The language training

From 28 September ~ 24 October, we had the language training. As I wrote before, I studied Hahousa. It was the first challenge for me. Learning Hahousa was harder than what I thought. In Hahousa, usually the subject changes depend on time and context.
And also there are the feminine and the masculine like French. But, lucky I had a great teacher. He is really nice and had always tried to make the class better.

During the training, we learned not only the language but also cultures and religions in Niger.
In Niger, almost 90% is Islam. They pray 5 times a day. I prayed once with my teachers. There are so many things which are written in the Koran and it is very interesting to learn about Islam. In addition, there are so many ethnic group: Hahousa, Zaruma, Towaregu etc. Each of them has each language and different customs.

I really have to mention that there are so many great dancers here in Niger. Most people are very good at dancing. Especially children are very good. I was amazed when I found young boys dancing in the class room at mid night. They invited us to dance with them. It was lots of fun!! I love dancing! I decided to learn African or Nigerian dance while I’m here.

When we had time, often we went around the village, Kollo. It is quite small, but it has great nature. We saw the rice filed like Japan. Honestly I couldn’t believe here was Niger, Africa. And when we were at top of the hill, we saw a great view: huge land and the horizon, very beautiful. Plus, people were very kind. They always greeted us so warmly. And as I said so many times, children were very very sweet. I think it is the same in the world.

It was only 3 weeks, but I felt very long time, just because there were so many things which is new to me and made me very surprise and amazed.