le 5 decembre

Today

I have...
- slept terribly again last night (no more tea for me)
- got my comupter back charged
- gotten nausious (sp) again. Poss from peanut butter sauce last night combined with peanut butter on masa today. The thought of peanut butter makes me nausaus worse. I love(d) peanut butter, so if somehow nausea (ah, that's how you spell it) and peanut butter have been coupled through classical conditioning from last time I was nauseas (sp), I will be mad upset...and avoid peanut butter for some time.
- washed some clothes, this time, the first time without an audience. Lost patience and did not rinse the clothes 2-3 times (only once), so I will def have some dried soapy clothes. I should mention, if I haven't already, that the dudes that do our laundry at site get our (really dirty clothes) sparkling clean (as clean as the best washers and dryers) by hand washing and press them using a "cold iron" (iron that you put coals in or something) on par with the best drycleaning/ ironing
- visited a Fulani village about 5k away from our town
- taken a cow cart (a cart, pulled by two cows, driven my a maybe 10 year old, carrying five annassaras and two teachers). Apparently, our teacher, who is from Niamey, had never been on a cow cart before. Sometimes it seems like "city" folk are quite removed from rural life, which is interesting to contemplate when we consider how far removed WE are from our lives back in the states.
- learned Fulani's like blue (see below)
- written a letter to Bella's class. I'm very excited about it! Maybe it will arrive before New Years...

I have not...
- figured out why my computer can only hold a charge for a week of blog writing on the lowest power draining setting (ideas?)
- worn my blue pants (no one told me!)
- felt any more at ease with being sick of any kind, even a little like today. The amount I accomplish in a normal day vs. a sick day are lightyears apart...

I would have...(if not under the weather some)
- written/ attempted to write a song in Zarma (for a contest I feel pressure to win)
- walked some of the 10k ish we traveled to the Fulani village...instead of sitting passively in the cow cart
- studied more Zarma

About the Fulani (maybe sp?) village:
It was the first true stereotypic "visiting an African village" experience. Apparently, the town had never hosted an annassara. One of our teachers spoke to them in Zarma/ Fulani. We walked around, took some pictures (which we told they enjoyed), got to poke our head into some houses. I felt the village was a bit on display, for the important white people, and this made me feel some uncomfortable. Would we let a stranger into our home to take pictures, etc? We tried to think of an equivilant situation in the states, but came up mostly empty. Anther trainee offered perahps a very cosomopolition, flamboyant queer couple rolling into a gas station in the boonies of West Virginia or the deep south (no offense). Would elicit gawking for sure, but probs not kids running away.

The Fulani culture has great appeal to me. Their "village" speads out over a few kilometeres from the "main" part of town that has a few huts. People live in movable homes, made of mats and thatch maybe, in the fields that they move to accomodate the farming. They also move to follow their animals. Some elements of nomadicisms still exists, which is comforting to see. For example, our teacher said someone will feed them and their animals in exchange for the Fulani's resting on their land. Then the manure from the cows acts as fertilizer. But, when we pulled into the village, the first kid I saw wore a shirt that said "Eastern Ice Hockey" and another kid sported a torn "Arsenal" tank top. These hand me downs really strike me. It's possible one or two sites will be Fulani villages. When I was feeling well, in the village, I hoped I would get one of these placements. They would no doubt be pretty rural, not very large (population wise). I would have to, of course, learn (yet another) new language, but feeling my best, I am ready for this. Trying to nap and refrain from throwing up a few hours later, I lacked the confidence I could attack another week of intense studying. I try to act on the stronger, better moments. Site announcement will be in about two weeks I think. Big moment.

One memorable scene from today: early on when we starting walking around, someone took out their camera, and the kids sorta gathered together for a picture, about 15 feet from the photographer. We took some pics. I tried to join them in the picture, and the kids scrambled away. We had seen this some on demyst, too, but this was extra enthusiastic running away from the white person. They were calmed and we took some pics. I realized the better picture was of the SPACE between the two groups that was so hard to bridge. I tried to take a pic showing our group on one side, the buffer zone in between, and the children from the village on the other side. I finally bridged this gap with some success by attempting to mimic their mini stilts by just stepping on some sticks and pretending to fall down. They laughed. It's good to know farce transcends language.