Goats on Kabu Kabus

Hello again,

Now that I have frequent internet access again, I thought I'd update the ol' blog and let you know what I have been up to in Zinder. Tomorrow I'm making the 15 + who knows how long journey back to Niamey, yikers, so it might be a while before I muster up the kokori (effort in Hausa) to make it out to this region again. This is Hausaland, a very different culture from the Tuareg region I just visited, but it's awesome to hear another language and practice other greetings; as opposed to the soft hand touch and quiet greetings, Hausa people like to yell and slap each other around a bit! Even the Tuaregs here are different, which is good for my research, speaking of migration and changing culture, etc...

When I returned from the desert earlier this week, I throughly cleansed my dirty self and found fresh fruits and veggies in the huuuuge and amazing grand marché/big market. Of course, once in the market, I could not help from buying gorgeous pagne/fabric up the wazoo. My friend Paige found the coolest fish (though not jesus fish) pagne that she insisted that I turn into a complet, which is a "complete" outfit, top, skirt and head scarf. I just picked it up from a local tailor and it is stunning I must say. I also fell for some pink and orange question mark pagne and tried to turn it into a saucy top, but the tailor misunderstood my horrible sketch and it went terribly wrong, will have to try to remedy that in Niamey.

After my pagne buying frenzy, I enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving feast hosted by some very gracious peace corps volunteers here at their hostel in Niamey; we had squash pie which was as good as pumpkin, a free-range turkey b/c there are no cages here, plus a bunch of other random delicious things like empanadas and key lime pie and stuffing that I made and a turkey made out of fruit. I also visited the Thursday meat market, which draws hundreds of men and their goats, sheep, camels, cows, donkeys, and horses to Zinder to barter up a storm. A priceless moment came when I was riding on a kabu kabu (motorcycle in Hausa) away from the market and we zipped past another kabu kabu whose passenger was holding a goat! I was sadly unable to whip out my camera in time but will post pics from the market soon.

Yesterday I finally got down to business and did interviews of Tuareg women all over the city with the help of Al Housseina, the wife of an amazing Tuareg jeweler that I met through peace corps friends. His work is incredibly intricate and precise and you may be receiving presents that he made when i get back! Al Housseina took me to her friends' houses and they were impressed by my Tamashek greetings, which made me happy. I went to Moumouni and Al Housseina's house last night for dinner and got to watch a short documentary of Moumouni making a tuareg cross of zinder necklace, and we also watched cote d'ivoire music videos, with Al Huosseina exclaiming frequently, "Allah protect them," b/c there were scantily clad dancers. I prepared 3 rounds of Tuareg tea, which is my new hobby.

Today I did more interviews and went hiking with my friend Juliet, we scampered up some boulders and got a great view of the city, lots of dusty streets and green trees, plus a gorgeous sunset. I will be sad to leave tomorrow but it's been a great stay.

LAST THING, ok since it's almost the holidays I would love to receive some snail mail and i PROMISE to write back, if you send it to this address you can use US POSTAGE and it will get to me uber fast, so if you have the chance to write i will beam with happiness across the atlantic ocean, indian ocean, sahara desert, wherever:

Maggie Fick, Fulbright Researcher
2420 Niamey Place
Dulles VA 20189

Thanks and hope to be in touch soon! xo mags