Arrival in Zinder!

I’m starting off the New Year in my new home: Zinder! We left the training site at 4AM on December 31^st and arrived in Zinder around 8PM. The bus ride was long and not at all comfortable.  Niamey is around 560 miles away from Zinder. This distance would probably take me eight or nine hours to drive in the U.S., but the road conditions in Niger make the bus ride quite a bit longer. We took the national road was mostly paved, but also included patches of sandy road that sent me flying out of my seat a couple times.

Some of the older volunteers here in Zinder came to meet us at the bus station and welcomed us with motorcycle helmets. In a previous blog post, I explained various methods of transportation that exist in Niger. Well, I have a new addition: kabo-kabos.

Kabo-Kabos are motorcycle taxis, and the only taxis in Zinder. Now if you’re reading this blog, chances are you know me and you know that I am pretty clumsy. So you also understand me getting on the back of a motorcycle, with a forty-pound traveling backpack strapped on my back and a ten-pound small backpack strapped to my front, is not the best idea in the world. This scenario becomes an even worse idea when you include the fact that my unlucky driver was also carrying two more, very large duffle bags on his lap while driving. Add to this the fact that we’re driving on unpaved sandy roads. (But don’t worry Mama-- I was wearing a helmet!)

I did in fact survive my first kabo-kabo ride. When we arrived at the Peace Corps hostel the driver seemed pretty annoyed. In a culture where physical contact (particularly between men and women) is almost unheard of, my clinging onto his back for dear life might have seemed offensive. Also, I’m pretty sure my legs flying all over the place did not help… Sai hankrui, have patience!

Once at the hostel, I enjoyed a delicious dinner of hamburgers and peanut butter cookies with the new and old members of Team Zinder. I was too exhausted from the long bus ride to go out to celebrate the New Year but I was pretty proud of staying awake until midnight.

Usually I make New Year’s Resolutions. This year I am not. I’m beginning the New Year in my exciting new home, but still unaware of what the year might really bring me.  Right now I’m shooting for good health and happiness, and I wish the same to all of you. Happy New Year!