Kribi Vacation, A Christmas at the Club, and the long-awaited Pictures!

Merry belated Christmas! Or Happy Xmas, as most people say it here (pronounced ecks-mas)! And Happy New Year in advance! Well, plenty has happened since the term ended, including this blog now being brought to you by the spectacularly lightning speed MTN internet. Ok, not actually lightning speed, but at least pictures are now possible, and Skype is fussy, but manageable. So consider giving me a call sometime! Plus it's unlimited, so look for me to be updating facebook status much more than I should be considering I live in Africa.

Anyway, back to the saga of Kribi! Got up at 4am to meet my pre-arranged car (thanks to Melissa, post-mate extraordinaire!), only to wait around for 2 hours because someone didn't want to pay? Or something. It was in Pidgin, and super-early. Oops. Anyway, made it onto the road, which is now DRY, thank GOD, of course that now means that it is DUSTY, but manageable. Melissa had been “dashed” (gifted) some lettuce (a rarity in Mamfe!) and didn't want to waste it, so she packed up a salad, I hard-boiled some eggs, and off we went! That meant that around 9, when our car went “clunk-clunk-clunk-WHUMP”, we sat by the road waiting for our new car to come, and ate salad. And looked completely ridiculous, but it was fun. I think the car didn't have oil in it? That's bad.

So, made it to Buea, consumed a gang of fish pies—the bus station in Buea has amazing fish pies (fried dough wrapped around fish, sauce and veggies, nothing better to start off a day of traveling with!). Left the next morning, passed through Douala, then arrived in Kribi! Huzzah! Beautiful white beaches, schnazzy hotel (thanks Obama!), HOT SHOWERS. Amazing.

We had some sessions (look to Alec Dhuse on facebook for some pictures showing just how riveting those were), where we learned about project planning, funding opportunities, and such. There was a hot debate amongst some of the PCV's about whether or not funding should even be discussed when we're talking about doing sustainable development—the argument being that if a community funds its own project, it's much more sustainable than if there is ANY outside funding. Still awaiting resolution on that one...

And we hung out at the beach! Yes, the Atlantic ocean is beautiful and warm. I got a tan, sand in everything I own, and even managed to collect some seashells that I later managed to leave in Buea. Oops! There was plenty of beer and good food to be had at the hotel, and we all ate like we hadn't seen food for 3 months (some of the northern volunteers actually hadn't, I think).

Last day was a half day of sessions (thanks again Obama!), and we headed out to a waterfall—supposedly one of the only or perhaps the only (got different stories) waterfall that falls directly into the ocean. Gorgeous!

After that, had to head back to post (bummer!). Now, this is the part where traveling got interesting....Stanson (my post mate) and I, were both carrying WAYYYYYY too much stuff to be traveling. Why? Well, he had just gotten back from a trip to Dubai, where he'd picked up many western goods and essentials (like maple syrup). And me? Well, I FINALLY got all my packages! 12 in all—my Christmas morning was definitely in Kribi. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Amanda, Cathy, Gram, Gigi, Clara and CSLD, and Amelia and the Sacramento Assorted Chocolates. (more on packages below!) I was also carrying 3 packages for Melissa, who headed to the North for Christmas this year. Oi! So, we were both hauling 3 large bags apiece, and in addition to being unwieldy, too much luggage is expensive. And since we were leaving Kribi and passing through Douala, I had to bargain and argue about prices at every stop in French, super fun. Ugh, anyway, survived the trip back, all the stuff survived, and then we just had a few days to get ready for Christmas!

Oh, a few notes about the food—we got french fries, and pizza, and sandwiches, and shrimp, and chicken, and salad, and all sorts of yummy goodness! Real butter! Amazing. Thanks again to Obama, and Congress, keep up the funding please! Of course the irony of it is that at the end of the week, I found myself with a strange craving for fufu and eru, and beans and puff puff. Oh goodness...

Now, onto Christmas. Went to church Christmas Eve. Power outage, classic. Favorite Pidgin translation ever: Manger=Beef-dem chop box (box for cow food). HILARIOUS. “You go find that man-pikin for a beef-dem chop box” (you will find him lying in a manger). I'm going to have to get a Pidgin bible....

Morning—went to church again. After, visited a few folks in the compound, then went down to my friend Stella's in the village...had a few drinks, came back, went to town to Stanson's for Christmas dinner. Our friend George cooked fish, veggies, rice, and we had some cakes courtesy of Stanson's mom. Wonderful. Got talked into going out to Mamfe's only night-club, Perosa. Went back to the village (had to feed my dog and had made plans to hang out with Stella some more). Hung out with Stella for a bit, then got picked up in a very schnazzy jeep by some government guy that George knew (with Stella), then we went to the club. Ok, I know this isn't sounding Christmas-y, and trust me, it didn't feel like Christmas AT ALL, but this is pretty much how things go in Cameroon for Christmas—they go to church, then drink the rest of the day and night. So, we get to the club, and meet Edward. Backtrack for a minute—Edward is the former Commandant of the Gendarmerie (something like police but a bit more military), George lived in America for several years, works on many projects around town, and is just about to open a restaurant. So these are two “big men” of the town. So we get to Perosa, which is packed, and Edward commands a table be brought for us, then we go into the inner part of the club (outside you can sit and drink for free, the inside has the dance floor and costs money), fly past gate, commanded another table and a bottle of whiskey. And proceeded to drink and dance the night away! Crazy. Cameroonians can DANCE, for serious, holy crap. And then throw a bunch of American kids into that business...it was pretty funny, but we all had a really good time. Edward also owns a car, and drove us back to Stanson's house, where we crashed, until I woke up the next morning and realized my poor dog had been inside for like 12 hours. Poor Moki!

So, all in all was a very Merry Christmas. Got together at George's the next day for a hangover lunch, with the Christmas leftovers, wonderful. And that's all there is to that....

Up next....well, school doesn't start back until the 11th, so I've got some time to do something with, not sure yet what I'll do, but I'll let you know!

Packages: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! To everyone who sent stuff. I really appreciate the thought and expense you put into it all. A few tips for the future....hard candies melt, unfortunately—I think it's the humidity. Jelly Bellies on the other hand made it through quite well. The tootsie pops were a huge hit with the other PCV's and staff (couldn't make them fit in my return luggage, so we ate most of them in Kribi). Photos and letters really brighten my day! (Thanks Gram Helen for the Birthday card!). Ask Amanda where she found organic peanut butter in packets, and send me more of that! I am now thoroughly well stocked on: Baby wipes, bar soap (Thanks Molly!), sponges, kleenex, toilet paper (yes, we have that here, but thanks anyway Cousin Cathy!), Jane Austen movies produced by the BBC (thanks Gigi!), pencils and pens (thanks everyone!), and candles (Amelia, Gigi, Gram). I am still continuing to want Clif bars, snack food, drink mix, books, CONDITIONER (the quest continues!), and other personal hygiene items. And candy :).

Ok, and as this will likely be my last blog of 2009, here's a review of my year in pictures (where I've been to where I am now!) Enjoy! Here's to a fabulous 2010!

I rang in the new year in style...

Went to camp....

Danced a bit...

Went to Disneyland!

Hung out with the Family

Took a leap of faith and joined the Peace Corps!

Said goodbye to some friends

Cried a bit...

And then I left....

And was sad and happy at the same time....(like a rainbow...poetic?)

Gained some younger siblings...

Had some adventures....

Taught some kids some stuff....

Gave a speech at graduation!

Moved into a new house...

Got a dog

Made some (very serious) friends...

And learned to fly...

And feel at peace. Happy New Year! May 2010 be EVEN BETTER than 2009!

Catholic Education Week/Happy Thanksgiving Africa-Style

Happy belated Turkey Day! Special wishes to all those in Texas and Louisiana—I missed you guys this year, as well as the Dickey's BBQ, deep-fried turkey, and football. Ok, maybe I didn't miss the football, you caught me! But really, people look at you funny here when you try to explain American football—all the padding, all the stopping and starting....anyway....

I'll back up by a week, and take you back to last weekend, which was the celebration of Catholic Education Week. This was a bit of wild and wacky event held at another boarding school a few villages over. It required a lot of surrender and trust on my part, because little was explained about the program to me beforehand, so I wound up Friday afternoon driving off to this village with no real plan of where to sleep, and didn't really have a travel plan either. Fortunately, in Africa, people take care of you, so everything worked out fine. The event ran rather late into Friday night, but elementary school kids doing traditional dancing are super-cute even at midnight, so that was ok as well. Saturday morning saw a 6:30 am Mass, and a discussion of the theme of the week “The Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom.” Followed by a late breakfast, a thrilling game of girls handball (we were up 6-0, but wound up losing 7-12!), and the highlight of the day, staff vs. students football (soccer) match! Fortunately, no one was silly enough to ask me to play! But it was a good match, that the teachers fought hard for and lost. Late afternoon lunch, and then managed to score myself a seat in a car going home! My puppy survived the night alone, though managed to break out of the shower room that I shut her into (oops). All in all, an ok weekend, though I was very tired by the end of it—I can't handle late nights very well.

Oh, and yes, I typed that right, my puppy is in fact a she. Oops. Veterinary confirmed this as fact. Yes, I do have a degree in biology. I studied reptiles, not mammals!!! In any case, she is still named Moki, and has now been thoroughly vaccinated and de-bugged. I also found out this week that Moki actually does have a meaning in the local dialect. It means “Many Small Tigers.” I think that is just about the most awesome unintended consequence I've ever had! She is eating well, and putting on weight quickly, so quickly in fact that I think I need to take down her feeding a bit! She continues to be all things adorable, and now that she is debugged, I've let her sleep in my bed. Yeah, she is that cute. And over Christmas break, I'm going to acquire faster internet such that I can post pictures to prove it!

This blog's bug story would be better with a picture, though I think Amanda might want to skip down to the next paragraph. So you know the overflow hole on the back of a sink? Where the water escapes if you have the sink too full? So I had a tarantula living in mine for about a day. I never saw the whole thing, just the front legs and eyes sticking out a little bit, waiting for something to come by and attack! I have a really cool picture that clarifies this a bit, again, patience!

Anyway, on to Thanksgiving! We (the 4 volunteers in the greater Mamfe region) celebrated on Saturday. Menu: grilled chicken (one guy has a BBQ—Cameroonian style, an upended oil drum with a metal grate on top and firewood underneath), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, gravy, spaghetti and meatballs (special for Lauren, who is going away this week!), and angel food cake for dessert! Yes, you can make all of those things in Africa! Now, some of them are of course a bit more complicated....chicken involves killing, plucking, gutting, and then moving on to the more traditional preparations. Stuffing involves seeking out the elusive french bread (only seen rarely in Mamfe, though very common in the west region), toasting it to dry it, then assembling that and all the other ingredients—no stove-top here! Baking a cake—fill a pot 1/3 with sand, put it on the stove, and watch the cake carefully—no temperature control. All in all, everything was delicious, and it was a day to be thankful for.

Coming up next—I've decided that the best thing I can do with myself next week is administer practical computer tests to well over half the school. Yes I am a masochist and a glutton for punishment. But unfortunately, with the upper forms where I've essentially ONLY taught practicals, there isn't much else I can do to assess them! So, if you need me, you'll find me hiding in the computer lab all week long.

And yes, since I'm testing, that does mean that the term is almost finished! We are supposed to have all of our testing done by next Monday, so that we can be ready to fill in report cards by the end of next week. After that, I'm off to Kribi for in-service training. School goes on here for a few more days, but they'll just have to make do without me. I am looking forward to seeing all of my training friends again, and to spend some good time on the beach. Oh yeah, and to learn more about development, teaching skills, and funding sources, right!

Weather has finally began to dry out here—nights have been cool and lovely, mornings stay cool for some time as well, the days get quite hot, but I'm handling it pretty well I think. In any case, I do miss my sweaters and jeans a bit, but not too much.

On the package front, I have gotten notice of a few more in, but none have made it to me—my associate director attempted a trip up here a couple weeks ago, but had to turn back and get towed due to the state of the roads! So I'll probably get my stuff in Kribi. THANK YOU! One thing to emphasize on my current wish list—conditioner! The stuff available in the one American store here is not cutting it, and my hair is kind of out of control. So anyone wanting to throw some quality conditioner into future packages would be greatly appreciated!

Love to you all, please keep the notes and wall posts coming, I appreciate everything and all your support!

Puppy!!!

Ok, the big news of last week is that I have taken a puppy! His name is Moki (Mo means small in one of the dialects, and ki just kind of sounded right), he's a few months old, all black except for a patch on his throat, and is adorable in spite of a slightly rodent-like look. He's very energetic, and appears to not have rabies, though is a bit mangy, a visit to the vet this week should clear that up quickly though. So please feel free to include assorted chew toys in your future packages! At the moment, he likes to play with toilet paper rolls, sticks, and a big hunk of foam from where I had to cut my mattress down to size. He eats dried fish and rice, which means that my house now smells like fish. So far, that's the only downside! He's very sweet, loves to play, and is doing quite well in house-training. I have been informed that he's too small, (I think about the same size, maybe a bit smaller, than Amanda's cats) and would be better to eat than to keep (!), but I choose to have selective hearing around that subject. He is on the small side, most likely has worms due to being raised in a village, and once de-wormed, should put on weight and grow quite well. Yes, people do eat dogs and cats here, and I've heard that “Dog Pepe Soup” sells out as fast as the Mami's can dish it out. My dog will not be eaten, if avoidable. My intention is to give it to another volunteer when I leave—by then, there should be at least 5 in the general area.

Last week was one of the more challenging weeks I've had, mainly due to over-scheduling. I was “on duty” at school last week, meaning that in addition to teaching my regular classes, I was also supervising student's study hours in the afternoon and evening and on the weekend. Tuesday was when the puppy arrived, which of course added a new level of activity, and Friday was a send-off party for Lauren, one of the nearby volunteers who is leaving in December (sad!). So, there was a lot to do, and not much time to do it in. Plus, the girls evening study hours run until 10pm! My usual bedtime is somewhere around 9, even 8:30, so I was tired on top of everything else. In any case, I survived, the send-off was very fun, and touching to see how much of an impact Lauren has had. She will be very sorely missed!

Let's see...light has been off again for the last week, though we did have it on today, thank goodness. The rains continue to fall. Climate change! According to everyone here, rains used to finish by mid-october. A quick check of the calendar would notice that it's a month past that!!!! Please, turn off the lights in your house, drive your car less, use recycled shopping bags, etc. Stop the rains, please! Mostly, I'm looking ahead to December, when I have to travel again, and I'm SOOO not looking forward to the trip if the roads are as bad as they were last time! I don't want to take a motorcycle all the way to Kumba! Ugh. In any case, you can truly see the affects of climate change happening here, right now, so send Al Gore some money on my behalf, and tell your science-doubting Republican friends to come visit Mamfe if they don't believe in global warming.

Lauren's send-off was centered around a pig roast. There is something truly amazing about shoving a metal rod through a pigs mouth and out it's anus. Yes, I have pictures. No, I can't post them, because my internet is too slow. But rest assured, you will see them someday. Other highlights of the evening—my new puppy sniffing everything in sight, and eating so many pig part scraps that it looked like his stomach was going to BURST. Lauren and Melissa crying during the part where everyone said something nice/advice for Lauren, and then all the Cameroonians not understanding why they were crying (not much crying in Cameroon, as it turns out). Children roasting peeps (courtesy of Melissa's mom) over the pig roasting fire. EGG ROLLS, courtesy of George, master of food for the evening. And generally delicious food and wonderful company. I hope and pray that I can look back on my service with the same satisfaction that Lauren does.

Computers continue with difficulty, but progress is being made. Your's truly reset the BIOS on some of the computers, being talked through the procedure by the wonderful Alec Dhuse (google his blog). I can't really explain what it means to reset the BIOS, but it was fun to play around with the insides of the computer. And I didn't even electrocute myself! Unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem. So, hopefully, Alec himself will brave the roads to Mamfe at some point in the near future, and act as computer technician to the stars....I mean me. Maybe then I can teach the young ones how to turn on the computer by themselves. At the moment, so many of them have error messages that pop up on start up, that it is WAY more trouble than it's worth to have the students turn on the machines. In other teaching news, the oldest girls are now upset with me, because I will actually be giving them a grade for computers, not just letting them mess around for their one period a week. No one is going to take standardized tests this year, thank goodness, and I am planning to teach myself how to upgrade the RAM, in order to create computers that may possibly, someday, be able to handle the internet.

In one of the more fun moments I've had, I opted to join the girls on Sunday when they were “making sport”, and discovered that the hand clapping games that we know in the US are just the same, just different words over here. And I'm JUST as bad at them here as I was there. But the girls were patient with me, and I'm making progress. Earned some props too for being able to do a backbend. Yeah, I've still got skills. And of course, the talk of choice is Miss's new puppy, who has not yet made his debut amongst the general student population (want him to get shots first). My new nickname (which I'm desperately trying to suppress) is “Miss Gloria-dog-dog.” Catchy, huh?

Bug stories of the blog: the kids have taken to chasing me around with what are called “Rhinoceros Beetles.” Wikipedia that for a picture. To sum up, it's like a good 3-4 inches long, with a 2 inch long horn on the head. And tall. And like, big. So, no I don't want to hold one. Kids here are used to playing with them, they certainly appear to be harmless, but I'm not going to take one as a pet. Contrast this, however, with the Giant African Millipedes. Yes, Explorit folks, I HAVE seen them in the wild now! The kids brought me one of those (Class Diplopoda), carrying it on a shoe. I picked it up, having handled this particular arthropod hundreds of time at Explorit, and all the kids FREAKED out! Cultural differences in arthropod handling. Good times.

Other than that, life continues to continue here. It's not always easy (haven't had a running water shower in over a week) (note that I now have no real craving for a hot shower, but running water would be really nice), but it's good (I have a cute puppy!). No more packages have made it to me :(. But I have hope for the future! I intend to purchase faster internet by mid-december, because I am really getting tired of not being able to do what I want to do. So look for a bunch of pictures to make their way up around then! Have a Happy Thanksgiving as well, I'll let you know how my own goes! Sending love, as always.

My Life in a Computer Lab...not exactly the Africa I imagined, but pretty good!

Light has come back! Hooray! Of course, it's a flighty thing, so goes off during my computer classes....which is a bit unfortunate. But in good news, I have cannibalized and rewired my way into setting up 4 of 7 new computers in the computer lab! And the other 3 don't work, boo! Anybody know the password to get onto a computer once used by the West Ottawa school District? No? Ok, thanks anyway. If you happen to run into someone who does, let them know that I have their “Linspire” CD, which I think contains a Linux OS, but I can't find a file that will boot anything up.

In other fun news with electricity, I did discover EXACTLY how many computers you can run through one power regulator before it starts to smoke. Thanks to Upper 6^th girls for making sure that I don't burn the school to the ground. Background to that: the power here has a tendency to fluctuate—the voltage is not steady the way it is in the US. It goes up and down and all around. So, they sell these things called regulators to “smooth out” the current, making your electronic devices much happier than they would be otherwise. Of course, in theory these should be installed at a 1:1 ratio of computer to regulator. In reality, we're running a 10:1 ratio. Of course, the whole thing should have a battery back-up system in place to stop from frying all of the hard drives every time the power goes out, but that's beside the point.

In other computer news, the new computers, while in some way a step up from the others (all run Windows 2000 Pro), are really at about the same level. 64 MB RAM. Just to put that number into perspective for the non-techies out there, my computer runs 64 times that speed. And if you're connected to the internet in America right now, your's probably is probably AT LEAST 8 times as fast. Yeah. Oh and another note. If you ever feel compelled to donate a computer to any place that is sending them to Africa, please consider sending a laptop. I mean, seriously, think about the poor development worker that is out there having to lug these things around to set them up!

A note about Computer Literacy training here. Yeah, we don't have that. Case in point: Upper 6^th girls. This is the equivalent of 12^th grade. In theory, they have taken computer classes from Form 1 (6^th grade) on. And I still had to show more than one of them how to save a document. My probing around this area has shown what has happened. Basically, none of the people that have been teaching computer science here have been actual trained computer teachers, myself included. However, it appears that my predecessors, especially the Cameroonian teachers, have been afraid of taking students to the lab. Every class, from the bottom to the top, when I asked them about what they did last year, said that they hardly went to the lab. Case in point: Form 5, who in theory was supposed to take the GCE O-level, the first major standardized test, has learned about binary, and the ASCII code. They probably know more about code than I do. As well as processor speed, and I'm sure that nearly any student in the school could draw me a motherboard and label the parts, while I have fear struck into my heart at the idea of opening the system case. But half of Form 5 didn't know how to open Microsoft Word, and about a quarter of them still did not know how to double click properly, or type capital letters using the shift key. I think this is a HUGE disservice to these students—in the real world, no one is going to care if they can use binary or not, but you have to be able to use a mouse and a keyboard!

Fortunately this is something that I feel like I can deal with effectively. I have every intention of taking students to the lab every time that it is possible. The more experience that they get with the ACTUAL computer, the better served they are. Plus, lecturing about computer science is PAINFULLY boring to both me and them. I'm already at a loss with what to do in the lower grades—this week, when power was off, we had to cover Command Prompt because I'm running out of things on the syllabus that I can cover in the classroom. Raise your hand if you've used Command Prompt in the last 10 years. Now put your hand down if you are a professional computer programmer. No one? Shocking!

And I finally got to take the youngest girls to the computer lab! They had SOOO much fun. Remember back to the first time that you moved a mouse and saw the arrow move on the screen? Yeah, I can't remember that either, but they were SOOO excited. I'm very happy to be working with them. There's one girl in the class who, it turns out, has a computer in her house, so I'm thinking that she's going to start in on learning how to type while the rest of us figure out how to open and close programs. Way cool.

In other fun news, we're getting two new volunteers here in December, yay for new people! They came in and visited on Thursday, had all the fun of the bad roads, and even better, brought packages! Thanks to Maria, Dad, and Gram! I've also gotten word from admin that packages from Mom and Cathy have arrived. We'll see when they make it to me! THANK YOU!

Back to the newbies—two very nice girls, one is even a Davis grad! Hello to her parents, who apparently read my blog! Of course, the region is a bit bummed to not have gotten a guy volunteer—we have 2 out of 10! But we'll just have to make up for it by being super-buff chicks.

I think that's all for now! Love to everyone, miss you all, keep me updated on your life! Oh, and on that note—I'm back to email being the better way to contact me. Thanks Dad for the tip about yahoo mobile! But facebook works also. And to be honest, either of those is better than leaving a blog comment, those take quite a while to process. But do what works best! Love you!

Teacher's Day/Feast Week(end)

Or: My first Cameroonian Hangover. Oh stop it, like you've never had one.

Well, it has been a whirlwind week here! Last Monday, the 5th, is International Teacher's Day. So if you're a teacher, Happy Belated Teacher's Day! Everyone here was surprised to hear that it's not celebrated in the US...Maybe that will be a goal when I return! So, the day is celebrated by feasting, drinking, and marching. This year, I was recruited to help the women prepare the meal. Now, my inner feminist of course cries a bit at the idea that the women all get together to prepare food for all the men. But, at the same time, there is something special about a group of women working together, so I was glad to be included. Highlights of the morning included carrying a live chicken, watching that same chicken become no longer living, and later eating same chicken. Yes, it does taste better when it died that morning. No, I don't think I will be killing any chickens of my own.

So, then we went into town, where we met up with the men. Now, because I was helping with the food preparation, I didn't get to see the marching festivities—I'll make sure I make it there next year! My understanding is that all the schools march past the grandstand, where there are assorted VIP's. And according to another PCV in the area, marching is very serious, and more difficult to do than it looks! So it'll probably be good to take the next year to practice my marching!

Other fun fact: major holidays in Cameroon are usually marked with the production of a special fabric, that everyone purchases, and then wears all on the same day. So I now have a very cute dress made of the Teacher's Day fabric. Cute dress, fabric is a bit silly looking. There are pictures of teachers teaching, and a lot of little graduation caps. Pictures, someday.

Anyway, the school had reserved a nice bar, where we ate and then the drinking began. A note on beers here: they are big. .65 liters each. I don't know what that is in US measurement, but it is probably at least a beer and a half by US standards. Moral of the story: I had a bit too much. However, it made learning to dance Cameroonian style a bit easier and probably more fun! Also, discovered that my Pidgin English improves rapidly on drinking! In any case, the evening was fun, I made it home perfectly safe, and I don't think I did any permanent damage to my reputation—probably quite the opposite, as drinking is a major part of the culture here. I've not confirmed this myself, but I've had several Cameroonians tell me that Cameroon is only behind Germany in beer consumption!

Ok, so we lost a day of classes on Monday, then Friday marked the beginning of the feast of the Queen of the Rosary (That's Mary for the non-Catholic readers). (Mary is the mother of Jesus, for the non-Christian readers). (Jesus is a pretty important guy in Christianity, for the readers who live under a rock). So classes were cut to a half day, so that the school could dress itself up a bit—flags, a grandstand was constructed, and then the girls got together to practice figure marching—pretty awesome to watch actually! Friday night was the Inter-house quiz, and a social. Backtrack—the school is a boarding school, so the girls are divided into Houses, that they live in. Yes, like Harry Potter. But no magic! So, throughout the whole weekend of feasting, there were a number of competitions between the different houses—football, handball, races, marching, singing, dancing, the quiz, and a beauty pageant (I'll get there). The quiz was fun to watch—the girls are all very enthusiastic for their houses! Then the social—basically a dance. Which kicked off with a number of pairs of teachers leading into the dancing. Including me. Warning? No. Fortunately I had practiced dancing on Teacher's Day! And fortunately it was short lived. And the students are very kind. Anyway, it is a bit funny to watch a dance taking place with NO boys—a few male teachers notwithstanding. But the girls all really enjoyed themselves.

Saturday was athletic festivities, including the finals for marching, which I judged. Criteria included uniforms, spacing, and arm swinging. No, I am not making this up. Then there were a variety of picnic-type games—sack race, wheelbarrow, egg and spoon, etc. Handball finals followed—for those that haven't seen it, it's a bit like Ultimate Frisbee—lots of passing, and you can't really move with the ball. Saturday evening was marked by a “Mic Fight”, which I thought was going to be a rap face-off, but turns out to be a speech competition. Girls chose from some topics, without knowing what they would be speaking on in advance, and had to give a five minute talk. Topics were female education, AIDS, youth dressing (clothes), and personal hygiene. Very amusing! Then, there was the “Miss QRC” competition. A beauty pageant, in two sections—Western clothes, and African clothes. No, no swimsuit or talent. Interesting cultural notes—I was expecting something similar to Miss America—confident striding around, fast moving, and smiling. This is NOT what took place—the movement was sllooooowww, and emphasis was on subtle gestures. I'm sure a socio- or anthropologist could offer some treatise on the definition of beauty. I was a bit too busy trying to wrap my head around my role as a development worker judging a beauty pageant, something I'm mildly opposed to in the US. Another moment where my inner feminist cried a little bit. But what to do? It's a long-standing tradition here, and I'm sure it's not actually damaging anything. *Le sigh*

Sunday—mass given by the bishop, choral singing competition, traditional dance competition, football finals, and common lunch. Got to meet a bishop! That's another first! I really enjoyed seeing some of my “lower” students REALLY shining during the singing and dancing competitions. And the football match was played to a draw resulting in a thrilling shoot-out! So, a good morning of activity. Followed by the teachers joining the students in the refectory (cafeteria). Of course, once again the women teachers had spent all morning preparing all of this food (25 chickens!), though this time they judged it best that I go and participate in the festivities. Realistically, I'm sure I would have been more in the way than helpful in preparing that scale of a feast! After the lunch, several other teachers went out for drinks, and it was declared that I've now been officially “welcomed” to the village. And yes, there was dancing. And fewer drinks than the previous Monday. Resulting in better dancing, I think? Or so I'm told. And worse Pidgin. C'est la vie. Haha, better French!

And that brings us to Monday, today, where classes have been canceled for recovering from feasting weekend, much to the joy of students and teachers alike.

So, to summarize:
Firsts: Carrying a chicken, watching death of chicken, wearing the same fabric as everyone else, judging a beauty pageant, meeting a Bishop, Cameroonian dancing, drinking too much (oh wait, that's not really a first, is it?)

Assessment: While I have certainly enjoyed myself a great deal over the last week, I do get a bit concerned about losing so much teaching time! Especially since I'm also going to lose Friday and the upcoming Monday to attend a regional Peace Corps meeting! And I've heard that the number and frequency of holidays is even greater in the second 2 terms of school....so it's a bit distressing to know that interruptions of classes will be increasing. Difficult to get through all the material I'm supposed to get through! So, all remains to be seen.

But, I'm feeling more and more settled in and “integrated” with the other teachers here! And that's good—I'm starting to enjoy myself more. Yay!

I think that's a long enough blog for now. Hoping all is well in your own corners of the world! Sending love!

In light of several requests to give a wish/birthday/Christmas list...here we go. *Feels slightly uncomfortable begging for stuff, and would be just as happy if not more so with receiving letters, text messages, emails, or prayers*

Wish List
Card/Small games—Uno, Pass the Pigs, Mille Bornes, or similar. (I still have “Set”)
Scented candles/Incense
Movies (Maybe a memory stick full of movies I “should” see *cough GREG cough cough*)
Photos—of friends, fam, etc...what you've been up to since I left
Stationery—especially if you'd like to get a letter. Prefer paper and envelopes to cards.
Body Spray/Perfume—I like Bath and Body works light florals
Dr. Bronners magic soap (Baby/unscented)--it really is magical
Tresseme moisturizing conditioner (the one with the orange writing)
Suave curl cream (in a teal tube)
Tea—Good Earth Original or Jasmine Green, Tazo Black and Green Chai, Celestial seasonings Bengal Spice, Mandarin Chamomile, or Mint
Clif Bars—Easy fiber and protein
Dried Fruit—peaches, apricots, cherries, berries, apples, etc...
Pilot G2 Pens—In fun colors to buck the system
Loofah/Body Pouf—Exfoliating is important
Aveeno Body Lotion—the kind for itchy skin, blue writing, think it contains menthol?
Aveeno Face lotion—Positively radiant, SPF 30
Aveeno Sunscreen—Babies, SPF 50, or Active spray-on, SPF 70(C'mon, I live 4 degrees from the equator!)
Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal—if you're feeling generous
Resistance Bands—exercise-type
Spiritually uplifting stuff—books, music, cards, decorations, etc

A lot of people have asked about donating equipment for the school, or what the needs are there. I need to hold off on projects like that for now, until I have a better understanding of the needs of the school, and the requirements for projects of that nature. Remember, everything I do is supposed to be sustainable, and have community buy-in and participation. So having my friends and family upgrade the computer or science lab doesn't qualify at the outset. But, please feel free to check out the Peace Corps website for donation opportunities, even in Cameroon—there's a section where people who have created said sustainable/bought in projects can list their needs, monetary and otherwise.

Sending love from Africa! Look for a post soon documenting the celebration of teacher's day! Includes silly looking fabric turning into a rather nice dress.

Normalizing, Round 2

Wow, so I've been officially at post for a whole month! I am in my own house, after 2 days in the convent turned into 2 weeks, but the renovations are completely worth the inconvenience. A brief description of my house—2 bedroom, parlor (living room), kitchen, shower room, toilet/sink room. It was mostly furnished when I arrived, very pleased about that! I had a few more things made, and I'd say it's quite comfortable now. I have a porch, and usually leave the front door open for visitors, most of which consist of the children of the teachers and staff that live on the compound. Speaking of which, I gave away most of my card games to the kids in my homestay family....so card games would be appreciated to give the kids something to do other than try to ride my bike!

I've been teaching for just over 2 weeks. I'm teaching Forms 2 and 3, the rough equivalent of 7^th and 8^th grade, in Chemistry, Biology, and Computers. A bit of information about the way a Cameroonian school works: Forms 1 and 2 are the junior forms, just out of grammar school. Forms 3, 4, and 5 are working towards taking the O-level GCE standardized tests. Then there is Lower 6^th and Upper 6^th, the “high school”, who are working towards their A-level GCE tests. Tests are EXTREMELY important here, having the impact of allowing you to move to the next grade or not, and are looked at seriously in job placement and university entrance. And they are EXTREMELY difficult, in my opinion. I can guarantee that I would not pass A-level biology at this point!

Anyway, I only have Form 3 for computers, so I'm spending most of my time with the Form 2 kids, and they are a bit of a handful, but I think I'm managing ok.

Computers—my dad and brother have both giggled at the specs of the computer lab here—64 meg of ram, 2-4 gig hard drives, most are running Windows 98. Blast from the past! But it's ok—they are configured well, so they are mostly functional. When there is power. Which has been erratic at best, and mostly absent. As is water. Fortunately, here on the school compound, we have a generator that they turn on every evening, so we can keep things charged up! Unfortunately, that doesn't help with running a computer lab during the day.

The other teachers are very nice, and have been helpful in easing me into the situation here. I don't have much responsibility at this point outside of teaching, so I have a bit of time on my hands to get used to being here and just living! I'm hoping to take on some more projects during the next terms, but I'm grateful for now to not feel much pressure or stress.

Most of the other teachers have asked what I've been doing for food....I can actually cook, a bit! Spaghetti, veggies, rice and beans....I made a sweet curried beans and rice last week that I'm going to attempt to reproduce tonight (thanks Amanda! I can get curry powder here, but the stuff you sent is WAY better! It smells stronger through the ziploc bag than the other stuff does when I stick my nose in the jar!)

I spend some time in Mamfe proper....but I try not to go too much, in an effort to integrate into the community here.

RANT: Note-taking systems. I ranted to my dad a bit about this, and he found it interesting. There is a culture here of perfectionism/conformity, or don't bother doing it. Case in point: Note-taking and pen use. In Cameroon, titles are in red pen, body is in blue, and drawings are done in pencil but labeled in pen. And if you do not have the correct writing instrument for a particular task, you DO NOT DO IT. Even if that means you do not take the notes, and do not get the information. Wow. And then throw in the fact that the pens available here are very poor quality and are constantly going out...and you have a recipe for a system that makes learning more challenging than it needed to be! In any case, I think I might start writing everything in purple, just to emphasize that the INFORMATION is more important than the format! The teachers work to emphasize the system even—I was working on my lecture notes in the staff room, and had left my blue pen back in my house (oops!), and another teacher commented on the fact that I was writing in (gasp!) red ink!

This might sound like a relatively minor issue, but it speaks to a deeper problem—lack of independent/creative/critical thinking. Examples: I gave an assignment in chemistry to write a procedure for how to prepare a saturated solution of sugar. Of the 5 students that did it, 3 copied a similar procedure (but not the correct one) directly from the textbook. In biology, I took them out onto the field one day, and gave them the assignment to find an arthropod, and make 5 observations. About 75% of the class wrote that their arthropod had compound eyes. We hadn't covered that in class yet, so they had just read in the book what facts are true about insects, and regurgitated. So, my intention is to try to do as many assignments as possible that are open-ended, creative, and thinking-based, instead of just having them say back to me what I have said to them.

Ok, that's all for now....sorry to anyone who has been hoping to skype—my internet is so slow here that I can't do that anymore. But I can still get texts! And would love to! Check the facebook for the number, or my parents, or amanda....sending love and light back towards the US, hope all is well, send ME an update on your life! Or a letter...it might get here faster than I can load an email some days!

I want some small pussy, OR, Sleeping out in the Rainforest

So much has happened since the last post...I keep thinking that “oh, after this next event, things will get
more regular and I can blog more easily.” Not accurate. Ok, so to update:
1) Finish of training
2) Swearing in
3) Traveling to post
4) Where in the world is Gloria?

1) Training. After site visit, everyone was kind of “over” training, so it was a bit rough going. But we all made it through model school, and that was good experience to get under my belt. Yes, you can teach science with nothing but a chalkboard. The other fun bit about training was getting to start “talk Pidgin.” Pidgin is a language that is a mix of English and native languages, that developed out of the need for those people being colonized to communicate with their colonizers. So, it's a mix of english words, “poor” grammar, and words and constructions from native languages. Pidgin is spoken in many different places, but it varies from country to country. Some fun phrases:
How you dey (day)? = How are you?
A (ah) di shidon for Mamfe = I am living in Mamfe.
A di shidon for chair = I am sitting in a chair. (same verb!)
A wan go get some small pussy. = I want to get a kitten. (get your mind out of the gutter)
I was apparently the cream of the pidgin crop this year, so I actually gave a speech in Pidgin during our swearing in! There is a video of this event....which may someday be posted. I caught a lot of flak from my fellow volunteers for not throwing in a line about “pussy”...but really, do I want to be that person that said “pussy” in front of the US Ambassador? No, I think not....anyway, that brings me to....

2) Swearing-in. Ok, so we get to all get dressed up in matching fabric, which is blue, and covered with this yellow pattern that kind of looks like bananas. But I liked what I made with it! Then we sat around for some time while various important people made speeches of varying lengths. We swore in! This means that we are all actually official volunteers now!!!! And even better, everyone from our training group made it through training, which I think is a bit of a rarity. We went out to this hotel with a club afterwards, but they wouldn't open the club to us unless we paid a ridiculously exorbitant amount of money, so we just hung in the bar, for varying amounts of time. Good times, plenty of drinks, and lots of laughs were had by all!

3) Travel to post. Oh lord, this really is like the freaking odyssey! Ok, so Peace Corps hired a car to take us and our stuff from Bangangte to Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest province. “We” being myself, Stanson, a Small Enterprise Development volunteer in Mamfe, and several people headed to the Northwest province. We stayed a few days at the Case there (transit house), did some shopping. Bought a giant jar of Jif. SO excited. Couple people got robbed, unfortunately, which extended our stay a bit—no one was hurt, nothing too serious was taken, all is well, and I wasn't even there.

Moving on, we left Bamenda Sunday morning, about 9:30am. Had to pay through the nose for all of our extra luggage (3 bags, a trunk, a big water filter, and a bicycle each!), but it was ok. We reached Widikum, a halfway or so point by about 12:30 or so. Seems like things are going ok.....then the rain started. And the road got worse. And worse. I didn't take any pictures, too busy pushing/pulling the car. Seriously. So the story on this road: it would connect a major city in the Southwest province (Mamfe), with the capital of the Northwest. It's been supposedly going to get paved for a LONG time, but the funding always seems to disappear. Lame. But now, there is some Chinese construction company that is supposed to be really actually paving it. We'll see. In any case, during the rainy season especially, it becomes nearly impassable. So, we reached the halfway mark at 12:30 or so. Following a flat tire, a drop off of a woman in the wrong village (she'd never been there before), a problem with the axle, and COUNTLESS times pushing, pulling, shoving the van into and out of the mud, it finally met it's demise when a bearing went out, and the driver (shockingly!) couldn't fix it with a beanie baby. But oh did he
try. Seriously—I don't know enough about cars to explain it, but he was going to use the stuffing from this little key chain critter to fix the CAR. Ok, so 2:30 am, we can't go any more because of the bearing. So, we take the opportunity to get some sleep. In the car. All 11 of us. Yeah, that's just about as comfortable as it sounds.

For the record: there are plenty of people that would pay exorbitant amounts of money to spend a whole day 4-wheeling in the rainforest and spending the night there.

Light came in the morning, and a few people set off on foot towards town, hoping to find a motorcycle they could catch. We stayed with the car for a while, the driver was able to get the car moving again....until it got stuck in the mud. Now, throughout all these times we got stuck in the mud, everyone kept saying “oh, this is the last bad patch before the paved road” (the road is paved to within about 15 miles of mamfe). Not true. It just kept getting worse! So, on the advice of the other passengers, we got motos to the paved road, taking just our carry on items. Caught a private car going all the way to Mamfe, met up with Melissa, another volunteer in Mamfe in the following state:
--exhausted
--starving (had a couple of clif bars and 4 beignets in a 24 hour period)
--Filthy (funny how standing behind a van stuck in the mud can spray mud ALL over you)
--No clothes
--No shoes
--No toothbrush
Melissa, fortunately, is a saint, and lent us some clothes and some flip flops, so that we could shower and change, walk into town and get some food, buy some new flip flops (at 60 cents american, they're a pretty good deal), and wait to hear about our van and stuff.
The van didn't arrive until 5:30!!! That poor driver—stuck in the mud for over 30 hours!
Lessons learned:
--Don't travel the Bamenda road during the rainy season. Just don't. Or at least make sure you get in a 4 wheel drive vehicle instead of the vans.
--Pack a change of clothes and a toothbrush in your carry on.
--Carry extra food and water. A LOT.
--Trust the other passengers—they know what they're doing.

4) What now? So, my house is currently being renovated. Of course, I found that fun fact out less than a week before I was supposed to move in. Then, 2 days before I left, I was told that the repairs were still going on, but they were done enough that I could move in, and they would finish with me there. Then, 6:30 last night, I show up with my luggage, and, oops, no not finished, can't move in there. So, at the moment, I am in a room at the convent on campus. At the moment, there are no nuns living here, so it's a little creepy—but I'll reassess tomorrow what I want to do. And see how long it looks like it is actually going to take to fix up my house. The original date I was given was september 5th.....I really hope that it doesn't take that long! So, plan of action right now is to stay here for a few days, do some shopping in Mamfe, and then move into the house. We'll see how it all plays out—I hope to be able to talk to some of the workers first hand tomorrow and get a clearer idea of how long I'll be in the convent.

Wish list: I had an awesome list made up, but here's what I can remember from it....moving sucks....
Scented candles
Photographs (of you! I miss your face!)
Dried fruit and clif bars
Loofah (those puffy scrubby things)
Hand sanitizer! Continual need.....
Books/DVD's (you could even send me my own, just ask the parents...)
Tea (Good earth tea, or tazo chai, or celestial seasonings herbals....)
Stationery (fun stuff is hard to come by)
Good pens, especially blue and red (Pentel G2 are my favorites, and I'm sure mine are going to run out faster than I think)
Hard candy
We've been advised to continue to send packages to the Yaounde address—it's safer and usually
cheaper on this end, and typically faster as well. Yay. If you want to send me letters.....let me know, and I'll see if I can have things shipped to the school's address.

Ok, I think this blog has been long enough, huh? Love to all, till next time......

Playing catch up

Ok, so it's been wayyyyy too long....topics to be covered:
1) Site visit (old news)
2) Model School (news)
3) FAQ's/Rants

1) Site--I've been posted to a "college" (middle school through high school equivalent) in a small village just outside of Mamfe in the Southwest province. I visited there a few weeks ago, and am very excited, and becoming more so about how things will go there. There is an apparently decently equipped science lab, and a computer lab, though both of those will require further investigation for functionality. Everyone that I met was very welcoming and nice, and there are 2 volunteers within 15 minutes of me, and another an hour away, so it will be nice to have some friends close by!

Downsides: it's in an Anglophone (read: English speaking) province, which means my (currently "Advanced Low") level of French will likely deteriorate. This is typical for science volunteers, though, as they are all placed in places where they will be teaching in English. Why? Well, can you explain osmosis? Yes? No? How about in French? No, didn't think so. Me neither.

It's also pretty remote. It's only 150km from Bamenda, a fairly major city, but ALL the roads leading to Mamfe are horrid, especially during the rainy season. In theory, they are working on the Bamenda road at the moment, but it took one volunteer 7.5 hours to make it going that way. Lame.

I took a different road, from Kumba, a southern route. It looked like this:

So I did this:


I know, classic american move. I'm the whiteman in the middle. That's a semi that's stuck in the mud behind me. What you can't see are the teeny tiny flies that were biting the crap out of me at the time. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I don't have filaria. Or schistosomiasis.

Yes, whiteman--it's a non-gender specific term.

Ok, so that's my post. I took pictures of my house, but don't want to post them yet because I intend to make it much nicer after I get there, so look for a before and after post in the future. One more fun fact--it's an all girls Catholic boarding school. So look for some fun cross-cultural religous moments in the future. The priest that is in charge of the church there (not the school), is apparently Dutch, but gives his sermons in Pidgin. Looking forward to Mass just for that alone!

2) Model school. Peace Corps sets up a "Holiday School" in Bangangte for all the trainees to test themselves out. The kids are real, the subject material is real, the lack of resources is VERY real. Right now, the main textbook I'm using for my 9th/10th grade equivalent Biology class was published in 1985, and classifies bacteria and fungi as plants. Oh lordy lord, what will I do.

I'm also teaching 6th grade chemistry. The syllabus requires that we cover lab safety and equipment. Of course, we have no lab, or lab equipment. So that means drawing a Bunsen burner on the board and describing it. Fail. Most touching moment so far: a boy comes up to me after chemistry class and says, "Madam, do you think that maybe some times when we are learning about chemistry, you could bring some things from chemistry into the class? I am very interested in learning more about chemistry." 1, 2, 3, "awwwwwwww".....ugh, tragic. Looking forward to actually having a beaker to pass around the room. Note to PC: you can put a computer lab in, any chance the science team could get a test tube? Just one?

And, I'm also teaching the 9th/10th graders computers, IT as it is known here. First practical lesson was on opening an email account. "Click on the address bar and type mail.yahoo.com". Not hard? Yes, hard. After an hour, I think about 3 students managed to open an account, and I'm not sure if all of them were able to remember their user name and password. So we'll go back to that again this week and try again. And then I'll be teaching a theory lesson on excel. What is a theory lesson you might ask? Well, in Cameroon, all students are required to learn about computers. Regardless of whether or not there are actual computers available. So, we draw a picture of the window, and explain what each part is, where you would click, and what would happen. Of course, this is the reason WHY the instruction "click on the address bar and type mail.yahoo.com" is difficult.

But, overall, teaching is going alright. I'm learning a lot, and I think I'm figuring out what works for now, and what will work differently when I get to post.

3) "Autre Chose". French keyboards. My dad told me to post my rant, so here goes:
a) You have to shift to type a period. The same key is used for the explanation point. Why on earth would you think you would use the exclamation point more often than the period!!!!!!!
b) Numbers--you have to shift to enter a number. Insanity, I tell you!
c) Too much crap on each key: On a french keyboard, there is a shift, a control, an alt, and an "Alt Gr", so you have even more options for what to press to get the character you want. For example, to get the @, you "Alt Gr" and then press 8 (I think). No wonder it's difficult to type anything in the address bar!!!

Mice and roaches: 6 mice down, who knows how many more to go. Anyone from 4th R here? Remember showing up monday mornings to the smell of death from the mice that died over the weekend? Yeah, that was under my bed.

Explorit: Yes, madagascar hissing cockroaches that live in a fishtank are fine, unknown cockroach species that live in my bedroom AND HAVE WINGS, are not.

Food: Everyone wants to know what I eat:
Breakfast--varies between eggs and bread (my fav), bread and "bouille(?)", a thin cream of wheat type porridge that's corn based (tasty, not so filling), and today we had bread and margarine. Nescafe to top it off, mmmmm.

Morning snack: Used to be cake and coffee, has shifted to spaghetti-bean-sauce-piment (spicy stuf) sandwich. Yummy protein. Especially important on Bouille/margarine days.

Lunch: There's a lady next door to the PC office building that makes lunch. Usually spaghetti with carrots and green beans (btw Amanda--I have officially gotten over my undying hatred of green beans, due to their abundance and lack of other green non-gross veggie options), beans, plantains, and something else. Today was boiled potatoes with carrots and green beans also. Very tasty, though sometimes I go across the street for a spaghetti-omelette sandwich for variety.

NB: Yes, I have said twice now that spaghetti goes in a sandwich. And spaghetti goes in an omelette. And an omelette goes in a sandwich. Moral of the story: Anything in bread is good.

Dinner: With the host family, highly variable. We'll do a top 3 and a bottom 3 for comparative purposes.

Top 3:
1)Koki--crushed beans and oil, boiled inside a banana leaf. I think of it as Cameroonian tofu, and Is definitely my fav.
2) Ndole and cous-cous: Cous cous is not what you think. Here, it's kind of a paste, that you eat with your hands, dipping it in sauce. Ndole is a green leaf that has to be prepared carefully in order to not be very bitter, haven't tried my hand at this yet. Cous-cous can be served with many other things, and most of them are pretty ok. This is usually served with a meat of some sort in a red sauce. So you grab a blob of couscous, dip it in the sauce, grab some ndole and some meat, and eat. Yum.
3) Poisson Braisse--Grilled fish. Yes, it's a whole fish, with skin and bones and other assorted parts, but it is SOOOO good. Usually taken with baton du manioc, which are rope like things made of manioc flour. Kind of pasty and flavorless, but good for dipping in spicy sauce that comes with the fish. Dig.

Bottom 3:
1) Gombo. Not Gumbo. Not even close. Texture is exactly that of a snail slime trail, except slimier. Eaten with couscous, I still haven't mastered the art of getting a wad of it up, as it sticks together constantly. Will probably actually refuse to eat this if it's offered a third time.
2) Dried fish in sauce. Dry, bones are impossible to find, flavor is fishier than fishy. Downgrade.
3) Assorted cow parts: So far have done stomach, intestine, skin, and I think heart has been thrown in without my knowledge. I have every intention of going back to vegetarianism (except for the fish!) once I get to post. Don't like having to play "guess the organ" at dinner.

Note: Si ma famille le lit, s'il vous plait ne prend pas d'offence. La plus part de la nourriture que vous m'avez offre etaient TRES bien, mais mes amis et ma famille veulent savoir que je mange, et je veux dit la verite de la nourriture Camerounaise!

I think that will do for now! Love to you all, hope all is well with you and yours, and now that I have my own internet (oh yeah, I did that too), I am hopefully going to be a more faithful blogger. Oh, and--I've also made it a goal (that I've actually stuck with better than blogging), that I write one actual physical letter per week. Please let me know if you'd like to get one, and feel free to send one my way. Mail is super exciting, and your good thoughts and wishes are even more important to me than clif bars, baby wipes, trail mix, hand sanitizer, College science textbook cd's, and crest toothpaste. Although any of those things would also be handy :) A la prochaine fois. Next time: I go talk fine Pidgin for ma blog.

Yeah, I've got Parasites, but no worries, A Waka Fine

Lycee Technique, Bangangte

I've got parasites....but that's not as bad as it sounds. Just happy that this time I have a diagnosis after doing actual tests. Makes me feel less bad about taking antibiotics that are crazy strong--one is listed for use in treatment of septicemia. Whoa.

I'm intending to have a longer post forthcoming about traveling to and from my site, but haven't gotten up the initiative to write about it yet....plus want to post that with pictures. So, I'll post some pics that I took here in Bangangte, and actually Yaounde also, whoa, way back! Enjoy!

The bathroom, everyone wants to know

My Room. Yes, sleeping under a mosquito net is very sexy

View from the hotel in Yaounde

Assorted members of the homestay family.

That's all for now, love to all! I've got slightly better email access at the moment, since they set up a computer lab at Model School, so send me a note about life in the states!

Normalizing

Well, I have an awesome blog written about what normal is becoming to me here, but it seems that I cant copy and paste from a pdf. Suck.

In any case, things are getting better, my digestive tract included. And I still am getting used to the idea that I live in Africa.

Fun facts include:

Im getting better at soccer
Food was awesome last night
I was told that I should marry a cameroonian so that he can come back to the states with me and get a job.
and I would love to get a text: Amanda says its 50 cents to send, and it would totally make my day!

Current care package requests continue to include clif bars, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and Ill add dried fruit for fun. And science textbooks. Cause the ones I have here leave something to be desired. Love to all! Maybe someday Ill find the blog I meant to write here!

Despite reports of my death...

I am in Bangangte and alive! I won't disgust you with the details of my gastrointestinal maladies, but know that it's getting better! And prayers for health and well-being are ALWAYS appreciated!

Ok, so to catch everyone up here. We traveled from Yaounde to Bangangte on Thursday, and met our homestay families. There are 9 people that live in my house! The dad is an agronomy research scientist, working on corn. Mom is a German teacher at the lycee. There are 4 kids--6, 4, 2.5, and 6 mos. There is a much younger sister of my father, and one of his nieces and one of his nephews that live in the house also. All are very nice, though they make fun of me for not eating much. But really, when the menu is tripe? Hmmm....Oh, and I think I'm pretty much the first white person the little kids have met, so they are pretty much terrified of me. But it's cute.

Training is pretty intense--classes all day during the week, plus half day on Saturday. Plus having to speak French CONSTANTLY! So yeah, I'm pretty done by about 8:30!

Highlights:
--finally getting to do my laundry. Handwashing not as bad as it sounds, but gotta figure out how to get more of the soap out.
--walking around! We were pretty captive in Yaounde, so it's nice to get out and about and actually interact with "real" people
--getting to go see my dad's farm--corn, pigs, cows, etc.
--cheap food! A lady across the street from the training building made lunch for everyone (pasta, beans, plantains, potatoes, etc), for 350 CFA, less than a dollar!
--Mango season. Awesome.

Ok, I also have a phone! Check my facebook or one of my parents or Amanda for the number, but all incoming texts and calls are free for me (but not for you!) I finish class at 12:30 on Saturdays, or Sundays should be good too.

Not much else to say right now. Please shoot me emails about what is going on with you and yours, and keep sending the love! Oh, and Malawi folks--I'm waving up! Don't forget to wave down!

In Cameroon!

I have arrived! The tale of the arrival is remarkably unremarkable--flight from NYC to Brussels, to Yaounde, Cameroon. Highlight was that some of the players from the Cameroonian National Football team were on our plane!

Everyone is still wonderful, though we're all getting a bit of cabin fever. Saturday we went on a brief walk around the area of the hotel, but my group didn't get very far. Mostly, we hung out and played card games-little boring, but it's ok.

Yesterday we had another free (re: boring) morning, but the afternoon we had our first official training session, on safety and security. We learned about how women having their breasts grabbed is pretty common--but NOT ok! And watched pretty much the scariest video on rape I've ever seen! But it's all good--just never be alone, ever. Ever! Dad, don't worry, it's ok, really!

Today, we had another session on health, and finally got out health kits--lots of drugs, etc. Also had interviews with the medical staff (got to explain for the 47th time that my "asthma" is NOT a big deal. And, had language inteviews--my grammar was pretty much atrocious, BUT, I felt pretty good about getting my point across, so I think I did pretty well.

The plan for the upcoming time: we're in the hotel until Thursday, then we move to our training town, north of here, and move into a homestay family. I'm a little anxious about meeting the family, I hope they have kids!

Internet has been few and far between and will probably be worse in Bangangte, so we'll see how this blogging thing goes! I should have a phone in a few days, and will disseminate that as soon as I can! Love to all. Oh! And care package wishes: clif bars, some sort of drink flavor packet (crystal light, gatorade, or similar. Preferably not too much sugar!), and that's all I've got for now! Love everyone!

Staging

Whew! It's been a bit of a whirlwind of 24 hours or so, but nothing compared to what's coming next!

Flight left Sacramento at 6:20 am--HUGE props to Amanda and Jarad for getting me there at 5am, and Jarad for getting Amanda home safe!

After a fun hour of sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta...(Fail!)....arrived in Philly, managed to figure out the shuttle system, got to the hotel, wandered around for a bit, then settled in for the night. Met my roommate (shh, don't tell Amanda, she'll get jealous!), Hailey, from Seattle, English teacher, very cool!

Today was a morning once again wandering the Historic district. Saw a lot of buildings, didn't know what any of them were, but they were all pretty! Saw the Liberty Bell from the outside, but the line looked hella long so didn't go in, though heard later that people were just able to walk right in? So who knows. Will have to come back to Philly someday and figure that out!

Then the real excitement started around 1, when people started to really arrive--just wandering around the lobby looking for blue-folder carrying folks. Lots of introductions, lots of names, lots of home towns--it's a very diverse group, but there is another UCD Grad here too! Who would've thought?

Spend the entire afternoon going over what our expectations, aspirations, hopes, and fears about service are, getting to know each other, and learning more about what service is about. Also some short info on general health and safety--important! Like Georgia said, DON'T GET MALARIA! Also don't get mugged, or dress inappropriately, or...well, I don't want to freak my Dad out too much.

Went out to dinner, got to chill with people for a bit, get to know them a bit better, start hearing everyone's stories. It's really interesting to watch the situation from a group dynamics kind of perspective--who plays what role, how do people interact with each other. I think my goal for tomorrow will be to do less observing and more participating though. *Is shy sometimes!*

Oh yes, and as of tomorrow, my phone will be shipping itself back across the country, so, I'll try to post and/or email and/or facebook as soon as I can! Until then, prayers, good thoughts, and love are much appreciated and accepted! Love to you all!

Sending Mail

Mail
Few countries in the world offer the quality of postal service that we consider normal in the U.S.
Volunteers, family and friends who expect U.S. standards for mail service will be disappointed. Mail takes a minimum of three weeks to arrive in Cameroon and may take several months. Some mail may not arrive at all (this is not a frequent occurrence, but it does happen). Some letters may arrive with clipped edges because postal workers have tried to see if any money was inside (again, this is rare, but it does happen). We do not want to sound discouraging, but when we are thousands of miles from our families and friends, communication becomes a very sensitive issue. We would prefer you be forewarned of the reality of mail service in the developing world. Despite delays, we strongly encourage Volunteers to write to their families regularly. Family members will typically become worried when they do not hear from their Volunteer, so parents, friends, and relatives should be advised that mail is sporadic and that they shouldn't worry if they don't receive their Volunteer's letters regularly.

In the past we have noticed a common Volunteer letter writing pattern that particularly disturbs families and friends. During training and their first three to six months at post, Volunteers write home frequently. They are adapting to a totally new environment (which can be very difficult), and writing helps them process the new sights and sounds. However, once Volunteers feel at home with their surroundings and their work starts to take off, many simply forget to write home for long periods of time. Please don't be overly concerned if there is a break in correspondence three to six months after your Volunteer arrives at post! However, if a family member or friends does not receive mail from a Volunteer for over three months, then that person may contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington (1-800-
424-8580, extension 1470). OSS will then send a "health and welfare” inquiry to the Peace Corps Country Director in Yaoundé and ask him to check up on the PCV. Typically, Volunteers are in regular contact with the Peace Corps/Cameroon office in Yaounde. However, as necessary, to respond to a “health and welfare” inquiry, the office in Yaounde will contact a Volunteer at his or her site by making a series of phone calls, radio contacts, or even sending a staff member to the site (which means several days travel in some cases). The PCV will then be asked to write
home and the Country Director will inform OSS with information to pass on to family members. As you can see, this is a time-consuming process that affects quite a few people. Peace Corps asks Volunteers and their families to try to avoid both heartache and headaches by maintaining a regular pattern of writing to loved ones.

Most packages sent to Cameroon arrive (sometimes a few months late). Nevertheless DO NOT send things that have important sentimental or monetary value. Don't send expensive items, such as the Volunteer's favorite pair of one-carat diamond earrings. Items such as Walkman speakers, food, and clothing have usually arrived with no problem, but it's expensive for the sender and receiver. If sending packages, "bubble envelopes" work best. If sending any food items, put them inside a ziploc bag. This will reduce chances that bugs or rodents will devour them.
For the first 3 months after your Volunteer’s arrival in Cameroon, mail should be sent to the
following address:
Name, Peace Corps Volunteer
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 215
Yaoundé, Cameroon
Once Volunteers complete training and are at their posts, the quickest way to send mail is to send letters and packages directly to your Volunteer's address at post. Remind your Volunteer to relay their mailing address at post as soon as they know what it will be. If you do not know your Volunteer's address at post, mail can be sent to the Yaoundé address above the entire time the Volunteer is in Cameroon. Please realize that mail sent to this address will be held in Yaoundé until sent out on a bi-weekly basis to Volunteer posts (thereby delaying delivery for up to several weeks).
The following suggestions and postal regulations may be useful:
1. Mail should be sent directly to the Yaoundé address, OR directly to your Volunteer's post
address once training is finished.
2. Both Volunteers and family members should number letters sent so that the receiver can
determine whether any letters do not arrive.
3. Packages should be sent via air, not surface mail (surface mail has been known to take longer
than two years to arrive.)
4. Sending packages to your Volunteer in Cameroon is a risky proposition. Theft of packages is
not only a problem in the Cameroonian postal system, it also occurs on the U.S. side. Although occasionally a package arrives quickly and without problems, it may take months or it may get "lost" along the way. Therefore, it is not advisable to send valuables this way.
5. If you do send packages, bubble envelopes seem to work better than large boxes. They are less tempting to would-be thieves. The sender should clearly and honestly mark the contents
on the outside of the package, but a general description of the contents is sufficient: "clothing and candy" rather than "Nike high top sneakers and 2 lbs. Godiva chocolate."
6. Express mail is an expensive option that may take just as long to get to Cameroon. Perhaps a
more secure option than regular airmail for documents, checks, etc., it is subject to more
scrutiny by Cameroonian customs than regular mail. For items other than documents, Peace Corps staff has to submit import licenses to customs, and clearance can take up to 10 days. Thus, you may not necessarily save any time by using Express mail. DHL and UPS operate in Cameroon for those important documents. Note that current prices for these services run around $100.00 for one pound or less.
7. There is a tax which Volunteers will have to pay on all packages received before they can
retrieve them from the post office. This tax varies according to the size of the package. It might be a nice gesture from friends or family to send a six-pack of Mountain Dew, but it may cost a Volunteer up to $10.00 to get it out of the post office.
8. Packages sent to the Yaoundé office are sent regularly to Volunteer posts. This may delay
delivery to the Volunteer by up to several weeks.
9. If Volunteers wish to send a package from Yaoundé to the States, Cameroon postal rates are
high and insurance is not available. For this reason, many Volunteers wait to send packages with returning PCVs (whom they ask first, in country) or wait until their Completion of Service (COS) date to send home gifts and souvenirs. Letters going to the States through the Cameroon post have been quite dependable.
10. US postage-stamped letters can be put in the "next traveler" box at the Peace Corps office in
Yaoundé, to be hand carried by the next person going Stateside. Note that this is a courtesy, not an obligation, and Volunteers shouldn't expect any traveler to carry more than letter mail, unless special arrangements are made with the individual. Air travelers may be required to open letters and packages and/or submit them to X-rays, especially when they don't belong to the traveler.
11. The Cameroon Desk in Peace Corps Headquarters, Washington, is available to answer Volunteer & families' questions about mail. Due to staff and budget constraints, they cannot,
however, facilitate the sending of personal mail for Trainees and Volunteers.