ticketed

Sunday evening as I exited the round point, a Nigerien police officer flagged me down (ie pulled me over.)

He walks up to me with this distraught look and asks (in French) “What did you do?”

I just look at him.

He goes on and on in French apparently explaining how I screwed up exiting the round point.

I smile & ask “Do you speak English?”

He walks away. Another policeman comes who speaks “small, small” English. He further explains to me that I failed to stop, thus not allowing oncoming traffic to enter the round point.

Whatever, I so stopped!
















I hand over all the paperwork on the truck and my driver’s license. After awhile he tickets me and keeps my license.

Today I went down to the police station to pay the fine and retrieve my license.
So what was the fine? A whopping $8 US Dollars!

I have been informed that I will likely make several more visits to the police station to pay fines, … because they will continue to find a way to ticket me. What a joy! At least the tickets are rather cheap.

giraffes

Today we were tourists and drove about 70 kilometers outside of Niamey to see some giraffes.
















We hired a guide to ride around with us, to help us locate the different giraffe families. There is no park, fence, or barrier keeping the giraffes in one area. They simply roam around as they wish.















We ended up seeing 20 or so giraffes and had a grand time.















Of course driving is always fun to me, so I greatly enjoyed driving through the bush to find the giraffes.














Sorry you Discovery Channel fans, no lions, tigers, elephants, or zebras.

views from the road

the perfect language student

Week #1 of French conversation has successfully been completed…so what does a good language student do with her free time???

















Study her notes! Yes, only with a Coca-Cola and homemade mango slushie!!! Mmm!

Yes, I realize I look quite rough in this photo…sweating like crazy. There is no escape from the heat. C’est la vie! It is 108 degrees here today! and its still March. oh boy!

another flat

Friday we ventured to the edge of town to meet some Fulani. Though they are considered “city” Fulani, they still live in huts with no running water or electricity and have a small herd of sheep, goats, or cattle. While there we were able to observe more about Fulani culture and to hear some Fulfulde. As we started to leave in the truck, we realized that we had yet another flat tire. What? In the States, I have only experienced one flat tire and that was before I was old enough to drive. Never again. Yet here I have already dealt with 2 flats! Today the truck we were driving did not have all the necessary equipment so another lady and I walked to a garage/mechanic. After a short while, we got the tire changed and moved on. Flats have previously been rare, now they are the norm. Perhaps I will keep a running count of flats!

in comparison

I have only been to one other African country other than Niger. As most of you know, I absolutely loved Senegal. Preparing to come to Niger, I told myself not to expect it to be the same as Senegal, though I knew there would be some similarities. Even in the first several days of being in Niamey, I have already found that Niger is quite different from Senegal. In what ways (for those of you who know of Senegal)?

There is pretty much a set rate for each taxi ride that is taken; therefore, very little need for bargaining to get a taxi.

French is totally accepted and used by nearly everyone in Niamey. Why? There are at least 4 other ethnic groups with their own language who live here. Unfortunately the Sokoto dialect of Fulfulde is not found here.

The food is no where near as spicy as Senegalese food.

It’s not humid!

Driving is so much calmer! 10 times calmer! Seriously.

There are very few places that would come close to being a “boutique” which were so very plentiful in Senegal.

Women don’t slurp when they drink tea! That’s going to take some time.

Camels rather than horses.

Many less mosquitoes. And like 400 times less flies. No joke. Here you would agree with me that there are “no” flies!

That’s all I can recall at the moment. I promise, more pictures to come!

the first days

I’ve been in Niamey (knee-a-may) for several days now and already it feels like much longer than that. We’ve been covering a lot of “business” and getting acquainted with the city. We have been all over the place locating medical clinics, pharmacies, stores, markets, restaurants and such. I visited the doctor to have him verify that I am healthy – for paperwork to stay in Niger longer than my 3 month tourist visa. I have driven already! In less than a week I have helped change a flat tire and get us out of sand. Note: I was not the driver during either of those incidents!




















doing a bit of laundry

Pause: I just slaughtered a rather large spider scurrying across my room.















spin cycle

I attended a small Fulani worship service on Sunday morning, where the pastor spoke French which was translated into one dialect of Fulfulde. I was surprised by what French I understood; of course I understood no Fulfulde. And I was entertained by the baby chickens and hen walking about the “church.” Just today we did some “taxi”ing and bought some cloth for future clothing. I was able to learn how the taxi business works with one of my French tutors – who I will begin meeting with next week. Again, I am so thankful that I was actually able to converse with her in French.















So if I begin showing you pictures of my housing in Niamey you will say that I am not in a desert-like environment…but I assure you that I am. First, I suggest you check out the temperature here online! Second, I remind you that I am living in the IMB guest housing/office compound. It’s rather nice and very green! So don’t be fooled. No, the capital city is not a desert, but very desert-like. Very little greenery, sand and dust everywhere. Everywhere! Huge lizards everywhere. Everywhere! And I’ve heard there are spitting cobras. Thankfully, I have yet to see a snake, much less a spitting cobra. I pray that I don’t find that they are everywhere as well. The Nigeriens agree with my mother and I that “no snake is a good snake.”















one of my "friends"

departure

finally, i have finished packing. this past week i have spent ample time with family & friends. tons of wal-mart runs. lots of packing, weighing, unpacking, and repacking. i'm serious. monday i had all of my bags right at the weight limit. thought i was finished. but no! tuesday morning i received a phone call letting me know that it is likely the airline will not accept one of my excess pieces of baggage. so what did i do? repacked completely. reorganized so that one bag would be the "if i can go, i will; if not, of well." now hopefully i am all done with packing. if not, i am afraid my mother will shoot me!

i've probably gained 20 pounds over the last week. i just had to get in all the good food that i could. it has been well worth it!

so the flight schedule:
louisville-atlanta-paris-niamey
longest layover: 4 hours, 20 minutes. not bad!

as of noon tomorrow, i'm off...

next time you hear from me i'll be in niger!