Yesterday I took the longest bus trip of my life. It clocked in at a total of 14 hours! 14 HOURS! I've never driven across the United States but I'm pretty sure if you drove for 14 hours you would be at least to Georgia if you were starting in California of course. Luckily I brought a lot of snacks for the bus. :) I'm now officially in my permanent region. Yay but now comes the scary part...for the next month I'm all alone getting to know my village and speaking Hausa. I also won't have internet access for the next month either. So to keep you entertained while I'm away I have included the following link which gives you an incredibly accruate view of my life in Niger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XoM5bxlVFo
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
We're Official
As of 10 AM this morning thirty of us swore in as the newest volunteers in Niger. Our swear in was at the US Ambassador's House which could not be more beautiful. The best part of the entire ceremony was our early morning cocktail hour in which they served such American staples as BBQ CHIPS and cake! I really love BBQ chips. Three trainees gave very funny speeches in our native languages and the Ambassador had some really nice things to say as well.
So now we get ready for the really hard part...goodbye. Due to some circumstances we said goodbye to another trainee this week. He was a great guy and a close friend of mine and was definately not an easy goodbye. Not to mention just the beginning of a lot of other really hard goodbyes I have to say in the next couple of days. We have tomorrow off to hang out and prepare to move in to our permanent posts then on Saturday I say goodbye to some of my closest friends that are in other regions. The rules of Peace Corps Niger go a little something like this...first month at post don't leave your village...first three months at post don't leave your region. Considering I've spent everyday in this country with my fellow trainees right beside me it's really scary to imagine being away from them.
But for now I'm pretty darn happy..I got to eat a burger, fries and beer for lunch! It was no Chili's but it was still pretty good. I really love Chili's. In fact I suggest anyone reading this go Chili's today for lunch, order the chips and salsa and a mango tea. (Casey and Kimie's moms if you're reading this please tell them that you want to take them to Chili's for their first meal back. Trust me they'll laugh really hard and seeing as I won't be seeing them for three months I want to send them some humor).
Okay, there are a ton of people waiting to use the computers so I am going to go but hopefully I'll be able to post about the wonderful dinner we're having tonight to celebrate. Just as a teaser it involves mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.
So now we get ready for the really hard part...goodbye. Due to some circumstances we said goodbye to another trainee this week. He was a great guy and a close friend of mine and was definately not an easy goodbye. Not to mention just the beginning of a lot of other really hard goodbyes I have to say in the next couple of days. We have tomorrow off to hang out and prepare to move in to our permanent posts then on Saturday I say goodbye to some of my closest friends that are in other regions. The rules of Peace Corps Niger go a little something like this...first month at post don't leave your village...first three months at post don't leave your region. Considering I've spent everyday in this country with my fellow trainees right beside me it's really scary to imagine being away from them.
But for now I'm pretty darn happy..I got to eat a burger, fries and beer for lunch! It was no Chili's but it was still pretty good. I really love Chili's. In fact I suggest anyone reading this go Chili's today for lunch, order the chips and salsa and a mango tea. (Casey and Kimie's moms if you're reading this please tell them that you want to take them to Chili's for their first meal back. Trust me they'll laugh really hard and seeing as I won't be seeing them for three months I want to send them some humor).
Okay, there are a ton of people waiting to use the computers so I am going to go but hopefully I'll be able to post about the wonderful dinner we're having tonight to celebrate. Just as a teaser it involves mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
My New Normal
I was contemplating yesterday what I would blog about and thought wow nothing interesting has really happened this week so I've got nothing. Then I realized that lots of interesting things have happened but my sense of normal is just totally skewed now.
First of all after my post last week we headed to the bush taxi stand and hopped into a van with 22 other people in a 16 person van. It's the worst part of coming into the capital by far. I was sandwiched between Kimie and the wall. There were five of us on the 3 person bench so let's just say it was a far cry from comfortable. The drivers of the bush taxis love to tell you they are leaving right away and then let you melt away in the sun. It's their real goal in life to have you sweat every drop of water you have had in the past 36 hours out. So anyway, we're sitting and sweating and they all of the sudden pop the hatchback open...a bush taxi for reference is like one of those kidnapper vans I think VW makes them...you know no identifying marks only a couple windows...anywho they pop the back open and slide something under the seat. Suddenly I feel something against my feet and hear Kimie scream. Then I realize the thing against my feet is actually pecking me. It was chickens!! LIVE CHICKENS UNDER MY FEET!! It's about a 45 minute ride home and we sat and waited about another 30 minutes after the chickens joined us. So that is how we rode. Kimie and I trying to keep our feet out of pecking distance and repeating to ourselves as we do daily...we live in Africa.
My second odd moment of the week was when my host dad who is a farmer walked up with his donkey and donkey cart and asked me and my friends if we liked his ride? We all laughed and said yes then I told him I wanted to go for a joy ride. Seeing as he doesn't speak a word of English he just smiled and nodded as he does to most things I say. Then I managed to say in Hausa I'm going to take the cart for a spin. Apparently this was exactly what he was waiting to hear and sent my little host sister to get a mat to lay down so that Kimie, Casey, Janice, our little neighbor girl, my host sister, and me could ride to the market. So there we were all piled in and ready to go and we took off at a whopping speed of 1 mile per hour. Apparently 4 grown women plus two children was a bit much for one donkey. But we made it to the market and everyone hopped out but me, my sister and neighbor. I was calmly saying goodbye when all the sudden we took off..this time going much faster!! Before I even knew what was happening Janice was chasing after us..my little neighbor was clutching my arm and giving me a look of terror and we were racing to the fields. I begged in broken Hausa for my sister to stop but she LOVES attention and trust me a white girl in a donkey cart in Niger is one of the most entertaining things most villagers have ever seen. I realized as I was watching the millet rush by that I had to pull a Speed move (you know when Sandra Bullock jumps from the bus at the end of the movie...she does jump right? otherwise this whole analogy doesn't make sense anywho..) I grabbed my neighbor in my arms and inched to the back of the cart and jumped. In my mind the second before I jumped I pictured us rolling on the ground like they do in the action films but then I realized the cart is only 5 feet of the ground and if I just let my legs hang I could just stand up and let the cart drive away. So that is how I rescued my neighbor and myself from the racing donkey cart.
Maybe these stories aren't unusual or interesting but I think Stephanie 4 months ago would have thought they were so I hope you do too. Now I'm off to the bush taxi...Kimie and I have a new game..whereas we used to guess how many people would be squeezed in...now we guess what's going to be the strangest thing posing as a passenger. I miss everyone in America.
P.S. Here is my new address....I'm moving on Saturday to my post. Scary!!
Corps de la Paix
BP 641, Zinder Niger
West Africa
First of all after my post last week we headed to the bush taxi stand and hopped into a van with 22 other people in a 16 person van. It's the worst part of coming into the capital by far. I was sandwiched between Kimie and the wall. There were five of us on the 3 person bench so let's just say it was a far cry from comfortable. The drivers of the bush taxis love to tell you they are leaving right away and then let you melt away in the sun. It's their real goal in life to have you sweat every drop of water you have had in the past 36 hours out. So anyway, we're sitting and sweating and they all of the sudden pop the hatchback open...a bush taxi for reference is like one of those kidnapper vans I think VW makes them...you know no identifying marks only a couple windows...anywho they pop the back open and slide something under the seat. Suddenly I feel something against my feet and hear Kimie scream. Then I realize the thing against my feet is actually pecking me. It was chickens!! LIVE CHICKENS UNDER MY FEET!! It's about a 45 minute ride home and we sat and waited about another 30 minutes after the chickens joined us. So that is how we rode. Kimie and I trying to keep our feet out of pecking distance and repeating to ourselves as we do daily...we live in Africa.
My second odd moment of the week was when my host dad who is a farmer walked up with his donkey and donkey cart and asked me and my friends if we liked his ride? We all laughed and said yes then I told him I wanted to go for a joy ride. Seeing as he doesn't speak a word of English he just smiled and nodded as he does to most things I say. Then I managed to say in Hausa I'm going to take the cart for a spin. Apparently this was exactly what he was waiting to hear and sent my little host sister to get a mat to lay down so that Kimie, Casey, Janice, our little neighbor girl, my host sister, and me could ride to the market. So there we were all piled in and ready to go and we took off at a whopping speed of 1 mile per hour. Apparently 4 grown women plus two children was a bit much for one donkey. But we made it to the market and everyone hopped out but me, my sister and neighbor. I was calmly saying goodbye when all the sudden we took off..this time going much faster!! Before I even knew what was happening Janice was chasing after us..my little neighbor was clutching my arm and giving me a look of terror and we were racing to the fields. I begged in broken Hausa for my sister to stop but she LOVES attention and trust me a white girl in a donkey cart in Niger is one of the most entertaining things most villagers have ever seen. I realized as I was watching the millet rush by that I had to pull a Speed move (you know when Sandra Bullock jumps from the bus at the end of the movie...she does jump right? otherwise this whole analogy doesn't make sense anywho..) I grabbed my neighbor in my arms and inched to the back of the cart and jumped. In my mind the second before I jumped I pictured us rolling on the ground like they do in the action films but then I realized the cart is only 5 feet of the ground and if I just let my legs hang I could just stand up and let the cart drive away. So that is how I rescued my neighbor and myself from the racing donkey cart.
Maybe these stories aren't unusual or interesting but I think Stephanie 4 months ago would have thought they were so I hope you do too. Now I'm off to the bush taxi...Kimie and I have a new game..whereas we used to guess how many people would be squeezed in...now we guess what's going to be the strangest thing posing as a passenger. I miss everyone in America.
P.S. Here is my new address....I'm moving on Saturday to my post. Scary!!
Corps de la Paix
BP 641, Zinder Niger
West Africa
Sunday, September 12, 2010
This week has been one of the roughtest my training class has had. One of my closest friends here and one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing chose to go home. It was the right decision for her and she spent a lot of time thinking about it but I still miss her terribly. I am very much looking forward to our reunion in two years!
On a happier note this week also marked the end of Ramadan which meant a day off! We had Thursday off the celebrate the holiday with our families and we spent the whole day doing my favorite thing in the whole world...EATING! To make things even better my friend Casey got to come and stay with my roommate and I for two days for the fete. We slept in until about 8 and then realized that everyone was migrating to the field for prayer. We met almost the whole town out in the millet fields and watched as the Chef de Canton (aka Kingish person) came in on his horses and everyone bowed. I can only compare it to Easter Sunday. Everyone had new fancy suits on and clothes especially made for the day. As part of the celebration people are expected to give gifts to the children. Seeing as this was my first time celebrating I was a little unprepared and ended up gifting cookies I had previously purchased, I think I mentioned them in another blog they are the butter kind that come in a blue tin..Anyway, after we left the field we went back to my house and ate breakfast which was the best part of the whole day. Actually to really understand you're going to need a little back story first. There are these two chickens that live on our property. They are the MOST annoying things I have ever encountered. I don't know who taught me that chickens only crow at sunrise but that is BS! They crow all the time all day long. So my roommate and I have been talking about killing them since we met them. So to our lovely surprise on Thursday when our mom unveiled our breakfast I suddenly realized why I had been able to sleep until 8...the chickens are DEAD!! It was by far the best meal I have had since I arrived!
RIP Chickens.
Other than that the week has been pretty uneventful. We're about to enter our last week of training which is really exciting. Swear in date of September 23 is rapidly approaching. I took my material to the tailor today and here's hoping he could understand my description of my dress and is able to have it ready next Sunday...everything is a gamble here. Friday is my very last night with my host family and Casey is going to join in again for the farewell festival. Then everyone is moving up to site together for our last official week of training. Well I'm off to read the latest gossip headlines before I'm booted off the internet for another week.
Hope all is well in the States.
On a happier note this week also marked the end of Ramadan which meant a day off! We had Thursday off the celebrate the holiday with our families and we spent the whole day doing my favorite thing in the whole world...EATING! To make things even better my friend Casey got to come and stay with my roommate and I for two days for the fete. We slept in until about 8 and then realized that everyone was migrating to the field for prayer. We met almost the whole town out in the millet fields and watched as the Chef de Canton (aka Kingish person) came in on his horses and everyone bowed. I can only compare it to Easter Sunday. Everyone had new fancy suits on and clothes especially made for the day. As part of the celebration people are expected to give gifts to the children. Seeing as this was my first time celebrating I was a little unprepared and ended up gifting cookies I had previously purchased, I think I mentioned them in another blog they are the butter kind that come in a blue tin..Anyway, after we left the field we went back to my house and ate breakfast which was the best part of the whole day. Actually to really understand you're going to need a little back story first. There are these two chickens that live on our property. They are the MOST annoying things I have ever encountered. I don't know who taught me that chickens only crow at sunrise but that is BS! They crow all the time all day long. So my roommate and I have been talking about killing them since we met them. So to our lovely surprise on Thursday when our mom unveiled our breakfast I suddenly realized why I had been able to sleep until 8...the chickens are DEAD!! It was by far the best meal I have had since I arrived!
RIP Chickens.
Other than that the week has been pretty uneventful. We're about to enter our last week of training which is really exciting. Swear in date of September 23 is rapidly approaching. I took my material to the tailor today and here's hoping he could understand my description of my dress and is able to have it ready next Sunday...everything is a gamble here. Friday is my very last night with my host family and Casey is going to join in again for the farewell festival. Then everyone is moving up to site together for our last official week of training. Well I'm off to read the latest gossip headlines before I'm booted off the internet for another week.
Hope all is well in the States.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Language Immersion
As I write this I am on the tail-end of language immersion. After my last post we were let off of stand fast on Monday morning and then sent to our language immersion sites Weds morning at 4 am! We took a 12 hour bus trip to another city away from the capital that I spent the majority of sleeping beside my friend Laura (Corey if you're reading this she is doing well). When we reached the bus stop we were driven to the hostel and hung out for a while hoping the rain storm that was coming down so hard on us would stop but our anticipation was to no avail. We finally gave in and loaded into the jeep. Approximately 14 of us in a 10 passenger car because that's how things are done here. Unfortunately, what should have been a 7k ride turned into a 45 minute ride because the road we would normally take had become a river. We did some pretty amazing off roading and finally arrived at our home for the next two weeks. The children of the village could not have been more excited to see us. There were approximately 50 kids no exaggeration that flooded into the concession. These children soon joined us on our tour of the village which included meeting the 93 year old man with 60 kids!!! That's right 60 SURVIVING children. I don't know what this man is doing or taking but some pharmecutical company needs to get over here and find out!! He goes by the title Sarki which in Hausa means King. Which means there are 60 princes and princesses in this little town. This was only the beginning of a very interesting experience. I was very lucky and Kimie one of my best friends here was on immersion with me and we were joined by two other amazing girls. Highlights of the trip included meeting our first Nigerien "little person", eating breakfast burritos!!, hanging out in the sarki's compound aka his castle, and just hanging out with amazing people. Some of the lower points of the trip were the 50 children who literally climbed the wall to see us, our 4 am wake up call, and the leaky roof. I want to expand upon the 4am wake up call because it probably sounds a little bad but trust me it was horrible!! It is Ramadan in Niger so everyone wakes up as early as possible to eat. Our neighbor in the village sold this fried dough every morning and for some reason found the boy with the highest pitch voice I have ever heard in my life to yell from 4 AM to 5 AM everyday. He would say wanki da maya 100 times in an hour. It took us five days to figure out that it was actually a human making the noise that's how bad it was. One major part about being here though is learning to roll with the punches so every morning at 4 we would all wake up and just laugh at the absurdity of it all. Then on one of our final days we held a meeting with the mayor near the mosque and happened to mention to the mayor that we weren't getting great sleep becuase of the gremlin that yelled every morning. Immediately everyone turned towards this little boy and laughed. Magically after that morning the yelling stopped. Oh my! I almost forgot the best part of immersion we did our first lesson on hand washing in Hausa. Sunday morning we taught about 20 kids the importance of washing your hands and covering your food. We used ash as soap since soap is a bit expensive here. It went so much better than could have been expected and really reminded me why I'm here. We're now only three weeks away from swear in on September 23rd which will mark the end of training and will mean I'm officially living alone. I'm scared but so excited. For now I'm spending the night speaking English again thank goodness and enjoying the comforts of the hostel which include running water and electricity!! We made a food run earlier and I almost burst into tears because they had those danish cookies you get in a tin that are so delicious I know that one reader out there knows exactly what I'm talking about they are so good with water which is great since that's my one choice here. Also they had pringles, grapes, and DIET COKE! My coke addiction is back. :)
Anywho, I better get going there is a pretty long line of people waiting to contact their families back home. Miss everyone!
PS My parents posted those pictures and wow.....where were you Sam when the editing was happening!
PPS Please forgive my spelling errors this computer thinks I'm writing in French so every word is mispelled.
Anywho, I better get going there is a pretty long line of people waiting to contact their families back home. Miss everyone!
PS My parents posted those pictures and wow.....where were you Sam when the editing was happening!
PPS Please forgive my spelling errors this computer thinks I'm writing in French so every word is mispelled.
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Pictures from Niger
These are obviously pictures from my language class which is held at my house and my donkey Sally. If you look behind the chalk board in the first picture you can see my lunch on the ground and the mat we eat on every day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)