Countdown to Ghana and Planting time!

A little less than three weeks til Ghana and counting!!! Actually I thought I woundn't be heading there until August, but as of today, the official plans moved up... about a month, which I think will actually work out better as I think August was going to be a little busy with Grain Bank preperations in my village. (which will hopefully work out funding-wise... there's a bit of 'wahala' in the funding department as most of our usual funding sources seem to be 'out of money until further notice'.)
But planting season has finally come and these past few weeks I've enjoyed heading out the the fields with villagers and planting millet. This is how it goes: First someone (usually the man of the family) creates lines with the 'Kwasa', a really heavy version of a hoe, and creates holes about a meter apart in rows about a meter apart. Then, behind him comes the children, women, (and me...) putting seads in the holes and covering it up with sand by foot. It really does go quickly, but most families have 3 or so fields that are huge pieces of land and work several days straight to plant them all. I wanted to take pictures and post them of planting, and I still plan on it, but, as of right now my camera is "out of batteries"... AKA, I have been completely worn out with my villagers on the picture front.
I can no longer walk down the paths of my village without someone demanding a picture, or asking me "when I'm going to give them that one picture I took 4 weeks and 3 days ago with the donkey or the little kid drinking hura"... that type of thing. I understand the excitement and fascination with my camera and pictures, but I've decided its high time for a rest until the excitement dies down- then I'll slowly bring it back out. But back to planting. So. We've planted our millet. As soon as I return to my village, we're going to intercrop beans and peanuts/ground nuts in the same fields, so fun's not over yet!
So today Leah (Fellow region volunteer) we're walking down to one of the 'ElHadji' shops as we call them, side note, an 'ElHadji' shop is I guess a really REALLY small version of a grocery store.. well, it's usually one room and they sell an asortment of 'western' stuff, toiletry items, juice, milk, canned goods, sometimes exciting stuff, like today, PRINGLES... Wow, back on topic.
So, today Leah and I we're walking to this shop and we had a really entertaining converstaion that all started with someone offering us a mango.
This was the converstation: Mango guy: Bisimillah (holding out the mango) Leah and I: Allahumdulillahi! (as we continue walking). Ok, what it means in my head: mango guy: want a mango? Leah and I: Oh, no thanks! But, literal translation: Mango guy: 'In the name of God!' Leah and I: Thanks be to God! Which, doesnt really make sense. But we that it was hillarious when we broke it down to the literal translation. Theres a lot of that in Hausa I feel like- even in the everyday greetings, literally when you ask greet someone in the morining with "ina kwana?" literally it's saying where's sleep? or Kun Tashi Lahiya? (how did you sleep) literally means You rose in health? And then there's these "all-purpose" words like, 'Sannu' that means, hi, thank you, sorry, and slowly, all depending on the context... Anyway, thats about it for now, I'm planning on doing a full two weeks in my village before comming back in in prep for vacation, so I'll try to write again then!!!!

To Buy or Not to Buy.. No longer a question

Well its been a long couple of weeks in the bush, but not much to report on... It seems my villagers are just twittling their thumbs til the rain comes- I'm pretty sure I'm just as anxious, but more for it to be a cooler temeperature than in excitement to plant my fields.
I have bee seriously concidering buying the horse now, mostly after I took a trip up to the big animal market in Badagishiri and took a look at the horses.. I have to let you know about this one, I was pretty sure I was going to get (I even told the guy I might come back in a few weeks if he's still there) He was all black with three white socks and a stipe, super sweet, and only four years old, and, compared to many of the other horses in the market, reletively nutritioned. When I asked the man how much, he told me 150,000 CFA, which is about 300 USD, but I didnt haggle, and if I were to buy him for real, I think I may have gotten him down to 100,000. ANYWAY. So I thought I had found my horse. So I get home, start making plans for my big purchase. I talked to my neighbors and they were all for letting my put him in the large 'family' concession as theres no room in my personal concession. Things were looking good. Then I went on the search for Hay... After this question my villagers shattered my little dream with "HA HA, you cant buy hay til harvest! You'll have to wait til October!" I was very sad. So, then I was like, can I buy it in the market town? they said yeah, but it would cost 1,000 CFA a bundle. INSANE price. 1,000 CFA is about 2 USD, and that would mean I would be paying 30 Mille a month on hay alone, plus a big bag of grain, another 15 Mille, with a grand total of 45 mille a month just to feed the horse! Wich, anyone who's owned the horse and did the math (90 USD) would be like, 'uh, thats insanely cheap..' but, when you live off of two USD a day, it's not looking to feasable. So the end of my sad story, is I'm back to my original-reviesed plan, to wait and get the horse during harvest. I'm sure I'll find one that I like just as much as that one, but I still cant help being like, "I want THAT one!!". SIGH.
So other than horse drama, I haven't had much to do.. With my Chemical Fertalizer project, I wrote my proposal, and we're just waiting for the forms to go through so we can start funding, so nothing to do but wait. I did, however, start a little Moranga tree pepiniere- I planted about 45, but still have a ton of seeds, so I might plant another 30. In theory, after about 3 months (moranga grow really fast) they'll be pretty close to ready and I want to do a big sensibilization and then give them away (nothing makes people more interested in a project than free stuff) after they've listened to me ramble about the nutritional value of Moranga (look it up- it's really good stuff, seriously.). So I guess, actually, I'm kinda going to be like one of those 'knife-infomerchals" things in the mall where you have to sit through their boring demonstration to get the free knife set, but hey, maybe someone will retain something :)
I have been really lucky lately with produce- For the past couple months it's been mainly onions and mangos, with an occasional eggplant, but just the other day I found CUCUMBERS in the Tahoua market (which I always disliked, but now theyre delicious..) and, today, I found bananas and pineapple in the Konni market. I was very excited. The End.. I just read that and realized how boring my life must be if thats what I fill my blog with. Oh well, it's exciting stuff here.
Well! All for now, my hour's bout up, let me know any questions or if I've left any gaping holes in my experience-writings!

Rain! Work! Cat! Ghana?

Well, its been about a week or so since the last post, so its about time to write again I guess...
This past week has been extremely hot, but with not one, but two suprising middle-of-night rain showers in my village! The sound and smell of rain is probably almost as exciting as.. well, I dont know, its just really exciting. The first night it rained, I wasn't prepared ("one month til the time of 'sky water'"-'sai wata guda, akwai lokacin ruwan suma'- thats what my villagers kept telling me) so, that night at first I was really excited sleeping under my woven-grass shade hangar, when I felt the first rain drops.. about 45 minutes into the storm I was soaked through and freezing (I didnt know it was possible to be 'freezing' in 93 degrees..), so needless to say, the next chance I got I went to my market town and bought a large roll of plastic, and waterproofed my shade hangar. The second time it rained it was bliss....
So a small piece of big news, I got a cat! Yes, I am alergic, but I got him anyway; he was sitting at this little cafe stand near the peace corps hostel and I just asked, can I have your cat? and they said yes.. So I put him in a box and traveled the 3 1/2 ish hours to my village.. Its a kitten, so its still really whinney and obnoxious and drives me a bit crazy, but suprisingly, he's growing on me :) Still no name for the thing, so send ideas my way.
WORK! Finally, I feel like I have stuff to do! Right now Im in Konni buying seeds for my big field project Im planning... Well, actually I wasnt really planning it per say, it just kinda fell into my lap. So, I was talking to my women's group leader in my village, and I asked, so, can i help you with your field this season? Learn the ropes, figure out how to do it, so that next year I can do my own field project? She was like, sure! That'd be great! So, then a few days later I was talking to her again, so what are we going to plant? Well, we're planting millet, beans, and peanuts... ummm... how big is this field? Oh, we have two of them... What?? oh... so you have the seeds? Oh, no- you should go buy them. Oh...
So instead of this just being a learning experience, I'm going to work with one of the agriculture programs here that does improved crops and seed varieties- I'll plant some of their 'improved seeds' and work with them on data collection to help them create better seed varieties with higher yield. So, trail by fire.. it'll either turn out great, and it'll be a nice demo plot for my villagers to see an imroved seed variety, as well as improved techniques (chemical fertalizers, etc), or, the test-'improved' seeds could turn out to produce less yield than the local variety and my villagers can just enjoy watching the 'batura' (white girl) working in the field. Anyway.
Other than that, not much new to share! Its been hot, sweaty, and it seems neirly everyone (volunteers) is escaping off to Ghana to spend a couple weeks on the beach. I was going to wait on a vacation and buy a horse now, but, as my villagers have pointed out, horse feed will be pretty expensive right now until harvest season-- so I might jump on the band wagon and head to Ghana sometime in August and buy the horse, instead, coming October, harvest season.. which seems so long away, but I've already waited 7 months, I spose I could wait a few more! And, with a trip to Ghana, maybe coinciding with the time of the Harry Potter 6 reliese of course, the wait wo'nt be too bad!

A few photos!

So, not much time left on the internet after uploading these so just briefly: the first one, some kids in my village- they all love cameras and getting their pictures taken- it gets a little overwelming sometimes! The second one is at the zoo in Niamey- never have I ever seen a hippo this upclose before!!

Next is also in Niamey, just a mechant hauling his wears from one place to another- the way they can carry stuff on their heads.. A-mazing!! Next is some SWEET henna I got done in Tahoua, Heidi and I splurged for her B-day last march!

Some of my Fulani neighbors and their camel- I love the hats they have, I'm determined to buy one, but since usually only the men wear them, they might think it a little odd... so Im going to wait until I have a horse and they already think that odd for a women to ride a horse.. so Im just going to add the hat on!

Oh the Heat... and my first big village meeting

So, 8:30 in the morning and it’s already 100 degrees… If today’s like the last 3 weeks, by noon our thermometer will be 120 (in the shade). SIGH, I am slowly learning how to deal with the heat, heat-rash, etc.. basically just jump in the shower fully dressed and then lounge around in wet clothesJ Works great here at the hostel, but I’m still trying to work it out in the bush when I’m rationed to two buckets of water a day!
Anyway, I’ve been at the hostel the past couple nights to write my proposals for my two projects- grain bank (co-op) and chemical fertilizer bank. Though I really enjoy my village, its really nice to take a break in the hostel where there’s showers, fridge/freezers, an oven… So, only been here two days but definitely have caught up on my cooking- made French toast (twice), cookies, chili, and cake! In the bush it’s just so hot to turn on the oven during the day that I cook as small amount as possible- I’ve dropped in on my villagers more often for hura or tuwo (both made of millet- hura a milk and millet drink with pepper, tuwo, a ground millet gelatinous patty with sauce on it) which is really starting to grow on me.
About a week ago I held my first big all-village meeting- it was so nerve-wracking! I will never again complain about any form of public speaking in English; holding a meeting in a language I barely speak with over a hundred people may have been one of the most intimidating things I’ve done. It’s amazing the things you take for granted like ability to communicate. When I first decided it was time to have my first meeting I talked to my village chief and we discussed the day and time- we decided Wednesday at 4- except actually we discussed it as being ‘Foloa’s market day’ around the La’azar (4:00 prayer call). I love time in this country! Because most of my villagers don’t own a clock or watch nor do they even know what time it is ever, all that goes on is explained by the Muslim calls to prayer times (and even then its give or take an hour or so). Anyway, I show up to my own meeting at 4, and it’s only me, my women’s group leader, one of my good friends, and the village second-in-command guy sitting in the room… I couldn’t help but get that ‘nobody likes me enough to come to my meeting’ feeling and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself J Well, by 5:00, our little one room school house was PACKED from wall to wall, it was great! They explained the tardiness that they couldn’t come until the livestock came in from the bush from grazing, duh.. (Silly me, what WAS I thinking!) But overall, I was very pleased with how the meeting went- they understood all my questions and I got my answers, and better yet, I understood all their questions and was able to give them answers, so overall, a success.
For all of next week I’m here in the hostel as the RR fill-in (Regional Representative) while the current one (Marcus) is on vacation. I’m actually kinda excited for the chance to get all my proposals written out and sent in, as well as maybe get some future project proposals written for future projects I have in mind, basically just do a bit of 2-year-planning and get some things started. Either way, I’m SURE I’ll find some time within the next week to write again!