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
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