English, Zarma, French or Hausa?

Last night a couple of us went out for some beers. When it was time to come home it was about 1ish in the morning so Joey and I went to catch a cab. When we got in we were the only two people in the taxi, but in Niger it is custom to share cabs and taxi drivers pick up other people on the way. So, the cab driver was stopping for other guys at the bar when 2 really drunk guys came up. I was asking the taxi driver "Please, could we just go, they are very very drunk. Let's just go." He kind of kept waiting and talking to the guys but finally drove off. Eventually we reached the Peace Corps hostel and we give him the cost of the taxi, 800 CFA. He stops the car and says that is not enough, and that we agreed on 1000CFA each. We had never agreed on 1000 CFA, however, he finally says it was our "friends" at the bar, aka, the drunk guys, that said 1000 CFA. The three embassy guards are there trying to calm this guy down, sticking up for Joey and I the entire time. So, after nearly a half hour of arguing between us, 5 people against the cab driver, the guards had us go inside the hostel. 10 minutes later as I was going to bed I still heard the guy arguing it out with the guards. And with all that, he never even accepted the money we offered him.

So here was the problem of the argument: none of us spoke the same language. Joey and I speak English to each other. I could speak Zarma and French to the guards and cab driver. And Joey could speak Hausa to the cab driver and guards. So, in a normal setting this would get settled quick. But instead, it was like a circle of people yelling stuff back and forth, with the language changing by the sentence.

Joey and I kind of laughed our way through it at times though, come on, how many times are you arguing with a cab driver in Africa in 4 different languages?!?!

In other news, I'm now going to start using Flickr for photos, so heres the new url:



I updated today and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to get some pictures of Niamey up....A bientot!