Phone call from Alex in Niger to Parents

After a phone call to his parents, this is what Alex:

All is going well. He and other PCV’s are going to Niamey that day (he called me early Sunday morning). They had been to Niamey briefly this week, and it somehow seemed they had the ‘all clear’ to travel there on their own in their time off. His mail received so far is the first two letters sent to him and a package we sent him. He mentioned other PCV’s are receiving their mail out of order, but the mail is going through.
As a PC Trainee they all get Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday off. Once he goes to his site they can set their own schedule dependent upon duties, etc. If you have seen the picture of the PCV’s when they first arrived, his roommate Shane is standing near him.
It is surprisingly green, mostly coming through the trees though, not much grass at all in the country. The one tree in their concession is only chest high.
The father in his host family is an English teacher at the middle school across the street from their concession.
Had a recent language interview; he is in the intermediate French stage. He has to reach intermediate-mid range before he gets to his post (that is still 2 months away). The language is coming along well. I do not know how Hausa is coming for him or if he is studying it yet; I did not get a chance to ask him. Communication within the host family is going OK (Mom still talks super fast, and needs to repeat herself for him to understand her). It is harder to communicate when going outside his concession.
Items that we can send are Peanut MM’s (they do not melt), granola/energy bars, dried fruit (though he has never been a fan of that before, he is willing to give it a good try), and beef jerky. He mentioned he had gone to their version of a supermarket and purchased some chocolate. It was a very welcome treat for him.
They have no pepperoni in Niger; other PCV’s said to have people send pepperoni sticks so he could slice them up and make a Niger version of pizza.
He finds out on Friday, August 14, where his post will be. When the temps are in the high 90’s to low 100’s he is good, when it climbs above 110 he gets into the shade.
There are several wells in town, so no shortage of water. They usually do a water run on Sundays and Wednesdays to fill up their barrels. Ryan and other longer term PCV’s are in Maradi (the economic city of the country) where they have running water, refrigerators, and flush toilets. Alex was told he will have access to electricity and water.
For his demystification weekend, he and Katie ended up in the Tillaberi region where Hausa is spoken. They all left on the PC vehicle at 7:30 a.m. dropping off people along the way, Alex and Katie were the last to be dropped off at 2 a.m. the next day. So they were able to visit with Emily for 14 hours of the weekend. After they went to sleep Sunday night, they were awakened early Monday morning with a storm. They all ran inside her hut which really only sleeps two. He let the two ladies have the sleeping mats, and he tried to curl comfortably around a table, that is how he slept (?) from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Alex & Katie had to leave at 6:30 a.m. for an hour walk (6-7 km) to catch the taxi which leaves at 8 a.m. once a day.
It took them 1 ½ hours to reach their destination, about 3 minutes into the walk it started down pouring again. There was a small creek beside them that they had to cross several times; the creek soon became a calf-high rushing torrent. They are carrying their backpacks with all their gear, books, electronics, and clothes in the downpour. It was a miserable walk in the only pair of lace-up shoes he took, and it took 1 ½ hours. The last bit they were running it because they did not want to miss the taxi. When they arrived, the driver said he would not leave until after the rain stops. A PCV in that town, invited them over to his place for breakfast. They had toasted bread drizzled with honey and some hot drink that people add a lot of sugar to and it ends up tasting like kool-aid.
At 9 a.m. they left for their 45 minute drive to the bus station. The driver went real, real slow in a car that has no shocks and no windows in it. It was still drizzling so Alex was ½ dry and ½ wet. The drive ended up taking 2 hours. They had to pay 2 tolls (ended up being roughly $1.00 each). One of which was to a regular citizen who complained they were destroying the road by driving in the drizzle. The resident PCV did not want to pay the toll and was making disgruntled noises, but Alex & Katie just wanted to get to Gaya.
They arrived in Gaya at 11:45 (having texted ahead for some of the others to order their lunch for them); the food was not ready and preparation to make it did not start until 12:40. At 1:50 the food was ready, but they had to catch the bus at 2:00. So they scarfed what they could down and went to the bus station. Buses habitually leave ½ later than scheduled. This bus did not leave until 3:15-3:30 (the following bus was leaving at 3:30 according to its schedule). The hold-up was in loading the passengers and freight.
All this transportation for 14 hours of visiting with an in station PCV – he and Katie were just tired.
On the bus ride the plexiglass window he was sitting next to was cracking. The construction and motion of the bus was causing it to buckle in about 4 inches. One of the Nigerien tapped him on the shoulder to push back on the window to help it not crack further. So instead of napping he spent the 1 ½ hour ride pushing back on the window so it only caved in about 1 inch compared to the 4 inches.