Free Tan and Skin Exfoliation!

Monday after teacher-staff meeting, my friend Anna met me at school and we set off for the 25 minute walk to my house. We were visiting, catching up on life, when I happened to glance behind us and noticed this: 

  

First thought: Uh-oh! 

Second thought: Walk faster!

Third thought: Pointless! Grab the camera!  

  

This is looking behind us:

I have a new appreciation for the word billow. 

These were billowing clouds of dust.

Maybe cloud isn't the word to use.

Wave.

Billowing waves of dust.

 

Looks like a stampede...of dust particles.

This is now looking to the side/front of us.

We are overtaken.

 hmmm........

...what to do ... what to do...

Troy, if only I had your speed!  :)

The different colors of orange and brown were in-cre-di-ble !

I think Crayola needs to come out with a new set of colors.

Dust brown.

Sahara red.

Sahara brown.

Dust red.

Dust storm brown.

Dust cloud red.

You get the idea...

(Blog prize for the most creative color name!)

Back to Anna and I on our walk home...

We were doing okay, until this happened:

The storm had made the 4:30 afternoon look like 10:00 night.

I could barely see the hand in front of me. 

We thought about going to a little gas station store on the other side of the road, but had not the courage to cross the street. Traffic in Niamey is already life-threatening. Attempting to run across the road in a sand eclipse would be certain death. 

Thus, we kept navigating our way through the blackness.

Thankfully, the light orange soon returned and we could at least see if we were about to fall into the gutter.

The wind was so strong. 

It reminded me of Kansas on a very bad day. 

Strong wind pelting the face, arms, and legs with fine dust was an unknown sensation for me, but not necessarily a pleasant one.

My poor contacts.

Black plastic blags and trash were blowing everywhere.

It reminded me of Mary Poppins--the African version.

After a long and tedious trek home, Anna and I finally arrived... a few shades darker!

I'm still finding dust in my ears! 

And YES! I cleaned them!

Thankfully, the much-needed rain followed the dust storm.

There is nothing more beautiful than the sound of rain on a tin roof.

I love it...and find it soothing. 

It makes me crave hot chocolate and baguette. 

Andrew, you know what I'm talking about!

I had just been thinking how I hadn't had anything to blog about for a while.

Walking for 15 minutes in the middle of a dust storm helped!

I took a few videos, but they are too large to upload.