I thought that it was about time that I updated this and after talking to my Grandmother, and with her using the correct terminology by asking if there were any more ‘blogs’ I got inspired to get this done, even with reports needing to be written this week for school!
So what has life been like for me in Niger these past 2 months? Well it has been hot, sweaty, sticky, smelly at times, uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable and that’s usually before I’ve even left the house in the morning! Although it hasn’t been like that all the time. We have had some fantastic rain storms that are preceded by the wind and sometimes a sand/dust storm, and everyone knows that rain is on the way, and then it hits. It’s fantastic and cools everything down for a while. October is a mini hot season, so the days have been getting hotter, and so has my classroom. We have no shade on one side so in the afternoon the sun streams through and we start to bake. The air conditioner is old and doesn’t make any difference so I don’t bother putting it on and as there is an issue with the power on campus, too many air cons on at the same time can put us into a blackout, and fans are at least better than no fans at all, so we make do with turning the fans up high!! Outside the temperatures have been reaching 40'c and inside is not much cooler. Our house themometer is often reading 35'c, and we were very concerned one night when it said 46'c, but then realised that it had heated up as it was sitting on the fan switch which gets hot with the fan on!!
Murray has been having a fantastic time with the class. He is looking very well loved and I think he might need a bath sometime over the holiday break! He has been going home with a student each weekend and they have come back with some great stories about what they got up to and some excellent photos. One boy even made him a swim suit so he could go to the pool with them at the rec. centre. I am having lots of fun with th
em all too. Last week we had an excursion to the sand dunes about 1/2 and hour away. We are studying deserts which seems very appropriate for beign out here. The sand dunes are actually only one large dune, but the kids had sun sliding down them and were covered in orange sand by the time we got back to the car. Luckily we have showers at school so found some towels and they could wash all the sand off instead of itching for the rest of the day, and I was very glad when they had their Bible lesson after that as it meant i could go home and have a shower, another benefit of living on school grounds!
We have had some fantastic opportunities for sightseeing on the weekends. One week we went out to a little town called Tera. This was Murray’s first trip out of town, as well as mine. We went with a family who used to live out there and were going to see the family of a friend who had died that w
eek. Tera is about 3 hours west of Niamey. We followed the river for 2 hours then cross
ed the river in a little ferry. It was a
nother hour, driving through lots of little villages and towns. It was really nice to see how people live away from the city. We met a few of their friends, one family who lived in a little grass hut and another family who had a
little mud brick house. Their kids were beautiful and they were all thoroughly amused by Murray, having never seen a koala before! We did a bit of bush bashing to have lunch under a mango tree (that unfortunately was empty of mangoes) next to the river. We had an encounter with a VERY large
monitor lizard that chased the daughter of family we came with out of the grass we had to walk through back to the car. And we saw some very interesting sights along the road, like bush taxis packed with people and belongings strapped up high on top, cows crammed into the back of a truck, and plenty of goats, donkey carts and camels.
One of the best days I have had so far was our trip out to Koure Giraffe Park. We went with a family who arrived from America about the same time Murray and I did. The park is a sanctuary for the last herd of wild giraffes in West Africa, and is about an hours drive from the city. When we arrived we had to pay our entry fee, our car fee, our camera fee and with our guide, we were ready to go. The guide climbed on top of the
4x4 car that we had and pointed the way for us with his little stick in front of the windscreen. We drove around for about 15 minutes, pushing our way through bushes and puddles, sure that our guide would be bounced off at any minute. Then we spotted them. A herd of about 15 giraffes grazing on the trees ahead of us. We stopped the car and for the next half hour trailed after the giraffes as they went about their business. We found a second herd after a bit more bush bashing and this time we sat on top of the car and the guide was inside!! We all sat on a mattress that had been strapped on to the roof rack and held on as we bumped our way through puddles and bushes. It was a fantastic experience and the giraffes were beautiful. We were even lucky enough to see some new borns, about 2 weeks old.
Shopping here is an experience. Most of the time we are lucky enough to go with another lady on the campus who has a car. We v
isit the various supermarkets and get our supplies, then usually eat out for dinner. Megan and I have been getting braver and trying the taxis. They’ll take you to the Petit Marche for 200 CFA where we can get fruit and veg from the street sellers. It can be a bit overwhelming as there are often a crowd of boys who are trying to convince you to buy from them instead, and pushing things in your face. The last month has been even w
orse as it was Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, so they were all very keen to sell so that they had money for all the parties they have at night. The markets are fun, and we are getting better with our French to try and bargain a bit more. There are lots of leather shoes, bags, boxes. Silver jewellery, beads, batiks and painting, golden giraffes and elephants, wooden animals and all sorts of traditional artefacts that people on the street try to convince you to buy. One of my favourite things to buy has been the local fabric, that then can be made into any kind of clothing you can imagine. The skirts I have had made are a lot cooler than the ones I brought with me as they are light and thin.
I am looking forward to the school term break next week, one school term down already, and then only 9 weeks after that and it'll be the Christmas break. I am hoping that this break will give me more time to do another blog and let you all know what an average week is like for us here, as well as doing some more sight seeing, and hopefully see some hippos.
I am also putting together my 3 monthly prayer letter so keep a look out for that one coming your way.
On Tuesday evening Megan and I look after the dorm kids so the dorm parents can have a night off, as there is no assistant this year. We have dinner with them and then take a time of devotions before they go off to do homework or play sports in the evening. We stay to make sure they are all in bed, and most of them asleep—the seniors are at least in their rooms when we leave at 10.30pm. We then head down again at 6.30am to make sure they are all getting up on time and getting their lunch organised. Usually we take it in turns so that we don’t both have to stay late then get up early, e.g. if Megan stays late then I go to wake them up. It is a good arrangement and we both enjoy spending time with the kids and getting to know some of the older ones that I wouldn’t see otherwise, being in the primary school.
.JPG)
ge, but we enjoy the songs and the sermon is translated in the back room. I am looking forward to the chance of experiencing some other African churches while here. In the evening there is an English service held here at school, and is a great time to catch up with missionaries from a variety of different missions. Megan and I have met some fantastic girls who work with Samaritan’s Purse, who we usually go out with after church for supper. .JPG)
hat I am reading by not having a TV around!! oh, and Megan and I are enjoying our evenings watching through all the seasons of Gilmore Girls that we have borrowed from friends.
eek. Tera is about 3 hours west of Niamey. We followed the river for 2 hours then cross
ed the river in a little ferry. It was a
nother hour, driving through lots of little villages and towns. It was really nice to see how people live away from the city. We met a few of their friends, one family who lived in a little grass hut and another family who had a 
little mud brick house. Their kids were beautiful and they were all thoroughly amused by Murray, having never seen a koala before! We did a bit of bush bashing to have lunch under a mango tree (that unfortunately was empty of mangoes) next to the river. We had an encounter with a VERY large 
monitor lizard that chased the daughter of family we came with out of the grass we had to walk through back to the car. And we saw some very interesting sights along the road, like bush taxis packed with people and belongings strapped up high on top, cows crammed into the back of a truck, and plenty of goats, donkey carts and camels.
4x4 car that we had and pointed the way for us with his little stick in front of the windscreen. We drove around for about 15 minutes, pushing our way through bushes and puddles, sure that our guide would be bounced off at any minute. Then we spotted them. A herd of about 15 giraffes grazing on the trees ahead of us. We stopped the car and for the next half hour trailed after the giraffes as they went about their business. We found a second herd after a bit more bush bashing and this time we sat on top of the car and the guide was inside!! We all sat on a mattress that had been strapped on to the roof rack and held on as we bumped our way through puddles and bushes. It was a fantastic experience and the giraffes were beautiful. We were even lucky enough to see some new borns, about 2 weeks old.
isit the various supermarkets and get our supplies, then usually eat out for dinner. Megan and I have been getting braver and trying the taxis. They’ll take you to the Petit Marche for 200 CFA where we can get fruit and veg from the street sellers. It can be a bit overwhelming as there are often a crowd of boys who are trying to convince you to buy from them instead, and pushing things in your face. The last month has been even w
orse as it was Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, so they were all very keen to sell so that they had money for all the parties they have at night. The markets are fun, and we are getting better with our French to try and bargain a bit more. There are lots of leather shoes, bags, boxes. Silver jewellery, beads, batiks and painting, golden giraffes and elephants, wooden animals and all sorts of traditional artefacts that people on the street try to convince you to buy. One of my favourite things to buy has been the local fabric, that then can be made into any kind of clothing you can imagine. The skirts I have had made are a lot cooler than the ones I brought with me as they are light and thin.
ugh to find it’s way back) lizards, geckos and chameleons that scurry over the walls and
roof, 6-7 large frogs that come to visit every night, the occasional hedgehog in the grass surrounding the house and Rover the Turtle who seems to just appear out of nowhere every now and then, the other day he was walking past the front door. And of course there are plenty of birds, bats and the neighbours cat that comes to visit when cooking tuna, donkeys pulling carts, camels carrying mats, cows and goats grazing on the road leading to school, but 
no hippos or giraffes yet! So Africa is full of life – some times it gets splatted sometimes it gets photographed!
ilding with a big enough throw! It is only 198 steps from the house to my classroom door – I counted. We have just hired a lady called Lindly to come once a week to clean the house and do our ironing (it is far too hot to iron here so I am doing it even less than I did at home!!) we are paying her about 2000 cfa a week which is only about $5. We feel like we should be paying more but have to stick to the standard, same with beggars, you want to give them lots but then it would make it hard for others and wouldn’t necessarily benefit them as the money goes to other people. The house is comfortable and we were very grateful to have a toilet and shower inside and a washing machine. We don’t have air con but there are air coolers that work ok when not humid although 
at the moment it is very humid.
We have stayed fairly close to home over these weeks, I haven’t even taken Murray out yet, although he has met the class and has gone home with one of them this weekend. We have done food shopping and just about got the hang of all the different places, there are 3 fairly good places for supermarkets that vary in price for different things so we usually visit at least 2 of them to get the different things – eg meat is better at one place, cheese is cheaper at another (although it is still fairly expensive about $20/kilo for che
ddar – the cheapest) and then we go to the street markets for fruit and veg. There are lots of people who crowd around wanting money or want you to buy things so we get to practice “non merci” lots. Last week we had just bought some pita bread so we pulled out one to give to some boys who were begging, as soon as I began to tear it in half a third boy appeared! It is sad to see all the needs on the street and harder to walk away without doing anything.
gave our money back and we eventually worked out that he was telling us that the 2 men on the table near us had paid for our meal. We were a bit shocked and not quite sure what to do! The lady we were with had never had this happen before so was a bit thrown her self. We said thankyou and chatted briefly then sat there wondering what do we do now!! It was very funny. (No Bec we did not exchange phone numbers and workout a date – I can just imagine your mind working overtime!!)
ays reaches during the day!! The power fluctuates a lot, if we have air conditioners running then often power for the whole school will shut off and we have to go to the generator. There is a new computer lab which also struggles for power so we are praying that gets sorted out soon with a new transformer that is being installed. The kids in my class are fantastic. I have 7 in grade 5/6. some great personalities and I can see we are going to have a fun year. School camp will be easy only having to worry about organising 7 kids!
h breakfast and making lunches and kicking them out the door in time for school at 7.30. There are about 10 dorm students, one in my class who is the youngest by a few years. So it should be fun hanging out and getting to know some of the older kids. Luckily they have a house help lady who will do all the cooking in the evening for us and the kids make all their own lunches so that will be very handy.
idity, some fantastic rain storms where the lightening lights up the sky then eventually the thunder and rain come over, and we had a dust storm that brought sand from the Sahara, luckily it didn’t dump it on us but we could see it in the sky and had some great winds.
