Daily Life Now

Now that I’ve been in my town for almost two months, I’ve been able to settle in more and establish my own routines. I go to my inspection every morning, usually from 8-12:30. Everyone gives me a hard time because I walk there even though it’s on the other side of town, maybe a 20 minute walk. People offer me rides daily but not only is it prohibited to ride the motos (motorbikes) but the walk is really nice and I enjoy seeing everyone and greeting them on the way. Even though I now have a desk, I still don’t have a lot to do at work so I get to talk to people a lot. I go next door for lunch with my neighbor when I get home and we usually will watch some TV or listen to some music. I have the afternoons free so I do a lot of different things depending on my mood. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk around town, go get a cold drink, talk to my other neighbors, or even just relax and stay at home. Around dusk, close to 7 pm, I go running with my neighbor and a friend. There is a big field in front of our houses so we usually run and walk for about 20 minutes. Later, I go back over to her house for dinner and after watching some of the news we usually put in a movie. I’m pretty lucky because I’ve been able to keep up with a lot of current events because she has satellite TV, so we usually watch France 24 and maybe CNN.

Cold season has officially started and it’s been getting as low as 40 or 50 at night. It feels great but some of the Nigeriens really don’t like it, they’ve been wearing jackets and ski masks for the past few days, which is a pretty amusing sight. I enjoy the colder weather and I’m still sleeping outside, even though my neighbors think I’m crazy. It’s just so nice and open, and the sky is still as clear as ever with all the stars in the sky.

Today is a HUGE day here…election day! (Yes, even here it’s big.) Almost all of the volunteers in the Maradi region came into Maradi for the election. We kind of rented out a restaurant and they are going to stay open all night long so we can watch CNN and see the results as they come in. Because of the time difference, the party starts at around 12 am here and won’t end until…well, we’ll just have to wait and see. It should be a fun time and everyone is excited, especially the Nigeriens, who overwhelmingly support Barack Obama. It will be a long and exciting night and even though we’re time zones away and on another continent, we’ll all be waiting anxiously to hear the final results.