10 ways to know it is hotter in Niger than in Canada:

10. You spill water on your top while drinking and it is dry in minutes or seconds.

9. A Nigerien walks by carrying a square cloth over his head and remarks ‘Oh it is hot today isn’t it?’

8. You lay your head down on a pillow at night that feels fresh out of the dryer.

7. You walk through the marketplace and standing in front of a fan in a stall is like standing in front of a big hair dryer.

6. Your first instinct is to walk in a room with no lights on – turning them on will generate some heat.

5. Your host family’s valuable advice is to walk in a room at night and turn on the lights and then the fan – the two actions always go together.

4. The local greeting goes: Are you well? And your family? And your work? And the heat?

3. When you look forward to 8 o’clock at night – because it goes down to +34 degrees.

2. When the locals (other ex-pats and Nigeriens) equate and remember your arrival with the arrival of the hot season.

1. When you put clothes on in the morning and think ‘Oh, these must have been sitting on the heat register’. And then you realize there is no heat register!!