In Cameroon!

29-9-11

Bonjour, mes amis et ma famille biologique! Je te manque BEAUCOUP. Je suis un peau fatiguée de parler le français maintenant et, ensuite, je suis enthosiaste pour écrire ce lettre. But, for real, my brain hurts from all of the French since arriving in Cameroon, so please excuse any and all spelling/grammar errors.

So much has happened since my last post: I successfully traveled to Philadelphia on my own, made it to Yaoundé and later to Bafia without any major disasters, saw my first Cameroonian dance performance, met the US’ ambassador to Cameroon, learned more about what it means to be part of the Youth Development program, felt the success of conversing with my host siblings (and helping them with their reading in French!), felt the failure of being unable to understand my host parents, and took my first bucket baths. For both better and for worse, my experience as a Peace Corps trainee so far is full of adventures and I’m learning lots of new things each day. There are 53 other Peace Corps Trainees in Cameroon split somewhat evenly between Bafia (where I am) and Bokito (where all 22 Health volunteers are) right now; we’re all having entirely different experiences, but it’s awesome to be a part of a collective whole that is so diverse and interesting. Never before have I ever actually been so excited to get up in the morning.

In an effort to keep this blog readable and focused, everything else is going to be in list format, so don’t freak out about the length of this entry.

Things I am most excited about and that are super awesome:

·         Most Cameroonian cooking! It’s so fresh and the fruits are delicious! PLUS, it looks like I’m not allergic to the oranges in Cameroon! SUCCESS. I’m enjoying the lack of processed crap.

·         Cooking with my host mother each night. I’m definitely learning some dishes that I want to bring home.

·         My younger host siblings. They usually run to me after I get home from school and pummel me with hugs/attention. They’re teaching me lots of vocabulary, and they are way more patient with my French than my host parents are. Plus, it’s just genuinely cool to have little siblings.

·         Learning more about the regions of the country, and seeing more! Cameroon is called Africa in Miniature and it’s amazing how different everything looks from city to city.

·         My staging group, and, in particular, the Dazzling (Dirty) Dozen of Youth Development and our WONDERFUL Program Manager Amadou. We always get in a good laugh, but everyone is always so thoughtful. There’s also a lot of awesome experience within the group and I think that as we continue to grow and learn, we can accomplish awesome things.

·         The crazy muscles I’m going to get from lugging around my bedans (giant jugs of water.) Watch out world, even if I gain a ton of weight from all the carbs, I am going to have impressive arm muscles without even trying.

Things I’m not liking so much:

·         Couscous. It’s not like in the US—it’s served in giant blocks that look kind of like spam. It’s tasteless and has the weirdest consistency. I think I may have accidentally asserted too much to my mother that I “liked” it and I’m fairly certainly it’ll be served for a million years, or at least everyday until December 8. Do not want.

·         Being called “nassara” and “La Blanche!” all the time. It gets tiring. I hear it from people in the market, people I pass as I go to school, my host family.

o   ALSO: kissing noises to attract my attention. That’s just a no. DOUBLE ALSO: Rob, turns out people here try to get my attention with that awful “Tsssst” noise you make. DISLIKE.

·         The crazy heavy accent my host family has that makes it so difficult for me to understand them and them to understand me. I am so NOT used to being incapable of speaking my mind all the time. Unfortunately, I now know how it must feel to be a ESL foreigner in the USA—it’s SO irritating that they speak a sentence louder when I say I don’t understand rather than rephrasing.

·         The crazy disease lectures we get. Mildly (okay, severely,) terrifying. Plus side, we’re well taken care of and I’ve gotten so many series of expensive shots for free—thanks tax payers of America!

·         The commonality of child abuse and domestic abuse, as well as animal abuse. Way more heartbreaking than any disease—I am very thankful for the upbringing I’ve had in the US. In an effort to rationalize it, I tell myself that it will give me motivation to work my butt off at my job as a Youth Development Coordinator.

Things you should send me because you love me so much:

·         Bar soap—I would really like to wash my hands for real on a consistent basis. There’s probably something at the market, but I’m at class during most of the day when the two markets are in session. SUCK.

·         Germex—In case you have some weird aversion to bar soap.

·         Letters/Photos/Post Cards

·         Book of crosswords or Sudoku or something else that I can DO

·         Good, strong perfume.

·         Anything else you’d want me to have, I can’t think of anything else at this moment. I will keep you updated.

My address is labeled on the side of the page, don’t feel obligated to send anything, it’s just that a lot of you asked beforehand what I would want in a package. Please insure any package you send me!!! ALSO, the most important thing: I HAVE A CELL PHONE! Unfortunately, it’s currently broken. Be on the look-out for my number soon, as a group of us are going to the MTN store today for SIM Card repairs.

A bientôt! Miss you and love you!