count down..end of week 3

I apologize for not posting blog last week, Sunday was my day to do that since I would actually have a fair internet connection but I wasn’t feeling good.  I’m not sure what exactly it was but by Monday I was feeling better.  Hard to tell what it was since it could be any number of things that I ate.  I think that only being sick one day in the first three weeks is an accomplishment. 

With that being said we have finished week three.  No one else as of yet has ETed and went back home J.  Classes are good my French is improving but is still my biggest obstacle.  It’s frustrating not to be able to communicate but I have my first language test next Saturday so it will be interesting to see how much I’ve improved.

In other news thing are moving along for us; next week I should find out my post and then the following week I will visit my site for about 5 days (how long ill actually get to be there depends on how far away my site is, some volunteers will be posted in the extreme north which will take them several days to get to).  Except for the language I can’t wait to be on my own, have my own space, cook my own food, clean with soap.    

So the food situation isn’t much better.  I still don’t get a lot of food at my house and the things that I do get aren’t that great.  I’m looking forward to cooking for myself I really miss eating great food.  I have even started to miss American food that I didn’t really like but anything at this point sounds great.  I bought fabric to make into some traditional clothes but I haven’t brought it to the tailor yet so as soon as I do ill post pics.

The weather during the week was better, over cast all day pretty much, and cooler but this weekend it got very hot again even though to the locals think it’s cold.  In other news we had a party with our trainees last night and we were allowed to extend curfew to 10pm!!!  It was really nice for all of us to have a little celebration we had some American music playing and had a few drinks.   Tomorrow the CED’s have a field trip to Yauonde the capital I’m very excited I heard rumors that we were going to get to stop by a “French grocery store” which means I might be able to find some American food …or something similar.  I’ve been having major food withdrawalsL.

Okay im running out of time so im not going to reread this so please overlook grammar mistakes.  Pics coming soon! (probably on fb)

week 1 in Bafia

We made it to Bafia which is where I will spend the next 11 weeks in training.  So now I’m living with my host family which has a father who work at the foreign service building but does community development for Bafia which ive been told by the kid that he oversees the construction of roads (unpaved), schools, ect., but that’s also little unclear.  Then I have my “host mom” who is his niece from what I gather, she has been to and graduated from a university and works in the capital for the ministry but they are on break now? Then there is my host dads daughter who is 20 also graduated from the university but it doesn’t seem like she works.  Then there is another girl who is 16 who is still in school but I have no idea how or if she is related.   So far they are all very nice.  They have had a peace corps  volunteer (pcv) stay with them before.  They all speak a bit of English but the dad speaks the best.  Culturally though I’m a bit confused, they have electricity, running water, a car, and an education yet, seem very unaware of sanitation issues.  For example, we have a well that they draw water from to clean dishes but they don’t boil or treat the water first.  The only time they actually treat the water is when they drink it so they use dirt water to shower and wash clothes, to be clear the running water is brown and the well water is grey. They also never wash their hands let alone use soap.  I get the impression that they don’t know about germs and think that if wiped off or if they don’t see it, its clean. :/

Monday-Saturdays we have training at the pc office which is about a 5min walk from my house.  We usually have four sessions a day except for Saturday when we only have two.  The sessions vary on size depending on who they are for; the whole group, just the CED (community economic development) people vs. the ED (education) people, or our small language groups.  The trainers so far seem very good and also have a very good understanding of American culture and want to help us as much as they can.  Language class was a little frustrating more because I have so much to learn and want to spend as much time as I can on it.  In one of my CED classes we are learning a model for a saving and lending program which we are going to actually do a mock version of but instead of actual loans we can “borrow” (we actually have to pay for them and we don’t give them back) American food such as oreos, snickers, gummy worms, maple syrup, Pringles, etc. it should be fun and we all already miss our junk food.

                Speaking of the food, it’s okay.  My host mom doesn’t understand what a balanced meal is and most meals are only carbs.  Sometimes we have fish other than they all she has made me was rice or pasta.  She finally made a vegetable yesterday!!  At least I think that’s what that was.  Other volunteers have different experiences though so I need to learn more French so I can ask her to make me more vegetables and beans since they have a lot of them available.  On the bright side one of the moms come to the peace corps office and brings lunch which we can buy and she brings everything; meat, fish, beans, rice, salad/avocados, pineapple, and potatoes. So I make sure to eat a lot then and a smaller meal at dinner.  For breakfast I usually get an egg with some bread.

                Other than that, things have been interesting it’s a unique feeling of never quite knowing what to do or how to act.  Not always bad but not always good mostly it’s been interesting.  Once my French is better it will be easier to talk to my host family about the culture.  For now we get by for the most part.  It helps that im in class all day then have hw so only leaves a few hrs with my host family.  Im glad though that they want to try to communicate so we do talk a lot we just have use the dictionary a lot! The most exciting thing so far was that they have a lot of the music that I have like rap/hip hop and they know all the words.  Even songs that just came out they already have so that’s been fun.

              I only get internet at the pc office and have to share it with the other volunteers soi wont be able to get to it every day but probably a couple times a week.  talk to you all again soon. 

love and miss you!

I don't know what you guys want to me write about so please comment and ask questions.  Can you comment if you don't have gmail?? Let me know.

First Few Days

6/2/12

Day 1

Upon arriving in Philadelphia I had orientation which primarily focused on meeting the other volunteers, connecting, and showing how many fears and aspirations we shared.   I was happily surprised to learn that everyone was very much on the same page as me.  I was also relieved to hear that there seemed to be a lot of us who weren’t the best at French.  After orientation we went to a local pub to continue our bonding. So far I think that I’m with a good group of people although we all have very diverse personalities and backgrounds.

Day 2

We woke up early and took a bus to New York got there at about Noon and our flight wasn’t until 6pm.  So we did a little more bonding at a bar, then lunch, then waiting at the gate and playing cards.  Time actually went by pretty quickly.  Then flight to Brussels a three hour layover then off to Yaoundé.  We are staying about an hour and a half from the airport in a “very nice” hotel which has running water, electricity, and wifi. 

Day 3

Breakfast which was bread, then my language test, turns out I did better than some other people (shock) but there are definitely some people who are almost fluent already.  I will find out later which level I’ve been placed in. We got a chance to walk around the city a bit but it was very crowded and busy since there is a big soccer stadium close to the hotel and there was a very big qualifying match today which it turned out Cameroon won.  Lunch and dinner here are not extremely different from American food they serve us a couple different kinds of vegetables, bread, rice which they cover in a very tasty sauce, chicken, and fish.

Ps. Mom they have a lot of  avocados here and one volunteer who is actually leaving Friday since he is done with his service has an avocado tree in his backyard. Oh and your cookies were amazing thanks!

After dinner we went to a concert.  The Community Economic Development Officer’s wife (who is Cameroonian) is a singer and she was performing.  It was at a upscale bar lounge so we got to hear a little African rap which is similar to reggaeton but in French then the CED’s wife did what I’m assuming is a local dance and song.  It was very good and people would get up and dance with her even some of the Congo soccer player (who had just lost against Cameroon). Tomorrow we are suppose to have a lot more paperwork to fill out and then we have a big dinner at our country directors house which I’ve been told might also have our project directors, some mayors and government officials have known to be there if they are in the area, and even some reporters.  I don’t actually expect to be interviewed by the reporters since I don’t know French and it will be aired on local channels.

So far I have not yet encountered any bugs (thank god!) except for mosquitoes that don’t seem to care that I’m wearing bug spray.  The weather here has been amazing not very muggy and weather where I’m very comfortable in kapris and a polo.  However, to ease your minds Bafia which I should be going to on Wednesday for the rest of the 11 weeks will not be quite so luxurious.  It has been nice to be eased in and have a calm stable place for the group to get to know each other more before we head to the unknown our host families, and live with people most of us can’t communicate with at least at first.

Well its about 2:00am here and I need to be up early hope all is well in the states this you guys!! 

love you lots <3