Where do I begin? I’ve experienced so much in the past few days that it’s going to be close to impossible to sum it all up…but I’ll give it a try. On Friday, I took a canoe across the Niger River to the island village of Kanazi. It was my first experience in an African tribal village, and it was definitely an eye-opening one. Friday night, I tried Lebanese cuisine for the first time. It was amazing! Of course the best part came at the end of the meal when they served dessert and coffee. I don’t really know how to describe the dessert except to say that it had coconut and pistachio, and a bowl of rose oil (similar to honey) that you poured over the top. But even better than that was the richest, thickest, blackest coffee I’ve ever tasted. They served it in a little espresso cup after dessert.

On Saturday, we traveled to Gotheye, a Songhai village outside of Niamey, where I attended a team meeting. I had the chance to interview a national who was serving on the team, and it was really interesting to hear his perspective. Today, I walked along the Niger River into another Songhai village, where I took some photos of a potter who's been working at her craft since childhood. I rode out of the village on camelback, which was definitely a first for me, and then we took a canoe down the Niger River again. This time, we saw a hippo. We stopped for a picnic lunch along the river before heading back to Niamey.

Je suis arrive! I made it to Niamey! My luggage wasn't quite as fortunate as I, but hopefully it will arrive with the next flight on Friday. When I got in yesterday, I met up with the video team: a journeyman from Thailand, and a freelancer from Texas. Because of safety issues, I wasn't able to go with them to cover the Tuareg festival in Kirasali today, but on Tuesday we'll travel together to another Tuareg village, where I'll cover a story on a journeyman who is working with famine relief. Tomorrow, I'll be traveling to a Songhai village, covering a story involving a medical clinic there. I'll keep you updated in later posts, but for now, since my power supply was in my checked bag, I better save my battery.

I've got to hand it to FedEx. When they say a package will arrive by 10:30am, they're pretty good about making sure it reaches its destination. At exactly 10:13 this morning, I had my passport in hand with a stamped and signed visa from the Republic of Niger. While I still have thousands of questions about the next few weeks, I spoke with my supervisor over the phone tonight and cleared up at least four or five of them. But despite the unknowns, I have an amazing peace about this trip. Just two days left until the journey begins...

You know that phrase, "hurry up and wait"? Well, I've decided there is no better way to sum up the last week of my life. When I first found out last week that I'd be traveling to Niger in mid-September, I was instructed to expedite my passport in order to leave as soon as possible. So I immediately got on phone with the passport agency in Boston only to find that my passport had already been sent to me via priority mail, and there was nothing I could do to expedite the process. The only advice the man on the other end of the line could give me was to wait.

When I received my passport just a few days later, I called my supervisor who just so happened to be out of town. I left him a voicemail message, but once again, my only option was to wait.

Last night, I spoke with a travel agent who faxed me my visa applications just after FedEx had closed. While I rushed to get all the information necessary for my application, I realized I would have to wait until FedEx opened this morning to overnight my application package. This afternoon, I am sitting at Panera, just having left FedEx (where I was assured my package would arrive in Washington, D.C. by 10:30am tomorrow), waiting...

Hopefully, if all goes as planned, my passport with a freshly stamped visa, will be returned to me by 10:30am Saturday, and I will begin the first leg of my journey to Niger on Monday afternoon. Until then, I'll be waiting...