So, here I am looking out through the window of my hotel and outside is rubble, you might think that we’d've been bombed. But, that’s mauritania for you. Anyway, there was a crowd of marchers protesting a few streets away. They’re upset about what’s going on in Gaza. My friends and I were okay, we were all stuck in the hotel under lock down. So, none of us got hurt. Apparently, the marchers were just plain angry. They started throwing rocks at cars and not fancy foreniers car’s their neighbor’s cars. So, I guess people here don’t like what Israel’s doing. It’s weird being here, seeing this happen from a different perspective. I realize that if I were to still be at Gustavus I would probably side with Israel. I wouldn’t care that 400 people in Gaza have died because of the missles. But, now I am and must be nuteral. It’s strange to see the new’s in French. It’s weird to be stuck in a hotel while Mauritania men and women march, in marches that are sanctioned by the government. Carrying flags and halting traffic. But when I hear about the martering of a family of 12. When I hear that Israel is blocking off water and food supplies. When I see tanks along the Gaza/Israel border. I am surprised. I am a little bit scared. I wonder how long this is going to happen, how many people are going to die, and where people in Gaza are getting food and water. I am seeing both sides of the story. Yet, I am here, in Mauritania, a muslim country. I can see the country’s largest mosque from where I am typing now. I might not be marching, but I am seeing more than what I would if I were in the states seeing this on the news. I can feel their frustration. I can see their anger. It makes me wonder who’s right, what’s going to be done, and how my town is reacting at the moment.

~ by avalambrecht on January 6, 2009.