Ay gonda cimi...

Well friends month 2 certainly did not disappoint. Thanksgiving was lots of fun and leaving my village for this whole month of Deember doesn't make me smile... but oh the obligations of a Peace Corps Volunteer. Out IST (In-service Training) Will be from the 7-22. I have be worned by Germany and others that if I don't come to Zinder for X-mas I will have lost thier friendship...oh peer pressure... so I geuss I'll make the trek out east. I stayed at Ginger's place Monday night where we bought and ate a whole chicken... yea the things you do when you don't have meat regurarly. After our feast we celebrated with peanut butter m & m's... thanks again mom!!! I didn't sleep too well. I fear that I have become so acustomed to sleeping outside now when I have an actual house with concrete walls I get freaked out... plus I couldn't stop thinking about seeing friends... Suz, Texas & Germany.

I arrived yesterday and I was bummed to be leaving Doun-dibi for so long but once I saw my stagemates all was well!!! There was lots of hugs and jumping up and down...ya know the usual me...kisses from Mark Seaman and planning where to sleep so as to be close to Frances. Others seemed to have really interesting stories... but all I could report was beng kicked my a donkey. Which even some more seasoned PCV's thought that was an accomplishment. Everyone had heard about my strep face incident thanks to the PC gossip chain... most peoples responce was that the scars would heal but that I looked much better from what they had heard... haha oh Niger.

Things couldn't be better in Doun-dibi. I fear I may have gotten in over my head with the garden. But it has accomplished much of my original goals. I think I have received a lot of respect for my work. My hands are raw but the work is rewarding. Clearing the field and digging the post holes took a week... whereas most villagers take 2 days. I kept having to take dyas off because my hands just hurt too much. I was told I had a lot of effort and that my strength was growing. In most of your letters you've wanted to see what my house is like or what I do on a day to day patience... I have pictures but the internet cafe i'm at right now is really slow so check facebook closer to christmas... kala suuru...have patience

And now for story time:
So there I was working on my garden which is right next to Rakia's (my chiefs daughters garden) and Basidu (her older brother) came over to start working on the fence post holes. I ask him to teach me as I soon would need post holes as well. Then Basidu looks up at me and says "You's don't know, you're a woman, you can't do this kind of work". Poor poor Basidu...I'm mean really you can't blame him. He doesn't know that I'm a feminist or even what the word means. He doesn't know that I'm "stubborn" or "hard headed" as some have been known to describe me. And he also doesn't know that he just set me off. So in my calmest voice possible I tell him that I like to work with my hands, that in Amerik women can do many of the jobs men do and that I still wanted to learn. He shows me, I dig a hole in the smae time he could have done 3 but at the end he tells me fondo goy..ni ga wanni (Great work...you know). I then walk over, find a rake and walks towards Musa's (another of my maijiri's sons) garden. He isn't there but I know its needs to be cleared so as favor to him I did it.
The crowd begins to form... as Sarahtou is doing a mans job. Basidu can't see me from where he's working but others inform him what I'm doing. Suddenly I got a burst of energy...it was just as the sun was going down. I cleared his garden in about an hour. Musa heard through others that I was working in his garden via the village gossip chain (which is ligting fast by the way). He comes over to tell me he is grateful and that I have a lot of effort. After that is all finished there is a HUGE pile. I suggest we burn it. Musa says know that it's too dry that tree's will catch on fire. Alpha comes by, yes now we're at about 20 people watching me work, he looks to Musa and say that we should burn it. I look to him in aggreement, flash and "I told you so" look ot Musa and urn to get matches. Well being the Sahara as all the fire gets slightly larger than I expect...but not out of control (still good, still good). Me and all these men sit back, arms folded watching this field go up in flames. Musa leans over and say "Ni gonda cimi" (You have truth). At the blazes light Basidu comes around to see what is going on. He see's that I have cleared the garden entirely by myself and Musa informs him it was my idea to burn the large pile. He echos that I not only have truth but strength and effort. I take in a deep breath.... I think to myself I am home. I have their respect. They understand me as best they can, and what of my true self I reveal to them.

I can't help but think...is this really my life? Its bound to get really tough at some point right?