Amoebas Strike Again

I was sleeping soundly the night of the 31st, determined this would be my first and last New Years to ever sleep through midnight, when I wake up to my phone (which sounds like croaking frogs) at 11:40 pm. "Happy New Years!" says Alex, "sorry I'm a little late." I tell him he's early not late (people seem to have trouble getting this time change right) and then (as he has just landed in America for the first time in 6 months) he tells me he has to go be with his family. I hang up and am suddenly left realizing that at 11:43 pm I can't, in good conscience, sleep through the coming of 2009. I sit patiently, watching my kittens tear up and down the straw mats leaning against my make-shift bookshelf, and wait until my watch says 23:59:50. And then I count down from ten and say "Happy New Years," (and rabbit-rabbit for good luck) to myself before rolling over to go back to sleep. As soon as I roll over, however, I feel that all too-familiar rumbling in my stomach and I think to myself...my family and friends may be drinking champagne and taking saunas and dancing without me...but it looks as though I am not alone. And when my family woke me up at 1:15 am to scream Happy New Years, which was wonderful albeit an hour and fifteen minutes late, they were rumbling even more. And when my family called again at 7:40 to say they were still dancing, and at 9:00 to say they were getting ready to go to sleep, I knew that I was bringing in the new year with what felt like thousands of tiny babies all jumping up and down toasting to each other inside my stomach, shouting: this is going to be one hell of a year!

I waited it out for two more days, and finally this morning I rode in to Niamey, trying to contain myself, sitting atop a bag of animal feed in an open-back truck. I nicely asked the doctor to please come in on a Saturday and promptly tested positve (for the second time) for amoebas and bacteria. Which is way better than testing negative because it means they'll give you medicine! And then you get better! So now here I am...haven't eaten anything or even drank much water in a few days...but I am getting better. So much for one full month in my village.

But, as I have the technology for a moment, some photos:

This is my shade hangar to the left (you can see my two small solar panels on the roof) and the door to my bedroom hut on the right. My outdoor bed is straight ahead, and to the left of that: the other half of my garden that is not shown in the picture behind my blog title.



This is the inside of my kitchen hut!



Behind my house there, though you can't really see them, are my shower and bathroom. And then my watering can cart, and my concession's back-door being held up by a shovel.



And this is my dishwasher!



And while I'm at it, another adorable picture of Sylvia Plath.



And this is a little random, but here is the ambassador's residence, where we swore-in. Not a bad set-up...




Another swear-in picture: the Beeri Kwara Clan.




And Carrie, Kristen and me at Christmas.



So I should get some sleep, but a Happy New Year to all! And Happy Birthday to Kate! According to Niger time you turn 20 in 2 hours and twenty minutes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe you got so old. I love you.

P.S. I have a new address and phone number (my phone got stolen...), I'll post the address on the side of my blog. Love to all!