My training now has a definable end, though I am still not sure what day exactly I am going to go to my site. Anyway it will be after Thanksgiving and after Tabaski, which puts it at next Monday at the earliest but possibly even Tuesday or Wednesday. That leaves me with about eight language classes left and a small number of other sessions. I am getting pretty excited.

Today we had an activity that we didn’t have in Guinea called “GAD Olympics.” GAD stands for Gender and Development, or maybe Gender, AIDS and Development. Basically we had teams and ran an obstacle course while carrying buckets of water on our heads and then we made peanut butter and tea. It was fun and I think the stage enjoyed it.

Sunsets in the desert are unlike anything I have ever seen. Last night I just sat and watched the sun go down over the red sand. Niger has a reputation for being harsh and ugly, but actually it is very beautiful (at least what I have seen). There is the heat and the wind and the sand, and some nights there is the cold, but none of them are soft or mellow. When the wind comes it blows with a purpose. The sun pounds into the earth with meaning, and the sand is everywhere and varied and patient. The weather here is nothing if not passionate.

I heard from a couple of Guinea volunteers this last week, which was a great surprise. I would really like to do a trip through several countries, most of which have ex-Guinea volunteers that I could visit. I will probably try to do that sometime in the spring after I have had a chance to settle into my site and gotten some work done, but before the rains come. I am sort of hoping that I can pick some volunteers up as I pass through and we can continue on in a giant circle.