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SICK

I am feeling a little under the weather today. I have got a low grade temp, a runny nose, and an achey body. I hate being sick when it is hot outside because it makes everything that much worse. I went to visit my parents in Arizona a few years back and I acquired strep throat. It was nasty, nasty because it was about 120 degrees outside. So, that illness adventure was not unlike the one I am having now. Yah.... for me.

Patrick and I are officially leaving in July, but the really sad part is that we will be missing Laecee's wedding. She and CJ will be married almost one month before we can possibly come home. I hate the way things work out. I am glad to be getting out of this joint. I hate the heat, the dust, the dirt, the bugs, and just about everything one can possibly think of.

I saw something that really grossed me out the other day. Please take into consideration that my gross-out meter has shifted quite a bit since my arrival in this joint so, this was really nasty. I was taking a taxi through some neighborhoods on the outskirts of Niamey and there is front of us was a river err creek of sewage. Most people just dig a pit outside their concession wall and the bathroom waste drains into that, but this person had taken it upon himself to dig a ditch through the middle of the street through which the family waste would be funneled. Even the taxi driver was grossed-out. We had to drive around the river of filth because he would not drive his car through the black nightmare.

Everything Is Exactly The Same

For the past month or so I have been experiencing something I like to call terminal boredom. In short I am BORED... really bored and no matter what I choose to fill my time nothing seem to do the trick. This is where I sigh and tell you about this new problem I am experiencing. I have left ass cheek pain. I think it is from sitting on my ass for too many hours a day. But it could be something fatal... Hey this is Africa and all the nasty diseases come from this joint. Perhaps the ass pain is a symptom of some larger more terrifying problem. Only time will tell.

I am in Niamey again because Patrick had to fill out and submit his student aid form. We were going to go back to Dosso today, but the day is proving to be hot, hot, hot and I would rather not be stuck in a bush taxi sweating my ass off during the 3-5 hour drive back to Dosso. We are putting it off until tomorrow when we will be leaving in the morning.

We are approaching the four month mark. Hot damn!!! Four more months until we get to go away from this country and live high on the hog in America. Just realize that I am joking when I say "high on the hog" because upon returning to America we got no money and we got no jobs!!! Ahhhh, unemployment... Not that the last two years have not been one long stretch of unemployment.

Christmas

In the short of things... my Christmas sucked!!! But on the bright side this is my last major holiday away from family and friends. There was a lot of food and other volunteers, but it just falls short of being home around the tree with a fire blazing in the background. The worse part is that I waited all day for a call from my family which never came. I went to bed feeling the saddest I had felt in a long time. My mother elected not to call because she had a fight with my older sister and she just did not know how to talk to me being as she was sooooo angry. Meanwhile I sat with my cell phone in my lap all night just waiting for her voice. I hate waiting!! Sitting around and waiting for people makes me angry and I can tell you that by the time I went to bed I had flames coming out of my ears.

Now for some good news. Marya is going to get married. She and Dustin will wait a few years to say the vows, but I am really excited for her. Laecee, pictured above, is also getting married. The picture is of her official proposal. She and CJ plan to marry this coming summer. It just seems that love is in the air.

COLD!

This is the cold season in Niger which last year did not seem that cold, but now I am freezing. As I write this post I am wearing a scarf and hiding under a blanket. Burrrrr!! This is also the season of bloody noses because the air is so dry. The heals of your feet crack because of the dryness. This is a nice season because you can sleep without sweating, but the dryness is murder on the body.

Spending the Christmas season in an almost all Muslim country is really strange. There are no twinkle lights, there are no fir trees, and there is no sense of holiday cheer. This makes the whole season almost slip by without too much notice. In the least I cannot wait to get back to the states for a huge over-exposed holiday season. Next year....

New Things

Over the past two days I have been listening to the newish Tori album. When I acquired it, in America, I did not think anything of it, but now I am finding it quite good. I highly recommend!!!

Patrick is currently taking his GRE test. Peace Corps is nice enough to set-up a testing center for the volunteers who want to take the test. If they had not done so it would have cost something like $300 to establish one. Patrick has been studying for the test for two and a half months. Of course he does not feel very confident about the whole thing, but I think he might just do well. He is, after all, our ticket out of this joint three months early. Grad school, Grad school, Grad school!!!!

I am going to go to the pool where I will try to even-out my amazing farmer's tan. Oh wait, who am I kidding? The sun is not unlike the intense heat of hell and to rest in its rays for a long duration is tantamount to suicide. I will be sitting in the shade reading my book. But before I venture to the pool I have to get to the bank. There are no ATM machines in this country so everything is old school. You must write a check to yourself and then cash it at the bank. Sometimes I like it because it makes me think of F. Scott Fitzgerald novels; the characters are always cashing checks to keep the party going, but most times it is just a mad house. Nigeriens have no sense of lining-up. They just cluster around the counter.

Fun With The Font

Patrick and I are still in Niamey. Adam asked us, yesterday, if we would like to go to dinner tonight. Patrick and I elected to stay one more night. I think we are both ready to head out, but really now what lies ahead? Just the road to Dosso and endless days of the same. I wish there was something to love here. In the foothills of California I feel like I come alive, but here all I feel is dried-out. The sun beats you down, the dirt beats you down, the bugs wake you up at night as they crawl up your leg, ... The darkness spooks the shit out of you. There is truly no solace here. I want to feel alive here, but wanting is for nothing because this place will continue to kill me until I am finally free.