January 29th... into the bush and out of the bush...

In and out of the bush... I feel like I'm living a double life! Not that I'm a whole different person, but village life definately differs from that of hostel life, and I've come to realize they are both sooo equally important.
So, not much new, just the average Niger living... Heres a little sampler:
7:00-ish am (sunrise): get up, make myself a delicious breakfast of warm milk and peanut-butter cous-cous (ok, lets talk a little about oh-so-necissary food staples of bush life; A)Powdered milk- I'm partial to the Nido and France Lait brands, and B) a nice, au-naturalle peanut butter (I buy it in bulk- aka, I bring an empty powdered milk can to the guy who makes it and he fills it up))
8:00-ish (nothing's exact or 'yanzu' as many bush taxi drivers would like you to believe):put away my bedding (I sleep outside on a millet-stock bed (with matteress) under a mosquito net) do my dishes, you know, all that typical home-ec stuff... maybe a little studying after that (well, by study I mean read whichever novel I'm up to at that point- I've discovered theres a whole world of written literature out there I didnt know about...)
Somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30: take a walk around the village, stopping to chat with villagers for a couple hours (you should all be impressed that my language skills have advanced beyond greetings and talking about pounding millet... I now point at things and either ask what the names are, or announce the name ("goat!" "Chicken!"...) it's fabulous.
Noonish: back to the house- it's too hot and the sun is out. really.
1 or 2:00: now, at this point I shake things up a bit and vary my days from time to time... sometimes I go to the womens literacy class, you know, to observe, study, listen to them talk about me (they're pretty sure I don't understand- boy have I fooled them) and some days I sit and play cards with my neighbor kids- well, by play, realize that these are 10-13 year olds who I am beginning to think dont REALLY know how to play, either that or after several games I still dont understand the seamingly ever-changing rules.
4:00 ish: this is when I go hang out with some of my friends in the village, there are some wonderful people that I have met, some wonderful families that are really fun to just sit and talk with. I've also gotten henna done, and braids a few times. The people are really great and so genrous with everything they have.
S0 at 6:00 on, I take my bucket bath, make some dinner, and to be honest, Im usually in bed by 8:30... It's, as you can tell, a rough life..

So I hope that was enlightening- keep in mind this is only the typical day of my first month- once I get a little busier I'm guessing things might change a bit. :)

All Alone in the Bush

Ok, Not all alone! So, Ive been at my new post for over two weeks now, bringing my total Niger-time up to almost 3 months.. (CRAZY) Time flies...
So, recap, spent a week in my new village before Christmas, headed into the regional hostel for the festivities, a couple days later headed back out to begin the infamous 'one-month-at-post'. The first week in village was a little shakey, lets be honest. New house, new neighbors, new language, and all about 30 K from the nearest PC Voulunteer.. My villagers are really nice though, and just like moving anywhere, I knew it would take a little while to settle in and feel at home. I can now report that the village is awesome and I love every part of it (well, that three-hour walk to the main road is a bit... harsh) I'm really starting to make friends in my village and find out who I want to hang out with and work with (you know, who has the pet cat, who makes the best millett, etc..), and I'm pretty excited about the next few years.
Life's a bit slow right now as really my only responsabilities are to learn Hausa and to integrate into my community.. that leaves a lot of free time!
I've started jogging in the mornings, which is fairly amusing. My villagers find anyone who would run down the road and back, simply for the joy of it really amuzing. Exercise to them (not suprised) is an odd concept as they really just dont have the time or extra energy for wierd activites like running. It does make for good conversation though!