homestay week: kwaara teji

towards the end of the semester, i did a homestay for a week at Binta's, a woman who works at our building.

she lives in kwaara teji, which is a straight shot down the road (for a while) from my building. i walked a block from our complex to grab a bush taxi to get to her neighborhood. it cost 125 cfa (25 cents?) to get there. a bush taxi is basically a van that picks up ppl along an established route. i think the bush taxi held around 20 ppl. the paved road cruely ends right before you reach kwaara teji, so its quite a dusty, bumpy ride to binta's place.

binta lives in a cement building with two rooms. in the front of the house she has a small enclosure that is lined with a fence. that's where binta cooks, and we hung out there a lot. binta, her brother, and her daughter mami live together. after classes were over, i went to bintas, watched her cook, learned how to make tigidigi (peanut) sauce, listened to the radio, and played a lot of huit americainnes (eight americans, i hear its like crazy eights).

throughout the week i think binta had a secret mission to turn me into a nigerien woman. i got henna done by binta's sister, binta braided my hair, and then at the end of the week she presented me with a nigerien outfit that i wore to the homestay reception. we were a cute sight. me, mami, and binta, all in matching outfits, henna, hairstyles, and jewelery. my nigerien family :)



love naye/ayesha

Parc W: weekend trip

from lonelyplanet.com:

Parc Regional Du W
What this excelent park lacks in animal numbers, it compensates with its wildlife diversity. Antelopes, buffalos, elephants, hippos, lions, crocodiles, hyenas, warthogs and over 300 species of migratory bird call this dry savanna woodland home. The 9120-sq-km park rests on the Niger River's banks, straddling Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso.

so although it wasn't really the season to go to parc w, we went for the weekend and camped out there and rode around the park for 2 days on top of four runners. unfortunately, i didn't get any pictures. i saved the film camera i brought for this trip, and i thought i had everything planned out. But the batteries it uses are CR2, which are the most awkwardly sized batteries ever. i brought batteries that were slightly larger but very useless.

i've never been so dirty in my whole life. the boys were turbinators for the weekend, and all the girls covered their noses and mouths because it was so dusty. we saw loads of antelopes, some baboons, lots of guinea fowl, and birds. so not really the most exciting animal wise (no elephants, lions, the like), but a cool chill weekend nontheless.

love naye/ayesha

Post trip: Andover, MA

hey all,

so i'm back home, and there's a blizzard outside. good ol' mass. after my benin trip, i got into a routine in Niamey. so i was just living my life, and i guess a combination of being used to life in Niger and knowing i wasn't there for an indefinite time prevented me from updating my blog much. oh and the lack of internet in the city, then at my building didn't help.

so i'm going to backtrack a bit, and then i guess thats the end of my niger blog.... or is it!?!?!?!?!?

love naye/ayesha

Doggo: Peace Corps Trip

shoutout to sasyed, who's doing peace corps next year!!!!!

So this happened a while ago. in october the program arranged for us to visit villages out in the bush where peace corps volunteers were working.

we all drove east to konni, a town where the peace corps hostel is. the peace corps volunteers (pcv-s) use it as a local base to get a shower or a beer or electricity. we drove to konni in this large, air conditioned bus, thinking it would be better than going in the small bush taxi sized busses we ususally used. bad idea the piece of crap got THREE FLAT TIRES, making a trip that usually is 6-8 hours 11 hours. thats niger for you. if you look at a road map of the country you'll see that theres one route connecting the major towns. there are potholes all over it, and the bus was constantly swerving to avoid them.

on one of our stops to change a tire, we had used all the spare tires we had, so we had to wait for someone to bring more from niamey. we were there for probably an hour and a half, stopped across the street from a small village. there were kids there that congregated around us... i guess its not everyday that a bus filled with white ppl stop by your village, who knew. so we made friends. i had my ipod and my ipod speakers (best $2 i ever spent). we danced and sang. highlight: baby boy (beyonce) is an easy song to sing along to, because she just repeats "baby boy" over and over again. the kids loved it. some pics are on facebook.

in konni we got street food... chinkafadawockey and sweet potato fries (so good). we met our pcvs there.

my pcvs name is natasha. shes a healthcare volunteer in a village named doggo. the day me and leihana, another student, left for her village, we went to the market in konni for food. we were dropped off in a market town on the way to konni, where we got onto a flatbed truck and headed to doggo. there were literally 37 ppl and 2 goats on the flatbed. a little crowded.

in doggo, we walked around the village, and basically got to talk to a lot of ppl and hang out with them. natasha has a healthcare subject she focuses on each week, but that week she did not since she was showing us around. we would go around the village and greet ppl. they speak hausa there, and you never just say hi, you always ask about their health, fatigue, family, heat, etc. so it takes a while. im not learning hausa so i didnt't really understand much. when they asked me and leihana if we spoke hausa, we replied with kadunkadunk. which is really fun to say, because it sounds like badunkadunk.

we met a lot of ppl with cool stories. lots, so ask about them when i come back.

doggo. it has more than 1000 ppl living there. its in the boonies of niger. its not completely cut off from the rest of the world. the men of the village cant sell their inefficient crops, so they go to another country for part of the year to make money to bring back. maybe not the best way to do it, we met a man who worked for 6 months in nigeria and brought back 40 bucks selling bananas. ppl are really poor there. there was a lot of poverty there. lots of times the families don't ahve enough food to feed their families, and theres visible malnutrition. theres no knowledge of dinosaurs, planets, whales, and things like that.

a little about millet. i hate millet. its a plant that is the staple here in niger. they feed it to birds in the us. its not really all that nutritious, and its not really tasty. annnd it takes so much work to make anything out of it. you pound it, mix it with water, pound it, bake it, pound it, and then probably pound it some more. it grows in rocky soil. it just sucks because i feel like its so hard to live in niger. theres drought, and the soil isnt good for growing anything. on top of it ppl are poor and can't buy a lot. :(

on a happy note, when i came back i found out that 2 of my friends are getting engaged (not to eachother) ! shout out to you lovebirds.

after konni i jumped right back into city life. the day after we got back was really hot (someone said 110 F), and i was in a fashion show. the theme was freed birds, i think. it was interesting, i got to wear a lot of glitter.

love naye/ayesha

for the record...

I did vote. emergency ballot at the embassy. it was pretty last minute, but im glad i did it!

love ayesha

awale plage

website

http://www.hotel-benin-awaleplage.com/fr/hotel-benin-awale-plage-page-libre.php?id_page=1

love nayeayesha

internet cafes

So when I was in Cotonou, Benin, I went to an internet cafe. First internet cafe experience of my life, I hope it's also the last. I literally just sat in front of a blank screen for an hour, because the internet was poopy.

Also it was located on the top floor of this building that had a chapel in it.

love ayesha

I'm bbaaaaaaackkkk....

Back from vacation, SO FUN.

Hey, did you hear, Obama just got elected president!

It was unreal being in Benin and hearing the news. We were in Grand Popo (seriously, that's the name of the town), Benin, at the time. It's a beautiful town on the coast. We were staying in this resort type of place called awale plage. Here's the website, check out the beach, it was so nice. Pictures to come, i hope.

Awale Plage

Anywho, so I was asleep in my BUNGALO (sp?) and I woke up to cries of joy. I opened my door and saw some students standing around a radio. I asked if Obama won, found out he did, I did a fist pump in the air, then went to the beach.

also ppl here are SO EXCITED that Obama is president. Instead of just yelling anasara, they also yell obama. there was a lot of coverage of the election, and we were able to watch cnn in the city to get updates.

so yayyyyyyyy

love naye/ayesha

vacation from vacation: Benin

hey all

so im off to benin tomorrow morning. ill try to write more before i leave, but i have a ppr due. ill be gone for a week and a half. theres still so much to talk about! like nuts softball, peace corps villages, protests and more!

love naye/ayesha

names in the program

to give you some idea of other nigerien names, here are names of ppl in my program. apparently though some of these are super random (along with their nicknames i give to them, which they may or may not appreciate):

Naye
Saraki (rocky)
Hadiza
Mayaki (yocky)
Dulla (dullarrhea)
Tanimun
Bukaram (bukes, in her daisy dukes)
Tamumu
Hasi (hasinator)
Imani
Laihana
Harira
Koda (quads)
Salamatu
Romanatu
Dela

AREN'T YOU JEALOUS

i like my name so much that i might make naye my middle name.

kala tonton! i have class.

love naye/ ayesha

Eid in Niger

So i guess this is where i left off.

eid was a really great experience. i was really scared that i was going to be homesick, eid is such a nice time in boston. we actually celebrated a day before my family and friends did in the us. we did pretty much the same things i would usually do. stay up late the night before, wake up early the morning of, get ready, go to the mosque.

we went to eid namaaz at the grand mosquee of niamey. its a pretty mosque in a huge compound. the streets were filled with ppl walking to the mosque. almost everyone prayed outside (i think only important ppl get to go inside on the day of the fitr. important men that is. women arent allowed inside, which is super lame). there were a lot of beggers that day. i didnt have change to give out, but i gave kids sticks of juicy fruit. i think they were disappointed but thats all i had.

we came back to the cfca (my home here) and then after i went to amandine, which is this modern cafe owned by lebanese ppl. it has a really weird western vibe, but really good coffee and burgers.

after that i went to yazi dogo's house, he's an all around awesome character here in niamey. i went to his place earlier this semester for dinner. me and romanatu went and it was super duper fun.

then i went to my friend jackou's house, which was fun. at this point it was really hot in the day and i didnt take my eid nap, so i went home after a while and passed out.

at night we went dancing at this club called alizah (sp?). its on the river and they play really fun music. i really need to bring back music from here. african music, not the random music they like from my 1990's childhood (aqua, venga boys).

so then the next day i was SO TIRED and then i had to go to my community placement at 8 in the morning. boo.


love naye/ ayesha

a formal apology

FOFO!
sorry i haven't updated this thing in a while, i swear i have a good reason! the reason is that i'm in AFRICA. the power goes out all the time and sonitel, the internet provider, has had some problems and the whole city was without internet for a while. that and im lazy.

but no more! im going to give you some updates. theres goign to be a few entries all from today, because im going to benin for 2 weeks wednesday. i know. its awesome. its like a vacation from vacation.

I ALSO HAVE SOME PICTURES. its so slow, ill try to put up more. im starting with some interesting ones of the city:


love naye/ayesha

shoutout to ppl who asked me to update this, that means you care (tear).

eid!

heya,

tomorrow is eid in niamey. i know you guys are doing it wednesday (icbwayland.org), so i think ill be able to call my mom right after namaaz and talk to most of you!

the computers were down, hence the lack of blog entries. i have class soon, but this weekend was awesome. for now lets just say we were out til 4 in the morning saturday, i got singing lessons from a famous singer here and i played some softball.

love naye/ ayesha

nigerien dish

so they have this rice and bean dish here, and you put caramelized onions and a chili sauce on it. its called SHINKAFADAWOCKEY (sp?). no joke, thats what its called. i like to randomly shout it...

love naye/ayesha

allllsoooo

ps i saw 5 flattened out frogs today.

love naye/ayesha

cars

so there are a lot of scooters here, along with a lot of cars. most are hatchbacks, like the taxis... and there are soooo so many taxis here, probably 5 taxis will pass you in one direction in a minute, no exxageration. they all stall at the petite marche, and its a sea of taxis. then there are 3 varieties of toyota sedans that exist. then there are the random cars that you look twice at. like the one bmw x5, or the one vw suv, or the couple of toyota suvs.

but this is what makes me kind of really happy. they have one variety of minivans here, the TOYOTA PREVIA. and it only comes in one color, that sky-silver blue that we had when i was a kid. same interior and everything. and ive also seen a couple of party jeep cherokees! love it.

love naye/ayesha

PICTASSSSS

a fellow nigerien

tamumu's blog:
http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?TripID=2211

love naye/ayesha

a note on the wildlife

so outside my building, there are always frogs. some are big, some are small. i might not always see one hopping along, but i frequently see them flattened out into the dirt, with their guts hanging out of their body and flies all over it;.

i rode a camel! we went to the baleyara market outside of the city, where they sell livestock. we paid the guy who owned the camel 5 bucks and i took it for a ride... pictures to come i hope!

love naye/ayesha

malaria madness!

AND THE FIRST VICTIM IS...

hasi the conquerer!! aka my roomie!

how sad, it takes 2 weeks for malaria to start showing symptoms, so she must've gotten it right when we got to niamey. shes a trooper though. she went to the clinic for 2 nights, and by the second night she was as good as new... kind of. shes on meds and feels nauseous still. but shes alive and fairly well!

she gave me some advice after her experience: don't get malaria.

love ayesha

a day in the life...

A typical day in the life of naye:

i wake up at around 7, climb out of my mosquito net, brush my teeth, wash my face, change, and the first thing i do in the morning (4 times a week anyway) is get bread (buru) for the 15 students in the program. i walk out of the cfca (where i live) and go to the bread guy on the corner. he hangs out at a wood shack, and i pay 800 cfa for 4 baguettes (sp?) of bread... thats 2 dollars. he wraps scrap pieces of paper from a local school around the bread and i take it back to the dining room. soumana, one of the cooks, boils water and i make tea with powdered milk and sugar cubes. i take a piece of bread, and put peanut butter anddddd condensed milk on it. i know, it sounds nasty, and it actually looks nasty too. but the peanut butter isnt sugary enough, and it makes your tongue stick to the top of your mouth. so sweetened condensed milk is good.

i do my reading or go to my community placement until 12:30, then we get lunch. then we have naptime!!! i nap from about 1-2, and take a nice shower. its the hottest part of the day, and i wake up in a pool of sweat. so a shower is nice. then class starts up again at 3, and can go until 8:30 at night.

after class i read, write in my journal, watch a movie, or go out w/ the ppl here to the neighborhood bar. dont worry, i buy a fanta. there are a lot of bars here!

when i walk in and out of the grounds, i talk to the staff a lot. my bff is hama, hes the day guard. he teaches me zarma and he's patient with my lack of language skills.

at night i tuck my mosquito net under my mattress, think about all of you (i have pictures up on my wall), and snuggle with teddy. oh yea and i sweat a lot.

the power goes out a ton, and the internet poops out with it. my hand crank flash light is really coming in handy!

love naye/ayesha

a note on food...

so the food is freaking amazing here...

the cooks, bizo and soumana, have been cooking for homesick bu kids for a while now. yesterday we had pizza and nutella crepes, today there were enchiladas.

today was the first day i fasted, and also the first day of class. after class was over (at 8:30!) i had leftover chilli and fried dough (nigerien specialty). and now i am satisfied.

love naye/ayesha

zarma

by request:

fofo!
Hello!

mate ni go?
How are you?

banay samay samay walla!
I'm really REALLY good!

ay ya amerik boro no! ni binde?
I'm from America... and you?

ay fun boston kwara!
I'm from Boston!

ay ma naye!!
My name is Naye!

to.... kala tonton!
Okay.... See you later!

love naye/ayesha

day 7!

OKAY SO TIME TO BLOG.

in my defense its been a bit hectic (internets been shotty and i've been taking advantage of naptime from 12-3). current state of things. its 11, and im sweating. i'm actually sweating all the time, and i have a coat of sweat, baby powder, deet bug spray and dirt all over. i love niamey, but its wayyy too hot.

tomorrow is the last day of orientation. this past week we were in intensive zarma and hausa classes, and we familiarized ourselves with the city a bit. zarma is easier than hausa, and zarma is spoken by everyone in niamey.... sooo i will be takign zarma. i can speak some already, and i practice my newly learned skills with the kids and the staff at the cfca.

fofo!
mate ni go?
banay samay samay walla!
ay ya amerik boro no! ni binde?
ay fun boston kwara!
ay ma naye!!
to.... kala tonton!
its such a cute language.

back to the cfca. disregard the map i put in the beginngn of this blog. its inaccurate. i live closer to the stad, and i take classes where i live. the bridge is the most unsafe spot in the whole city, and they told us to never go there unless we're in a taxi. apparently ppl live under the bridge. the taxi fare is fixed. its 200cfa, which is about 50 cents. SWEET DEAL. if youre going really far though, its 400 cfa.
some highlights thus far:

-peace corps day: we learned about the peace corps and went to the bar that the peace corps ppl hang out in. we've been goign to a lot of bars. since not a lot of ppl drink anyway and its ramadan we see the same ppl everywhere we go. i get a fanta, which costs just a bit less than a dollar.

-haro banda: we went to haro banda, these huge sand dunes that are mesa-like. ill put up pics i swear. haro banda is on the other side of the river. i thought we were just going to get out of the van and take pictures of us standing in front of them, but our prof took us up to the top. half of us were in flip flops and skirts, and all of us were slipping down the mountain. the cliffs are pretty steep and the pebbles arent held in place bc the rainy season washed the mud away. it was an awesome view.

-embassy day: met the ambassador, cool woman. we ate fries, met george the giant turtle, and swam in their pool. hottest pool ive ever been in im pretty sure it was 85 degrees if i remember correctly. the embassy is weird, its a little america that you can stay in forever if you choose to do so.

- bellisimo: HOOKAH BAR AND DANCE CLUB so fun. i didnt smoke, dont worry, its ramadan. but i did dance to songs like "barbie girl" it was so funny. highlight of the night: all of us on the dance floor singing no woman no cry.

okay thats some stuff, im being so antisocial so ill update soon! with pics hopefully :)

love naye

day 2!

it makes me so happy that you ppl are reading this. keep the responses coming!!

so its so hot here ive been up since 5:30 because its a sauna. its like pakistan in the summer without the air conditionign basically.

a note about the wildlife thus far: lizards (huge ones) on the walls, cats, dogs, and a BAT. shoutout to meryum.

the naming ceremony: the CFCA is where im living. they invite the community, and i think about 100 ppl showed up. the staff, their families, and americans who feel obliged to come. we met a marine who sadi that they show new releases at their place. we heard music, and saw some DANCES. sooo good im so excited to take the dance class. tonight we're trying out the instruments to see if we want to learn to play.

pronounciation of naye
1) "na" as in na na ba baa (shoutout to mubarak and rosie's dancing troupe)
2) "ye" as in yay... but minus the last y.

not fasting yet, kind of worried about dehydration.

on the agenda for today:
tour of the museum
zarma lesson
meeting peace corps ppl (shoutout to sarah)


love naye/ayesha

day 1: Niamey, Niger!

hey so technically its day 2 (past midnight).

fun fact of the night: cranium (best game EVER) was created by a former BU student that did the Niger program. go figure! so they have it here im so excited.

today was jam packed (orientation). tours of the city, bank, and a naming ceremony!
ill describe it later, but from now on ill be referred to as naye. if a mother has several children, her favorite is her naye. (true? i hope so!)

love naye/ayesha

so things are good! i got a tour of the city today, and we had our first zarma lesson. Fofo!! Mate ni go?

we're having a naming ceremony tonight... after today i might not be ayesha. but maybe i will. everyone laughs because they recognize the name.

okay now tour of the city.

Kala Tonton,

love ayesha

im here safe and sound. ill give you an update soon, the day is starting in 10 min. ramadan kareem!

love ayesha

T minus 23 hours: Massachusetts, USA

holy ish. im leaving in less than a day.

i've had a pretty eventful week, sleeping until half the day is over and socializing at night. its pretty awesome. i went to cheesecake with the gals, and last night i went to bu. which was so weird. everyone is just moving in, and i spent my whole summer there, when campus was dead. everyones starting a new year without me :( . but my bu crew went to brown sugar (im so surprised we got seated so easily, there were about 20 ppl... go to brown sugar its so good for this reason and so many more). so after reminiscing of fun times and what not, the lights go down and the brown sugar staff looks like they're going to a table to start a birthday celebration. now, this is a really funny sight. because not only do they sing and clap, they have a really cheesy int'l version of happy birthday blasting in the background. AND. they take a flashlight and wave it around the birthday boy/girl. which in this case was ME. so fun i was so excited. i told my friends that it was probably better that my actual birthday usually is. you guys sure know how to make me miss you all.

buutttt now im just finishing packing. taking my pills, packing bedding, packing my teddy bear DONT JUDGE. i don't think i'm fully aware of the fact i'm going yet. i don't think it'll be real until i'm in Niamey. but yea thats it for the moment, i guess i'll see you guys on the other side of the atlantic!!!!!!!!!!!

SO to all my peeps, because they were all jealous they didnt get a shoutout. maybe itll be motivation for you to keep checking my blog just in case i mention you :)

love ayesha

T minus 6 days: Massachusetts, USA

okay so weird... so i'm sitting on my bum at home watching mtv, and a promo for this new show "exiled" came on tv. remember that show "my super sweet 16"? well, their parents are tired of their spoiled children. what's the logical solution? send these kids to third world countries! obvi. they get to go to kenya, thailand, india, the arctic circle, some pacific island, etc. sounds like a vacation to me. too bad its given as a form of punishment. i wonder if they'll hit up niger...

shoutout to omar- you wanted a shoutout
shoutout to nazita- love you girly

love ayesha

T minus 8 days: MA, USA

i've been told so politely by numerous individuals (just taimur actually) to update my blog. i'm still here in good ol' massachusetts, enjoying the last few days in america. coincidentally, these days have been the only sunny days this summer. so let's see... i've gone to martha's vineyard, got tan, and then went to plum island with sarah, and then got MORE tan. needless to say, i think i'll fit in better with the locals :) .

and what else... i'm spending my first friday night in my home since.... maybe this past winter break. that's an exaggeration, but this summer has been really busy, i can't believe it's all over. I'M GOING TO NIGER IN 8 DAYS. THIS IS PSYCHO. i'm so excited, there's been so much anticipation. i think i'm ready to go. i had my good bye party a week ago haha. it's time. i just hope i don't freak as my flight gets closer and closer...

holler at me. i leave 8.30.08.

love ayesha

T minus 17 days: Massachusetts, USA

Hi everyone!

Sooooo I'm leaving Mass in 17 days. How crazy is that! This is my blog, I hope you enjoy it. Even if you don't, pretend that you do and leave me pleasant comments :)

So I have my info. I don't know if I'm taking my computer yet, but if I do it'll be like I'm in your backyard with Skype, FB, AIM, GChat, and everything else. Emails will do and I will get back to them iA. I'll definitely have access to the internet at school and at internet cafes.

If you want to communicate the old fashioned way, my address is as follows:

Ayesha R
BP 10652
Niamey, Niger
West Africa

I'm going to try to let y'all in on what Niamey is like. I don't know too much about the city myself, but I have done some research.... using Google Earth.

So this is Niamey, Niger. If you squint it kind of looks like Boston, yeah? The river's there, a bridge etc. The pushpins and desert are part of the beautification project, you just missed out :). The pushpins are where I'm living and going to school. Heres a closer look:


The Pushpin on the southern side of the city is where the University of Abdou Moumouni is. That side of the city isn't as happening as the other side, so I'll be living across the bridge. I think I'm living near the government buildings and hotels, but I'm not super sure about that.

That's it so far. Hopefully I won't suck at updating this thing.


love ayesha