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!