4/6/08At around two or three I have been joining a group of guys, the men on the corner by my home, to play cards. It's too hot to do much else, and most of the time I enjoy their company a lot. They are patient with my Hausa; they are more understanding than the women when it comes to speaking a second language (probably because they experience it themselves when they go on Exxode, and because more of them attended school and learned some French.) Women do not play cards here--Nigerien women--but as a foreigner I am party to both men's and women's worlds. It means that I assume a sort of asexual, borderline gender role, which I think is pretty cool, and a real advantage.