Sunday, March 30, 2008

Swear In #2

Ok I got one picture from our swear im Us 8 and "The Rock" Tondi

Saturday, March 29, 2008

A PCT no more, a PCV forever more!

So swear in was 2 weeks ago but me along with 7 other people didn't make the language requirement and for the 1st time ever they didn't allow us to swear in...NOONE was happy about it even the staff! So 6 of us got 2 more weeks of Hausa in Maradi with 2 of our language teachers and 2 went to Gotaye for 2 more weeks of Zarma. All 8 of us passed and today we headed back to Niamay (12hr bus ride for us Hausaphones) for our own separate swear in! I love these guys(language teachers) soooooo much! I don't have much to say right now as i havent slept much or eaten much in the last 24 hours but what do you expect when you have to catch a bus at 4am to ride 12 hours and you're car sick most of the ride!

Heres some pics of swear in 2 weeks ago. I forgot my camera in Maradi so itll be some time before I get pics of my swear in today!

These are the guys! The guys here in the LONG tops are wearing the traditional clothing called the BuBu! The other guys except the one on the far right are weiring whats called the Funk(Functional) Sute. And for those who cant tell they are suposed to be acting out The Last Super.
Here are most of us girls being scandlious showing our knees and shoulders which is a NoNo in Nigerian and Muslum Culture. Sorry, I'm only the silly pictures
Me and Tondi(Rock in Zarma) hes one of the sweetest men I've met and has a laugh to fit his size! Its booming and he laughs with his whole body and in a country of laughter you can imagine he laughs a LOT! Theres a saying here in the PC..."You go to PC Asia and learn about religion. You go to PC South American and learn about Politics and you go to PC Niger and learn to laugh" Its sooo true!!
Here is out entire teaching staff from left to right top to bottom
Top Row
Abdou Hamza the money man
Mariama in blue one of the Hausa Teachers
Abdou the Hausa teacher that got me where I am with Hausa today!
Abas one of the Zarma teachers
Tondi "The Rock" the Site Manager
2nd Row
Bobaye one of the other Hausa teachers
Ousman another Zarma teacher and the man that keep me laughing the entire 9 weeks
Absatou another Hausa teacher who kept me on my toes with "threats" of beatings
Mourtula another Hausa teacher and a complete sweet heart!
Soba the guy in charge of all the language program
Oussanie another Zarma teacher
Mani the man in charge of all our Cross Culture classes
Bottom Row
Haoua Grand the lady in charge of all the Ag training
LaLa another of the Zarma teachers
Rakia, behind LaLa, is the Soda and Letter lady
Haoua Patete the lady in charge of EVERYTHING Natural Resource Management


I love these guys and galls so much! Abdou and Absatou spent 2 extra weeks with us who didn't pass the language! They all have so much love to give and show us all so much of it putting up with a lot of our American ways! I had every single Hausa teacher for atleast a week Mourlula for 3 weeks and Abdou for 4.

Host Family

Here are some pics of my host family














The two women in the back are my 2 moms Fati and Bibae(bee-bay) with 2 of my sisters Barkatou(6months) and Aishatou(3 years) and the woman in blue is Scott's mom and her 3 kids, in her lap(Hadiza) and in the front of the picture Samsiya and Abdoulkadare.



















Carrying water! You try it its not easy!





















This is Mahamadou one of my host brothers. The white stuff is medicine for something a LOT of the kids have















From Right to left
Zalika, Hadiza, Aishatou, Me, Samsia, and Rizack

Rizack is the oldest of my host siblings Zalika is my host dad's niece she lives with the grandmother and her parents live in Niamey.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Live in and Niamey

I got back from Live in Saturday March 1st. My village is so nice, real small 2 wells both about 120ft deep, they have 2 grain banks and a school. Maradi is great..its has nearly everything ill ever need with out being Niamey. Its a 12hr bus ride from Niamey to Maradi as long as everything goes well so I wont be in Niamey much!

I'm in Niamey for the day. I'm in the hostel on their wireless internet. We have a party tomorrow evening and then a BBQ in Niamey Tuesday, a party with our host famlies Wed GAD (Gender and Developemt) Auction on Thursay and swear in on Friday then we leave for our reagions Sunday...12hr ride in a ambulance type vehical...im not looking forward to.

I'll post more later when i can think of more


Here's a picture of my well if you look real close you can see some donkeys off to the right pulling something...they are pulling water up for themselves and the other animals in the picture!

Disclaimer

The views and opinions reflected throughout this site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.