Quick recap of right now. Sitting in Niamey, waiting for the results of my urine test to see what meds I need. Actually bothered to have to come to Niamey, have two exciting days at our training site today and tomorow (not to mention important day tomorrow) and I was actually most bothered to be missing the peanuts that are put out for snack literally minutes after I left and also the good lunch up at site and also the bread, butter, peanut buter, and jelly they put out for snack in the afternoon. I get so excited for food here.
So Tabaski Day 2 (which was yesterday).
I slept in until 0730, which I think I mentioned in yesterday's post. I went for my little run. One of my kayne's wanted to run with me, and I figured he would burn out pretty quick and turn around, so I said sure. He hung for a bit, then finally stopped, so I told him to just wait until I came back around, but as I reached my turnaround points, he was running after me again. The ground is sand, some hard, and there are lots of rocks. He was running barefoot. I wore my heavily padded Saucony's. I was torn because running and journaling are the two things that I have to myself, and I didn't want to make a habit of kids following me to run, like to they when I try to do pullups on the tree. On the other hand, this kid has taken to me, and likes to go places and do things with me, and I think being a role model for the kid would be great. On the other other hand, I abandoned three little sisters at home; I didn't need to come to Africa to be a role model for younger siblings. On the other foot, I felt pretty pathedic that it felt like I really didn't need to slow that much to keep this 10 year old running barefoot with me. My runs are realling dragging. (Also, by run, I mean 15-20 min, right now, basically enough time to spit and snot rocket enough to clear my sinuses for the day.)
Came back to have some meat fresh off the sheep carcasses which they were cutting up. They gave me some nice little pieces, and though the meat was obviously not still hot, it was pretty good. We dipped it in this super hot powder that I had to be careful about how much I added cause I can't handle the spicy foods too well. I think I knocked off the cals and treated myself to a morning (bucket) shower, in case we were expected to look nice and be busy for the rest of the day like we would a holiday in the states.
Just sat around for a bit while the meat was cut up. Kids were sent carrying plates of food to neighbors and friends. I went with two kids to drop off some meat waaay on the edge of town. Wakling back they let me, or maybe asked me so as to ease the burden on them, to carry the tray that still had a piece of meat on it, and since I can't balance it on my head (yet) I held it on my head. I think people got a kick out of an anassara (on black person, have I dropped that vocab word yet?) carrying a plate. Other kids came to our house to give us some meat too. I wanted to bring my candy to give to the families with the meat, but didn't get a chance to.
So the candy. Poss there is one day when it's more the tradiiton, but basically kids "trick or treat" to anyone, they greet you saying something that is like happy tabaski or congrats on the holiday, but for kids, practically means "trick or treat". From the candy I bought in the market on Tues and with some of the candy I brought from home, I split it into two bags, one to be dolled out on Wed and one to be dolled out on Thurs.
After the kids were done carrying meat around, I snagged the time to do a little easter egg (i.e. candy) hunt. All the kids waited outside the concession while I a bunch of the little lollipops mom had given me (thanks mom!) and other candy I had bought. The kids got a real kick out of it, and so did the parents. I gave each of the parents (three remember) a lollipop, but poss missed a kid who was visiting the newborn inside and poss this kid was upset about lack or candy or something? Not sure who it was either. Could not get the whole story straight in FR or Zarma.
The kids were going to visit their uncle (who may just be family friends, not related baba had said?), so I took some candy to give to the family. With two of the kids, my running buddy and my petit professeur, we just walked around and the kids gave out my candy. We were sure to hit the cousins/ friends house and another house where I knew some of our friends lived. It's fun to give out candy and make people happy. And after a few minutes, the kids got the idea that this candy was not for them for to give away, which I was proud of. I tried to tell them that it's important to share (in FR not Zarma).
After lunch, I tried to get baba to show me how to make Nigerien tea and make some tea, but he didn't take the bait. The tea is real good, and I really want to learn how to do it. We were just sitting around, and I got antsy so I decided to head to the garden to pull weeds around my peanut plants (oh, my little peanut plants sprouted and another of the vegetables I planted, too! Super pumped about the peanuts (demsi)). Some kids wanted to come, and I reluctantly agreed, wanting to just do some garden work solo. It was a bad idea because they were touching other people's plants and the tools and stuff, and they wouldn't go home and let me work along, so we just left. I used visiting a sick friend in the infirmary as an excuse to separate from the fam, and after wandering some visted the couple in the small village outside of our town. Again, got super pumped while brainstorming ideas and recounting some stories from the holiday and demyst. They often remind me how, part of the reason, although not all of it, is to DO something to help improve the lives of the people with whom we will live and to make myself a better person for my endeavers after PC.
Came home and played soccer, which was the last thing I had on my "list" of stuff to do for the day. Playing goalie for our team which seemed overmatched, I got real into it, and only allowed one goal. The kids ball handling skills are way way beyond mine, but I can block some shots, especailly on a small goal (by goal, I mean we put two rocks in the middle of the dirt road).
I was pretty tired and content to close the book on the day with a big dinner. I had been careful not to eat until full all day since yesterday with the snacks and tea in the afternoon, I was not too hungry for dinner. Neither was baba, so I guess that's how the holiday goes. I was expecting a huge Thanksgiving style dinner with lots of the meat that had been cooked.
Before dinner I was about to shower when my teacher visited and then two friends came over ready to throw a mini dance party for the kids. So I took out the radio, the kids scrounged around for some casettes, and as time went on, more and more kids came into the concession. Some actually danced and were into it, some just watched. It was super fun though. I like asking them how Americans dance vs. how Nigeriens dance. The Nigeriens don't move their feet as dramatically it seems. Lots of movement in the knees. I don't know anything about "American" dancing so I just do something redic. I did hit perhaps the best handstand of my life, which always makes me feel cool.
I wrapped up the dance party for dinner and was totally suprised that 1) we were not going to wait for baba to come home 2) it was the same meal we have every night (cornmeal, with sauce, with little pieces of meat). Like with the baby naming ceremony, I felt I had waited and waited and then missed the big event. Where did all the meat go? Apparently, it is picked on over the course of the two days, and then things kinda go back to normal for the dinner on the second day because people are sick of meat (well, asterisk here, I should mention again my fam is real wealthy and some other families couldn't afford to sacrifice the sheep). Heck, had I known I would have eaten more over the course of the day.
So an anticlimatic end to the holiday again highlights some of the hilarious confusion that can happen. What a fun holiday. On Wed afternoon, when I wanted to end visits with friends to return home, was the time I felt kinda settled in my temporary home with host family and I was very thankful for them. They are real nice, and although all the kids can be overwhelming they are huge assets for helping me through the cultural confusion and they feed me well and don't place any real demands on me and answer all my questions and joke with me when I can manage the language skills. Before coming, I heard Nigeriens are really nice and like to joke and I will never make generalizations, but for my fam this pretty true. I sometimes think it would be funny to bring my host family to meet my American family.
Non-holiday note: last night during dinner, there was the older mother's brother, his girlfriend, another friend, and some guests popped in and out quickly and...I was totally lost in the convo. One note is that I think it can be harder in the dark, especially since sometimes it's really frustrating to not even know many times who is talking to who. Many times a mom will be talking to kids off to the side and it will just seem she is talking to herself. But, I also think a lot of understanding relates to how dialed in I am. I was tired, some confused, and so wasn't 100% "on" for the convo. Understanding, I think, has a lot to do with my focus, regardless of the external environment.
Again, I will say, what a super fun two days. I'm a big fan of this holiday.
will hopefully get to return to training site after my test results and the meds. The only thing realy bothering me is that I'm missing snack and lunch and I'm hungry.
Lastly, I want to sneak in another disclaimer. I worry that my quick snippets give a skewed view of life here. Maybe sometimes I am too quick to record the frustrations, othetimes I may be too quick the high points, or othertimes I may miss recording the important conversations or events or even the big picture stuff. Perhaps, one can take these blog notes as pictures in that they can give you a glimpse of the moment, but they can lie, and together, they may not tell the true story or any narrative at all.
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