Tu est la?

Tu est la? That means "you are here?". Yes, it's in a form of a question. Cameroonians like to ask you "you are here?" when you're standing right in front of them. The normal response would be "oui. je suis la"--yes, I'm here (obviously). But really, I'm here, at post!

Salut mes amis! So here’s what you missed since the last post:

Thursday, December 8, 2011: At approximately 11:30am, I took the Oath to become a Peace Corps volunteer at our swearing in ceremony in front of our host families, the Ambassador, PC Country Director, the Mayor of Bafia, various other political figures, and a crowd of curious Cameroonians. All 53 of us were together and dressed to the nines in our pagne. There were speeches by all of the Program Managers, Ambassador and Country Director. Three stage mates gave speeches in French, Pidgin, and Fufulde, which were pretty awesome!

Overall the ceremony went well. We started on time, even though half of the host families hadn’t shown up yet, mainly because things never start on time here. At the end of the ceremony, all host families were accounted for, pictures were taken, and we all headed back to the training center to have our host family appreciation luncheon. We ate well, took more pictures, and the Ambassador even gave some time to let families take pictures with him and their certificates of appreciation.

The celebration continued at Hotel New Palace that night. Everyone checked out of their host families and chipped in on hotel rooms to crash in after a long night of partying. It was a great time! : ) The next morning everyone headed back to the base, some of us struggling more than others, and we all said our goodbyes because we were all heading to post! It was definitely bitter sweet to say goodbye to our host families and our friends in stage. Most volunteers were heading to posts that are a couple of hours away from other volunteers, and after being together every day for the past three months, reality started sinking in. I was particularly sad to part ways with my YD friends. We have become so close during training, it felt weird having to leave all of them. There are 5 of us in the Grand North, so I’m definitely grateful for that and I’m sure I will be seeing them often!

So, I arrived at post on Saturday December 10 around 7:30am. As soon as I stepped off the train, one of my friends says “You’re home!” The thought of finally arriving to the place that I would call home for the next two years was…unreal. It felt like I was just going on another site visit and that I would be heading back to Bafia in a week. I don’t think it has really sunk it yet to this day.

I spent my first night in my apartment on Wednesday December 14. I waited to get my locks changed before I moved in and I also wanted to buy a new mattress. I stayed at the case the first couple of days with all my stage mates living in the Adamawa. Some of them are don’t have access to a lot of resources in their villages, such as beds, mattresses, gas tanks and stoves, buckets etc., so they did some shopping before heading to post. I figured since I lived in the city I would take my time, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I haven’t really bought much, just my stove, gas tank, 2 buckets, mattress, bed sheets, soap, detergent…and that’s about it. Nothing too cook with and no furniture. I have three months to settle in…why rush?

Oh yea, about that. PC encourages us new volunteers to hold off on starting work and beginning our own projects until after In-Service Training (IST) in March. They want us to use these first three months to acclimate to the new culture, integrate, make some Cameroonian friends, learn the local language and practice French, and assess the community’s needs. Since it’s the holiday season, I’ve decided to take it easy this first month since everyone is in “fête” mode and then start to fully immerse in the New Year.

Well, I’ve been an official Peace Corps volunteer for two weeks now (ok…three now that I’ve posted this), and I have to say it feels pretty surreal. Actually right now it feels like I’m on vacation since I haven’t been working or studying, which has actually been pretty nice. Also because a year ago I was finishing up finals for the fall semester and literally dreaming about what life would be like as a PC volunteer, and here I am living my dream (so cliché I know).

Talk to you all next year, I’ll be posting about Christmas and New Years! Happy Holidays everyone!

Some pictures!

The "Dazzling Dozen". This is the YD crew on Thankgiving! :)

Diversity Day: The trainers threw a Diversity Day for us so we could learn more about Cameroonian culture. I wore this dress I had made a while back. The Cameroonians wear bright colored and patterned fabric called "pagne", this is just one example! I aslo had my hair braided two nights before. I have purple weave in...you can't really see it but it's definitely purple. My hair was all the way down my back when I had it down. It feels like I had 10 lbs of extra hair on my head. I don't have it anymore, but I thought I'd share the picture with you :)

Here is a group of dancers performing a traditional Cameroonian tribal dance on Diversity Day.

The final stretch

Hello friends! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I have to say I got my first taste of homesickness being away from family during this first round of holidays that I’ll be missing, but thankfully I’ve been surrounded by an incredible support system, and people who are also missing home! I kept daydreaming of fried turkey, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. YUM! I’m drooling just typing about it. I actually had a pretty eventful Thanksgiving. Everyone decided to hold off on feasting until Saturday, so on Thanksgiving Day we had class for half the day and then had a Turkey Bowl football game with all the stageaires. YD won…of course. Actually…I have no idea who won, but I did catch an awesome interception. Saturday everyone got together to feast in Bokito, the nearby village where the Health trainees are training and living. I was pretty impressed with the turnout of dishes served considering our limited resources.

Entrees: We bought 6 chickens as our turkey replacement (chickens that a few trainees helped kill and prepare…I unfortunately was not one of them). Also, we had sweet potatoes (real sweet potatoes, not yams), enough mashed potatoes to feed a village, guacamole (yes weird for thanksgiving BUT Cameroon has the biggest and tastiest avocados I’ve ever seen, and they’re cheap =guacamole heaven), an awesome tofu dish for our vegetarians, STUFFING, red bean hummus, garlic bread, pasta salad, stir fried rice (sooo good), french fries…and I think that’s all. Lots of carbs…but can you really complain on Thanksgiving?!

Ok so now for the desert: PUMPKIN PIE…three of them…yes…I said it. One of the health volunteers received some pumpkin pie mix in a care package from her mother, so she graciously decided to share the love. In addition, lots of fruit salad, an amazing pineapple salad (I can’t even describe how good it tasted. Cameroon has some of the sweetest pineapples you will ever eat), BROWNIES, and cake (chocolate and marble…this is not publix cake by any means…I would say it’s almost better). Let’s just say I had a food baby by the end of the day. I haven’t eaten very big meals since I’ve been in country, and I have to say it was SO worth the additional poundage that I’m sure I gained. It was so nice to get a break from Cameroonian food and get a taste of some good American food!!

That night a bunch of us went to the club (my third time)! It was probably the best night I’ve had in a long time. You would think dancing on a full stomach would have been a problem (in addition to some alcohol consumption) but no, quite the contrary. It was EPIC! That’s all I’m going to say about that…

Training is wrapping up fairly quickly, so quickly that I swear in/graduate in A WEEK! I’ll be an official Peace Corps Volunteer in 7 days (December 8th)!! These past three months have FLOWN by, but as they say, time flies when you’re having fun! Even though training has been intense in some ways, it’s been a blast. I’ve gained so many new and genuine friendships, and I couldn’t be happier! So we have our Swearing-In ceremony on Thursday December 8 at 10:00am. We check out of our homestay families and we are leaving for post the following day. We are planning on having a big soiree the night of swearing to celebrate…so that should be fun :) I’ll keep you posted!

Site Visit!

Sorry for the late post everyone, I haven’t been able to get on the internet all last week! I’m now in week 9!! Crazyyy. I swear in on December 8^th (only about 2 weeks left!). Here’s my post about site visit. Enjoy!

11/13/11

Salut friends! Just finished week 7 of training which just happened to be SITE VISIT for the YD and Agroforestry volunteers (Health went the week before us)! I’ve been cooped up in Bafia since I’ve been in country, so it was great to finally get out and see what else Cameroon has to offer. Overall, my site visit was so much fun! I had some awesome cultural experiences while getting a feel of what my next two years would be like…and I’m in for an amazing time here. So the easiest way for me to describe my week is probably to break it down day by day…so bear with me J

Saturday, Nov 5: Everyone met up at the training site bright and early at 7:30am. Community hosts and volunteers packed into 3 buses for their specific destinations. We are all spread out throughout the country, so some buses were headed straight through the West, and some went to Yaounde to connect to other modes of transportation to either the East or the Grand North. The Grand North people (including me) have to take the train which leaves for Adamaou every night at 6:20pm. It’s supposed to be about a 13 hour journey, and I say “supposed to” because there is always the occasional break-down that can turn a 13 hour trip into a 24 hour trip. So we left for the train station around 4:30 to be safe, got some dinner while we waited to depart (freshly grilled fish and manioc…soooo good!), and at 6:20pm we were on our way! Since this was a PC paid trip, community hosts and PCTs were given the sleeper cars, so we got to sleep on a bed through the night rather than sit in a seat, which I’m sure made ALL the difference (it was a bumpy ride).

Sunday Nov 6: I arrived in Ngaoundéré (the final stop of the train in the Grand North) around 9:30am. The Extreme North PCTs (4) waited for their 9 hour bus ride to their posts while I was picked up by a PC driver who took two others and me to the Peace Corps “Case” or Safe House. One thing I can say is I am so grateful to have a fairly easy travel to post, whereas North and Extreme North people travel for almost 2 days just to get to their posts. So, every regional capital has a “case” for all the PCVs in Cameroon. This is where I stayed the majority of my site visit. Shortly after settling in I met one of two post mates, Krystina, who lives right next to the case. She is a Small Enterprise Development volunteer and has been in country for a little over a year. She took us out to lunch at a popular PCV spot and afterwards I met up with my community host.

**My community host’s name is Ismaila Abbo, I call him Abbo (because it sounds like Aboo from Aladin, and I thought it was his first name when I first met him). He is the vice president of the Youth Center that I will be working with when I get to post. He is also Muslim, which has an important correlation to the rest of my activities in the next couple of days.

Sunday was the “Fête de Mouton” for the Muslim culture, the Celebration of the Lamb. Abbo took Andy and I (he was staying in Ngaoundéré until Tuesday before going to his post, and he’s a good friend of mine) to introduce me to some family members and begin our “fête-ing” as we liked to call it. I will be living in the “cartier” (neighborhood) called Bumjéré, where Abbo and his family live as well, which is a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. We met only a small portion of his family, as well as a Chief of a nearby village (pretty cool), and I think we went to 5 houses total. Because of the Fête, it is custom to eat at every house you are invited to, and when you eat, you eat a full meal. At the Chiefs house, the three of us split half a ribcage of lamb, after already stuffing our faces at the first house (big mistake). It’s also culturally rude if you don’t finish your plate, so if you weren’t careful to pace yourself, like Andy and I did, well...it was a struggle to put it lightly. After our first day of Fête-ing, Andy and I went back to the Case to relax, digest, and mentally prepare ourselves for round two the next day.

Monday Nov 7: Day two of celebrating the Fête de Mouton, and my birthday! I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, a year ago I was in my last year of college, turning 21, and now I’m in Cameroon, Africa…crazy”!! So today was my most eventful day of the week by far. I started off by eating breakfast at Abbo’s Aunt’s house. Afterwards I met up with Krystina to get some “sipa” work done, which is the Cameroonian version of Henna tattooing for the Muslim women (it’s a black instead of brown). Abbo thought it would be a good idea to get it done in lieu of the Fête and my birthday. The lady who would do my sipa was busy at the time we arrived, so we went to Krystina community host’s house to eat lunch. Afterwards, there was a celebrating by the Lamido’s Palace, the King of the Muslim community in Adamaoua. I don’t really know how to describe the event, but there were a lot of men riding horses carrying spears, traditional dancing and music, and the Lamido was also on a horse. It was really cool to see, and I enjoyed viewing another interesting cultural aspect of Cameroon. After the celebration was over, I got my sipa done, which took a good 2-3 hours to get both my feet and hands done. The long hours definitely paid off because I received a lot of positive feedback on how beautiful the design was. I liked it because it was the closest thing I’ve gotten to a tattoo. The rest of the day Abbo, Andy, Krystina, and I continued fête-ing until we couldn’t eat anymore. Abbo invited us all out to a bar after a break to celebrate my birthday the “American” way. That was fun, but I was so full I could barely finish my beer (which happened to be a Guinness, which was the worst idea EVER). Most Muslims don’t drink alcohol, including Abbo, so it was really nice of him to pay for all our drinks and give me the chance to celebrate how I would in the states (except I’m sure I wouldn’t have eating a whole sheep before downing some booze if I were home). Overall, it was a perfect ending to an awesome 22^nd birthday J

Tuesday Nov 8-I opened my Peace Corps bank account so I can get paid during service. It was my first banking experience in Cameroon and to my surprise it went very smoothly. Afterwards, we continued to Fête some more at one more house for lunch, and for the rest of the day I relaxed. I ended up getting sick again, I’m thinking the travelling and change of climate got to me, plus I had contracted a sinus infection the week before I left and I don’t think I fully recovered from that either. I had to cancel a few activities that day so that I could rest up.

Wednesday Nov 9- The majority of the day I just hung out, rested, didn’t really do anything productive. Later in the afternoon I went to my other post mate’s village right outside of Ngaoundere, his name is Cyrus. He wanted to introduce me to his girls club that he inherited from his predecessor. The girls were great! They were really excited to meet me and since the club has been together for over a year, they seemed to be pretty comfortable with one another and have some sense of organization within the group. It was really great for me to see this in action because I would like to start a girls club in my cartier when I get to post, and I wouldn’t mind helping Cyrus out with his group as well. I think out of everything I did during site visit that really got me pumped for service was seeing this girls group and knowing that I could definitely put together a group of my own.

Thursday Nov 10-11-My two days of relaxation. I literally didn’t do anything but chill. It was fantastic.

Saturday Nov 12- Today was my last day at site. Before heading on the train to Yaounde, a group of us went to watch a youth dance group perform, the theme was Michael Jackson. It was awesome to see these youth groups in action. I was introduced to the group’s leader/organizer, which was great because hopefully I’ll be able to work with them in the future. After leaving the performance, we headed to the train station back to Yaounde and then catch a bus back to Bafia. I got back Sunday around 10am….and that was my trip!

Jabbama haa Adamaoua!

“Welcome to Adamaoua”

It’s NOVEMBER people! I’m currently in week 6 of training out of 11. I’m half way there! Yesterday I received my post, which is where I will be spending the rest of my service for the next two years! Before I tell you, I want to give you a quick introduction on the regions of Cameroon to give you a better understanding of where I will be.

Cameroon is known as “Miniature Africa”. Why? Because it has 10 different regions consisting of all climate types, vegetation, animals etc. that you can find anywhere else in Africa. There is the Grand North: Adamaoua (located between the Central and North), North, Extreme North and the Grand South: Centre Region (capital: Yaounde), Littoral, East (the “jungle”), West, Northwest, Southwest (location of Mt. Cameroon and the BEACH) and the South (borders Gabon). The climate in the Grand North has 4 seasons, one long rainy season, one long dry season, one short rainy season, and one short dry season. The Grand South is more tropical, long rainy seasons and short dry seasons, humidity, sometimes “cold” during the rainy season and winter (especially in the Northwest).

I am headed to the regional capital of Adamaoua, Ngaoundere, in the Grand North. It’s a huge city, with a population of approximately 400,000 people. It is the regional hub for those traveling to the North and Extreme North. The demographics of this region vary from traditional African groups, Muslims (majority), and Christians. French is spoken as well as the local “patois” (dialect), called Fufulde.

Before finding out my post, I pictured myself living in the middle of the jungle with limited resources, a latrine (outside bathroom…no toilet), lots of rain and lots of mosquitoes. I thought I would live in a small village where I would easily make friends with my community. I even requested a small village during my interview with my program manager.

Well, I basically got the post that is the complete opposite of my Peace Corps vision. Big city, running water and electricity 24/7, internet access 24/7, restaurants, entertainment, you name it. Ngaoundere is also one of the biggest university cities in Cameroon.. You may be thinking, “Shanna, you’ve got it made”, and I agree, in some ways. I’m actually extremely intimated by the fact that I’m living in a city. More people, more obstacles. Youth make up 56% of the entire population in Cameroon (they consider youth to be age 15-35), so you can imagine there’s a lot of work to be done in a big city. Just a reminder, I’m the first YD volunteer in this city…ever. No pressure or anything…As for the mosquitoes...not a huge problem, but Adamaoua is known for being the home of the most deadliest snakes in the world...oh joy!

My work will primarily be focused on out-of-school girls. There is a large Muslim population in the Grand North, and one of the major problems facing young girls are high drop-out rates in school due to marriage at a young age (14 years old), early pregnancy, or their families do not permit them to go to school because of religious/traditional values. So, I’ll be assisting organizations to empower young girls through technical training and education that will cover life skill topics like HIV/AID prevention, family planning, sex ed., nutrition, business etc. That is just the beginning. There are so many different projects I can get my hands on with the number of organizations that are available. I think my biggest obstacle with my work will be the conservative traditions in the culture…and all I can say is…I’m so excited!!!

Since I am working in a capitol, there are beaucoup organizations that focus on youth that I can work with, such as: UNICEF, World Food Program, PLAN Cameroon, Cameroon National Youth Council, Ministry of Youth, different associations, technical schools, an orphanage, and a new youth center. So many choices! I don’t think I’ll have a problem staying busy J

Today I met my community host partner and for the next two days we are going over some PC business and Saturday morning I’m off to my post for a week visit! During the week I will be with a PCV who is posted there (I have two post mates), and she will help me get to know the city, meet lots of important people, open up my bank account, check out my house…basically get a feel of what I’m getting myself into. The best part about my site visit: I’m celebrating my b-day there…during Ramadan! Should be fun :)

Here are two things I want to highlight from the last two weeks:

-Last week I woke up in the middle of the night one night to find a cockroach in my bed…next to my face. If there’s one thing I haven’t gotten used to yet since arriving here are definitely the cockroaches. They are EVERYWHERE…and they are HUGE…like American cockroaches on steroids, and even that description doesn’t do it justice.

-I went to a Cameroonian night club for the first time on Saturday. It was at Hotel New Palace, a five minute walk from my house. There are two things I took away from that experience: the first was the infamous “mirror dancing”. Apparently all night clubs here have lots of mirrors in them, and Cameroonian love to use them when dancing. They look at themselves while dancing, have dance contests with themselves in the mirror (at least that’s what it looks like), and practice their moves. It’s quite amusing to watch. The second was when some guy at the bar tried to convince me to be his girlfriend (in English surprisingly), and when I refused him he accused me of being racist. He kept saying “You don’t like me because I’m black and your white, that’s is discrimination”! I was prepared for this type of “harassment” during training, but I wasn’t expecting to hear it from a drunk guy at a club. No silly man, it’s not because you’re black, it’s because you can’t handle an American woman…that’s what I wanted to say at least (which is true!)

I’m beyond excited to see my post. Since I’ll have internet access you’ll be hearing from me soon!! On a bad note…I got a sinus infection today! Went to the hospital for the first time to get some antibiotics…and now I’m feeling so much better! Until next time friends :)

C'est la vie!

19/10/11

I have been learning an insane amount of information during these past two weeks, mostly regarding the cultural differences between Americans and Cameroonians. It amazes me how different and yet very similar we are in many ways, like how the Cameroonian youth is SO in tuned to Western media and entertainment, and what they see greatly influences their lives in both positive and negative ways (like American youth?). There are so many things that we take for granted, myself especially. Here are a few examples I’d like to share with you that have stuck out in my mind this past week:
1. Sunday was laundry day. This is the second time I’ve done my laundry since I’ve been in country Surprising? I have enough clothes to last me AT LEAST 2 weeks, I’d say 3 at max. If I had known what I know now, I would not have over packed. Anyways, so after only doing my laundry twice BY HAND, I’m already ready to pay someone to do it for me. Doing laundry by hand is not an easy task by any means, and I praise all who have been doing this their whole lives. It’s especially difficult when you’re washing two weeks’ worth of clothing that includes two pairs of jeans and a towel. It took me 30 minutes just to ring out those three items alone. I couldn’t feel my hands afterwards. You really never think how painstaking it is to hand wash clothes when you have a machine to do it for you. I challenge you to wash one pair of jeans by hand…thoroughly…and you will feel my pain…literally. This time I didn’t get scabs on my knuckles.
2. My grandma was using olive oil as lotion (I saw her rubbing it on her legs…I’m assuming it was for moisturizing or maybe she had more remedial purposes for it?). I asked my other older sister, Constantia (this is my youngest sister’s mother who is visiting for two weeks) if olive oil was expensive since I haven’t seen them use it for cooking (they use palm oil for EVERYTHING). She said it costs 5,000CFA which I believe is about $11 for a tiny bottle. Apparently only the wealthy use olive oil to cook with over here.
3. Cameroonians are pretty ignorant concerning the rest of the world (which is true among so many in Africa in general). Just like in the U.S, many Cameroonians have never left their country, let alone their own city/region. Constantia was changing the time zone on her cell phone when she pointed out where she thought the U.S was located on her world map on her phone. She pointed to Europe. This is a common misconception everywhere in Cameroon (I’m sure in many other African countries as well). I had to explain (in French) where the U.S was, the difference between North and South America, and how States are not countries, that all countries are separate of each other and have their own governments/presidents, and basically explain the differences between all the continents. Constantia is educated, mind you. She is going to school for medicine. This just shows you how different our education systems are, and how we are so fortunate to have this knowledge that is so simple to attain. Many people here rely on t.v or hearsay, and what they do learn in school really isn’t properly applied. I also had to explain to her why ninja’s weren’t real.
4. I use less than a full bucket of water to bathe, less when I don’t wash my hair. If I could guess, it might be 3 gallons of water. Since water is so scarce, people don’t have the luxury of taking showers here. Do you know how much you use? Google it. I’m sure it’s an insane amount.
5. I didn’t have electricity for 4 days straight, and there were only 2 kerosene lamps and a few flashlights to use between 7 people. This is normal.
6. The majority of men in Cameroon do not see woman as equals, and women do not have as merely as many opportunities that we do in the U.S. Polygamy is legal here, but the law only applies to men. I’ll elaborate on separate post in the future, but I wanted to share that gender roles and its differences are very visible in Cameroonian society. This reigns especially true among the youth as well. My youngest brother, Jeannot, says that having 5 girlfriends is better than one because you get more out of 5 different girls than you would by just one (one for money, one that’s pretty, one “just for kissing”, one who’s popular, and one who will do his homework) Sounds like a typical answer from a 15 year old…but he wasn’t kidding. It will interesting to see how well I can integrate into my community at post as a woman, especially since I’m “une blanche” (white). Ahhh, I can’t wait! 

I’m going to go ahead and stop there, but I could probably write a book about the cultural differences between the U.S and Cameroon, and I’ve only been here for 4 weeks. I’m going to wrap this up with some highlights of my week:

1. I played soccer with some locals and volunteers
2. I did a Zumba class (one of the stageieres in YD is a certified instructor!)
3. I had my final interview with my Program Manager (PM) on where I would like to be posted after stage. I find out my post in two weeks I believe, and I actually visit my post for a week in November (Nov 7-11…the week of my birthday!). I basically told him that I’m open to go anywhere. There are one or two people in YD that will end up without easy access to water, electricity and internet, and I have a gut feeling I might be one of them. We’ll see!
4. I have my second Language Placement Interview (LPI) today! My French has improved SO much, so hopefully I’ll be able to move up a level (I’m in Intermediate Mid now, so maybe I’ll move to “High”).
5. I got my first marriage proposal

Cameroon Fact of the Week: Paul Biya won this years’ election in Cameroon, he has been in power for 29 years, and now he’ll be in office for another 7 years!

That’ all for now, folks!

A day in the life of a PCT

Hello friends! Just forewarning you…this is a long one!

Since it’s been a while since I’ve posted, I thought I would summarize my week by sharing my daily routine to give you an idea of what I’ve been up to. I also want to start adding some cultural facts about Cameroon in every post, which I have yet to come up with a clever title for, but for now I’ll call it “Cameroon Fact of the Week”. ..I know…so original.

So anyways…

6:30am: I wake up. Sometimes my siblings like to wake me up between 6:15-6:30am, but my alarm clock wakes me up at 6:30. Me? Wake up at 6:30am…every morning? Trust me, I can’t believe it myself.

6:45am: After collecting water from the well, I take a bath. It’s cold, but feels so good after sweating all night in this heat!

7:15am: Eat breakfast which consists of bread with a chocolate spread, like the Cameroonian version of Nutella. It’s delicious. I wash it down with some hot chocolate that is supposed to have some nutritional value. I eat this EVERY morning. I guess the only way I will eat something different is if I wake up and make it…but I can barely get out of bed at 6:30 as it is…let’s be real.

7:45am: I head off to training! It’s about a 5 minute walk to our “bas” (base).

8:00-10:00am: My training typically starts off with language class. My class is comprised of 3 people, one other PCT, myself, and our “formatrice” (language trainer). I am not a morning person, so speaking French for the first two hours of my day is not exactly ideal, but I manage. By the way, my French is improving. It’s amazing how a one-on-one French classes has seriously helped my ability to actually retain all of the information.

10-10:20am: A much needed coffee break. A cup of coffee with cream and sugar costs 300CFA, which in U.S $ is about 75 cents. (The currency rate is 475 CFA=$1.00).

10:20-12:20pm: Normally during this block I have Cross-Cultural training or Technical Training. We’ve been learning A LOT in Tech, most of the information we’ve covered so far has been pretty eye opening. I’ve decided to dedicate a page about Youth Development in Cameroon (I’ll post it as a new tab). Since it is a brand new program here, there’s a lot to share. The statistics are mind blowing and the social problems here regarding women and children have revealed how important this program is going to be in Cameroon. The question is, how successful is my work going to be while I’m here, despite the corruption and various cultural customs? I’ll keep you posted J

12:20-1:30pm: LUNCH! My favorite part of the day. Fortunately we get hot lunch brought to us at our training site every day. The menu usually consists of a combination of these assorted foods: fish (cooked in some kind of way), chicken, goat, stomach (not quite sure from what animal, I haven’t tried it yet), rice, red beans, plantains…fried or boiled, potatoes, and lots of manioc (it’s a root that they eat and make with everything here). Lunch costs between 500-1500CFA depending on if you get vegetarian or meat, and a soda (that’s about $3 for a full plate of delicious food and a drink).

1:30-3:00pm: More training.

3:00-3:15pm: Short break

3:15-4:30: Language training and then we’re done!! We usually have language twice a day. Yesterday we had a change in schedule and had language ALL day. But, there’s nothing like a nice, cold Cameroonian beer to relax my brain with J My favorite is called “33” or “Trent Trois”. Cameroonians drink 32 oz. beers, I rarely see anyone drinking anything less. Yes people, PCVs/PCTS are allowed to drink, however we are limited to only two beers. I’m not quite sure the parameters of these “two beers”, but I think that means two “normal” sized beers, and one 32 oz. I stick with the 32 J

So this brings me to my first “Cameroon Fact of the Week”: Apparently Cameroon is the 3^rd largest manufacturer and exporter of Guinness in the world, right behind the U.S and Ireland…who would’ve thought!

Actually, I have two facts.

My second is Cameroon is having its presidential elections this weekend! This is pretty cool for us PCTs/PCVs to be in country for this event because I do not believe elections happen too often. The president, Paul Biya, has been in power for about 29 years and is up for re-election, and I’m getting the sense that he isn’t going anywhere. I’ll save politics for another post, but I thought I would share that tid-bit with you.

After training, I usually spend an hour or two with PCTs at the local “boutique” (corner store/bar), and then head home.

8:00-8:45pm: I pray with my family every night at this time. I wouldn’t say I actually pray with them, but I participate by sitting, and clapping to their songs, and following their readings in the Bible. It’s a part of my cultural integration and integration into my family.

8:45-9:15pm: I normally eat a small dinner. Fish is a common dish, as well as rice, plantains, maniac…basically all the same things I had for lunch, depending on the day. Don’t get me wrong, all this food is amazing, but a girl could use a cheeseburger once and while.

9:30pm: I’m usually in bed, or getting ready for bed.

And that’s a typical day!!

Here are the top 4 most exciting things that have happened to me this week:

1. 1. I went to church with my family last Sunday (just a reminder, they are Protestant). I’m guessing about 75 people, adults and children, sat in a little “church” that was made up of wooden planks and a tin ceiling. If it weren’t for the lively music and singing, I would have fallen asleep. They read the Bible and pray in French, however they sing their hymns in Bafia, their native dialogue here in Bafia (fact #3). According to other PCTs, the Catholic Church does the same. Obviously I had no clue what was being said/sung, so it was a little hard to stay focused...or awake. Overall, it was a great experience and I plan on going again in the future.

2. 2. I bought “le pagne”. This is the fabric that Cameroonian women use to make their pretty clothes with. I bought about 6 yards for 4,000 CFA (about $8), and had a dress and skirt tailored for 5,000 CFA (about $10). So in total I paid 9,000 CFA, no tax plus labor, all for less than $20. Not too shabby. My sister, Dany, helped negotiate prices for me. She took me to a good tailor in town as well, so hopefully I got my money’s worth. I’m picking them up TODAY, so I’ll have pictures up soon! J

3. 3. Youth Development is working closely with the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Women and Families, the National Youth Council (so excited about…which I’ll elaborate more on in my YD page), community leaders as well as other NGOs. During tech this week, we met delegates from these ministries and organizations, including the church, and received a great deal of information on the problems and challenges of youth in Cameroon. Overall, I was relieved to finally get some concrete, factual information on what’s going on here. I now have a good grasp on what I’m here for and the potential that I have to really make a difference. More info to come!!

4. 4. I taught my brothers how to dougie (youtube this for reference).

That’s all folks! Until next time…au revoir! <3