Site Live in

Well, i just came back from a week long stint at my new home, and i must say not only is it in a good location, but in Nigerien standards pretty luxurious too. Though i don't have running water or electricity, all is well, no worries. The women in my village love having a new girl around to hang out with, and the men are cool with me because i'm white, and therefore transcend gender boundaries. I cooked my breakfast and lunch meals on my own, and ate with the villagers/teachers for dinner. Dinner is usually pounded grains (i.e. millet, sorghum, corn) and sauce that although tasty, has the consisitency of snot. I have aso started to compile a new top 10 list...How you can tell you are becoming nigerien...but that's for a later blog. Any questions just drop a line, i'll have internet access more frequently now.

Top Ten List

I've compiled a list (I did this a couple of weeks ago), their will be more lists in the future, including how you can tell if you're a Nigerien, but for right now it's...
Top 10 Reason Why Peace Corps Niger is Hardcore (the training/stage phase)

10)Club X ( I call it Club +the name of the town we're training in, but i can't post that info). This "club" includes everything from the random guy playing his music until 3 in the morning, to movie watching in people's concessions (yards), with a random guy holding an antenae above his head. But it's okay becaus Nigeriens don't seeem to sleep ever. And with a prayer call at 5 a.m. they don't need an alarm clock either

9)General living conditions-No electricity, plumbing, latrines, mud hut living, making food over a rock fire, and sleeping on a bed of sticks an a piece of foam. Ingenuity falls into this category too...fixing water filters, making dustpans out of pop bottles...and the generak re-use of everything

8)Climate-hot/wet season, windstorms, wild dogs, chickens running around, donkeys and goats talking all night long.

7) Marriage proposals-need i say more

6)Children-half of the country is under the age of 15 and they're pretty rambunctious where i live-a nice way to put it

5) Dirt, sand, rocks, bones in food-you learn to chew softly

4)Dress Code-Knees are completely off limits

3)Hygiene-and the general degredation of mine

2)5 a.m. wake up call to prayer

1)The people-Nigerien have to live in harsh and somewhat depressing conditions, but they do it, and they do it with a sense of humor.

Done with Pre-Service Training

Been in Philly for the last couple of days going through the paces of pre-service training. Tommorow we leave for Niger!!!