Rebecca's Desert Dwelling: A Day of My Life in Niger

I suppose so far this isn't a typical day in my life in Niger, but it's likely to become a typical day in Niger. This morning I accompanied Chantelle to the market, where I learned where she buys flour and sugar and her vegetables--learned who to talk to, who sells what, etc, etc. As well as found my way around--left in the middle of the market, I'm not sure I would have been able to find the exit!

From the market, Chantelle and I continued on to pay a house call to her friend, Miriamma. She is a Tuareg woman who is my age, who speaks good French. Chantelle visits her each week to practice her Tamasheq and I hope to tag along and work on my French. Today, I had them teach me some greetings in Tamasheq as well. Now I need to practice! Miriamma made us Arabic tea, which I love! It was something we drank when I lived in Cote d'Ivoire. I even have my own tea set in Canada and would make it with fellow MK friends. She also boiled some green beans for us and we discovered that they don't eat the outside. They just peel it open and eat out the seeds. Of course we thought this was funny and told them that in Canada, we eat the whole bean. They laughed at us.

two adorable little girls at Miriamma's place

A chameleon ambled by as we sat and chatted outside under a thatched roof

Chantelle then showed me one of the grocery stores--the kind with cement walls and fixed prices, rather than the market. We picked up her kids from school. One woman that we met at Bennett's school offered to set me up with her brother. Chantelle declined for me--I didn't object!

blowing bubbles with Bennett

After lunch at Paul and Chantelle's, they hosted a meeting for the children that they would be helping to put through school. A tailor was there to measure the children for their uniforms and Paul explained their expectations of the children and answered any questions they may have had. The children were awfully cute! I couldn't resist snapping a few photos!

the whole group of children (okay, and some men)

two cute little boys listening to Paul

Don't forget to love the skin your in!

From there, I walked over to the field directors house, where I went through some orientation, played with his two girls and ate dinner with their family. The youngest daughter had made me an origami butterfly. I am acquiring quite a large collection of children's art from my teammates kids. Now all I need is some sticky tack so I can put them up on display!

I've now returned home to our small zoo. My puppy doesn't seem quite so terrified anymore--in fact, she growled at some strangers--too bad those small strangers were Bennett and Arielle! The little kitten still needs to be fed milk through a syringe--I am now covered in condensed milk!