Almost Official....

Hey Everyone! By this time next week I will officially be a Peace Corps Volunteer, (in sha`allah!)! I can`t believe there is only one week left of stagè. I feel like I have been in Niger forever, at the same time, I can`t believe the nine weeks have gone so fast! When I left WI everything was brown and drab (my how things have changed since then!) and soon you will be welcoming the green and warmth of spring,(it`s a weird concept to think about when it is sunny and hot on a daily basis here). I, on the other hand, will be in the midst of hot season, where vegetables will no longer be found and if it`s possible, everything will become a bit more brown :) (at least there will be mangoes!)

After next week`s swear-in, I will be heading out east to Zinder! I am really excited to have been posted out there, I couldn`t be happier about my placement. The PCV team in Zinder/Matameye is great and really laid back, they really made the six of us newbies feel very welcome, I look forward to getting to know them all in our `home away from home, away from home!`

I am in the Zinder region, but I am actually a few hours from Zinder right along the Nigerian border, e-mail me if you want to know the name of the village, although you won`t be able to locate it on a map because I live in a 400 person village smack dab in the middle of nowhere. I am south-west of Zinder in the Matameye sub-region.

Last week I got to visit my village for the first time! It was so exciting/overwhelming as we were approaching my sleepy but beautiful little village. It is smack dab in the middle of no where, it is an hour`s walk from the paved road (i have a very sandy foot path to lead me to the village). and an hour's walk through the sand (the sand is actually quite deep out there, it was eerily similar to trudging through snow) to this amazing little haven of a gully where there are acres upon acres of gardens lined with a fence made of mango, date, and guava trees. It is gorgeous!!! I really look forward to working with the gardeners from the surrounding villages, and I hope by the time I leave I will no longer be the only woman allowed to work/play in the dirt there.

Each trainee got to visit their village last week. It took us a day and a half to get out to Zinder since we had to drop off the Konni and Maradi kids. We got to spend Monday in Zinder at our FANTASTIC regional hostel, where we met our new teammates, and go to the local market to get a few essential supplies for our week out at post. We then had an amazing dinner of corn/potato chowder, salad, and yes, even key lime pie!!! It was amazing, but then again anything that does not involve okra sauce (aka snot sauce) and tuwo lubshi (which is a hardly swallowable lump of ground up rice/corn/millet) is considered amazing. However, to the dismay of use new kids, we've been told we will learn to love love love the stuff, along with a millet flour and water drink called Hura, or 'hurl'a by some. The next day there were two different trips out into the bush taking us to our villages. There are two of us out in the Matameye region and we had to sit around the hostel anxiously awaiting our turn to go to our villages.

Even looking back at it, I can't describe how it felt to finally be heading out to my new home. One of the current PCV's was so excited for us and his excitement was contagious, I could barely sit still/hold back the tears of excitement as we approached my village. Once we turned off the paved road (which is one of the very few smooth ones in Niger, thanks to Nigeria) I was overcome with goosebumps as I knew any moment my village would come into site....Well then, we continued to navigate our way through the sand (much like driving through snow, think spinning and swerving) for about 5-6 KM, and then at last there was my village!!!

My closest PCV neighbor did my live-in with me, which entailed helping me with introductions to some of my villagers and spending the first night at post with me, she was really helpful and it help to put my mind at ease to settle in, although temporarily in the old pcv's gida. The next morning she left, and I was on my own for the next two days. It was a little intimidating at first, but I couldn't help but flash forward to two years from now when these people I was meeting for the first time would become the people I love and will have to say goodbye to. Although, I guess I shouldn't put the jaki (donkey) before the cart as I am so looking forward to having all of the learning and living I have the opportunity to do in my new village.

I am the third and final PCV that my village will have, the last volunteer just left the week before my visit. I am very grateful to him and his kokari (effort) as he pettioned to have a new house built "across town" beause the current house is the recipient of the exhaust and noise pollution of the petrol grain grinder in the village. The new concession still needed a fence and a latrine/shower stall when I visited, but I've been told in sha allah, it will be ready for me to move into when I come back for installation. Even though my new concession/one room mud brick hut is across town it takes me a total of one minute to walk there, so that puts the size of the village into perspective

I am really excited to get to know my new villagers and the next few months will be devoted to improvimg my language skills and becoming very accustomed to bush life. It should be interesting, saboda ina kadai jin Hausa kadan kadan (because I only hear hausa a little). However, I do hear it enough to have passed my language exam. Apparently they`re ready to send me out into the bush!!

Since the Zinder folk are so far out we only got to spend 3 nights at post. We then had the task of making our way back, which was an adventure in and of itself. Some of you have had the opportunity to hear about my bush taxi experiences, and I must say I have truly been luckier than most! I left my village at 7am and walked for just over an hour to the road. I briefly introduced myself to the villagers of the roadside village and litterally seconds after getting to the road a bush taxi van pulled up (I'm in a lucky spot since there is a lot of traffic coming from Nigeria into Zinder, so getting transport will be much eaiser for me to get). I had the best ride to date, as there were only 3 people in a seat (those vans can"easily" hold over 20 people) and it only took about 30 mins to get into Matameye. The other newbie and I met up with the PCV in Matameye and he showed us around the city and took us to the market in town. After lunch we took another bush taxi, another surprisingly/relatively comfortable 2 hour ride into Zinder. We then had the afternoon to chillout and hang out in Zinder (which is a great, and completely unchaotic city...a true oddity in Niger), but then one of my good friends (who I am truly lucky to be posted in the same region as) decided to get a Kossum which is liquid yogurt in a bag...which I love love loved, until not 10 minutes after consuming we found ourselves rushing back to the hostel...no food is safe here...even the refrigerated stuff can give you an unpleasant surprise revisit.

Luckily it was a bout that quickly passed, this is something all of us are learning to deal with. We then had PIZZA and meat without the vertabre attached ( a true treat) at a restaurant in Zinder, then it was early to bed/or not sleeping at all, since 3:30 am would come quickly. Our bus left @ 4:30am and we were crammed onto a bus until 6pm when we finally arrived back in Niamey....since Zinder is such a great place we get to endure the 14 hour treck across the country to get there ;)....it's definitely worth it!

Well I'm in Niamey today for one of the last times for a while ( I don't forsee making the journey too often) it's great to read the e-mails some of you have sent and to give you and update, after this it's off to the American rec center for swimming, milkshakes, and hamburgers!!! It's a nice treat after our first two months of discovering and living life in Niger.

All is well and I am really looking forward to the next 24 months of adventure, learning, mistake making, and being a Nigerien...I hope all is well where you are and feel free to send me a line or better yet a letter when you can!

All my love! Rama