for guaranteed diarrhea”. I’m not sure if we will be back anytime soon, but it was a welcome change of pace and gave us a little reminder of home.

The whole family is finding a groove, and we are enjoying ourselves in Mauritania. The final piece of the puzzle to make it home will be when our furniture arrives in a month and we can give the house some personal touches. Overall though, I find myself looking forward to work each day, and still keep pinching myself that I get to do this for a living. Thanks for stopping by and reading my fried chicken blog. –Nick