The little village of Bagodine in the West African country of Mauritania is a long way from West Frankfort. But it's the place West Frankfort native Jessica Palmer has been calling home for the past year.

Palmer, a 2004 graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, joined the Peace Corps after graduation and moved to Mauritania, one of the poorest countries in the world, to teach English.

In addition to teaching high school students, she has been making new friends, learning two new languages - French and a West African dialect, Pulaar - and often fighting off disease and battling the elements.

She returned home this summer for a short vacation with her parents, Randy and Jaye Palmer, and shared some stories about the new culture she has learned to love.

"It's hot, really hot," Palmer said about her life in the African climate. "It was 123 degrees the day I left to come home. It hasn't rained since last September. It's a very dry hot, like being inside a dryer."

Palmer lives alone in two rooms of a small house; her landlord uses the other space for storage. "I sleep outside, because it is too hot to stay inside," she explained. "Everyone does that. People basically live outside, and only use their houses to keep their stuff in."

For Palmer, it's a 10-minute walk to her host family's house, and a 20-minute walk to school every day.

Life without the modern conveniences of air conditioners, fans or refrigeration is a life that she has come to accept without complaint.

"There was only one time since she's been in Africa that I really knew she was down," her mother said. "Shortly after she arrived there she got very sick from parasites in the water. She was so sick. She said that when you're really sick you lay on the couch and stay cool and comfortable, but there was nowhere to go to feel better, no escape. She was just there, but she still insisted, 'Mom, I really love it here.'"

"Everyone gets sick when they first go over," Palmer added. "Everything is just so different. The water has parasites, and you just have to get used to the food."

"The food" Palmer has become used to is mainly fish and rice with a few vegetables.

"I eat all my meals with my host family," Palmer said. "They feed me and take care of me. We all eat out of a community bowl and eat with our hands. They really don't know what to do with me. The men eat at one bowl and the women eat at the other. I eat with the men, because I am educated."

Palmer said the only food she keeps at her own house is black-eyed peas.

"That's because I crave protein," she said. "We have meat at times. I've eaten goat and camel. I crave vegetables. The vegetables for a meal might consist of a very small piece of cabbage for about five people." Dessert is a sweet tea, a drink that Palmer refers to as "tooth rottingly sweet."

"I had to get used to it," she added. "I've lost about 20 pounds. I actually had lost more at first, but I've gained a little back. There's no snacking; when you're hungry, you're just hungry."

Palmer explained that although not being really full is a common feeling for her to have, she has rarely gone hungry.

"During the feast of Ramadan," she said, "I was hungry. Mauritania is a Muslim country. The only Christianity is a Catholic Church in the capital city of Nouakchott. I fasted with them during Ramadan. Not because I'm Muslim, but it just isn't right to go around fat and happy, when everyone is fasting," she laughed. "We didn't eat from sunup to sundown. I drank water, but they don't. Some of the men even spit out their saliva so they don't swallow it and break their fast."

Teaching English to high school students in Bagodine is almost like bringing the world to the little African village.

"I painted a big map of the world on the wall at the school. One of my students asked, "Is this just Africa, or is it the whole world?' There are women in Bagodine who have never stepped one foot out of the village."

In spite of the isolation, Palmer says her students are just like other high school students, often very difficult to deal with.

"Towards the end of the year, they just shut down," she said. "They wouldn't do anything at all. It was so hot. I brought in my IPod and speakers and they learned the words to a Bob Marley song. They love Bob Marley," she laughed.

In about a week, Palmer will leave the luxury of hot showers, a cool bed and pizza whenever she craves it, and return to the reality of carrying her water on her head from the neighbor's house, and sleeping outside on a mat under mosquito netting.

She will return to the people who view her as a celebrity.

"I have a new empathy with movie stars," she said. "Sometimes, it seems like there is always someone in my face. They stare at me and follow me around, until I turn and say, 'What do you want?' and they say, 'Nothing.'

I get about five marriage proposals a day," she laughed. "They really didn't mind when I left, though," she added. "They know when I come back, I'll bring them presents."

And what do they like? "Anything, anything with USA on it," she said. "American flags."

She will also return to the solitary life without the convenience or distraction of radio, TV or even electric lights.

"The solitude," Palmer said. "The solitude was the hardest thing to get used to. Oh, I can make friends, but the language and cultural differences are so great. I love it, but it's an emotional roller coaster. One minute I'm happy, and five minutes later, I'm pulling my hair out."

Other Peace Corps volunteers are stationed in a city nearly 12 miles away. Palmer can take a taxi to meet with them on weekends.

"I made a two-year minimum commitment," Palmer said. "After that, I might ask for a one-year extension. I just don't know that yet."

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