Yibeeog kibare!
So this is my first post since I have become an official Peace Corps Volunteer!!! I was sworn in on August 23rd and I gave a speech in Moore that went really well! I am still impressed with myself for pulling it off so well :-)
I moved to my site that Saturday and since then everything has been a whirlwind of activity! To start with, I live in a great courtyard all to myself. I have two great round houses with two windows each so it is nice and breezy. I am using one as a bedroom and the other as a kitchen. I finally got a table, a bench, a dresser/bookshelf and four chairs! (The transport for the big furniture pieces will be brought up later - the bookshelf is about 40lb). I am starting to feel fully moved in now! I also have a little area in my courtyard to take a shower - with cement walling just there and on the floor - and a latrine which I think has the smallest hole known to mankind. I have yet to miss for a number two and usually celebrate by yelling 'BULLSEYE' every time I make it in.
Biking and I are getting to be better friends. This weekend I biked to visit Zach who lives 40km from me. It was a pretty hilly ride but it was fun. Luckily I don't need to bike too much at site. I had one day when biking to a marche nearby where I got four holes in my tire. Let's say I live in the desert and there are a lot of acacia trees!
So I had spent the first week and a bit at site a little nervous about their whole idea of gardening in the dry season. I kept asking how they got water to the plants and they always just smiled. It seemed like a huge failure. So one day Mousa - my incredibly nice counterpart - told me that we were going to go see the 'pyramids'. So not knowing what I was getting myself into we hopped onto our bikes and started on our merry way. We ended up at a huge river that is dammed at a major road. He then showed me how each plot has a separate pump system and they set up really amazing irrigation systems for gardens. One of the irrigation systems has the power to do gardens for over 1,000 individual gardens. There is also a man that has a banana and papaya plantation! It was so overwhelming and wonderful.
Two days ago I was given a baby bunny by a farmer. He is brown and adorable. Shortly after having him I realized that he wasn't eating. He fits into my hand comfortably and then it dawned on me that he was sucking on my hand. I was given a bunny that was still nursing!!! So I am now the crazy American girl that is forced to give milk to a baby bunny. The only thing that has made them decide that I am not as crazy as they think is that I promise that when I get him 'bedre bedre' (very fat) I will eat him. I think when I visit Zach he will need to come since I feed him every few hours and I highly doubt any of my neighbors would show him that kind of love. I am still scared he is going to die - so I refuse to name him yet. Start thinking of some good names :-)
The 'main' road in village is pretty quiet all the time. There are a few boutiques and women that sell food. One of the boutiques has a place to charge cellphones so my new friend Madi - he's about 12 - charges my phone and sometimes does it for free! Mariam often feeds me rice (for about 10 cents) when I am too lazy to cook for myself. She has a bunch of naked kids that run around and love to shake my hand. They are pretty cute but sometimes I get tired of them... There are some nice men that sit that like to chat and laugh at my Moore which is always a good time (that may sound sarcastic but I'm kind of serious). On a high note I have been able to get a terrific supply of eggs! Sadly, that is the only thing pretty much I am able to get in village other than okra - who knew that I didn't like okra too much...
I had my first scorpion a few nights ago. He was inside my mosquito net on the net itself when I was about to go to bed. I calmly got up and promptly left my house to go find a neighbor. Of course, I forgot that there was a very high likelihood I would only find people that speak Moore. I was gesturing to two women a scorpion and when they just kept laughing and not understanding I asked them to come to my house. They saw what it was and said how lucky I was that I found it because it was small and it would hurt a lot!!! So that felt like a big win for catching that and now I check my bed a little more thoroughly!
The first few months at site are supposed to be spent doing the 'etude de milieu' which means I am supposed to be doing a community study. So far it has been quite informal with me keeping notes on people I have met and such. I drew a map of my community and the pumps and then got Mousa to make a map as well. I have been keeping notes on what I do everyday and also how much money I spend (which may just be for me). That has been pretty funny since I've noted days I've gone to get water, gone running, visited a cool field, etc. I also am now realizing that a lot of my notes on defining people have not been terrific. The best example was 'the old, old lady, grey hair, nice, has lots of goats, neighbor' - I cannot remember for the life of me which one that is!!
Well that is all for now! Going to make some crepes with Mariko!
Wend na ko-d bilfu,
