In Country

So after almost a week I have decided to blog. Today is the first day where I want a day of American normalcy, so here I am at the internet cafe with an ice cold Fanta and air conditioning (even though the letters on the keyboard is a scramble just like any foreign country). Down the road is a suburb of the mid-sized town of Bafia, which is about 1.5 hours from the capital Yaoundé. I don't have much to comment on our staging in Philly or our few days of orientation in Yaoundé, our first arrival in Cameroon, except that I am very happy with my Peace Corps stagaires (or trainees, our first three months together in Bafia to learn French and other local languages like Pidgin English in the West or Fafuldé in the North depending on our post). There is something about explaining to your family and friends about what you're trying to do for 27 months, but anyone who has completed PC service or is a current stagaire/volunteer "gets it". Just about everyone of us has gone through many, many obstacles to get where we are. There are 43 of us, 16 in Small Enterprise Development (my group in which I will be working with NGOs) and the rest in Education (teaching English, computer literacy, science). September is the month when Cameroon will receive Agriculture and Health vols.

Being in Africa for the first time has hit me two times - first when we landed in country and seeing the red earth, and second when we drove from Yaoundè to Bafia and again seeing this beautiful, rich, red earth. I am enjoying life in Bafia...I'm living with a host family consisting of the mom, dad, 2 sisters (ages 15 and 21), a brother (age 19), a girl cousin (age 11), and a cat. They are very, very sweet. The children laugh at my American accent when I attempt to speak francais and the girls love to touch and braid my hair. They also love to sing and dance at spontaneous moments...it's a lively household with neighbors always visiting. I definitely have been taking bucket baths because there is no running water in the house. The house has a well in the backyard so we draw water from there to use. There is electricity but when it rains the power goes out and the 15 year old yells O Mon Dieu! This happened on the first day I arrived to their home...and I also learned that it is rainy season right now. Some autre "firsts" - I washed my laundry with a bucket and it is currently hanging on a clothesline. I also drew water from a forage today - which is a spring for drinking water. It is unsafe to drink regular water here and PC trainees even have a water filter to use for forage water. Gabby, the 15 yr old girl, carried the water on her head. I headed straight for the internet cafe because carrying all that water just with my hands was super heavy. And, of course, everyone laughed at my expression when I arrived back at the house.

There is so much more to write about but I will leave it here. Our classes are Monday through Saturday and have already become somewhat overwhelming with studying, spending time with my homestay family, speaking in francais, and getting used to this humid weather. I just found out that Luc Richard Mbah Moute is actually from Bafia and may be here now, so I will see if I can find a way to meet him (I think one of our trainers knows him).

Also, I think this weekend or the next is Father's Day so I definitely have him in mind these past few weeks. Love you, Dad!

Bonne Nuit!