1st Week in Niger

So I have been in Niger for 5 days! Today I went for a short walk in my neighbourhood to take a few pictures:

This road is a more side road and yes that is garbage that you see, you kinda pick your way through the burn garbage and hope that you do not hit an area where the sand is really deep.

The first two nights, I slept decently well (except the second night I kept waking up with the ear plugs in my hand, as I was taking them out in my sleep! - I no longer sleep with the ear plugs). Though after the jetlag, my body reverted back to Calgary time. Tuesday night I laid in bed from 11 pm to 4 am - wide awake and hungry (it was suppertime in Calgary) and praying for sleep. I forced myself to get up at 8:30 anyways and managed to function the full day (without a nap!) on four hours of sleep. The next two nights I have managed to sleep on Niger time. So I hope that one night was enough to kick my body into this time zone! My memories of the last few days:

• shopping in the Yantala market - I bought two bolts of cloth and left them with a tailor to have some African tops made
• going to a French cultural centre and seeing the library and watching a children's movie in French (there was air conditioning)
• seeing my new house
• Chinese food (I ate nems, which are like small spring rolls, wrapped in lettuce and dipped in an amazing sauce!)

More on driving: Being driven through back streets - they do not play street hockey here, but street soccer!! The soccer posts were big rocks (you have to watch out for the soccer posts at night that you do not run over them - they are red too and so match the sand colour). Yet the soccer field stretched from half of a block to another half of a block - yes, through an intersection!! and one with a bit of a curve. As the children were playing soccer when we went by, we drove around the outside of the field, even though they all stopped playing to watch and wave.

While driving on the main roads, one must watch out for the bikes and donkey carts and motorbikes. On the back roads, one must watch out for deep sand, soccer posts, dogs, goats, donkeys, children, burning garbage and other people walking around (though they normally watch for the cars). Yet, because the roads are so bumpy and sandy, about the maxium you drive is 30 km/hr.

My teammates have been welcoming beyond expectation!! I have spent every day with another team member or family - spending the day with them to see how they do life; how to drive, how to buy groceries, how to barter, where to buy vegetables. It has been a wonderful week.