Our Weekend in Pictures

Sannu (Hausa for hello)!

So, the waiting is over.  This is our picture-focused blog to describe our first full weekend in Niger.  A weekend which also marked the loosening of previously applied rules given to us by the US embassy.  Originally, we had to be in our house from 8 PM - 6 AM and could not travel outside of Niamey (which pretty much eliminated all fun outings such as the wildlife park, giraffes, hippos, and sand dunes).  But now...we can stay out to the late late hour of 9 PM and we can travel anywhere in Niger (the real bonus to the deal).  In addition to our rules, the representative at the embassy led us to believe that any Nigerien would pick-pocket us before we knew what was happening, that we were practically the only targets for the Taliban since all other volunteers had left the country, and that if we took a picture of a governement building (or anything really), we would be "staring down the barrel of an AK-47".  I think he exaggerated as we all still have the money we did not spend, have not yet been kidnapped, and the only weapon we've seen was a sword sticking out of someone's backpack (which according to the embassy is completely normal for everyone to do).  Our hosts, who have lived here for 4 years, also seemed to think our embassy representative was a tad dramatic.  However, we have gleaned what we needed from the embassy meeting, have talked with our hosts and other locals, and have taken the necessary precautions to ensure we are safe during our stay.  Now, we are excited for our new found freedom.

So, without further ado...OUR WEEKEND!

Friday:

Friday started out with the last lecture of the 5th year medical students at the University.  The lecture itself went well, but the real excitement was the papparazzi (?) scene we encountered upon leaving the classroom.  You see, white people are famous here.  Literally all of the 50+ students wanted a photo with the "beautiful white girls" who are "very smart".  Direct quotes, I promise.

This is the one with the majority of our biggest fans.  We also took a picture or 2...or 3 with each individual person as well as groups of friends... this picture session lasted at least 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, Friday night was also when we said goodbye to Betsy, but you already know that story.

Saturday:

We started out with a trip to the Musee (zoo) with 3 members of the Medical English Club. 



Note the rules, such as "Do not jump on hippos".  Also, hippos apparently will eat you, as will crocodiles (keep this information in mind when it comes to Sunday).  Of course, our French is minimal at best, so we're not sure if this is what the captions said, but we all agreed this is what the pictures meant. 

 Turns out there was a special exhibit at the zoo this day.  US!  We were followed around the entire time by a group of children that thought we were, by far, the coolest animals there.  Above is Dr. Carey with about 1/3 of our followers. 

And here is the group with the Medical English club.  They bought all of the girls (Michelle, Kristina, and our new friend, Lori) a bracelet.  This may or may not mean that we are married to them according to our host, Susan. 

After the Musee, we had a goobye dinner for Dr. Steve (so, if anyone gets sick now, we are in trouble) and stopped by our friend Chako's house (he's kind of a big deal in Niger) for a final goodbye.  The problem with this, however, is that Chako likes to talk.  A lot.  He also likes to learn about everyone in the room.  And their families.  And their dreams.  And their three favorites things.  He also apparently likes photo shoots.  Here is a sample:

Steve, Chako, Madame Chako (this is how they refer to wives in Niger), Dr. Carey, Michelle, and Kristina.

And here is Chako's photo genius.  He insisted on taking pictures in which the subjects were looking at each other.  Quote from Steve: "I feel like I am at my wedding".  Chako has since proceeded to tell many people about this night, but not without emphasizing that it "was not a gay wedding".

In all seriousness, Chako and his wife are wonderful people and have done a great job making sure we feel at home here. 

Sunday:

Sunday started at our hosts' church.  Church here lasts three hours.  Saying goodbye after church takes another hour.  At least.  The church we went to had beautiful music, which was good since this composed the first hour.  We were lucky enough to have a translator as well since the whole service was in Hausa and French, given to us precisely when we started to zone out entirely.

After church, we went to an area outside of Niamey for a variety of fun activities. 

Activity 1: riding camels.

The ride up in scary.  The ride down is terrifying.  The ride straight, sort of like a horse, but less comfortable, especially when your saddle is shifted to the left like Michelle's.  This shift left her terrified that she would fall off the camel into the thorn trees, which caused Dr. Carey to pour blood from his head all over the back windshield just last year (but that's not our story to tell).  Also, for the PT students reading, note Kristina's SCM's and scalenes.  Dr. Carey plans to use this picture for his next anatomy exam.

Activity #2: Searching for hippos.

Here is the canoe used for such a task.  On the shore, pituresque, but on the Niger River, slightly leaky.  As we entered the hippo's territory, we saw a baby hippo jump into water!  Cute, until the 3 adults it was with got angry and chased us.  Suddenly the canoe, not so pituresque, was more of a death trap.  However, our gondoliers were speedy and saved us from certain doom.  From the looks on their faces, we think it was close.

(can you find the hippos...they're stalking us and making angry sounds...)

Activity #3 (after narrowly escaping): Touring the village of Kanazi.

Kanazi is a very small village where we got a whole tour by all the kids that lived there.  We got to see the crops, the houses, the school, the hospital, and hundreds of bats.

At the school we got serenaded with a welcoming song and the national anthem of Niger by part of the crowd of children guiding us.

 Here is outside of the school with all of our little tour guides.  Most were excited to see us, but some were terrified as we were the first white people they had ever seen. 

All in all, this weekend was a great experience.  We got to see camels and hippos and bats up close and learned that in Africa, white people are apparently the most exciting exhibit for locals.  We made lots of friends.  And possibly husbands.  We're not really sure of all of the cultural customs here yet, but we're learning.

Sai an jima (Hausa for "until next time"),

Kristina and Michelle