June Already?

Well, best way to say it: it's been an interesting month, guys. I feel like May was clear across the board and difficult in a million different ways. Two separate Medical Holds in Yaounde, one set of Program Advisory Committee Meetings, a World Map started and finished in a week, final arrangements made for the Soy/Moringa plantation at Esperance Vie in honor of Warren Walikonis, a potential unexpected donation to said Soy/Moringa project (thanks, Immaculate Heart of Mary!,) two exceptionally awkward marriage proposals from friends, the end of the Handicapped Youth Group for the school year, the 40th Year Celebration of the Reunification of Cameroon, a visit from volunteer-friends from the Extreme North, and one very messy house waiting for me at the end of all that. There's been lots of little things in between that all--lunches with friends, evenings spent watching soccer games, days with absolutely nothing to do but watch another movie--but May has tested me on a lot of different levels. I'm still standing, and, most of the time, remembering to breath. Altogether, I call that a success, and it feels good.

The newest Stage has officially arrived in country, and they're actually getting ready to move in to Bafia to start training: I'm no longer part of the newest, most inexperienced group. Crazy. Somewhere out there in Yaounde is my new post-mate, and they had better be the best Stagaire this country has ever seen. Batouri deserves the best :) With that said, it's crazy to look back at how much has changed over the almost six months I've been at post. Electricity has been in and out, mango and avocado seasons have come and went, I've been living without paved roads,  I've made friends, found Cameroonian dishes I really like, figured out how to locate (some) of the Western foods I miss the most, and discovered lots and lots of things about Cameroon that continue to puzzle me. I've picked up a lot of French (there's still a long way to go,) and I've lost a lot of English. Every day is an adventure, an adventure that goes someplace unpredictable and always ends with some kind of unexpected lesson. Six months in Batouri, eight months in Cameroon; Peace Corps--the hardest job you'll ever love.

With all that said, know that I think of you all often, and miss you all! I don't post enough photos on this blog, so right now with the "fast" Bertoua internet, I'm going to take this opportunity to share and explain some photos of what I've been up to recently.

With Love,
Steph

This is the field where we're planting the Soy and Moringa at Esperance Vie! These plants help combat malnutrition and will help ease some of the instability of the food supply at certain parts of the year. The first harvest will be ready in late August or early September, just in time for workshops for the families at Esperance on how to grow these plants, why to grow these plants, and how to cook with them. Exciting stuff!

This is the photo of the students and Janelle working on the World Map at Lycee Bilingue. We put in about four hours of work a day, sometimes more, for a week. In the brown is a Geography teacher who stopped by and helped us correct all of the little details in Europe and the Middle East--turns out, all those little countries are WAY more difficult than either us or the students anticipated. We're hoping that teachers will be able to use this map as a resource for their classes for the upcoming school year.

After one long week of early mornings, coffee, and celebratory biftec, we finished the map! This is a photo of Janelle and I with a group of the staff and students that helped us out. Look at that beauty of a map! This is a very stereotypically Cameroonian photo, by the way, Cameroonians do NOT believe in smiling for cameras!

My two homes: Ohio and the East region of Cameroon. The kids couldn't believe just how far I traveled to come live out here with them, and when Janelle showed them where she lived (California,) and we told stories about what it's like where we come from, it blew their minds.

Janelle and I at the site of the "Sacred Rocks" in Batouri, an absolutely beautiful site, especially when you luck out with beautiful whether like this! It's the little moments like this one where it suddenly hits you that you do, in fact, live in Africa and it is a pretty fantastic life :)