le 4 novembre

Today (mostly)

I have
- poss missed a meteor shower last night. saw i saw one, then realized it was a bat, but then was told by another volunteer there were some nice meteors in the early morning. I did see lots of starts, since the moon was absent for msot of the night (when full, it's mad bright) and there was less ambiant light from proximal houses (mine included) that have electricity
- learned how quickly things can turn south. finished my clean water in A.M. and did not drink enough during middle of day and felt pretty fatigued. tried to catch up after lunch, despite trying not to drink too fast, and after a sparkling juice, 1.5 liters of water, and 1 liter of Oral Rehydration Solution over a few hours, felt legit bloated. Staying on top of water situation def a key to success. I am told the high today was close to or higher than 120
- (over past two weeks) grown to hate shaving even more than I do at home. A mirror would make it easier (so I don't have to borrow a mirror, I haven't attempted to shave blind yet), but it's just a hassle.
- decided ( over past few days) to wear a tie for the U.S. ambassador coming to visit us tomorrow morning
- wanted some more personal space
-hit a major language barrier trying to explain to one of my host mom's about wanting to retrieve more water. The teenage girl was sent to fetch more water for me...despite the fact that our jug things are mad heavy. I guess fetching water is (another) thing men do not do here.
-reviewed the handout from a CHA (remember? Community Health Agent) session earlier in the week. Some new statistics....Nigerien health situation very poor.
- learned from another trainee that most of if not all of the slaves in Niger are in the north. It's possible, as an example of how this might happen he says, teenagers will leave home because there is no food, etc. and head north towards the uranium and gold mines. Someone buys them some meals, then somehow the kid is working for this person in the mines. If this scenario is true, it's something we will never really encounter since we're so far south.
- been excited numerous times about growing peanuts and making peanut butter at my site. Apparently, peanuts are a good "nitrogen fixer" which will also improve the "soil" (really sand) quality for other crops I attempt. I wish we got all the training the FARM people get about these things, but I try to pick their brains when I can. Growing stuff is important.
- used my running shorts as boxers since I had to wash my boxers and t shirts today
- been thankful for earplugs and wanting of Q tips
- feel I've been poss less dynamic during meals with host family
- been told I made quite an image leading a group of 20 kids or so to play soccer yesterday afternoon
- wished we had language today
- had a good convo with another trainee about our work here


I have not
- figured out why my laptop seems to be taking more power than it should, also worried again about the laptop in the heat of the booca
- figured out if my water filter is working properly or chlorinated or tried the filtered water
- tken my evening shower. Totally wussed out due to number of cockroaches in and around shower area. Usually they are not really in the shower area (which is connected to the latrine and separated by a five foot wall) or there is only one or two. I had been getting used to their presence, but last night, one came way close to me while scurrying to it's hole. They are mad fast and not entirely predictible and I thought they remained frozen in the light of the flashlight, but apparently this is not always true. Really, they're the only hassle. I did pour some water on my head and upper body, buy my feet did not get their usual thorough cleaning.
- run. Although I was super amped to walk the 2k or so to the outlying village where we had a session today and aghast when a few of our party got a rid for part of it. With all our classses and such, we're pretty bloody sedentary. Was toying with a run tomorrow, but will pass to shower and shave for ambassador and not put myself in hydration debt from the early A.M.