Sai anjima Niger!

So much has happened since last I wrote in Konni. Let me first give a picture of daily life for the first month of training here in Niger.5 am- Call to prayer and loud animals wake me from sleep. I sleep outside under a mosquito net and a bat infested Neem tree. 6:30 ish- Go for a run with some of my fellow trainees.7:30 ish- bucket bath in my outdoor latrine
8:00- head to the main street for some breakfast. Usually either fried dough covered in sugar, fried millet covered in spices or delicious Solani- yogurt in a bag.
8:30- language classes begin. I have class with two of my fellow stage members in my host family’s concession. We are constantly and hilariously distracted by either the braying donkey or crying goats, and it took a while for the mean guard turkey to leave us alone. Classes go until 4:15 everyday and we have an hour break for lunch in the middle.
For the rest of the evening I either chill by the seasonal lake of Hamdallaye with some of my friends or I chill with my family and play with Aicha, the 6 year old daughter.
7 pm- Dinner! Lunch and dinner are usually either rice and beans or rice and ‘sauce’ or the occasional pasta and oil. My roommate and I actually eat pretty well (and always with our hands) compared to our fellow trainees that often times have Tuwo for dinner- a pounded millet dish that doesn’t compare to anything American. They tell us we will grow to love it- but for right now it’s not my favorite Nigerien dish.9pm usually finds me in bed already, reading, studying, or writing in my journal.
That was my routine until November 15. We were put under consolidation and have been confined to the training site just north of Hamdallaye. There was a security issue involving Americans in a region a few hundred kilometers away from the training site, but it was serious enough for them to put a lock down on all the volunteers in country. So we have not been living with our families or able to go into town (aside from going to the market). We had a trip to the capital of Niamey scheduled that was cancelled as well. For the past two weeks the administrative forces of Peace Corps Niger have been working hard to asses our safety and our status. They came to the conclusion on November 25 that as trainees with limited language and limited knowledge of what is normal and safe and what is out of the ordinary that it would be in our best interest and for our best security to evacuate us from Niger and send us to a different country.
So we are going to Madagascar. From desert to rainforest. From land locked, to island. From millet tuwo and onions to abundant fresh fruit and vegetables. From ‘hard core’ to ‘beach corps.’ Despite how hard it may seem to live in Niger and how intimidated we all were 6 weeks ago when we landed- Niger and it’s people have this amazing charm and we are all terribly sad to be leaving such a wonderful country. If given the option to choose between staying and going to Madagascar it would not be an easy decision. Our supporting staff was beyond amazing, our host families so hospitable and the volunteers in country that we are leaving behind (the volunteers in country get to stay if they want- just us trainees are being forced to leave) will be so sorely missed. I hope to be able to keep in touch with a few- especially one guy that was an evac from Guinea that went through training with us but has already been sworn in and is therefore staying. We will be leaving Niger Sunday night at midnight, arriving in Paris Monday morning, flying out of Paris Tuesday and landing in Antanarivo Tuesday night. A lot of travel but I’m just excited to get the opportunity to be reassigned so quickly and with my ‘new family’ of fellow trainees. We also get to spend a full day in Paris as a layover. Party time? Excellent! As a farewell to Niger, here are some highlights of the country and the people. The country looks a lot like Arizona, red sand, some small brush and a few trees (depending on region) It’s gorgeous at sunrise and sunset and the nights are lit by a thousand beautiful stars that we sleep under. The people are so welcoming and always laughing. The women here do this throat click or swift inhale when they agree with you which took a while to figure out, but it’s something I love. Market days (Tuesday for Hamdallaye) are the most amazing days when the town transforms into this bustling hullabaloo full of beautiful fabrics, cheap flip flops, live animals and interesting foods. There’s also a ridiculous amount of Obama paraphernalia here; Obama wallets, Obama shirts with a clock in the background (Obama time!), and more. Half of conversations are taken up by greetings, Ina kwana, ina gajiya, ina gida, ina aiki. How’s you sleep, your tiredness, your home, your work. We just celebrated the holiday of Tabaski (Salla laya) where families slaughter a ram and cook it all up and share with their neighbors and the needy. It’s a lot like Thanksgiving, lots of food and family time. We also had a Nigerien Olympics where the Americans had to run an obstacle course with buckets of water on our heads and 'babies' strapped to our backs, we had to pound peanuts to peanut butter and make the best cup of Nigerien tea with authentic technique. Then we made our teachers and staff go through an American Olympics with pin the tail on the donkey, tug-of-war and the most awesome game of musical chair. The Nigeriens really loved musical chairs. It was fantastic fun. I love this country and am sad to leave but look forward to working an environmental job in Madagascar. Send me mail there! Danny and Jillian I've loved getting your letters they brighten my day. I know others have sent me mail and I anxiously await the arrival of mail each week. Thank you all for your love and support so far, I'll be chatting soon!
New address:
Ms Sara Tolliver, PCT
Bureau de Corps de la Paix
B.P. 12091
Poste Zoom Ankorondrano
Antananarivo 101Madagascar