Dust storms here are crazy, coating everything in a fine layer of filth and making your eyes and nose and throat burn. Here are a few pictures from one of the dust storms at my site. It makes for pretty photos and less hot days, but the negatives still outway the benefits. The last photo is from the road into site in the morning after my run. Niger isn’t all sand and dryness!

This is the wall and outside of my house. Those are my two windows:

Donkey carts in the dust:

Dust storm:

Dust storm with my bag:

Floodwaters in the morning:

I took a whole series of pictures of me with all my various hats and things.  You can find them below.  They are pretty funny.   I used to have a lot of time on my hands, if that can explain the pervasive narcicism.  Enjoy.

My bandana hair:

Gangsta style:
 

I basically am uncovered only when waking up:
 

My running headband:
 

This is my common getup:
 

I like this hat, and sometimes where it to work when I want a change:
 

My turban up, great for preventing dust:

My turban down:

So its picture time again. First up we have a few photos from my birthday party at my site. These are some of the scouts, a local youth group who I eat with most nights. We hang out sometimes and will be doing some workshops for girls when I get back after IST (insha Allah).

I killed the chicken, but didn’t actually kill it, so they had to take over for me. I think my manhood was poorly reflected in some poorly defined sense that has them making jokes about me.

Swirl the chicken around in some boiling water and those feathers come off with ease. Here some other volunteers are doing the honors.

Next up, some more photos of my house and concession. This is a view over my concession fence in the morning:

My front room in the morning light:

New kitten. She is much nicer than the other, and quite the hunter already:

I have a foam mattress that I bring out each evening to sleep on. But I will probably switch to a straw mat that I can just leave there. I don’t go in much for mattresses these days. Anyway, this bedframe cost me the equivalent of $14, and it is awesome:

Finally, we have some scenery from around my village:

This is the view from my mayor’s office, which is also where I go every morning for a few hours:

This road passes my village and separates my village from the mayor’s office. A bus comes twice a day headed to Niamey:

Middle school here is not what it is in the states:

I hope that keeps you satisfied for a little while. There are more photos to be seen by clicking on the thumbnails down on the bottom right of the blog.

It is a lot of work to post photos, and here is my Christmas present to all of you readers (sorry its not more substantial, but there are certain limitations at work here). The following pictures are from my time in Niger.

We will start with a couple photos from my house. You can’t see much because, well, there isn’t much to see. That is my front room and there is another just like it through the doorway with even less stuff in it. There is also a small enclosed yard, but I haven’t brought my camera out in public yet so I didn’t take a picture of it.

Tabaski is a lot of fun, mostly for the eating and seeing a gazillion slaughtered goats slow roasting next to fire pits. We didn’t do any of the actual killing or roasting. Maybe that will be next year in my village.

Then we will move on to a few photos from my training site. Half of the volunteers in the second photo have left now . Anyway, it looks a lot like New Mexico no? My site is even more like New Mexico. On the opposite side of the river is a bluff that could be right out of a scene along the Rio Grande.

Holidays are times for joy and sadness, and I am thinking about all of you and wishing I could see you. Have a merry Christmas.