Niamey, Pictures, and Randomness...

PICTURES!!!! (FINALLY!)

Above Left: one of the girls in my village with a gord full of goats milk which she will spend a while shaking to then add to Hura, a millet-milk drink used for the breakfast and lunch meals. Top Right: Heidi, Lindsey, Myself and Colin, all dressed up for a night out after Kokowa! We were so excited that we didnt look 'bush' for once, that we took a picture... Below left, one of the more exciting matches we watched with a painful stratagy to get the other guy down... Below right, my fulani friend was showing me how he 'herds' the animals- or more accurately, how they'll just follow him. All the people in my village intrust their animals to the Fulanis durring the daytime to take them out to the bush to graze, and they return in the evening- you can see my Fulani friend in the lower right corner- he's a pretty cool guy, he's making me a sweeeeet fulani necklace while Im in Niamey.

The first week we were here in country I remember asking one of our language teachers what Niamey (capitol of Niger) was like... she replied, "It's just like America!" I rember thinking...um, no not really... Then, after 4 months in country and in the bush, I have returned to Niamey, and I swear its JUST LIKE AMERICA!!! It's crazy how living with nothing, in the middle of nowhere, and just making-do with what you have can change your outlook (or lower your standards of living...) but Niamey, which I was first thinking, 'oh no... I'm in a third-world country and I can't even buy deoderant' is now, 'OMG, they have EVERYTHING here, even peanut M and Ms!!!' (still no deoderant- don't worry, I have some from home).

So, yes, we (my whole stage) are back in Niamey for three weeks of training, called IST (In Service Training), before heading back out to the bush. It's really been interesting to see everyone after three months out (which felt more like 2 weeks) as well as to see how some people have changed so much in such a short period of time, myself included. I feel like we're all so much more self-sufficient and confident to just do our own thing. Also, I guess because we've all changed a bit, I may not be as close to some people as I was before. It was an interesting realization when I thought to myself, 'I need a break from all these Americans...'.

Anyway, its been an ok week of training, with two more down the road- it's been hard to sit and focus is classes after total freedom of bush-life- I think my attention span shrunk!

Either way, I suppose its been a nice holiday of good food, movies, resturants, going out, and speaking english- so I can't complain too loud!

However, on thing I've found frustrating is, once again, language. Just as I was beginning to feel confident and capable of conversing in Hausa, we head back to Niamey- Zarma land! So once again I can't fully comunicate with people (a lot of merchants speak a little Hausa, but not enough to have a decent conversation) and I'm worried the little Hausa I have is slipping away!

Anyway, So I have a plan... it's a selfish one, but here it is. I am hoping to buy a horse (or a camel). No, it will probably not help my village in any way, and strictly be for my benifit... Im hoping to save enough of my Peace Corps pay to cover most of the funds, but, I think I still need to do a little research on how much feed and care will cost in case I don't have enough. I'm pretty sure, if nothing else, a horse would be a great moral booster :) so thats my plan as of now...