Good news!!! I finally got a cell phone so if anyone wants to call me I would be absolutely thrilled to receive some calls! The easiest/cheapest way I’ve heard is to buy either a phone card or but some minutes on Skype and call from your computer.
This is exactly what you have to dial from the states 011 227 98 700 079
*Some people say that whether or not you have to press 011 depends on if you call from skype or a phone and I don't know which is which so try them both)
***This is the updated phone number as of 12/30/2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
So today is Thanksgiving Day!!! (When I actually post this it won’t be, but it is as I type)
There are a lot of things in Niger that could cause one to complain, like the heat, the poop everywhere, the lack of any common American comforts, and the children incessantly yelling “fo fo” at us. However, in honor of the holiday, and as a good way to keep my sanity, I decided to make a list of all the things I am thankful for here in Niger. So here it is:
• A supportive family back home
• My awesome new friends
• Mosquito net
• American deodorant
• Oriba yeno (a yummy pop here)
• Core day lunches (twice a week we get fruit and salad!)
• Letters and packages!!!! (It’s seriously the best thing ever)
• The American Rec. Center
• My Nigerien family <3 they are super nice
• The most beautiful sunrises/sunsets imaginable
• Internet (which doesn’t really happen, but for like 5 minutes when it does I am super thankful)
• Headlamp
• Battery powered fan
• The orange store and the friendly man who works there (this is where we buy drinks and snacks)
• Egg sandwich guy (Nigerien version of Micky d’s)
• Petit surprises
• Tondi’s amazing laugh (He is our training director, aka. Nigerien dad)
• AC in the infirmary
• Not having to be working a boring desk job
• Starry nights
• *A recent addition: Last and not least I am so eternally thankful for my wonderful grandfather who recently passed away. I would give anything to be home with my family, but I will always have a million memories of his friendly smile and twinkling blue eyes. The last thing he ever said to me was that I was beautiful and he loved me, so I couldn’t ask for anything better. Rest peacefully with the angels Grandpa. I love you.
This is the first major holiday I have ever not been with my family so it’s been rough, but the staff here in Peace Corps and all the trainees have been great and we came up with our own thanksgiving dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, fruit salad and some yellow cake. It was delicious! (Not even close to Louie’s though :)
Being away from everyone really puts a perspective on the importance of family and I am so thankful to have such an amazing one! And thanks again to all my wonderful friends who have been so great over the years. I have always had such good friends and so many awesome memories and I don’t want to miss out on your lives for the next 2 years, so send me letters or emails or Facebook messages… anything to keep me in the loop! Because even though I am so far away and am having great amazing experiences I still really care about what’s going on back home. And believe me, we have a lot of opportunities here to just think about stuff and I mostly just wonder what everyone I care about is doing.
There are a lot of things in Niger that could cause one to complain, like the heat, the poop everywhere, the lack of any common American comforts, and the children incessantly yelling “fo fo” at us. However, in honor of the holiday, and as a good way to keep my sanity, I decided to make a list of all the things I am thankful for here in Niger. So here it is:
• A supportive family back home
• My awesome new friends
• Mosquito net
• American deodorant
• Oriba yeno (a yummy pop here)
• Core day lunches (twice a week we get fruit and salad!)
• Letters and packages!!!! (It’s seriously the best thing ever)
• The American Rec. Center
• My Nigerien family <3 they are super nice
• The most beautiful sunrises/sunsets imaginable
• Internet (which doesn’t really happen, but for like 5 minutes when it does I am super thankful)
• Headlamp
• Battery powered fan
• The orange store and the friendly man who works there (this is where we buy drinks and snacks)
• Egg sandwich guy (Nigerien version of Micky d’s)
• Petit surprises
• Tondi’s amazing laugh (He is our training director, aka. Nigerien dad)
• AC in the infirmary
• Not having to be working a boring desk job
• Starry nights
• *A recent addition: Last and not least I am so eternally thankful for my wonderful grandfather who recently passed away. I would give anything to be home with my family, but I will always have a million memories of his friendly smile and twinkling blue eyes. The last thing he ever said to me was that I was beautiful and he loved me, so I couldn’t ask for anything better. Rest peacefully with the angels Grandpa. I love you.
This is the first major holiday I have ever not been with my family so it’s been rough, but the staff here in Peace Corps and all the trainees have been great and we came up with our own thanksgiving dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, fruit salad and some yellow cake. It was delicious! (Not even close to Louie’s though :)
Being away from everyone really puts a perspective on the importance of family and I am so thankful to have such an amazing one! And thanks again to all my wonderful friends who have been so great over the years. I have always had such good friends and so many awesome memories and I don’t want to miss out on your lives for the next 2 years, so send me letters or emails or Facebook messages… anything to keep me in the loop! Because even though I am so far away and am having great amazing experiences I still really care about what’s going on back home. And believe me, we have a lot of opportunities here to just think about stuff and I mostly just wonder what everyone I care about is doing.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Si boori
The hammer finally dropped. I got my first bout of illness. Basically I had the works, and I won’t go into detail but it was not pretty. Then, once I got over my stomach issues I came down with a cold. It’s 115 degrees and I have a cold. C’est ma vie. But I’m okay, nothing to be worried about…more of an inconvenience actually.
Saturday was our first language placement exam, I don’t know how I did yet but my friend Phoebe said our teacher Aicha said everyone in our class (Me, Eric and Phoebs) did pretty well. Yay. The reason they do the exam at all is to break us up into new language classes for language immersion. *Update: I placed in level 3, I only need to get to level 5 to pass so I’m feeling alright.
Language immersion is supposedly going to be a super intense 2 weeks of language classes where we live in a village with only our class of 3 or 4, and our teacher. English is bu (dead) and Zarma reins as king. For some reason I’m not extremely optimistic about this.
What I am happy about however is discovering the American Rec. Center in Niemay where they have cable television with ESPN and milkshakes (Heaven). Unfortunately, I will probably only be able to frequent this paradise no more than once every month or two. It’s just comforting knowing that it’s there because every time I’ve had internet it either was super slow, really spotty, or just did not work on my computer at all so It’s been difficult to know how my teams are doing. (I cried here for the first time with happiness when I got a letter from matt saying that the browns beat the saints)
Sorry about not getting up pictures. I have bad internets luck so have patience. Kala suuru. (This is something I tell myself about 20 times a day and am not good with to begin) It took me like two hours to upload my profile picture a couple weeks ago.
Saturday was our first language placement exam, I don’t know how I did yet but my friend Phoebe said our teacher Aicha said everyone in our class (Me, Eric and Phoebs) did pretty well. Yay. The reason they do the exam at all is to break us up into new language classes for language immersion. *Update: I placed in level 3, I only need to get to level 5 to pass so I’m feeling alright.
Language immersion is supposedly going to be a super intense 2 weeks of language classes where we live in a village with only our class of 3 or 4, and our teacher. English is bu (dead) and Zarma reins as king. For some reason I’m not extremely optimistic about this.
What I am happy about however is discovering the American Rec. Center in Niemay where they have cable television with ESPN and milkshakes (Heaven). Unfortunately, I will probably only be able to frequent this paradise no more than once every month or two. It’s just comforting knowing that it’s there because every time I’ve had internet it either was super slow, really spotty, or just did not work on my computer at all so It’s been difficult to know how my teams are doing. (I cried here for the first time with happiness when I got a letter from matt saying that the browns beat the saints)
Sorry about not getting up pictures. I have bad internets luck so have patience. Kala suuru. (This is something I tell myself about 20 times a day and am not good with to begin) It took me like two hours to upload my profile picture a couple weeks ago.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Fonda Farkaray!
So the entry I already posted was just a summary of the main things that I thought people would want to hear about right away, and I would like to make a real blog with accounts of my daily activites….unfortunately, I live in a hut…so that’s not gonna happen. So I will continue to write when I can and hopefully my thoughts and accounts are not too scattered.
So week three has now passed and I feel pretty happy to have made it this far, and without any illnesses either (knock on wood) . And for those of you who are worried about safety and security I thought I would let you know that almost all of the problems occur in the more northern parts of Niger and we are not even allowed to travel there. I feel very safe here and so far Nigeriens have been incredibly friendly and welcoming. I will also feel much happier when we receive our cell phones.
Also, to address those of you who assumed that I would come back super tan let me just say that 99% of the time I am avoiding the sun like the plague. It’s kind of hot. Also Nigerien women do not show their shoulders or knees and if we want to fully integrate and not attract too much attention we need to dress modestly. Which really sucks quite a bit because I love shorts. I really love shorts.
Food: As a Kacsandi I feel as though it is my duty to fully address the topic of food here in Niger. Lets see….the staple food here is millet which is actually a seed that people in the states put in their bird feed, but here it is pounded for hours and hours a day (by the women of course because they work their butts off) then they usually boil the pounded grain and eat it as a mush with sauce or they mix it with milk and sugar which is called doonu. This is something that they eat a lot and since it is liquidy and makes their bellies feel full a lot of people think that it’s all they need despite there is a very small amount of nutritional value. Rice is also eaten alllooooot here, sometimes with beans which I am a big fan of although it gets tiring after awhile. Wealthier families are the ones who will buy beef or goat meat sometimes chicken, and put vegetables in their sauces. I really don’t think people understand nutritional needs at all here, which is one of the main reasons 75% of the children here have the classic protruding bellies like you see on TV. My life is literally right out of National Geographic.
Today I took my first bush taxi ride. I don’t really feel like there’s a good way to explain it…you just have to experience it for yourself…but I’ll try. So a PCT (peace corps trainee) Alison and I stayed for 3 days with a girl named Sara and we got to see the life of a real live Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in a village in Dosso. This morning we stood in the back of an open back truck with about 20 people, luggage, and 3 goats with very pointy horns. This wasn’t that bad in itself it was the stopping and going and potholes that were a pain in the bootay. But we caught another taxi in a different village which was a van so that was better. However, if you’re in a bush taxi and you think there is no possible way they can fit another person into the cab, they will fit three more. It’s kind of amazing really. One row of this van that was supposed to fit 3 people MAX had 4 men and two children. Wild.
Hmm let’s see what else about my life is interesting…..Apparently there are hippos and elephants and giraffes in the region I am in. Some of the volunteers saw elephants but I wasn’t so lucky I will soon though! There’s a Parc National Du Niger that I’ll make it to eventually. Oh, and yesterday I carried a bucket of water on my head, which is harder than it looks!
Now that we are done with Demyst we go back to the training site and continue our language and other training then the next major thing we have will be our first language interview (essentially our midterm) and then we will spend 2 weeks in a different village with our language trainer for “language immersion” which I am not looking forward to, but I’m sure we’ll survive.
I wrote this post really quickly because I wanted to get it up so I’ll probably add on and edit it later so don’t judge ;) And I will try to post pictures soon but I’m leaving to go back to site now so I won’t be able to get online for maybe a week or two.
Thanks for all the wonderful facebook posts… those and letters and packages make me so happy I can’t even explain!
So week three has now passed and I feel pretty happy to have made it this far, and without any illnesses either (knock on wood) . And for those of you who are worried about safety and security I thought I would let you know that almost all of the problems occur in the more northern parts of Niger and we are not even allowed to travel there. I feel very safe here and so far Nigeriens have been incredibly friendly and welcoming. I will also feel much happier when we receive our cell phones.
Also, to address those of you who assumed that I would come back super tan let me just say that 99% of the time I am avoiding the sun like the plague. It’s kind of hot. Also Nigerien women do not show their shoulders or knees and if we want to fully integrate and not attract too much attention we need to dress modestly. Which really sucks quite a bit because I love shorts. I really love shorts.
Food: As a Kacsandi I feel as though it is my duty to fully address the topic of food here in Niger. Lets see….the staple food here is millet which is actually a seed that people in the states put in their bird feed, but here it is pounded for hours and hours a day (by the women of course because they work their butts off) then they usually boil the pounded grain and eat it as a mush with sauce or they mix it with milk and sugar which is called doonu. This is something that they eat a lot and since it is liquidy and makes their bellies feel full a lot of people think that it’s all they need despite there is a very small amount of nutritional value. Rice is also eaten alllooooot here, sometimes with beans which I am a big fan of although it gets tiring after awhile. Wealthier families are the ones who will buy beef or goat meat sometimes chicken, and put vegetables in their sauces. I really don’t think people understand nutritional needs at all here, which is one of the main reasons 75% of the children here have the classic protruding bellies like you see on TV. My life is literally right out of National Geographic.
Today I took my first bush taxi ride. I don’t really feel like there’s a good way to explain it…you just have to experience it for yourself…but I’ll try. So a PCT (peace corps trainee) Alison and I stayed for 3 days with a girl named Sara and we got to see the life of a real live Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in a village in Dosso. This morning we stood in the back of an open back truck with about 20 people, luggage, and 3 goats with very pointy horns. This wasn’t that bad in itself it was the stopping and going and potholes that were a pain in the bootay. But we caught another taxi in a different village which was a van so that was better. However, if you’re in a bush taxi and you think there is no possible way they can fit another person into the cab, they will fit three more. It’s kind of amazing really. One row of this van that was supposed to fit 3 people MAX had 4 men and two children. Wild.
Hmm let’s see what else about my life is interesting…..Apparently there are hippos and elephants and giraffes in the region I am in. Some of the volunteers saw elephants but I wasn’t so lucky I will soon though! There’s a Parc National Du Niger that I’ll make it to eventually. Oh, and yesterday I carried a bucket of water on my head, which is harder than it looks!
Now that we are done with Demyst we go back to the training site and continue our language and other training then the next major thing we have will be our first language interview (essentially our midterm) and then we will spend 2 weeks in a different village with our language trainer for “language immersion” which I am not looking forward to, but I’m sure we’ll survive.
I wrote this post really quickly because I wanted to get it up so I’ll probably add on and edit it later so don’t judge ;) And I will try to post pictures soon but I’m leaving to go back to site now so I won’t be able to get online for maybe a week or two.
Thanks for all the wonderful facebook posts… those and letters and packages make me so happy I can’t even explain!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Yay Internet....kinda
Fo Fo Family, Friends, and random people reading this blog.
I am safe and sound in Peace Corps training in Niger, West Africa. Right now I am at Demyst which means I am staying in a current volunteer’s hut to see how they live and what life will be like for me once I am an official volunteer. I am using the internet at the hostel here in the Dosso capitol which will not happen again for awhile unless I get an opportunity when we take our tour of Niamey.
What can I say about Africa? Africa is incredible. It's incredibly different than anything I’ve ever seen, incredibly hot, incredibly eye opening, incredibly depressing, incredibly frustrating, incredibly humbling and makes me incredibly grateful for everything that I have. Africa is incredibly wild. I love it.
I miss all of my family and friends soooo much but we have been kept extremely busy so luckily I have been distracted from home sickness. We have language classes almost every day along with safety, health and cross cultural training. Two days a week our classes are at the Peace Corps training site and the rest of the week we take our classes in a small hut in the village where we are staying. I’m living in a village about a mile or so away from the training center so it’s a pretty nice walk…this morning I saw the most beautiful sunrise over the lake on my way to site.
I live in a hut within the compound of my host family but I get the round thatched roof hut all to myself I sleep outside on a foam mattress on top of a bed made of sticks and I have a mosquito net all around me (gotta watch out for that malaria).
I eat most meals with my host family on a mat outside everyday. So far I’ve had rice, rice and beans, rice and sauce, and today a very special treat, spaghetti! (With a weird sauce) It’s very sandy here so I think a little sand usually gets into the food, so that’s yummy.
My host family is pretty nice, they are a good family. There’s the older couple then they have like 5 kids two of which have children of their own. The first night with my host family I was given a Nigerien name Malika which means “Queen” in Zarma (Apparently it also means promiscuous, but we’ll forget that for now) So, I am now Malika Zalika.
The stars here are pretty amazing, last night I saw a shooting star that shot across the entire sky and it almost took my breath away! I really enjoy sleeping outside, it’s much cooler and pretty relaxing except for I wake up an average of 5-7 times a night because the roosters, goats and donkey that chill about 10 feet from where I sleep are always freaking out for no good reason and waking me up. Grr. I wonder what donkey tastes like. Coq au vin sounds pretty good right now too.
I’m learning Zarma which is really cool but it’s super intense and my teacher is mean so that spoils the fun, luckily though, I get a different teacher next week.
I probably won’t be speaking French all the time here, mainly Zarma in my village, but they do speak French in schools and hospitals (Or clinics, where I’ll probably be working) and I’ve had to talk to my Zarma teacher in French to explain things or ask questions. Since they only speak Zarma in a small part Niger I know for sure that I won’t be more than 1-6 hours or so from Niamey (which is the capitol) which is nice, because some volunteers who are learning Hausa will be placed in villages up to 14 hours away.
December 30th is when training is completed and we are sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers officially, then I will be placed in a village where I will begin work as a community health agent. I’m just trying to make it through training because I’m excited to begin work.
So I’ve only been here a short time and I have already been woken up in the middle of the night by a sandstorm, been relieved that today was only 95 degrees (a cooler day) learned how to pound millet, learned a fair amount of Zarma, mastered the art of mosquito net hanging, and eaten dinner on a mat outside with my family, out of the same bowl, with our hands. It’s so weird to me how my host family can live in huts, with no bathroom except for a hole (Which is what I also use) and have a cell phone. It’s the strangest mix of two worlds. Some other volunteer’s families have electricity and a television. They are super fancy though….most people aren’t fancy.
The plan right now is that we are going to get cell phones on Nov. 20 (maybe sooner? Fingers crossed) so I will be able to call home for a minute. Then, if anyone wants to call me they can either use a phone card or buy minutes on Skype, which I heard is the best way to do it. So if you get a call from a crazy number buy a phone card or minutes on skype and call me back!
I hope you are all happy and healthy and safe and strong! I love you all so much! Keep me and the work I will be doing in your prayers. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions, if I can I will definitely respond! Kala Hanfo! God Bless.
Love, Hallie (aka Malika Zalika)
I am safe and sound in Peace Corps training in Niger, West Africa. Right now I am at Demyst which means I am staying in a current volunteer’s hut to see how they live and what life will be like for me once I am an official volunteer. I am using the internet at the hostel here in the Dosso capitol which will not happen again for awhile unless I get an opportunity when we take our tour of Niamey.
What can I say about Africa? Africa is incredible. It's incredibly different than anything I’ve ever seen, incredibly hot, incredibly eye opening, incredibly depressing, incredibly frustrating, incredibly humbling and makes me incredibly grateful for everything that I have. Africa is incredibly wild. I love it.
I miss all of my family and friends soooo much but we have been kept extremely busy so luckily I have been distracted from home sickness. We have language classes almost every day along with safety, health and cross cultural training. Two days a week our classes are at the Peace Corps training site and the rest of the week we take our classes in a small hut in the village where we are staying. I’m living in a village about a mile or so away from the training center so it’s a pretty nice walk…this morning I saw the most beautiful sunrise over the lake on my way to site.
I live in a hut within the compound of my host family but I get the round thatched roof hut all to myself I sleep outside on a foam mattress on top of a bed made of sticks and I have a mosquito net all around me (gotta watch out for that malaria).
I eat most meals with my host family on a mat outside everyday. So far I’ve had rice, rice and beans, rice and sauce, and today a very special treat, spaghetti! (With a weird sauce) It’s very sandy here so I think a little sand usually gets into the food, so that’s yummy.
My host family is pretty nice, they are a good family. There’s the older couple then they have like 5 kids two of which have children of their own. The first night with my host family I was given a Nigerien name Malika which means “Queen” in Zarma (Apparently it also means promiscuous, but we’ll forget that for now) So, I am now Malika Zalika.
The stars here are pretty amazing, last night I saw a shooting star that shot across the entire sky and it almost took my breath away! I really enjoy sleeping outside, it’s much cooler and pretty relaxing except for I wake up an average of 5-7 times a night because the roosters, goats and donkey that chill about 10 feet from where I sleep are always freaking out for no good reason and waking me up. Grr. I wonder what donkey tastes like. Coq au vin sounds pretty good right now too.
I’m learning Zarma which is really cool but it’s super intense and my teacher is mean so that spoils the fun, luckily though, I get a different teacher next week.
I probably won’t be speaking French all the time here, mainly Zarma in my village, but they do speak French in schools and hospitals (Or clinics, where I’ll probably be working) and I’ve had to talk to my Zarma teacher in French to explain things or ask questions. Since they only speak Zarma in a small part Niger I know for sure that I won’t be more than 1-6 hours or so from Niamey (which is the capitol) which is nice, because some volunteers who are learning Hausa will be placed in villages up to 14 hours away.
December 30th is when training is completed and we are sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers officially, then I will be placed in a village where I will begin work as a community health agent. I’m just trying to make it through training because I’m excited to begin work.
So I’ve only been here a short time and I have already been woken up in the middle of the night by a sandstorm, been relieved that today was only 95 degrees (a cooler day) learned how to pound millet, learned a fair amount of Zarma, mastered the art of mosquito net hanging, and eaten dinner on a mat outside with my family, out of the same bowl, with our hands. It’s so weird to me how my host family can live in huts, with no bathroom except for a hole (Which is what I also use) and have a cell phone. It’s the strangest mix of two worlds. Some other volunteer’s families have electricity and a television. They are super fancy though….most people aren’t fancy.
The plan right now is that we are going to get cell phones on Nov. 20 (maybe sooner? Fingers crossed) so I will be able to call home for a minute. Then, if anyone wants to call me they can either use a phone card or buy minutes on Skype, which I heard is the best way to do it. So if you get a call from a crazy number buy a phone card or minutes on skype and call me back!
I hope you are all happy and healthy and safe and strong! I love you all so much! Keep me and the work I will be doing in your prayers. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions, if I can I will definitely respond! Kala Hanfo! God Bless.
Love, Hallie (aka Malika Zalika)
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