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Gaisuwa! (Greetings in Hausa) David aka Kader (my Nigerien name) here. Niger is absolutely amazing. First and foremost, it is HOT, but love the heat here. Nigeriens are the most social, extroverted people I have ever come across. EVERYONE greets everyone here, especially the anasaras (foreigners as they call us), but it doesn’t have the same negative connotation as it does in the States. Strangely enough, Nasara (minus the A) means white person. I am currently learning the Hausa language, and the Hausa ethnic group make up about 55% of the population and mostly reside in South-Central and South-Eastern Niger. The Songhai/Zarma speak the Zarma language, make up 22% of the population and live in South-Western Niger. I will not know where I am posted for another week and unfortunately, I am not allowed to post the name of my 2-year village on my blog because of security reasons. But I will let you all know via word of mouth and/or email. I’m not exactly sure where to start! There is red sand everywhere, of course. We have a lot of animals around here: GOATS, sheep, cows, bulls, chickens, roosters, cats, dogs, snakes, scorpions, spiders (including chariot spiders that are the size of basketballs), camels, horses, donkeys, flies, mosquitoes, beetles, dung beetles, cockroaches, mice, bats, TONS of frogs at night, and lizards (and a few monkeys, which I have yet to see). My language training has been going very well, and I can actually carry on legitimate conversations with my host family. I know present tense, past, future, imperative, commands, possessions, etc…French is the official language and a lot of people speak it, but it’s mostly men and older women. The girls marry at very young ages: 15 is the average age, but it’s about 13 in rural areas. The boys/men usually marry between 18-25. 5 times a day, I hear the call to prayer. Actually, I enjoy hearing the call to prayer/salla, with the exception of the call at 5am. Here, they are usually around 5am, 2pm, 4pm 7pm and 8-9pm. Once a week, we have a market day, where merchants from all over the area come to sell their items. It’s a crazy, fun experience. People are expected to bargain, and as my language gets better, the bargaining gets easier. So far, I haven’t gotten sick AT ALL. The bugs haven’t bothered me. The heat hasn’t bothered me. I live in a hut with a thatch roof, and most of the time, I sleep outside, that is, when it doesn’t rain. My new favorite activity is taking bucket baths at night. My least favorite activity, which gets a little easier everyday, is using a squat latrine. I enjoy the food very much here. The Peace Corps pays my family to feed and cook for me during training, so usually we’ll eat rice, beans, onions, and sauce made with tomatoes and pepper. Only once have a eaten millet, the staple food of Niger. The average Nigerien eats millet most of the time, because rice is even too expensive for them to buy. The Peace Corps Training Site sells Coca-Cola, which is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, Sprite and Orange Fanta. I never used to be a Coke fan, but it tastes AMAZING! Everyone here knows Barack Obama, and I mean everyone! Even the poorest villagers living in the bush know about Obama. I have yet to hear McCain’s name mentioned once, and Bush has only been mentioned by my language trainers/teachers, who asked us what we thought of Bush and Obama. In Niamey, the capital of Niger, a lot of people know a lot about the political situation in America, via radio. Family status is very confusing here, especially because cousins are called brothers and sisters, and uncles and aunts can be called mother and father as well. My host father is Yakuba (52 years old), who I have yet to meet, and he works in Zinder (very very far east) for a cell phone company. My mother is Fatima (25 years old, I think), and she sells Fari Masa (Nigerien doughnuts) in the market. They have 4 host children, Aisha (13 years old), who takes care of everyone all the time, and cooks all the time, Yasmina (5), Bashir (10), and Mama Sani (7 years old), who currently has malaria, but it slowly getting better. My mailing address is:

David Bell
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 10537
Niamey, Niger, West Africa
Air Mail

And I suggest buying an international phone card if you want to call me. You dial:

011-227-96-97-25-74

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s it for now. Take care, and I’ll try to keep in touch as best as I can!