First Year, by the Numbers

I've been in Niger as a volunteer for over a year now and while I'm uploading pictures and writing about my vacation I thought this would be kind of fun to read. Enjoy!


If you want to know anything else, just ask and I'll add it.


Books read: 37
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - J. K. Rowling
Hoot! - Carl Hiaasen
Chronicles: Vol I - Bob Dylan
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bill Bryson
African Diary - Bill Bryson
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Searching for God Know's What - Donald Miller
Walden & Other Writings - Thoreau
How Good Do We Have to Be? - Kushner
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Big Sur - Jack Kerouac
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Who Were the Celts - Kevin Duffy
A History of the Arab Peoples - Albert Hourani
Beyond Humanitarianism: What You Need to Know about Africa and Why it Matters - Council on Foreign Relations
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary - Simon Winchester
Tales of Mystery - Edgar Allen Poe
Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo
Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History from the Mississippi Delta to Chicagos South Side, to the World - Robert Palmer
The Baobab and the Mangoe Tree: Lessons about Development, African and Asian contrasts - Nicholas and Scott Thompson
Soul Survivor: How 13 unlikely Mentors Helped my Faith Survive the Church - Phillip Yancey
Zen Guitar - Philip Toshio Sudo
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood - David Simon & Edward Burns
Into the Wild - John Krakauer
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Joshua: A Parable for Today - Joseph F Girzone
Captain Alatriste - Arturo Perez-Reverte
Hausaland Divided: Colonialism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger - William Miles

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel DeFoe
Sidhartha - Herman Hesse
Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story - Timothy B. Tyson


Bacteria (tested): 6 or 7

Bacteria (self diagnosed) : I gave up on counting

Amoebas: 3 (maybe 4, I forgot)

Giardia: 1

Ear Infections: 2


Most languages heard in one day: 6 (recognized: Arabic, Hausa, French, Zarma, English and Fulfulde, 7 if you count Broka (broken English) and Grammar (correct English) as separate languages)


Days spent in Africa: 472 (as of oct 10,2008)


Days spent as a volunteer in Niger: 410


Days spent in Benin: 4


Days spent in Togo: 4


Days spent in Ghana: 11


Days spent in Burkina Faso: 2 (I'll hope to back in February for FESPACO)

Times I've pooped my pants: zero, ok once


Times my hair has been cut: 2


Number of people who have purchased tickets to come visit: 2, thanks mom and dad


Number of days I fasted during Ramadan '08: 4


Number of electronic devices that Niger has destroyed/damaged: 2 (iPod and Canon Powershot A5)


Number of subscribed readers of this blog (according to Feedburner): 70


Text messages sent: 2177


Text messages received: 3020

Number of times Oumarou said he would come over to play guitar: 4

Number of times he's shown up: 0

Number of volunteers villages I could easily walk to: 3

Avg number of shot glasses of tea per day: 3-4

Avg time to bush taxi to Maradi: 2 - 6 hours

Avg time to bus from Maradi - Niamey: 10-12 hours

Avg time spent greeting people per day: 1-2 hours

****
updated 10/13/08

Shots received in America: 3-ish (tetanus booster, Polio, Yellow Fever) that's all I remember

Shots received in Niger: 11-ish (Diphtheria?, Meningitis, Rabies series of 2 or 3, Hepatitis A series of 3, Hepatitis B series of 2, and yearly Tb tests) Sorry, don't have the info in front of me.

Drugs taken in Niger: 8 ish (The ones I remember are: Mefloquine (every week), Fasygin, Humatin, Cipro, Cefalaxin, and Augmentin)