"Niamey, our home for three years" a Niamey Travel Page by niamey00

For three years we lived in Niamey where we worked at the American School of Niamey. ASN is a very small school of about 50 students k-12, but it was one of the most satisfying and fulfilling experience we have had. The students were a fantastic group of kids, and the local people who worked at the school were gracious and giving. It was with great sadness we left all of our friends, students, and colleagues and heading to Riga, Latvia

Moving to Niamey was a bit of a culture shock. we had never lived in such a big house! We could have parties with fifty people in our living room, and it didn't seem crowded!
It was also hard to get used to having help in your house. We had five people working for us, four of them fulltime. We had a guardian, who opened and closed the gates for us as we drove in and out, a gardener who also took care of the pool, a maid who cleaned and ironed everyday, a cook, and a nanny for Gabriel.
Doesn't sound hard to get used to? Well, it was very nice to have the luxury to be able to offer good-paying jobs to locals, but there was no privacy.

The pool was a godsend for most of the year. Niger is very hot! April, the hottest, regularly sees temperatures over 120F. December and January are the coolest with highs in the 90s, but cooling down at night often into the 50s. Believe it or not, the pool was too cool to use for about three months of the year!