MADAGASCAR!!

Well hello from Paris! Yep I'm gonna make a long story short. About three weeks ago maybe, we were put on consolidation. This is where all volunteers and trainees were brought together in their regions. Us trainees were all brought up to the training site where we stayed for a long time. We couldn't leave the fenced in grounds without a staff member with us. There was an attempted kidnapping on US Embassy workers in one of the regions here in Niger. It was unsuccessful but unknown if it was a planned attack. So after the couple weeks of being all together, Mary our country director decided since we hadn't been in country for that long, we weren't able to notice if there was a difference in the atmosphere, whether a normal situation had become unsafe. So she decided to pull us. Lucky we were almost all able to go together to Madagascar where we will begin our training all over again. Unfortunately, one person wasn't able to come with us. Her name was Alena. She is a great person, always positive and will be greatly missed. I am amazed that PC was able to keep us all together and move us all to another country. I had made Niger my home in just the few weeks we were there and I will greatly miss it. We had a great Thanksgiving where the trainees put together a fabulous meal for everyone. We had PLENTY to eat. We also held a fashion show which was just great. We dressed up in Nigerien clothes, thanks to our language teachers, and modeled them off. It was a fun time. We put on an American Olympics for the teachers to participate in, which myself and JaJa put together. We did things like an obstacle course with hopscotch, frog jumps, English tunnel of greetings, and the crab walk. We also had pin the tail on the donkey, tug of war and musical chairs. It was a blast and everyone enjoyed. I am still a Health Volunteer which I'm excited about. I'm definately super excited to be heading to Madagascar, more of a vacation destination. So I hope many of you will consider coming. My new address will be posted on here. I'm gonna load some pictures and then head out to see Paris! I still can't believe this. It's so surreal. Luv you all. Thanks to those that have written and/or called. The first picture is

my language classmates, Ashely and JaJa. The second is of me and my family. Basically who they are are my mama, the daughter-in-law Ramatu, the daughter Rakia, the two grandsons Moumouni and Ousmane and me. The third one is some camels that were just wandering around down by the tabaki, a temporary lake that forms after the rainy season. Here's to the third time training!

INA WUNI

The title of my blog is Hausa for good afternoon basically! So yeah we're just shy of three weeks in country. It's great. I'm totally loving it here. It's been hot and it's not even in the hot season yet. We are on demyst. That is where we go out into the country to stay with a current volunteer for a few nights. I went to visit a volunteer who is NRM and Zarma....I'm health and Hausa, but it was great. I want to start a garden and work i nthe fields. I feel like i've forgotten how to type, so I'm sorry in advance. A little about my training. We have class Mon-Fri 8-4ish. And Saturdays from 8-12. I sleep outside under the stars, in a mosquito net. I have a roommate, Kelly. We both luv bluegrass so we listen to it every morning while getting ready to go get breakfast...cafe au lait and bread for me...It's great sleeping outside but I tend to wake up at 5am every morning and the MOON (MOM) is so bright it seems like there is a light right above my head. But if it's not that it's either one of the three donkeys that live just on the other side of wall or one of the ten goats that also live there. So it's great. I don't mind it at all. I had an extreme calming feeling come over me as soon as I got off that plane in Niamey. So great to finally be back in Africa. The people are so kind. It is different from GUinea but you know that was to be expected. Speaking of Guinea, they did get evacuated and one of the volunteers transferred here to Niger...he has actually been to my village becuz he was only 35km away from my village. So that was nice to hear about what everyone was doing and whatnot. Anyhoo I've got to get back to the hostel....I'm starving. I luv you all....keep sending me stuff...it's so great...anything..everything..luv you all!! and miss ya a bunch.

And so it begins....

Well I made it to Philly. I haven't been able to sleep lately becuz I've been so excited and anxious for the day....and it finally came. I flew outta LaCrosse at 7am and arrived in Philly around 12:30pm. It was good..got about an hour of sleep from chi-town to philly. Got on the shuttle to the hotel where I joined 38 other people going to Niger. I definately feel much calmer now that I'm actually here with my group. It feels more real or something. I'll be taking off early tomorrow morning and probably won't have internet access for, they say 2 months and cell service for maybe a month. So just remember....no news is good news. I hope you all are beginning to write. I'm so glad that I got to see everyone and talk to everyone that I did in the last few months. I've had a great time. I still think of you all and luv you with all my heart. Thank you for the support. Take care.

so with 11 days left before the take off for staging, i'm flooded with so many emotions. I'm very anxious and excited to get back to africa. While in Guinea, I had made myself a home (my first time living alone besides the dorm life freshman year), connected with a family that treated me as one of their own, and made many, many friends. I'd lie if I said I don't think about Guinea often because I do. Especially lately, it's been on my mind most of the day. For those of you that don't know, all the volunteers in Guinea have been evacuated to Mali this week. There has been political turmoil in the capital and Peace Corps made the decision to evacuate. They are currently evaluating the situation and making the decision whether or not it's safe to send them back into country. I feel for the volunteers for many reasons. As far as I'm aware, they did get a couple days to gather their things and say good bye...not knowing if they'd return. Some if not most were in the middle of projects that will be left unfinished, and who knows if they will be continued without the volunteer present but I hope they all do. G-15, the group I was in, would have been done with their service in February 2010, so what I have heard from some of them is that if they don't return to Guinea, they are going to COS (close of service) 4 months early. There is a mixture of emotions within the group. Some are excited that they may be able to go home for the holidays, others had plans to take the GRE within the next few months in the capital, and a handful were planning to do third years in Guinea and in different countries in West Africa. My heart goes out to them all and I hope everything works out for the best.It's hard for me not to think that if I had stayed in Guinea, my service will have been done in February-just when I'll be at IST (inservice training). This occurs three months after being at site. But I don't let it get me down. I was having mixed feelings about going back to Africa after I got my invitation, but if you look at what I've went through not only in the past 15 months but the time before I left for Guinea, I've invested A LOT of my time and energy in this and it is something I want to do. I have met a lot of people that are in my group going to Niger on facebook and it is a relief. We discuss our hopes and fears, which we share many. It's calming to know, even though I've already gone through it, that I'm not the only one feeling the way I do. I feel good that I know what to expect, to some extent. It's going to be harder, I think, for me to leave this time around for personal reasons but I know that if I don't go, I'll always feel a hole in my life. I feel fortunate enough to have had a family reunion with all the family in the midwest, including both my sisters with one coming from oregon and the other coming from New York not too long ago. It has been awhile since that has happened and probably will be awhile until it happens again. I also am so happy that I have been able to spend many of my last weeks with friends that have been a big part of my life and influenced the person I have become. I am grateful for each and every one of you. I feel lucky to have you all in my life. I will leave you with a picture of my maternal grandmother with all her grandchildren. Until next time....