Extremely long post...

Have decided to use journal instead of writing letters - write the same thing over and over, get a handcramp, then pay kudi dayawwa for letters that either never get there or get there so out of date that it’s pointless, or write it once, type it in Maradi hostel and copy/paste at netcafe… Hmmm…

2 September 2008. 1st day of Ramadan - Azumi.
They saw the new moon last night, so we’ve begun the month-long salla (prayer) - fasting sunrise to sunset. I set my alarm for 4 am to make sure I wouldn’t sleep through the morning call to get up and eat. Tashi! Motsa! Sha! (Get up! Move! Drink!) and thus be forced either really suffer, or not azumi with the rest of the town. Not all the women, though, as they can exempt themselves if they are breastfeeding. At the moment I’m chilling (unfortunately not literally) in my house, starting to feel the first pangs of thirst and hating the heat. The rest of the village, what little I’ve seen as I spent the morning cleaning and trying not to think about water, seems asleep. (Later on) Fasting’s not so bad when all you do is sleep… Eventually headed out around 5pm and got 5 more moringa trees planted. Greening the desert, etc. Then home for shower and sitting and waiting to be able to eat/drink. Shared strawberry Fosters’ Clark (nectar of the gods) with the family, and tea. Tea was probably not the wisest at this time of night, but so tired from the heat and fast that I doubt it’ll matter.

8 September 2008.
Back from Maradi and a training on using improved bags for storing cowpeas. Entirely in French. Huzzah for practice (Je suis un ananas...). In theory the bags are airtight, putting whatever critters are infesting the beans into a coma once they’ve consumed the available oxygen, thus saving the beans. In practice, I can’t find the bloody things in the market! Maradi was fun while I was in - vegged a lot in front of the T.V. catching up on pop culture I never got into in the States - watched the entire 3rd seasons of the O.C. and The Office. I prefer the Office, though wouldn’t be despondent if the blond one from the O.C. joined Team Maradi ;) Fasting again now that am back in the village… I just can’t bring myself to pass up tofu in Maradi…

10 September 2008
Rained a bit last night, making the morning pleasant, thought the heat of the day is still miserable. Especially with the fasting - this can’t be healthy. The entire city is shut down, the menfolk at least, all of whom are in clusters in the shade around the mosque sleeping. Women still have to pound and draw water, though they have a little bit more down time than usual. The kids, however… This must be their favorite time of year - they can run amuck and no one has the energy to bother to stop them.

13 September 2008
Have given up the fast. Have been getting miserably cranky and irritable - how to tell the difference, right? Alternately bingeing and starving oneself just can’t be a healthy pattern, especially in this heat. Even if I do spend most of the day crashed out inside (again, healthy?! Seriously!?) Will keep up the pattern, though - breaking evening fast with the fam and drinking lots of tea. Last night there were fanke - my favorite. It’s nice to be out with the fam at night, usually I’m exhausted and out cold by then on the days when I’m out working in the field but the whole cessation of work for a month is working in my favor. The nights are so pretty. So many stars. Have moved my bed outside to sleep under them. Will probably tear down the outer shade hangar wall once the tomatoes are done using it for a support and replace it with fabric - cut down on termites and increase the breeze. Also see if I can’t reaise the roof a bit - I feel like I’m in Alice in Wonderland sometimes - where she eats the cookie (drinks the potion? Can’t remember…) and takes up the entire house, elbows out windows, etc. Comes from living with the Engobrawa - known for their shortness throughout Hausaland.

20 September 2008.
Back from Maradi yesterday. Not sure why I take journal to town, seeing as I never seem to write in it when I do… Pretty much a waste of a week. Went in for team meeting and byebye to newbies for their first month out (toss baby in the pond to see if they can swim sort of thing…) but really wanted to get all set for INRAN upcoming projects, the ones I’ve taken over since Angie escaped back to the States (Ed note: 10/03 got note from her, she’s got a fantastic job in Miami and is ridiculously happy. I’m jealous.) At which point, the man I needed to talk to wasn’t back when he had said he would be and my boss hadn’t believed Angie really would ET, so wasn’t prepared for the backlash. So, 2 days turned into 4 waiting for the guy to come back and my boss then to tell me to put a hold on all planning until he’d talked to INRAN (despite having given me go ahead earlier in the month…) So frustrating… Spent the interim talking to other PCVs, showing the new Maradi PCV the Petit Marche (yay veggies!), waiting around for the situation to sort itself and/or for there to be a bush taxi home…

29 September 2008.
Exhausted and sore. I will never go on foot from Gidan Karo home again. Especially not in the heat of the day with only ½ a liter of water and a handful of Jolly Ranchers. Were I writing a book it’d be a chapter titled ‘There and Back Again: Mad Goats and Anasaras’, as in only the latter two would go out in the African sun. Went up to Dakoro on Friday was a very simple process; getting back was not. Hopped a morning taxi to Kadata, caught the 2nd taxi going up the road and was in Dakoro by 10am. It’s a nice town, jealous of J for having it as her market, and R for living their (free internet!). Had a great time up there - ate a ton of good food, including freezedried smores (nummy), talked a lot with Team Dakoro (minus K, who actually had work, unlike us hooligans) and spent the evening in a sugar high hysterity playing gin rummy. I came in 2nd. Bought a pretty pagne (Ed: you can see it in my photos - blue with yellow flower things) theoretically for salla but mostly just ‘cause. The next morning dawdled around, talking more and eating eggs. Hit the road around 2, which would have been fine but… a) longer wait for taxi than I anticipated b) 2 flat tires c) possible engine trouble or issues with the 2nd one d) picked up another passenger from a broken down car, and his goat. So, was approximately halfway home by the time they called magariba (evening prayer). Thankfully, we had just pulled into N’s village, so he let me stay with him. We ate the berry cobbler I’d brought for Dakoro that we hadn’t gotten around to eating (too much sugar as it was…) which was nummy and he cooked us curried couscous. So two good days of food  The trip was amusing, in spite or because of its issues. Took pictures like a tourist and it was good to have another anasara to talk to. Then yesterday hopped a taxi around 9-10 for Gidan Karo, where I should have arrived well before the heat of the day… Should. About ½ way there, still N of Sabon Mache, we blew a tire. They fixed it, but then, after we were all back in the car, the engine wouldn’t start up again, so we got to wait 1 ½ hours for another car to come get us. I got into Gidan Karo at 1:15, as the day’s heat was getting going. I should have just ridden into Maradi and taken a taxi back on Monday, but noooo… I had to be stubborn… or masochistic… I walked back, hottest part of the day, ½ liter water left in my Nalgene, maybe 10 Jolly Ranchers. 10 kilometers. Idiot. Arrived half dead. The story of the anasara gulping market water (in the middle of Ramadan…) will probably be told for ages. Managed to hold together long enough to buy the onions and sugar I needed, no fanka lady , and stumbled back home, where I promptly gulped sever liters of electrolyte-packed water and showered (or sat under the water… showered makes it sound active; I was dead). Then, to make matters worse for my dehydrated, shaking self, mom starts calling, like 10 times, unscheduled, and when I do get a little rezzo, she sounds panicked. I’d just talked to them yesterday - something had to be wrong. So, I, of course, am thinking ‘oh shit, something’s happened to Dad.’ So, exhausted, shaky, and panicked. I text my RR to call them please and see what’s going on. Then I finally get sufficient rezzo for a 2 minute conversation - she was just checking to make sure I’d made it home ok… the day before… < Insert exhausted hysterical laughter… > Called off my RR, finished collapsing, did dishes, made it through 2 of the normally 3 cups of tea with my host fam, and was out cold before 8 pm. That was yesterday (Sunday). Today, I’m tired, sore from 3 consecutive days of bush taxis, and achy from unstretched exercise. Need to get back into yoga. Lazy bum. Today I’ll chill, read, and work on translating presentations for the seed saving trainings. Tomorrow I’ll harvest a majority of the garden for use during salla - eggplants and peppers and tomatoes and the last of the zucchini - kayan miya galore.

1 October 2008. My hands still smell of rotting meat, after 2 washes with Hibiclens. I hereby refuse to eat non-packaged meat for the rest of my work here (or at least until I forget the smell… ugh…) Backtrack: It’s the 2nd day of Jajibr (Hausaization of Eid al Fitr). They didn’t see the moon when they ‘should’ have last night, so they fasted an extra day. The last day of fast you’re supposed to break it with meat. Lots and lots of meat. So, expecting the fast to end yesterday, animals were slaughtyered everywhere (I have pictures). Approx 170 people chipped in to slaughter 2 cows, with the meat being separated into equal piles on huge grass mats. I bought 2 portions of goat meat. Given that we didn’t see the moon, one of the portions was kept for tonight. They said if I put it in lots of clean water and salt it would keep. I must have screwed it up. Last night was fine - meat was fresh-ish and while I snuck Ghanima the intestines and bones and unrecognizable bits, it was still tasty. I know I messed up the storage - pretty sure I saw fly larvae, like the experiments I taught back in Bio Lab. And the smell. They swore it was fine. I figured maybe the submerged bits would be ok. The smell. Even Ghanima wouldn’t touch it. Everyone else dug in. They ate the head of the goat as well (not part of the meat I bought, thankfully). So much for integration - I spent most of the night trying to keep my stomach then declared that I was full and gave the rest to the kids. The smell. Ed note: Next day everyone was fine - must just be an anasara thing. The smell…

2 October 2008
Barka da salla. It began way too early this morning, a little bit before 7am. At the moment am out on the mat (opened up buhu), watching the fam play with puzzles. Watching the puzzling is fun. I gave them one of the 50 piece Care Bear puzzles as a salla gift. Like Winnie the Pooh, Care Bears are aljinni - mystical creatures. I can’t quite get the whole concept of cartoon across, but I did reassure them that these aljinni are nice and teach kids good manners. The puzzle that took me 2 minutes max is up to 15 and still going. I blame the school system. There is no emphasis on creativity or problem solving. Learning is rote memorization. The 1st form kids can’t read basics but they know what each page of their learner says because they’ve memorized what their teacher said - on pain of thwacking if they don’t. So, in any case, introducing puzzles is a godo thing, though repetition ad nauseum of ‘don’t force the pieces - they don’t belong together if you have to force them’ and ‘look at the picture - make it look like the picture’ does get to you after awhile. 8:18am - am a bad bad person. Too funny. 2 kids came by from one of the other hamlets (everyone else is used to the anasara) and wouldn’t get closer to me than 10 feet. Issaka tried to get them closer, then gave up and shrugged ‘yah, she’s pretty strong…’ at which point I suggested that maybe I should eat them, as anasaras eat children all the time… Issaka agreed. The kids took off running. Great fun but am a VERY bad person. 6:06 pm. LONG day. Took nap. Somewhere around 3 emerged a bit. Cleaned house until 5, showered, then headed to the womens’ dancing. I have video. How they made the music is really cool - they get a big dish of water and a coriya (gourd bowl) and hit the coriya at different levels of submersion. Gives a great sound. Got some stills as well. Then I gave it a shot. Oy am I out of shape. No DDR or elliptical, and too darn hot even if I did have them here, cardio’s not big on my list. Walking, sure, dancing like a crazy woman… nope. My feet are filthy (I can’t dance with shoes on in the States, certainly can’t do so here). Definitely fun, though, and the women thought it was hysterical. Anasaras CAN dance!