Another Week, Another Visitor, Another Prez

My sister Kitty came to visit, and as the third member of my family to travel to this god-forsaken land, I gave her a very good idea on what to expect. However, for the third time, I was reminded that no matter how hard you try to set proper expectations, it's really impossible for people to understand until they arrive.

Kitty and I did the standard activities - saw the giraffes, drank Biere Niger in Niamey, and took a bush taxi au village. But on day 3, she called our sister in New York and politely requested that she doesn't have much to report on, but that she would like a hot shower upon return to the US. Her requests to our New York sister gradually became more and more dramatic, finally resulting in a long hot shower, free access to a washing machine, a pile of clean towels, as well as a warm robe. Demanding? You decide. I thought so!

However, she was a great sport, even with her first flight getting cancelled and leaving a day later. But after all, there are much worse places to be stuck in for an extra day, right? Maybe not....But, in the bush the village ladies dressed her for the party and we killed my cute little goat. I think she enjoyed the experience of seeing it here, even if the actual experience of feeling it is, well, uncomfortable, to say the least.

And some quick notes on her week, as she was bothered and enjoyed different things than I about Niger:

~Kitty seemed to get annoyed by having the kids around, who demand to have their pictures taken, then again demand to see it. Well, they never get their picture taken so it's a treat for the kids-I guess I'm just used to it. Speaking of pictures, my mom sent some of my villagers. I had 6-7 women in my house when I first brought them out and the first one had my friend Natiee and I. She was sitting next to me, pointed at it and said "black person and you". Then everyone in the entire room laughed as she didn't even recognize herself in the photo, but merely called herself a "black person"!

~Although not all the kids seemed to like her- one of my favorite little girls was deathly afraid of her- why? not because of her skin color- but because of her long hair! Finally when Kitty pulled it back Wasila stopped screaming!

~Kitty seemed to enjoy the okra sauce- where I refer to it as vomit sauce!

~One thing for sure- Kitty loved the attention from West African men! Whereever we, anasaras, go in Niger it feels like any man is eager to talk to us. It gets really tiring. When what feels like an entire country of men would marry you, its just annoying. But Kitty ate it right up! Everywhere we went she was willing to talk to the men that were smiling at her- where no one was willing to talk to me. I guess Niger has worn me down that now I just yell at everyone in Zarma! The celebrity life has gotten to me- now i understand why celebrities go nuts!

~This past weekend we went up to Ayorou to see the market then went up to Firgoune. Firgoune is a village right on the river and hippos are aplenty there. We went for a hippo watch and saw nearly 12 hippos. Luckily, we made it out alive. The next day we headed to the Ayorou market which was really unique- Ayorou is close to the Mali border and a lot of different ethnic groups gather at this market. We then went to the Anasara hotel for a little lunch break- Kitty even got to see corruption at its best! We had four meat sticks and a plate of fries, which would normally cost about $4. Well, the bill came and it was $10. I thought this is crazy, so I calmly asked the waiter in french. They told me it was expensive because I didn't discuss the price before I bought it. Seriously? This is a restaurant, aren't prices already decided?! Then the next guy they brought me to talk to told me the cost of the plate was $7. So why $10? That was the cost, once again I didn't discuss what it should have been. Finally they brought a third guy around and I had enough with the polite french and started yelling at these 3 different men in Zarma. They realized I was kind of a Nigerien since i speak the local language (and can yell like a Nigerien) and decided to give me some of the money back. During the good times, when I'm crying about leaving my village, I'll think about times like this!!! AWW get me out of here!

So with that hopefully Kitty is relaxing in the first world, eating all that beef jerky and chocolate she can get. Oh, America....

I can't end this blog without commenting on the election...OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA! Although it was unfortunate to not be in America during the election- there was so much excitement here. I stayed up nearly all night to hear the results- which was announced at about 5 am to have friends and family in both Niger and America texting like crazy. Although my sister and i were by ourselves in the middle of nowhere in Africa, we still celebrated! Nigeriens had so much excitement about having a black president- before the election every taxi we got into people would immediately ask if I voted. The educated men in the village were all talking. So now when my villagers ask me if there are black people in America- it's easier to explain by simply saying our president is black!!


A little video of Kitty getting off the camel: