Sunday, August 05, 2007

Crazy busy happiness

I've got a house, I've got power, I've got functional plumbing, i've got couches, a bed, a fridge, a stove, and I'm loving every bit of it. I have Souley, Gaston, and Yacouba to thank for it. THANKS GUYS!!!

Things are really pretty good right now. We had a "nacho fry" party the other night. I got a wok and we made a crapload of french fries and some taco fixins and had nacho fries, they were awesome. Then we threw in some eggs the next morning for nacho fry hash. it was awesome. We all went to La Cascade the other day for Seabass's birthday, he's two dozen now.

There are plenty of people coming into town right now for a Globe conference (evironmental and science education training) so Niamey is starting to get a might busy. I'm doubly glad to have my own place. One of the main purposes of the hostel's is to provide a resting place for pcvs for mental health. We don't really get any time off in the bush, we're always dealing with people, even in our concessions people stop by to see us and there's no "safe" place to hide. The hostels are a good place when we need to be away from everything for a day, but not when there are too many people there. That's an overload of a different sort. It makes me very glad to have my house here. I can have private space, my neighbors aren't bugging me all the time -- don't get me wrong, I like my neighbors, but it's nice that they don't come knocking every day -- and I can get away from PCVs if I want. I can actually guarantee myself some quiet time to just relax and take a deep breath and think.

I've got plenty to do with the job. I've got to help rewrite the agriculture project plan, I've got to get a presentation ready for the 45th aniversary stuff, I've got to open 6 new sites, and I've got to try and stay sane. I think I'll pull it off, all but that last bit anyway. I found out today that there is a bridge out on the way to tillaberi, so it will be much harder now to get materials to the new sites. I also have to get approval on houses from the bosses, so I've got to get them out there too. There's a lot to do, but it will all happen as it should, so I'm not going to worry about it. So there.