My family is one of the smallest families in Mauritania. It consists of seven members: father, mother, two brothers, two sisters, and I (my elder brother is married; he does not live with us). While my father and elder sister go to work, my younger brother, younger sister, and I go to school. My mother is a homemaker. My family's daily life is not so complex.
Our activities start early in the morning. We wake up at about 6:00 a.m. We do our ablutions. Father, brother, and I go to the mosque. My sisters and mamma pray at home. When we come back, I begin preparing tea tools (a tea-pot, three to six small glasses, three little cans with different dimensions: the biggest for sugar, the smallest for tea leaves, and the middle one for mint, and small metal kettle; all these things are gathered on a little ground metal table with three legs and of course a gas stove) and making tea. My brother goes out to a grocer's shop to buy bread and butter, mint, and if we lack any other substance like sugar, for instance. In the meantime, father goes to milk our goats, and mamma preparing zreeg /z'ri:g/ (a local drink made of sour milk, water, and sugar). While my younger sister helps mamma, my elder sister is in the kitchen. She's cooking n'sha /n'ςe/ (a local thick drink made by whisking some powder of maize or corn in water and pouring it in boiling water; it's like beer).
After a while, my brother comes back. He gives me mint and puts bread and butter on a piece of tablecloth specialized for tea tools (it's called zeef) near Mamma who will divide it according to the members of the family. Father also returns with milk and gives it to Mamma. Then, he takes his place and turns on the radio or TV. Now, I'm ready to pour and serve my first glass (in Mauritania, we drink three different glasses of tea). But before that, my elder sister brings n'sha in a bowl with a ladle and some cups to Mom. When Mamma distributes zreeg, n'sha, and bread and butter, it's time for me to serve my first glass. All of us are gathering in the same room discussing and exchanging information. However, when I serve my second glass, we start getting ready to leave the house for work or school. After I pour my last glass and at about 7:40, we leave Mom alone in the home.
Mamma does much work in our absence. She arranges and sweeps all the house all the house; the rooms and hall. She also washes the dishes even sometimes clothes. Then she goes out to buy meat or fish and vegetables. She may also buy rice and oil if they are not in the family store. When she comes back, she prepares a jug of zreeg and some bread and butter (sometimes sandwich). After that she begins to cook lunch.
From 12:00 we start to reach the house one after another. If anyone of us reaches, he takes a piece of bread and butter or sandwiches after he drinks a cup of zreeg. We relax till about one or a quarter past one. Then, we gather at the same room, where my brother is making tea. We discuss, talk about news, some of us take baths in the interval of the first two glasses.
1:40 is lunch time, so my younger sister stretches two pieces of tablecloth in different places. She puts a full jug of water with a few cups in a dish beside them. She also brings a sink and full kettle of water with a piece of soap. After a while, she and Mom enter carrying two plates (always of rice and fish or meat); one of them for men and the other for women. Then, we wash our hands and start eating (it is not a taboo to talk when eating, but silence is mandatory).
After having lunch, my little sister brings everything out: plates, cups, sink, and table clothes. In the meantime, my brother returns to make his last glass (we often beg the tea doer to make a further glass). After that, we do our ablutions and dress up. Women pray at home and men go to the mosque. Then, we quit to school or work, Mamma feeds and gives drink to our goats.
Mamma also has more than one evening work. She, for instance, after taking a nap, begins to make couscous /kus'kus/ (a local meal made of powder of wheat when baked in the shape and dimension of large gravel). After she finishes, she goes out to a butcher or grocer's shop to buy camel meat or sometimes chickens for dinner.
Before sunset, we converge home. My younger sister will cook dinner instead of Mamma, who will make tea for father at his coming. After maghrib's (dusk) prayer, my brother, my younger sister and I enter in our living room to revise our lessons. However, my little sister always goes to the kitchen taking care of her couscous. Sometimes, we make tea after dinner. Hence, it is up to everyone to continue revision or go to bed. Dad milks the goats and gives them food before he goes to bed.