Category Archives: Mauritania

5 Big Lessons Learned by Living in West and East Africa

Jambo! mambo! Waka waka! hakuna matata!

You might have heard one of the above. I was quite naive to have had a typical image of Africa before my arrival, and after having lived in the West and East Africa for 2+ years, I am confident to say this:

Africa is big and diverse!

Just like any learning, the more I knew about a tiny part of Africa, the more I realized that Africa is too big, diverse and complex to generalize, and I believe everyone has their own “My Africa”. So acknowledging that I can by no means speak for whole Africa, let me share some learnings from my Africa.

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Mauritania 6 Finalー 20 things I learned from Mauritania

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When finishing my daily shopping, I used to say this phrase to the shop keeper.
When I got off the work, I used to say it to my colleagues.
When I left the airplane, I also said this to the flight attendant.

And now, I just said this to the country called Mauritania, where I spent around a year and half.

“Au revoir” (See you again).

In this entry, I will list up 20 learnings during this period.

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Arigato Natto ２ーHow to Make Natto Sustainablly Even in Africa

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It is faire to say everyone wants to be happy, and each one of us tries to achieve something for that (e.g. lose 20kg, get married, have a nice job, etc.). However, the more your objectives are sustainable, the more it will bring value added in general, as the life continues.

That is also why I highlighted the importance of having good habits (continuation) rather than establishing objectives (which have end point) in the previous entry .

More specifically, the other day, I managed to make Natto in Africa for the first time (for the detail, see here). At the moment I tasted it, I felt very happy, just like when you have a good meal. And I wanted to keep feeling that way.

With that in mind, in this entry, I would like to share my experience on how I achieved sustainability with regard to Natto making in Mauritania as well as some learning out of it.

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First Trial in Africa – How to use Pressure Cooker and how it Works

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Shu Shuuuu Shu Shuuuu Shu Shuuuu! Shu Shuuuu Shu Shuuuu Shu Shuuuu!

It is something most of us know, and its sound reminds us of the locomotive, and despite familiarity, many people do not dear to get close to it.

It is a Pressure cooker.

Although everyone knows in some way that it is useful, I imagine many people do not know when and how to use it, want to use it because it’s dangerous, or do not find any added value over normal pots which are cheaper and lighter (I was exactly like that until 2 weeks ago).

Therefore, in this entry, with specific experience of my first ever trial of using pressure cooker in Africa, I would like to share how to use it and how it functions, as well as some learning out of it. Continue reading →

More Habits than Goal to achieve New Year Resolution

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You have done your best in 2018. You want to change and/or improve something in 2019. So it’s pretty normal to go ahead with new year resolution.

Losing weight, learning language, passing the exam, getting/changing job, You name it.

However, let me remind this unfortunate fact (I am taping the wood now)…out of 100 people who make resolution, 92 of them abandon their resolution. That leaves only 8% of successful people. If it’s true, something must be wrong with resolution making. So through the main point of this pointーmore habits than goalーI hope to contribute to improve this statistic in a long run.

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Mauritania 5ー 3 Learnings from the First Rain

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Do you know what does the July 29th mean?

Based on the historical events on this day,

(1221) Japanese emperor Go-Horikawa aged only 10 years old ascends to the throne.
(1836) Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
(1921) Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party
(1923) Albert Einstein speaks on pacifism in Berlin
(2018) 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes island of Lombok, Indonesia

Well, in short every year something happens on the same day, and although I picked some events which caught my attention, those do not have direct meaning to me.

What’s meaningful to me was the July 29th in 2018, the day I saw the rain for the first time in Mauritania. At that time we were in rainy season more than 1 month without any drip of water. You might think it is no big deal. But what matters is the meaning that brings to the life of each of us depending on the context, about which I would like to share, as there are some learnings which can be aplicable for other context (at least I hope).

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Recharge energy in Tenerife – Eternal Spring

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If I had not come to Mauritania, I would not have been to this place— Canary Islands, also known as “Eternal Spring”

As a backpacker (or at least someone with backpacker’s mind) who prefers to see as many different things as possible, I was not into beach and resort places. However, I actually needed to find the way out to change the air, as the expat life in Mauritania without entertainment was not easy.

Then voilà!Literally the air of the island was different (comfortable temperature without flies and sand dust). In fact, the entire environment was different from the one in Mauritania (Nouakchott) even though the distance between them is quite short (2 hours flight distance). This experience allowed us to recharge energy. I will briefly explain how it was done.

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