Blogs from Niamey, Niger, Africa - page 2

not really. . . i had all these grand plans for writing a whole bunch, updating all the missing adventures, but here i've been back for a while now and just now getting onto this journal. there's just so much too do! visit with yussef's family, remodel his room, get ready for the rainy season, buy presents. i will also blame a large part of my lazyness on the heat, it's soooo hot(whiny voice) it rained teasingly little yesterday evening, just ten minutes, but enough time for the kids to run around naked and "wash" giggling. so i'm living at yussef's house, we sleep outside and wake up very early every day whether we want to or not cause the whole household comes to sit right on the other side of our outside grass wall to ... read more

I love being in motion in Africa. Walking in the markets, zipping in taxis, bumping through the brush. I don’t know if it’s ‘cause I feel like I’m in a movie or I feel like, oddly, I can see everything more. Or see more things in a shorter period of time, even if it’s only a flash. We drove for about thirty minutes, dodging sheep and donkeys and potholes. And then walked 15 minutes to the village. It’s the beginning of the dry season so there aren’t a lot of plants or people. There are the usual spiney plants and a beautiful three tree mango grove and the towering goa trees. The village has maybe 200-300 people, a little school, two wells, no electricity, but oddly solar power to pump one of the wells. Random Niger ... read more

3-1-06 Love Don’t Cost a Thing-an American movie with Steve Harvey and the kid from All That about being yourself and falling in love of course. One of the new Star Wars-but only the second half because the first cd didn’t work. Romeo and Juliet-the Shakespearean language doesn’t quite come through. You Got Served-American Slang does not translate either and I didn’t see the end because the second cd didn’t work. Seasons one and two of family guy-not only do the regular jokes not work but so much of that show is pop culture references that the translation just chooses not to translate. When Stewie yells something about throwing feces it gets translated to throwing fish, does not do justice to the ridiculous humor. March of the Penguins-but only with subtitles which were well done. Toy ... read more

2-21-06 the problem with big adventures is that I’m so tired after them I don’t get around to writing about them for awhile, after I’ve recuperated a little and forgotten some more. We went to Yussef’s mom’s village, Konni Kayne, it should take ‘bout 15 minutes outside of Niamey. If all goes well that is. We left here surprisingly early considering how long it takes me to get up and out. We took a van to kwarra tegi and walked to "presque" the end of the city where the bush taxis take people out and beyond. We bought provisions and goodies for the day; tonko(peppers) albasan(onions) savon(soap), omo(another kind of soap), alumettes(matches), spiga(spaghetti) two galette sandwiches, bean curd deep fried in oil in a bed of bread with hot sauce. We saved two seats in a ... read more

i bought a new bed 30 centimeters of pure latex for 40,000 cfa which at first sounded like a great deal to me, but then reflecting back in dollars, that's 80 bucks, and there ain't no pillow top on this thing. . . but oddly enough it is riddled with sailing images, a couple of tall ships some compass roses and a married couple floating indescribably amongst it all, and all in hunter orange and aqua marine wow it came from katako market on the head of a guy who walked it too my place. i don't know how to describe how far away it is, over the bridge, past the stadium taking a left at round point ENA and down the street to my place, it's not incredibly long but it's a ways his final ... read more