hey guys!

so its been awhile but ill figured it would be nice to update a bit. anyways, i've been living in niger for about 4.5 months now and am having a great time. malbaza is great, even though theres even less there than here in niamey- no running water, no electricity in my house, and no good 'grocery' stores or places to eat. oh well, i pass most of my time with my villagers, eating what they do and hanging out. so i had this conversation with a friend the other day, and we get to eat the most interesting things here, some of which include: tuwo (which is like pounded up millet mixed with water, served in sauce... yummy), meat, such as goat head (actually, forehead), cow intestines, and grasshoppers (which i will not touch!) and drink lots of hura (millet drink). so basically, i get to eat alot of millet and some potatoes or rice. buts its all good, i appreciate the company.

 some interesting things about niger. one: the kids are exactly as you see them in those christian adds, naked and with flies all over their faces, but they are also super happy. they run around, and most of them flock to me (never having seen a white girl before) and all want me to play with them. cute thing, i actually had a baby touch me and then look at her hand, thinking that perhaps my whiteness would come off onto her! two: the information gap is huuuge here, like ive told many people, so im constantly trying to explain to people that stars exist all over the world, america is not a city in nigeria, and touching a skinny person will not give you aids, but poking yourself with a needle til you bleed to cure a blister will give you aids, most likely. also, most people are convinced that i am here to marry a nigerien, but let me tell you, i feel soo bad for nigerien wives here. they work all day (physical labor) pounding millet, carrying 20 lbs buckets of water on their heads, and cooking (which is not easy when all you have is a giant cauldron over a fire) while men go out to the fields or to their respective jobs for a few hours. the rest of the time, men just sit around and prepare the traditional tea, while women still do housework. in some cases, i've seen men even insult their wives about how lazy they are, you know, having one child tied to her back, another one pulling at her skirt, and all the while pounding millet (which is hard, let me tell you). what tops this all off is that in the evening, men get to go out and search for girlfriends and/or other wives while women are expected to stay home or at least just go to a friends house. lame. sorry guys, but nigerien men suck, and the idea of me marrying one makes me laugh. also, they dont know how to talk to women.

but not all of them are bad. some of them are really cool and happy to see me, and know how to treat women, which i appreciate. in fact, some of my best friends in country are men. but i gotta hand it to the women. i tended to hang around men more bc they spoke french, but now that i speak some hausa, im hanging more around women. its funny bc at times i think they see me as a doll: trying to dress me up, give me braids, put henna on my hands and feet, and trot me around the town. it can get annoying at times to be constantly monitored, literally, all the time. and nigeriens have no sense of etiquette either. i'll be sick in my house and they'll walk in and try speaking to me, ill be asleep and they'll wake me up, i'll be in the latrine and they'll look over the wall and tell me hello. ridiculuous at times, but hey, thats life here. but the people are great, and i love the diversity- the fulans (whose women i think are the most beautiful), the tauregs (who i think have the most handsome men! they're soo mysterious looking- look them up sometime), the hausas, the zarmas, the berri berri and the tubu, to name a few. and most of them in my village stick to traditional garb, so you can recognize them. they are soo cool. also, here, the kids are freaking adorable, with their big eyes and beautiful smiles, i just wish that i could give them the world, which i cant (instead, i just give some of my favorites bon-bons :) and some of the food here is unlike anything i've tasted, in a good way. i love koko- a millet based drink, tsalla- like a fried cake, and their tsurundu, which is like this mexican rice thing. yum.... i'm actually going thru a mild withdrawal now that im in niamey bc not only am i am away from hausa-land cuisine (niamey is in zarma-land), but its far from being the bush, so the same food i can't even find. (Tear), but ill be back in a few weeks. until then, i'll be kicking it at my in-service training, learning about all the stuff i can do with the education system here (im pretty sure i'll be doing some trainings in the bush about the importance of education- my counterpart is really into that) and chilling with friends from different regions. and after that, i'll be in zinder for xmas. but i'll be back at post in time for tabaski, which is the biggest festival for the muslims here, something i can't afford to miss ;) i hope everything is going well for you all and i will talk to you later (in sha allah) ;)

peace,