9.25.11

9.25.11

Been a month in country and two days until Bafia. We all just got back from the dinner at the Country directors house where we got to meet more of the PC staff and the American ambassador. The CDs house is the fanciest home I have been too yet. Compound with a big wall and barbed wire. Gate with a guard. Two generators. A quaint garden. Tons of space for entertaining. Its a PC home. I have finally gotten to meet all the other volunteers! 45 more came in Friday night. The groups are agroforestry, community health, and youth development. Youth development is a brand new program for Cameroon this year. I think its super solid 14 people get to christen it on PC 50th anniversary. Bunch of SOLID humans. Many have world travel backgrounds, impressive academia accomplishments, friends who are PCVs. But all solid humans. I’m excited to develop friendships with all of these people and then tell them a year from now in French how happy I am the universe brought us together. It will also be great to have places to stay all over country when I get the opportunity to travel. I’m rooming with a dude, in the hotel, named Stephen. From New York and Jersey. He reminds me of Chris Farley. A very energetic large comedic man. I have been comparing a lot of people I see here to humans on tv. I think the Training director looks like Jamie Foxes dad or Mike Tyson. Theres a girl here who looks like Amanda bines from Nickelodeon. Stephen like Chris Farley. Someone told me tonight I look like some dude off burn notice. I forgot his name. I was going to google it when I got home.
Quite a bit has happened since my last entry. We left Ebowlowa for Yaounde last friday. When we were leaving a guy who lived behind us, who also worked at the tv station, came out with a carton that looked like milk but ended up being wine. He also had a glass and was giving it for someone to hold. I gave him a can of ham that was left over in the fridge. The can was in the shape of a cat food can. He took it and gave me the glass and started to pour. Once I found out it was in fact wine he got it back and tried to give it to someone else, and no one took it because it was 7 in the morning. I’m sure it was a bon voyage toast. The lady who has a boutique at the end of the road, Anita, just happened to be riding by on a moto and told the driver to stop so she could wave good bye. I found out this lady is 22! I could have sworn she was mid 30s. She was always with a little girl, who I later found out was her niece. I found this out from Shane, who Anita wanted to get down with. She called Shane once we got to Yaounde and was like “Why did you leave without saying good bye to me?”
Quick fast forward. We got to Yaounde and our first stop was HQ. We had to drop off all of our extra stuff so we wouldn't have to bring it into the hotel. We just grabbed what was necessary. We got the opportunity to eat at this restaurant across the street that serves burgers, pizza, and other uncommon dishes. We all got some form of a hamburger which was pretty tiny, but was beef and cheese and tasted fantastic. Ensuit we went back to HQ and saw the place where PCV can pay to stay, like a PC hotel. Sign paperwork for internet use, and those who wanted things out of the safe got it. Popped my Malaria pill and then we headed to the hotel. Then it was just relaxing until the other group came that evening. This place got very hectic with 45 new people coming in with multiple bags of luggage. We had a good dinner and each meal after that has been awesome. Awesome because its continually getting to meet people or new aspects about them. Its also cool to observe these humans fresh off the plane and in country. Even if they have traveled outside the US they have never been to Cameroon. Many of them are disappointed about being locked down in the hotel, none of them have left further than the front door. I keep telling them you have 27 months of exploring, relax if you have to spend 4 days in a hotel. Esp the women. They are not missing great things in Yaounde. There are about 5 or 7 people who are good at french. Most everyone else is starting from scratch. Even the ones who are good will have to make adjustments to certain things they say, the speed at which they say it, and their accent. There was a bunch of processing, paper work, and shots that took place this weekend. Tomorrow is supposed to be a busy day. Luckily the few who were in Ebowlowa get some free time because we did all of it last month. Cameroon ID cards. Getting things locked in the safe. Getting water filters. I cant remeber exactly what we have to be a part of. I’ll find that out tomorrow. We have a broken down schedule for our next 3 months in PST. OH! We are the BIGGEST staging group Cameroon has had. Mostly because of the new addition of the Youth program. That is SOLID. I feel a synergy with these people. It was awesome getting to hear the CD and American Ambassador talk. I wont get into the specifics, but its one of those moments that releases excitement inside of you. A moment that you pull back up during hard times to realize why your doing what your doing. Oh, we also had interviews for home stays and post preferences. I left most all of that open. I figure where I get placed is where i will get placed. I will make the most of it and deal with problems at any post. I know being in Agro I will most likely be rural and wont have electricity or running water. I also believe things work out a certain way for me and I wont get anything I cannot handle. Tiki, the agro PD, says he has had 3 Michaels since he has been in charge and they are all highly motivated. I’ll keep that going. Its good to have an open mind and patience here.
We had african dancers last night! We had to pay 2.000 mil each to get them there and the main dancers is a wife to one of the trainers. IT WAS AWESOME. I don’t have pictures, but I’m going to mooch of someone who got them that night. They went off for a while. I must say they would all be great at tybo and yoga. These humans moved super fast. Not only the dancers, but the people playing the drums too. They have traveled over the world displaying traditional African dance from Cameroon. At the end they started inviting up, more pulling people up, to dance individually and then everyone got down at the end. I was getting down and realized how hard it was to do the moves they were doing. By the end of 2 minutes of dancing my thighs felt like they were going to collapse. I decided If I wanna get ripped here I just need to eat a lot of fish and dance like that. FOOD has been fantastic here. I have been eating a lot of left overs and expanding my stomach back out. I found out we had goat last night for dinner. It tasted like tender beef. We have 2 solid PCVs here directing our movements. They both serve in the north. Mary and Carlos. Carlos had a slick silk bou bou on with some awesome embroidery. He said it was a gift from a wealthy friend in his village.
Not much else is entering my brain right now. I’m in the hotel hallway with 4 other people typing on a piece of machinery with an illuminated screen. The hallway smells funny and I hear sirens in the background. I hear tapping of keyboards like accountants. People are swapping movies and tv shows. Has anyone here hear of Where there is no doctor? Awesome book. A girl in the immersion group has it and I was going to ask someone to send it to me, but I got it on PDF from another trainee. Along with some other great PDFs about sanitation, engineering in developing countries, rainwater harvesting, water treatment, and bee keeping. Oh yea, there was a wedding last night and it creeped out a couple people. Apparently some women were being followed to there rooms, or people were getting knocks on their door at 3 am. Ashley had a kid open her door but get stopped by the chain, then he was trying to undo the chain. The wedding went on until 5 in the morning. It was the subject to start off the safety meeting today with Ruth. Just the introductory one, we will have many in PST. Nothing else for now. Tomorrow breakfast is at 6:45, I’m going to bed. I think I’ll write in shorter gaps so I don’t feel like I miss the good detail. Bafia Tuesday. Meet the home family. Excitement!