After 8/15 phone call

After classes today, Alex visited with two PCV in the infirmary. For whatever reason, only two of the guys have not been seen in the infirmary. Luckily Alex is one of them! When we called him at the appointed time, he was at a local lake. It is a small lake (about 25 acres) that gets filled in the rainy season, and eventually disappears in the dry season. The depth is a few feet in the middle; it is very muddy, and the PCV are told not to enter it because of the bugs living in the water.

His wildlife viewing so far has been two giraffes on his travel to Niamey. He has taken bus rides from his training station to the capitol. The busses travel about 30 – 40 kph (18-25 mph).

Alex is being posted on the eastern side of Niger. It is supposed to be green and lush in the area. He is thinking he might be able to grow a garden. He is replacing a PCV that will be going to a larger city for some specialized work.

He will be staying in a mud house that is in a larger housing complex. There are different schools that he may be working in to some capacity. French is the language spoken in school. He has to learn two different dialects (one of which he hadn’t heard of before). The PCV he is replacing said the first six months at post are spent learning the language and making connections.

He will have access to electricity from 6 pm to midnight in the cool season, and from 4 pm to midnight in the hot season. The electricity is provided by generators. He will have cell phone reception.

He will be able to visit his new home soon and start visiting the areas and potentially meeting people. Most of the PCV’s will return to a staging place and then return to their training facility.

He received a letter from me saying the low’s were in the high 30’s – low 40’s, and he now dreads the thought of ever being so cold again. The other night it was 78°, and he had to huddle under the sheet he was so cold! On the language front, he is extremely close to the mid-level French and expects to pass the test.

He mentioned the mosquitos are not bad at all, but the flies are. Some people are having issues with bed bugs (luckily not him).

Alex and Shane do have a termite problem. When the rain comes in the night, they have to run inside their hut. The rain brings the wind, and the wind knocks the termites out of the roof onto their beds/floor. He has learned to secure the edge of his mosquito net on the posts of his bed so they are not crawling in there with him. For fun he and Shane will watch the ants attack the termites (entertainment Niger style).

Last night they did not have a movie night. Instead they had a dance with some snacks and sodas. He mentioned their soda is very sweet as they sweeten them with sugar (not corn syrup as we do). The soda always gives him a good sugar high. He found out his lost luggage spent more time at Chas deGaulle Airport than he did.